Working in a Group Situation Learning how to work effectively in

Learning how to work effectively in a group situation is key to success in today's business world as well as in social situations. Groups vary from each other based on the individuals that compose each group, and all of us belong to various groups at one time or another. The roles that we fulfill vary from group to group, and may even vary within the same group over time. In this course, each class member was assigned to a group and given specific assignments to complete. This paper analyzes the group interaction among one set of individuals.

Initially there were five individuals in this group, four women and one man. Jeannine is in her early 30s, married, taking three courses and a junior. Jeannine assumed the group leader role and tended to over-organize: focus on what the group should be working on rather than actually working on it.

Naomi works full-time, is in her late-twenties, and is due to be married in September. She is quiet, neither assertive nor aggressive, and does not offer much to the group. She is a problem clarifier and summarizer, but not an idea initiator.

Becky is a full-time student and in her early 20s. She is a churchgoer (spending nearly all day Sunday in church) and is a topic jumper, unable to stay focused on the issue at hand.

Carol is 49 years old, the oldest member of the group, married, taking 15 units and a senior. She is an idea initiator and information seeker.

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points: for example, I wanted to discuss Johari's window and felt that we should perform additional analysis of the cases, but Jeannine disagreed, and I backed down. If Jeannine became our group leader, it was in part because I relinquished the role. However, in a group of this size, and for the limited duration of the group's existence, I felt that I could participate without necessarily driving the efforts of the group. After the case presentations, I felt strongly that I would have done better working on the cases alone. Naomi emerged as a summarizer during the case discussions, while Becky was an information provider. I feel that all of us contributed to the case, but also found that we spent too much time on the two cases without much to show for the amount of time invested. We met for a half-hour after class on Thursdays, and arranged several other outside meetings. One day, we spent three hours in the library and accomplished nothing. I came away from these meetings frustrated and irritated. We met at Jeannine's house for three hours to prepare the presentation, and accomplished somewhat more than in the library, but we still had not accomplished anywhere near what I felt would have been possible in a more cohesiv

Category: Psychology - W