Thursday, March 3, 2011
Week 6, Question 1
I think the use of a consultant or an observer for a small group is very important to evaluate the success of a group. Bringing in someone who doesn’t have any connection with the group is beneficial because they don’t have any biases. I think that having someone who isn’t connected to the group is more beneficial because they can provide feedback that is more helpful. They are there to discuss what worked well between the group members and what they accomplished during their time as a group. They also can provide feedback that someone within the group might have missed. Groups can think that they worked well together, but when an outsider is looking at the group they can point out things that might have been overlooked by the group members. Just because a group accomplished a task on time does not necessarily mean that they accomplished it well. Receiving effective feedback from an outsider will definitely benefit a group for the better.
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Having an "outsider" observe a group is definitely an effective way to evaluate the success (or even failures) of a group. While the people within the group may think that an outsider doesn't have legitimate knowledge about the group because they are obviously OUTSIDE of the group, an outsider's feedback can be very useful because like you mentioned, it is not biased. In addition, an outsider may notice other behaviors that are effecting the group's success which people within the group may overlook. I think this theory applies to anybody who has ever been in the position of observing another group, whether it be formally or informally. For example, when I go out to the mall or the store I tend to notice the ways other people, families, or groups of friends behave when they are out in public together and a lot of the time I end up thinking to myself "do these people know what they are making themselves look like when they behave like that?" This shows the importance of having an outsider provide feedback, because as an outsider I have noticed things that the people within the group have not noticed.
ReplyDeleteGood job on your post. I totally agree with when you stated that “bringing in someone who doesn’t have any connection with the group is beneficial because they don’t have any biases.” The problem that I noticed that many groups have is that they have a hard time making decisions because everyone wants their idea to be the right one, and they will debate about it until they lose or the group gives in. Having a consultant solves that problem because like you said they don’t “have any connection with the group” meaning they are like the mediator. The observer or consultant could listen to each of the group members ideas and then pick the best one that would benefit the group.
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