Week-4 Question 2

According to the text, white men privilege is the “assumption of social, economic, and political power in this country has long resided with upper-class and upper middle-class white European males of wealth and privilege.” I think this concept contribute to the many underprivileged groups to not have the courage to claim or to have the right to earn the privilege. Basically, having this privilege, gives the white men an advantage; thus to the non-white men it is disadvantageous.

I agree with this concept. There are many reasons why, people get rewarded, promoted, as well as earn privilege; but we have heard or seen stories when white men get the privilege over women or non-whites just because they are white. This happen, not because all people are racists or white men are superior from others, but it is because they held the power for long time. Whether it is in politics or in many other organizations, the assumptions we have limits our decisions.

Week-4 Question 1

I have been a member of a group that has been stereotyped. I have experienced stereotype in a different forms. One of a group I belong to is African American (black) and I believe it is the group that is most stereotyped. We all have heard (positive as well as negative) black stories of stereotype and it surely exists. One, that is typical for my group is that “we are only good at sports or music and not so good in academic.” But, as far as the group I belong to concerns, that is not the case. Most of the group members have a professional degree; with medical field, law, as well as business. Even though, we all love sports and play sports, that does not mean we are not in to education.

My experiences reflect to the idea the book discuses; “stereotype can be damaging.” They create an image that is not true or right to that group and “disallow for the valuable differences and positive contributions we all receive from each unique individual.” If people allow themselves to see a group such as mine, on the stereotypical eyes, they can fail to notice a great deal of value.

Week 3 Question 3-Groupthink Concept

From this week’s reading one concept that I found interesting was groupthink. It is a concept that was identified by Janis. It is defined “as a strong concurrence seeking tendency among the group members within a group that leads to a deterioration in the decision making process” (Harris 56). It basically refers to flawed decision-making in a group. To the most part, groups experiencing groupthink do not consider all alternatives and they desire unanimity or solving immediate problems at the expense of quality decisions. Groupthink typically occurs when groups are highly organized and when they are under considerable pressure to make a quality decision. Some groupthink symptoms that are discussed in the text are: Illusion invulnerability, collective rationalizing, unquestioned morality, emergence of mind guards…etc. Some negative outcomes also include limited original solution never reevaluated (Not examining early options), not consulting with all members, not seeking expert or outside opinion, being selective in using outside opinions.

Week 3 Question 2: Group Norms

“Norms establish the accepted rules of behavior.” (Harris & Sherblom) Basically, norms guide the group members thinking and actions to pursue the ways that are accepted, valued and trusted to the well being of the group. Norms also function in giving the member of the groups’ a feeling of connectedness with the other members. In addition, when one conforms to group norms it will bring a sense of belongingness and it shows commitment to other group members; as a result, it might also increase the loyalty of the group members.

A few years back, a group of friends and I dined with a man who was visiting from another country. He came from a country where burping was a compliment to the cook. After we had a very good meal, he loudly burped. I felt that was a violation of a norm of dining with people. Nobody actually said anything to him directly, but I could tell through facial expressions almost all of us felt a violation of a norm. The reason being is that we all had a background where burping in front of people (especially while they are eating) was impolite.

Week 3 Question 1: Group Norms

There are certainly group norms at SJSU. According to Harris & Sherblom, “norms can also be explicitly stated or implicitly understood with the group.” At SJSU, by looking at how students are expected to behave in class, we can identify both explicit and implicit forms of norms. For example, students are to come to class regularly and in a timely fashion, they are to come prepared, they are to read the assigned readings, they are to demonstrate a positive attitude, they are to ask relevant questions, they are to participate in discussions, basically, the students as well as the faculty members at SJSU are expected to create a learning environment.

There are also group norms in the group of individual I spend time with. In these groups the norms are implicitly understood. For instance, everyone is expected to respect, trust, and support each other. Respect: treat each other with dignity and value each others opinion. Trust: have confidence that whatever you share with the group it will stay confidential. Support: be there when one of the group members goes through any kind of hardship.

To identify these norms, I watch closely how the other members of the group act and what their expectations are. In essence, when one members of the group go against the group norms, some kind of penalty is imposed in that individual. I get use to these norms by dedicating and committing myself in those norms and the values the norms carry out.

Week 2 Question 3 - Pick one concept from the reading assignment this week (Ch.2) that you found interesting or useful and discuss it. Please discuss

One of the concepts I found interesting from this week’s reading was Wholeness and Synergy. Wholeness is defined as “the result of people working with each other is different from the result of those working in isolation.” In a small group or team there is no “I” which makes everyone responsible to equally contribute for achieving the group’s goal. Everyone in a group has unique gift, talent, and place that are useful toward completing the purpose of the group.

Synergy is “created through the mixing and incorporating of each other’s thoughts and messages.” It is important to realize that just like we have different body parts; hands, feet, arms, legs, etc that works towards making us whole, individuals are like those body parts that complete the group. When these individuals and their talents utilized to making the group whole and achieve its objective, then synergy exists. Over all, groups are team; and like one of my professor said it stands for Together Everybody Achieving More.

Week 2 Question 2- Explain how entropy and equifinality impact small groups.

Groups are defined as two or more people who work regularly with one another to achieve common goals. For a group to achieve its intended goals and become high-performance group, the members need to be able to use their collective skills and behaviors to become an efficient model working towards a common goal.

The impact of entropy could easily jeopardize the group from reaching its goals. When entropy surfaced within any group it has high probability that the group will begin to crumble. Entropy also causes the group to become disorganized and unruly. People will interrupt one another, don't listen, speak simultaneously, and eventually instead of aiming for the common goal of the group, individuals will try to address their own goal.

On the other hand, the impact of equifinality might have a very positive outcome on small group. Individuals in a group might have different ideas, but all those ideas bring about the same common goal of the group. So, in essence equifinality operates as the glue to keep the group focused on the big picture.

Week 2 Question 1

Small groups, must manage and maintain the sufficient degrees of interdependency in order to reach to a common goal. When parts of the system do not function well, the intended goal of the group will not be attained or be a success.

The importance of understanding interdependence and interrelationships can easily be shown in nearly every school group project I have had as a college student. Most of the time, it's very rare that a student would take initiative towards the group project, and only when does deadline approach all the students get together. A student can also take initiative early, but because the project is due weeks later there's a lot of empathy towards the project from the other members. The active student is stuck with wanting to do the project, but does not have the group support to get it started.

I also see the importance of understanding interdependence and interrelationships when I sometimes play soccer. The players must have an understanding of each of the individuals in their team. The team/group functions as a system and each player is parts of the system. The coach demands the interrelationship of those parts to achieve the specific goals and objectives.

Introduction

What’s up all! For this class purpose please call me Nathan. This is my last semester at SJSU majoring in Business Management with a minor Communication Studies. I work 32-40 hrs a week and go to school full time. With my other free time I sleep:) I am fascinated about Communication Studies because I grew up in a bilingual home. I have often thought about how remarkable it is that people usually succeed at understanding each other’s language and non-verbal communications.

Getting by college life is difficult, but the difficulty level raises a few notches when you work full time. For this reason online class is very helpful. My first online learning experience is COMM 181F-Internet Communication class with Professor Ted Coopman. It was very interesting as well as engaging class. A little intimidating at first, but once I got the hang of it was one of the best experiences.

I love sport, music, books as well food. I am looking forward to working with all of you this semester. Remember "Education costs money, but then so does ignorance.":)