My Role Within Our Group

Upon reading the anonymous feedback I received from my peers in our Group Dynamics course, I have realized my role in the group as a whole. I definitely seem to be a opinion seeker and giver according to my peers. Many of my peers noticed that I am not afraid to ask questions and that I give very valid input when necessary. Although I somewhat disagree with many of their assessments that I am shy and quiet, I guess that shows that I have more confidence in myself than others seem to recognize or notice. That confidence is definitely shown though in my ability to ask questions and give valid input towards a situation. Since I joined the class quite a few weeks after everyone else, it was a bit hard to fit into the whole scheme of things at first, but after a while, I began to become acquainted with the group and its members and therefore felt more comfortable offering feedback and input to the process. Someone also pointed out what I knew: that I had made substantial contributions to the “content” group as well, offering up many different ideas of what we could do with the coursewiki. My knack for creativity is evident in comments from my peers where they blatantly say I am very creative and have a lot of good ideas. Were this a group where we actually held elections for leadership positions, I would have surely ran for an officer position. I do tend to speak a lot more when I know people have their complete focus on me, as opposed to when there is no power structure at all. Even if I was not at the top of the power structure, I would speak more than I do in class simply because there is a power structure. I like hearing opinions from everyone and giving my opinion on every issue it is necessary to provide an opinion on.

Where Do I Stand?

4. Goal-setting is a responsibility that I share by listening to different peoples’ opinions, factoring them into plausible and feasible goals, and working with those people to achieve those goals.  While our group is very much different than other groups because of its structure and framework (a college classroom), I have still displayed this in our class through participating in the “Content” group at the beginning of the semester and actually being the one to suggest the original idea of a “survival guide for UMass”, which is eventually what we did, minus the term “survival”. It was an achievable goal that will soon be achieved, as the semester comes to a close.

 

5. I have been instrumental in marshalling resources for the group, especially the music group. I am a musician and know fellow musicians and places where we can play music.  Therefore, I took the lead in recognizing the ability to actually play and record an actual song and organizing meeting times outside of class time.  I also was the one that took the lead in circulating a class-wide e-mail list so that everyone could have each other’s contact information, since Steph could not legally pass around a class e-mail list herself.

 

10. Our class does have all the roles necessary to achieve optimum productivity and growth as many different people have taken on many different functional roles, as was shown by the “Reminder: After Dachau” exercise.  There are so many different functional roles going around, with many people becoming natural leaders and many becoming natural followers.  It is obvious that this is occurring because we are so close to finally completing our final product, and it would not have been possible to do had we not had leadership within the classroom pushing us to do more.

 

11. I have been playing the role of the “coordinator” in the classroom. I have made sure that people are keeping in contact and communicating with each other and that things get accomplished in the most efficient way possible.  It’s a job I feel I fit into easily in all the other groups I have ever been involved with as well.

 

15. I do have role flexibility as I can also be an information giver and information seeker.  I use my experiences and perceptions in order to gauge where the group stands as a whole, but I also am always looking to learn more about why the group is where it is and what we can do to continue moving in a positive direction.  I am always open to other peoples’ perceptions and ideas about moving forward, and try to incorporate them into a general plan for group success.

 

16. The three roles I flex among most are coordinator, information giver, and information seeker.  My decision to flex is based upon my knowledge that everyone in a group is just as important to a group’s success as everyone else.  If one person too strongly tries to take everything under his or her wing, he or she will just get worn out very quickly and that “leader” will lose his or her desire, thus having a domino effect on the whole group. It’s important to flex between roles in order to recognize the concerns and ideas of other members of the group.

 

18.  I definitely find myself resisting the retraining required to be a functional group member.  I don’t think it has too many ramifications as far as this class is concerned because I do recognize it as exactly that—a class. I have been in many groups before and consider myself to be a natural-born leader.  While I do recognize there is always something to be learned, I feel like a lot of the things we do in this class are contrived and forced upon us.  There definitely is a certain framework for the class, and should we stray outside that framework, we probably would not receive a good grade.  In most other groups, the members are not striving for a grade, but rather for self-perpetuation and continued success in the future.

My Johari Window

http://kevan.org/johari?name=getoutakingshous

Closing Your Eyes: A Sign of Dishonesty?

“His eyes are shut on the cover to convey that he doesn’t want to reveal or share anything when in fact he’s letting us into his life through his retelling of experiences.”“The image I had was a book about truth and integrity, with looking someone in the eye traditionally being a visual clue of honesty.”“…unable to look others in the eye. He cannot connect with people the same way I can when I look someone in the eyes.”From all the responses on last week’s test, it seems that generally people associate looking someone in the eye with telling the truth, possessing integrity, and connecting with others.  Looking someone in the eye is absolutely a telling sign of whether someone is engaging in a truthful and honest conversation or not.  Often times in relationships, one of the parties will tell the other to look them in the eye and tell them something, if they really want to survey whether or not the person is telling the truth. Going along with the cultural analyses we did, a lot of people may have trouble looking someone in the eye if they feel shame on behalf of something they did.  And when people feel shame for something, they usually try to hide it, either through lying or fabricating. It makes things much more complicated for Robison because of his autism.  It is very difficult for autistic people to look other people in the eye, not cause they’re lying, but because of the disorder and its effects.  Closing your eyes can also reveal that you’re afraid or ashamed to open up to someone else. The eyes are a very telling body part and only when you open them can you begin to share experiences with a sense of honesty and integrity.

 http://www.umasswiki.com/wiki/Class:COM352_-_Group_Dynamics_-_Spring_2008/course_outlines_and_in-class_activities/eighth_day_of_class/Test#look_me_in_the_eye

Closing Your Eyes: A Sign of Dishonesty?

