SPC1017 Group 1 Blog - Andres E Bravo

I am part of group 1 in SPC1017, and we presented first in our class. I am amazed on our fast coordination and teamwork for being the first group to present in the class. We were going blind and yet we did a great job. After the second class we had in the course was over me and my team discussed who will talk and present each mini chapter of chapter 3. I was assigned to talk about 3.3a Individualism and Collectivism. My mini chapter of the book was not very long, it was around 1 page long, but the chapter talked about how we behave as a culture.

For example, some cultures like the United States are individualistic while Japan is collectivist.
Individualism and Collectivism affect many aspects of our society like our self-esteem and self-concept. People in individualistic cultures tend to base their self-esteem on personal achievements while people on collectivist cultures tend to base it from group projects and achievements. Another aspect is how people in in individualistic cultures try to solve and fix problems by themselves while collectivist usually avoid argument and try to fix problems together and in an organized manner. And lastly another good aspect that I noticed in our groups and how we are an individualist group. This is because we coordinated ourselves so that each member talks about 1 division of the chapter instead of all of us talking about chapter 3 altogether. 

 

Chapter 3 of the book talked about how we behave as a society, another good minichapter that was related to mine was 3.1 Culture and Communication. Culture is a set of values and shared beliefs that are considered acceptable amongst a certain group of people and a culture is developed by people with similar life experiences and traditions are passed down from generation to generation.

Another good minichapter that was discussed was 3.2d Sexual orientation. Sexual orientation is an enduring pattern of romantic or sexual attraction to persons of the opposite sex or gender, the same sex or gender, or to both sexes or more than one gender. The dominant American culture has historically valued and privileged heterosexuality. People who deviated from the heterosexual norm were often severely mistreated. Although laws that reflect a change in attitude toward sexuality are gaining popularity, people who are not heterosexual still face discrimination, as well as legal and physical threats. Therefore, co-cultures exist across the country based on the collective experiences of those who embrace a sexual orientation that is not hetero-sexual.

Finally, another mini chapter that is worth mentioning was 3.2g Age/Generation. Co-culture distinctions can be resulted from those who have lived in the same generation. For example, those that have lived during the Great Depression may be abstinent, Baby Boomers may be skeptical to authority, Gen “Z’ers cam be categorized as adaptable, and those born after the 90’s and life after 9/11, have no clue of world violence and the realities of school, but tend to be adept to technology, multitask, and acknowledge differences. When those from different generations interact, conflict can occur as different understandings of respect (for example) between those from earlier generations and other born after the 1960s.

Group 2 presented chapter 9 and it was very informative and a good presentation for the contents of the book. Chapter 9 puts a lot of emphasis in specific groups. If chapter 3 talked about our society as a whole, then chapter 9 tried to choose specifics of that society. Example of groups include clubs, classes like this one, friendship groups or pretty much any group. Groups consists of 3 or more people who feel a sense of belonging and they influence each other. Group communication is all the verbal and nonverbal messages shared among members of the group. A family is a group of people who through their communication generate a sense of home, group identity, history, and future. Families can be nuclear (consisting of two parents who live together with their biological or adopted children), single parent (consisting of one adult living with their children), extended (consisting of a parent or parents and children living with grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles, or other relatives), blended (consisting of committed or married adults living with the children of their previous marriages and relationships as well as perhaps the children of their union), as well as unrelated by either blood or marriage.

And finally group 3 presented chapter 10 Group Leadership and Problem Solving. The last group that presented had the shortest presentation, but it was very straightforward and precise on describing the contents of the book. It talks about leadership, formal leaders, informal emergent leaders, shared leadership, and functions. A leadership is a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal, I believe my group did not have a leader but there were some people that stepped up to direct some things like for example the PowerPoint presentation. although a group may have a formal leader, a person designated or elected to oversee the group process, a series of informal emergent leaders, members who help lead the group to achieve different leadership functions, make for effective leadership in groups.

Task leadership roles help the group acquire, process, or apply information that contributes directly to completing a task or goal. Maintenance leadership roles are the sets of behaviors that help the group develop and maintain cohesion, commitment, and positive working relationships. A highly regarded motivational speaker who focuses on effective leadership, claims that these relational skills are the most important ones for effective leadership, even more important than task roles.

In conclusion I learned a lot on these first presentations. From watching them and doing one myself. It was a great experience, and I had a lot of fun. I decided to record my presentation and include it in the PowerPoint, and it was fun to do because I messed up the recording a lot so I added a little video at the end for comedic purposes. Overall, a great experience and I can’t wait to do it again soon.