Group Communication Paper

Group experiences have significant impact on our lives and not only helps in problem solving

but also acts as an effective tool for interaction. When we communicate effectively in our

groups, we are likely to avoid conflict and reach a consensus when we experience challenges.

Apart from social interaction, groups such as family makes us to feel a sense of belonging and

love. However, there are also challenges associated with group experiences such as slow

decision making process and conflicts especially when the group is made up of many people and

every member wants their opinion to carry the day. Communication competence the foundation

of creating a collaborative group that encourages support and teamwork.

Our group is a learning group that enables us to share knowledge and take part in different

academic projects. Our group members not only interact with each other but we are also

interdependent. When we are working on academic project, every member needs to be present

for the work to be completed on time. Evidently, if one member is absent, he or she

inconveniences the other members of the group because one of our group rules is that every

member must participate during the group discussions. In some instances, when we are forced to

work with less members, the other members who were not present often drag us behind during

the next meeting as we try to explain to them what we achieved. This case cannot be avoided

because sometimes they have a valid reason for missing the group meeting and their opinion

must also be considered before we make the final conclusion.

The ripple effect also affects our group because one member is lazy and always proposes

that we postpone the work and look for a more interesting thing to do. This affects the

performance of all group members because we may end up submitting the work after the

deadline. Our group has been in existence for a long period of time because we work together

every semester. Therefore, we understand the needs and behavior of every member of the group.

Our group is made up of five people, three men and two ladies. The size of our group is

relatively small, making it easier for us to communicate effectively and understand each other.

Additionally, we can allocate roles based on our group member’s abilities and goals that we have

been able to identify after working together on several projects. This creates a sense of

cooperation and makes it easier to accomplish tasks when we combine and discuss our ideas to

come up with the final conclusion.

The individual goal is to acquire knowledge through sharing information and accomplish

various academic tasks. Another individual goal is social interaction because of the sense of

belonging and unity achieved through group experience. The group not only focus on

accomplishing academic tasks but also helps members to overcome daily challenges. Therefore,

one of the group goals is to create unity and a senses of belonging while helping each other to do

various tasks. The long term goal of the group is the acquisition of critical thinking and decision

making skills that are also applicable in dealing with everyday life challenges. The rules of the

include attending meeting every Wednesday and Friday afternoons to discuss the tasks assigned

for the week, conducting research before the meeting and asking questions at the end of the

discussion to avoid interrupting others.

The norms are understanding the effective use of turn taking to avoid conflict of interests,

participating actively during the group discussions and avoiding jokes that are not related to the

topic of discussion. Additionally, members who are unable to attend the meetings should state

the reason for their absence in advance. In terms of task norms, the group members usually

choose the topic that they are more conversant with and work on it then later we combine the

effort to come up with the final project. The member roles are based on the task that each

member is supposed to undertake. We have the group leader who is also the contributor. He

proposes new ideas and new methods of approaching an issue especially if the group is in a crisis

to help with the decision making process. The functional roles of two members is seeking and

giving information. The information giver conducts general research about the topic while other

members research on specific aspects of the discussion. The other two members are the

coordinator and opinion seeker. The coordinator analyzes the relationship between the

information presented by other members of the group in order to reach a consensus. Opinion

seeker allows every member of the group to air their opinions to ensure that everyone is

contented before we compile the final copy.

The patterns of interaction used in our group is the all-channed network. The group

members always meet in one location and share all the available information with each other in

an organized manner. We value face to face communication of ideas because it allows members

to effectively state their opinion and ask for clarification of points that they do not understand.

The problem experienced by our group is a role-related problem. Evidently, there is a problem of

unfilled roles because the group leader is unable to perform the task set aside for him effectively.

As a result, most group members do not receive vital information on time making it difficult to

coordinate and accomplish the task on time. The person who is supposed to organize and

communicate about the meeting point, tasks assigned to each member and expected results often

fails to do it on time.

This problem is caused by slow decision making process and lack of full commitment

towards the success of the group. Despite being busy handling other responsibilities, the group

leader has not accepted to allow one of the members to assist with the process of passing cross

information on time. Therefore, this problem always leads to a disagreement among members

especially if one person has not delivered the expected research on time only to realize later that

he or she was not aware of the time and venue of meeting. We have tried to resolve the problem

by forming a social media group where members can get firsthand information but there is some

vital information that needs face to face explanation to avoid confusion. The group leader also

feels like since he is the founder of the group, he has every right to occupy the leadership

position and organize every group activity. Consequently, this has led to the buildup of negative

energy in the group especially when we fail to accomplish tasks on time, members tend to blame

each other.

The strategy that I used to improve the groups dynamics is effective communication. When

the problem first began, most members were not willing to talk about it due to fear of criticism or

opposition even though it was affecting the performance of all group members. I used this

strategy because it enabled us to formulate solutions for the problem by analyzing its cause and

the possible cause of action. It was implemented through a meeting and discussion where all

members were allowed to state their opinion and possible solution for the problem. This strategy

improved the group dynamics and interaction among members who all agreed to cooperate in

passing information to other members of the group. The next strategy I used is minority control.

This helped a lot when the stakes are high and members of the group are frustrated by the turn of

events or a prevalent problem. Two members of the group discussed the matter with the group

leader in depth and they were able to formulate a solution. I used the strategy because it is easier

for few people to reach a consensus as compared to many people with different opinions. After

the implementation, there was unity and satisfaction among group members. Another strategy

that I used is looking for unfilled roles and decided to fill them myself. Evidently, I volunteered

to help the group leader to pass across information whenever he was busy to avoid

inconveniences. I used this method to avoid involving other members of the group in the conflict

and the result was positive response from members who put more effort in their work.

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