“His eyes are shut on the cover to convey that he doesn’t want to reveal or share anything when in fact he’s letting us into his life through his retelling of experiences.”“The image I had was a book about truth and integrity, with looking someone in the eye traditionally being a visual clue of honesty.”“…unable to look others in the eye. He cannot connect with people the same way I can when I look someone in the eyes.”From all the responses on last week’s test, it seems that generally people associate looking someone in the eye with telling the truth, possessing integrity, and connecting with others.  Looking someone in the eye is absolutely a telling sign of whether someone is engaging in a truthful and honest conversation or not.  Often times in relationships, one of the parties will tell the other to look them in the eye and tell them something, if they really want to survey whether or not the person is telling the truth. Going along with the cultural analyses we did, a lot of people may have trouble looking someone in the eye if they feel shame on behalf of something they did.  And when people feel shame for something, they usually try to hide it, either through lying or fabricating. It makes things much more complicated for Robison because of his autism.  It is very difficult for autistic people to look other people in the eye, not cause they’re lying, but because of the disorder and its effects.  Closing your eyes can also reveal that you’re afraid or ashamed to open up to someone else. The eyes are a very telling body part and only when you open them can you begin to share experiences with a sense of honesty and integrity.

http://www.umasswiki.com/wiki/Class:COM352_-_Group_Dynamics_-_Spring_2008/course_outlines_and_in-class_activities/eighth_day_of_class/Test#look_me_in_the_eye

Things To Touch Upon

In analyzing the cultural contexts of the words given, a lot can be inferred about the direction we should take regarding the coursewiki.  It’s obvious that we in the class at least have a serious amount of respect for each other.  This is very clear throughout all of the blog posts from my peers and Steph, and shows that Americans very much value respect.  But also it shows that respect is valued in the American classroom above all, not just in America.  Truthfully, I think that the idea of a Student-Generated Guide to the Pioneer Valley is still a great idea to move forward with for the coursewiki, especially after reading the blog posts by my classmates.  In telling other students what we have experienced in this area, we are demonstrating, at least in part, a love for our fellow human beings, by wanting to help them decide what to do and what not to do.  We are also strongly giving our opinion by telling the audience what we liked and what we didn’t like about the activities around the area.  I believe that “hate” and “religion” should be left out of the course wiki, much as they were left out of the cultural analyses, because they are words that are very touchy.  Especially with religion, it has the ability to inspire hatred, angst, and discomfort among many people.  We should definitely move forward in putting together a collaborative, “peaceful” effort to better share our thoughts and opinions with the Pioneer Valley community about what works and what doesn’t.

Greek LIFE: The Decision of a Lifetime

As the president of the governing body of fraternities (Interfraternity Council) at the university, one of my biggest goals and aspirations is to raise awareness of the benefits and advantages of going Greek.  When I pledged my chapter over three years ago, I did so simply because I was interested in joining a fraternity since high school, mainly because my girlfriend at the time was in a sorority and constantly told me how amazing it was.  Had I not had that connection ahead of time though, I probably never would have gained the information necessary to entice me to want to join a fraternity.  There is a UMass Greek website, but it is somewhat hard to find and navigate from the main UMass page.  If I could make people on this campus aware that joining Greek life is not just for people with no friends, and that it is one of the only collective group of organizations that are formed on the basis of values (scholarship, leadership, service, etc.), then it would be a big victory for both myself and the UMass community.

“Arab”: A Negative Connotation

The word “Arab”, especially since the atrocity of September 11, has rapidly become a negative connotation, with much assistance from President Bush and his administration.    It’s always interesting reading about what people from different cultures and regions of the world have to say about those cultures in comparison to what westerners have to say about them.  As someone of Moroccan and Iranian descent, Sahar still took the time to look up the Wikipedia definition of “Arab” and “Arabic”, because apparently even people from the region do not know what it means or what it infers. 

To me, ever since President Bush started focusing on “Islamic extremists” as “the terrorists”, the term “Arab” has been a word inspiring fear and hatred for people hailing from the Middle East. As someone with no Arab descent whatsoever, I still find it horrific that a label so evil could be applied to such a large group of people. Through the propaganda of the Bush administration and various media outlets, Arabs have been portrayed as a collective group of people waging a “holy war” on the United States and its supporters. While I do not agree with the United States’ imperialistic policies, most notably President Bush’s, I also do not agree with the negative connotation we place upon Arabs these days. 

Even before September 11, the term “Arab” tended to group people of Middle Eastern descent altogether, even though Sahar refuted that notion in her paper.  While it was not as serious a problem as the negative coining the term has today, it was still a problem as it singled out those nations that did not consider themselves Arab but were still located in the Middle East.  A complete and thorough education on other nations is truly needed to understand the complexity and plight of the Arab people.  I know not all Arabs are terrorists, but does the average uneducated American know that? Probably not.  The media and propaganda skews our country’s view of the rest of the world so much and in order to truly grasp other cultures, we must take a step outside of the box and do some research on our own, either by traveling, reading, or whatever your own personal research agenda may be. But it’s time we looked at the way things work in the world today from an outside perspective, much as we do in our fishbowls in class. Otherwise, we’ll get so caught up in it all, we’ll never be able to tell what’s real and what’s propaganda.

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