Week 5 Group Communication Memories

I took a group communication course in the past. It was a very interesting and thought-provoking course. The class was divided into groups of seven and we were given many tasks to complete. At the end of the semester, we had a major class project and presentation to complete. It was fun completing the tasks and analyzing the group dynamics as they emerged in my group. We were very cohesive. We had a democratic leader who largely shared her duties with others in the group and only had one conflict the whole semester. It was only a minor conflict, too. However, there were many times where groupthink emerged. Because our group experienced such a high level of cohesiveness, we found ourselves afraid to introduce new ideas or to break out of the roles we established in the beginning. For example, the leader didn't think we needed to start working on our final project a month ahead. I expressed that we need to at least gather sources, brainstorm ideas and determine who was to perform which tasks. We had a conflict that lead to us eventually going home that day and not accomplishing anything. Surely, the next day our teacher expected us to hand in an outline of our ideas and sources. The first thing that I observed from this experience was that I expressed myself very cautiously. I didn't want to disturb the order of things and was willing to accept whatever the leader wanted even though I knew it was wrong. The second thing I observed was that other group members wanted to express the same thing, but felt they didn't want to make the leader angry or create an uncomfortable situation for everyone else. They told me this later. Unfortunately, we handed in our outline late and was penalized a bit. Looking back though I still considered that semester the best group experience ever and I'm willing to sacrifice efficiency for group harmony.
That particular group was a positive experience for many reasons. We let a leader naturally emerge and she was willing to share the role with others who were interested. She wasn't a dictator but she still kept things in order. Everyone in the group were easy going and was extremely focused on getting an A in the class. We had the same goal and mesh well together personality-wise. I had a lot of fun. We even started hanging outside of class for social reasons. The bad experiences with groups I've had were in situations where there was a lack of a leader or a tyrannical leader. Group members had varying degrees of interest and commitment and personalities were just too different. I think certain people just don't get along. These could be due to cultural factors or just based on simple things like a lack of understanding humor. Currently I'm taking English and our class has a lot of group activities. I always get that person that doesn't want to be there and usually doesn't have anything to contribute. Either they did not do the assignment or they are unwilling to tell us what they did. I'm not sure. There is a particular young man who always comes to class sits down slouching with his legs extended forward and crosses his arms in front of his chest. He usually wears a frown and looks at the clock every 5 minutes. I hate being in a group with him because it feels like I'm pulling teeth. In spite of everything I do enjoy that class, but I dread being put in a group with people like that.
I've expressed good and bad experiences with groups. Have you experienced being in a group that was so cohesive that it stifled individualism and created conformity? It is easy to see that especially when you think about friendships in high school. High school cliques are almost always built on conformity. Did you know of someone who never wanted to participate? Or maybe you were that person. I've always wondered if non-participating members do it because they have the grouphate phonemonon. Perhaps they hate working with others and have such a strong individualistic personality that they go into those situations with negative assumptions already. Do you think these people manifest what they hate about groups?