Yeni Peraza - Blog Post
Introduction
As the class presents and interpret these 3 chapters, the main idea behind it all is to understand the importance of communication. The first chapter touches on the topic of intercultural communication and how different cultures/beliefs influence multiple aspects. The following chapter begins by identifying what a group is and the different kinds while also expressing the significance of communication within a group. Chapter 9 and chapter 10 have huge similarities which directly ties them hand and hand. The final chapter thoroughly illustrates the influence a leader has in their group and the ability to properly solve the issue at hand. Understanding each of these chapters allows us to fully comprehend how each of them connect with one another and how it is used in our daily lives.
Group 1
To begin, Group 1 had the luxury to express the true meaning behind intercultural communication. Culture is the "system of shared values, beliefs, attitudes, and norms that guides what is considered appropriate among an identifiable group of people." Now by knowing the true definition of culture, it better leads us to understand what intercultural communication. Intercultural communication " refers to the interactions that occur between people whose cultures are so different that communication between them is challenging." A perfect example of this is when a latin comes from their home country to the United States searching for a better future for themselves and family. The latinx community struggles immensely with the huge language barrier place and cultural shock. Luckily, there are different ways to overcome this situations such as applications that translate between various languages and/or finding someone who is bilingual and able to interpret and translate whats being said. The United States dominate culture has evolved over the years. Before, it was mainly Western European; "privileged the values of white, English-speaking, Protestant, heterosexual men." After the 1960s, the United States shifted to a bicultural society where all the other cultures present are respected and acknowledged. Each culture has its belief regarding numerous things such as sex and gender, sexual orientation, religion, the feminine and masculine roles, and much more. Some cultures are more head-strong towards social controversies such as sexual orientation and how much the typical feminine and masculine roles need to be enforced whereas other cultures are more lenient to the idea.
Group 2 went more in depth regarding communication within a group setting. To be specific, a group is "a collection of about 3 to 20 people who feel a sense of belonging and attempt to influence each other to accomplish a common purpose." Different kinds of groups include families, social groups, support groups, interest groups, services groups, work groups, and virtual groups. Everyday we find ourselves in multiple groups without even realizing it. These groups are created to allow people to find a sense of community, not only that but it is also to let people engage with one another in a group setting. For example, the support group is purposely made to provide comfort and encourage people they are not alone in whatever they may be going through, and are there to help. Healthy groups are created "around a contructive purpose and characterized by ethical goals, interdependence, cohesiveness, productive norms, accountability, and synergy." This basically means the main goal is to maintain honesty, be honorable, and have cohesiveness. These kinds of groups have team-building activities to assist its members to create better habits and norms. In order to create these better habits, the group has to go through multiple stages of development that include, forming, storming, norming, performing, and finally adjourning and transforming. The beginning stages include forming that has the orientation followed by storming where members wish to have their ideas accepted and are only searching to fit in within the group. After this, norming is used to increase the trust and motivation of the group to achieve the common goal. Norming typically ties in with performing which its purpose is to create harmony, productivity, and shared leadership. Finally, adjourning is the celebration of achieve the set goal and transforming to continue their purpose with a new goal set. Ultimately, in every group there will never be perfect harmony and thats where conflicts arise. Members can typically have pseudo-conflict which is where they actually agree but believe they disagree due to poor communication skills. This is the reason why communication is such an important aspect of life.
Lastly, in Group 3, we went into detail about group leaders and how to appropriately go about a problem and finding the solution. In a group setting, whether it is at work, at school, or even at an organization for a cause; the leader must lead by example, constantly guiding their team to success. One of the many roles as a leader is to be willing to provide advice and assistance when needed. With the position, leaders are responsible to delegate various tasks to their peers to ensure every aspect of the project is covered and completed on time. The leader is expected create harmony within the team, and relieve any tension that might be occurring. When a problem arises, the leader must act quickly to identify the issue and figure out the solution. As a group, any kind of information found must be shared with the entire group either in a tangible or intangible form. Another important aspect of working as a team is evaluating everyones effectiveness. The leader of the group is not the only one who can evaluate the team members, everyone can express their internal thoughts regarding the work ethic another put in. One of the two ways to evaluate can be by creating a formal report on progress and to simply describe the overall performance of the members. At the end of the day, the presentation the group does at the end demonstrates the efforts each member provided, and individual as well. With this, it is clear there was open communication, everyone worked in conjunction, and everyone did their part.
Very nice!
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