Reflection Of Group Dynamics

Group Dynamics is the study of groups and how the people within them interact with each other. This semester I have been both a participant and an observer in the Guide to Purpose and Success class. This allows me to assess and analyze how I function in groups and how those around me function in groups. All groups are set up in different ways, and studying this group allowed me to gain knowledge about myself and society as a whole. As a participant, when we would form smaller groups to discuss a subject I often found myself taking on an initiative role. An initiator proposes task or goals and suggests procedures for getting the task accomplished. For example, when we got into groups to work on run-on sentences or fragments I would start off …show more content…
As a class, we would often challenge each other 's views which allowed for a safe space to voice your opinion. I also learned that when given shared tasks groups have to start off by getting to know each other. Establishing trust is an important part of coming together to accomplish a common goal. Then people start to challenge group goals which creates the leader of the group. After that, responsibilities are divided amongst individuals and everyone takes on a certain role. By this time, any kind of conflict is resolved and any kind of concern is addressed. As a result, you obtain a mature group which is accepting of each other and can work together more efficiently. This particular group showed signs of these various stages and because of it were able to function more …show more content…
This group has taught me that people often say a great deal through body language and we can 't be dismissive of it. In the beginning, I thought that verbal communication was more important than nonverbal communication because it just seemed to be more effective. Over time, I have come to understand just how powerful nonverbal communication can be. For example, throughout the term we had many guest speakers come and voice their opinions on certain topics. The class responded better to guest speakers who had style to their presentation as opposed to those who just read off of PowerPoint slides. The guest speakers who had good posture and used hand gestures were more likely to be praised. As a result, the message they were trying to convey along with the way they carried themselves was more