Week 14, Question 3

The one concept that I choose to discuss this week is reward-punishment power. I thought this concept was very interesting. Reward-punishment power is held by an individual who can effectively reward or punish other members of the group. Essentially we all hold this reward-punishment power if we can effectively praise or humiliate your fellow group members. We don't always think of it this way though. We usually think of it as "the ability to materially affect another's well-being in terms of financial rewards or punishments that we consider particularly meaningful." (Harris & Sherblom) We all have experiences with people like this and in some cases it can be ourselves. You may experience it at work with your boss or at home with your parents. Many people try to avoid disagreeing with the person who holds the reward-punishment power in fear of being punished. Unfortunately when group participation is based on regard for reward and punishment power, effective group process may be sacrificed.

Week 14, Question 2

Looking back on the past group work I have done during my time at San Jose State There are many examples I could think of where I have experienced a collaborative conflict. Collaborative conflict is a style that seeks to maximize the gain for all participants. Collaborative conflicts value the relationship between group members and the task. I have had many group experiences where we all worked together to get along and complete the task in a timely manner and do a good job. Competition conflict is the style dedicated to winning. This style can become destructive to a group because it can mean winning at any cost. Competition conflict is low on the relationship and high on the task. I have never personally been involved in competition conflict. I have been very lucky and I've gotten good group members who participate and do their work. Yes there have been some problems, but none where the relationship between me and my group members was compromised. Since I have never been involved in a competition conflict I would have to say that a collaborative conflict resolution is more satisfying to me. It is better for everyone in the long run because it doesn't compromise relationships and it gets your tasks done.

week 14, Question 1

A forum panel, colloquium, and symposium are all composed of some of the same elements, but the way they are performed and delivered is different. For example in a forum the audience gets very involved with the speakers. It's more of a public discussion. A group delivers a speech on a topic or problem and the audience then participates by commenting. The audience members can say if they agreed or disagreed with what was said or they can even offer suggestions or argue the main point. The forum format is often seen in town meetings and public hearings. A panel is different than a forum. In a panel a small group of four to eight experts discuss a problem or decision in front of an audience. There is a moderator who starts the meeting by explaining the format to the audience, introduces the speakers, keeps time and sometimes summarizes the speakers points. The panel never have direct with the audience. In a colloquium the form is a public discussion in which a group of three to six experts, that are usually chosen for their divergent views, discuss a problem in front of an audience with a mediator facilitating their interaction. The purpose of a colloquium is to identify, develop, and work through possible solutions to a problem for the benefit and with the participation of the audience. A symposium is made up of two to six brief speeches made on different aspects of a difficult problem. The speakers are usually experts in different areas related to the problem. The speeches are well prepared and uninterrupted by the audience. If I were to chose one form of discussion I would chose forum because I think that hearing different viewpoints from the audience is more helpful than speaking and not hearing what people really thought of what you said. Some of the comments might be hard to hear, but it will be more helpful than not hearing it at all.

Week 13, Question 3

The concept from chapter 10 that I thought was interesting was emotional barriers to creativity. When you think about being creative you wouldn't think that there would be any emotional strain, but for a lot of people there is. "There are risks and hard work associated with 'going out on a limb' and trying something new. We may have to take more time than we would like, we may make a mistake, and we may risk the censure of our peers by looking foolish or being judged incompetent." (Harris & Sherblom) So many people are worried about what other people think of them. They don't want to be judged and looked at as an outsider. Our society rewards being right and judges people who are "wrong" in their eyes. This often keeps people from expressing their ideas and what they really believe in. Many of the most significant people in the history of our country and inventions have been initially rejected for being too "out there", but that didn't keep them from making a mark on our history. If they had let the emotional strain on what other people think then we wouldn't be where we are today.

Week 13, Question 2

The five barriers to creativity that are discussed in the book are lack of self-confidence, fear of taking risks, feel the need to conform, don not feel we are in an environment that encourages creativity, or find ourselves locked into our habitual ways of looking at the world. I think that these five barriers would definitely keep people in small groups from being creative because people are scared of being judged by others. We are all so concerned with what other people think that we hide behind a wall and don't express what we really think and present our ideas. I have personally experienced these barriers to creativity throughout my whole life. Mainly because I don't think that my ideas are good enough to contribute to the group. This was the way I felt when I was in high school. As I have grown up and gained more self-confidence in my ideas and my work I don't really focus on what other people think. I have learned to throw my ideas out there because people may like them better that I think.

Week 13, Question 1

I don't consider myself to be a creative person. I have always had a hard time coming up with creative ideas when it came to school projects, papers, or even decorating my room. Whenever I would be assigned projects at school I would get overwhelmed with the criteria sometimes. I have gotten better at coming up with new ideas as I have grown up. One recent experience where I had to be creative was in the PR190 class that I am taking. A couple of weeks ago we had to write a practice pitch letter about the Beatles music being released on iTunes. The first sentence of the letter needed to be catchy and grab the readers attention. It had to set up the rest of the letter. At first I sat at my computer and stared at the blank screen for a while trying to figure out what I was going to do. After a while as I was going through some of the song titles I figured out a creative way to use Here Comes the Sun in the opening sentence and play off of it. I know that it doesn't sound like much, but my teacher really liked what I did and I got a good grade on the assignment. This was a big accomplishment for me. I think that my recent experience with creativity strays away from the books definition of creativity a little bit, but it was an accomplishment to me and I think that's what makes creativity and achievable goal.

Week 12, Question 3

One concept from chapter 15 that I thought was really interesting was group performance in CMC. CMC groups perform differently than groups who work together face to face. "CMC has been shown to facilitate active participation and collaboration among team members and to increase the equality of participation among group members." (Harris & Sherblom) When people are involved in a CMC group they tend to make more of an effort to collaborate with their group and show more interactivity. I thought that concept was really interesting. I would have thought that it was the other way around. I would think that people that are in a face to face group would be more actively involved. I know that when I am in a group online I do worry about the work I have to do and I make sure that I get it done on time if not earlier and I am in constant communication with my group members.

Week 12, Question 2

Groups that communicate solely through CMC is a lot different than a group that communicates face to face. Anonymity, group size, diversity and proximity effects the way the group communicates and sometimes the successfulness of the group. Larger CMC groups seem to benefit the most from CMC. They have more ideas generated during brainstorming. Diversity in groups also brings greater idea generation because they have a greater knowledge base and different experiences. Proximity in a CMC group has a big effect as well. CMC groups that don't live in close proxemics to one another are more likely to get their work done in a timely manner. Anonymity of CMC group members also has an effect on the group performance as well. When group members don't know each other there is a pressure placed on them to show their group members that they are reliable and will get the job done. They will show the group that they will work with their fellow members toward the same goal.

Week 12, Question 1

In todays technology driven world computer mediated communication (CMC) dominates the way people communicate with each other. People send text messages, email, write facebook and twitter posts, and create blogs to connect with the rest of the world. We hardly remember what it was like before we made the technological advances. I personally feel that with the CMC dominating the way people communicate I don't think that people effectively communicate when they are face to face anymore. I have met so many people that have the hardest time talking to someone face to face, but they can send text messages all day. Face to face communication is very different than CMC because it shows you what a person is really like. It is easier to interpret their messages because you can sense the tone of their voice and read their nonverbal communication. CMC communication allows a person to respond or ignore someone, whereas face to face requires a response. Although, face to face communication is the least popular choice of people to communicate it is a skill that you should master because it will benefit you in the long run.