One of the hardest parts of working in groups is trying to get everyone to participate. In the past, I've experienced a lot of unequal participation in groups. The book gave four examples of why people choose not to participate. Apprehension is when a person is scared to express their thoughts to the group. Other people may lack self-esteem in which they think their ideas are not good enough. Some people fear the dominance of other members of the group and eventually feel left out. The last example the book gave was status differences. Some members of the group might be more smarter than others in the group. Members who are in lower positions might choose not to contribute to the members in higher positions.
One of the things I noticed working in groups was that people who knew each other did more of the work while the other members who didn't know each other contributed less. I remember in my sophmore year in high school when I did a group project with four of my friends and another student who I didn't know. My friends and I worked on the project in our friends house but the other student just contributed the information to us at school because we didn't know. My friends and I had more dominance because we made up the majority.
I noticed that when I work in groups not everyone play his or her role. I think it is better to work with friends because you know who you can or cannot depend on. However there is an expectation when you work with someone new or someone you don't know as well.
ReplyDeleteSome people naturally play the role of a leader. Others like you said may fear of how others will view them and they might not have the confidence to speak up. People's personality is a factor when it comes to group work. But at least you aren't doing it alone unless your group member(s) simply don't care to make any effort.
Working in a group is very interesting. There are advantages and disadvantages of working with friends. Advantages are that you are more comfortable and it is easier to communicate and there is no awkwardness. A disadvantage to that is you may get distracted easily by your relationship with them.
ReplyDeleteI really agree with the example of status differences. I was in a group with a bunch of smart people who also happened to be friends. It was really hard for me to communicate with them because there was already an established relationship and they were always one step ahead of me with the work.