Reflective Paper - Assignment Example

The following discussion is how the concepts in the book helped our group negotiate areas that might have led to a breakdown of communication or worse. Discussion Process Elements The first concept that will be explored will be the concept regarding process elements. Young et al. states that group members may interact in different ways to create new elements that might affect problem-solving. One of the process elements is participation, and Young et al. is careful to note that, while communication between group members is crucial, also crucial is that time-wasters and conversational bullies are kept to a minimum within the group.

He also notes that there is a multi-cultural element to participation, in that certain group members from certain cultures will be less likely to participate in group discussion than would other members from different cultures. For instance, some individuals may come from a culture that respects elders and leaders, and would be, therefore, less likely to challenge the group leader or to play devil's advocate with members of the group. One thing that I did notice in my group, which was a four member group of three undergraduate students, and one graduate student, me, was that the three members of the group deferred to me a great deal. . So, my ideas were less challenged than were the other members of the group.

I also did not really deal too much with conversational bullies and time-wasters, although there was one person in the group who enjoyed gossiping and talking about subjects off-topic. I was usually able to steer the conversation back to what we were working on, which was a children's book, so our group was successful in this regard. I was able to take a procedural role in the group, which is another aspect of process elements. Everybody was assigned a role, although our overall group was collaborative.

Young et al. states that everybody in the group should have a role, which is what makes the group run smoother. Rather this role consists of organizing the work, leading the group, or managing interpersonal relationships, everybody should take a role that helps the group run. My role was administrative; another person's role was time-keeping, in that this person would ensure that our group was on-task for the minutes that were allotted to each task; another member was the unofficial diplomat of the group, and that person smoothed out conflicts, while discouraging any kind of group behavior that might undermine the group, such as egocentric and attention-seeking behavior; and other members of the group were more like the creative directors, people who were able to facilitate our creativity on the project, and keep us on task for every element of the project.

Active Listening Another aspect of the group process was that all of us were taught to actively listen. Young et al. states that this is a process that is crucial to group development and cohesion. Following the rules that Young et al. states