Small Group Communication

In my Small Group Communication class, I was put into a variety of situations and we had to come up with the best way to solve the problems. Whether it be through researching topics, presenting ideas, or resolving group conflicts, I learned how to apply small group methods to successfully problem solve within small groups. At the end of the semester, we did a presentation where we came up with a solution to help high school students have healthy role models in their life since there are so many negative celebrity role models in our society. We solved the problem in front of the class within a certian time frame. This was very helpful in applying problem solving methods to a realistic problem.

This is a journal from one of the exercises we did in class:

Melissa Thomas
Small Group Communication
Journal #8
March 26, 2007

Team Members: Kelly, Brandon, Melissa, Jeff, & Amanda

Description of the Game: Our group was given five math problems to solve. They each took a lot of problem solving from the group. There was not any particular way to solve them. We were just told to work until we found the correct answer.

Method: I believe that the most relevant decision making method that we used was the Nominal Group Technique. This includes a moderator which serves as the facilitator of the group and everybody works individually first. It is a more formal way of decision making, but it is very effective when used in a situation where there is only one correct answer. After each member works individually first, they come back together to discuss briefly. This is when everyone provides his or her answers. A silent vote is taken, which is usually organized by the moderator, and the group comes to a consensus after reviewing the results. Now although we were in an informal setting, our group seemed to put this method into practice.

Explanation of Method used in Game: Brandon served as our moderator. He was the one who told us how to get started, the go-to-guy, and he was sitting in the middle of our group. We all started working individually on the same problem. Then after much frustration, we would see who had what answers. This served as our brief discussion time. Now, most of the time one person seemed to have it under control so we would go with that answer. This was kind of like our voting time. Since it was an informal setting it was not a silent vote, we would vote through our discussion time. We would find an answer that seemed to have the most relevant backing and see if it was right. Brandon usually was the one who helped us organize all of our thoughts and come to a consensus before we would present them to Dr. McCormick. When we were wrong, we started the process over again. Since we were solving math problems, then there was only one correct answer versus many possible solutions. I found that our group took this much more seriously. We wanted to make sure that we each worked individually first to bring some good data to the table. Then we began to discuss the different answers with much discretion. Unlike the rest of our group assignments, “each” team member was on their toes until we found the correct answers for the math problems. I knew that I had to step it up with there only being one correct answer. When we were wrong we continued to step it up until we found it. I liked this better because we never settled. We continued to search for what we thought to be the correct answer.