Avoidance in Conflict Management

I felt Avoidance in Producing Conflict Management was quite fascinating and very helpful to be aware of in this chapter and in general because I am guilty of avoiding confrontation with individuals by just letting it go. However as even the text mentioned how avoiding a conflict within a small group can be destructive especially to the productivity of the outcome of the group's roles and responsibilities because we can't avoid an issue forever, it needs to be resolved. Avoidance can take some tension off and leave some ease if a group is coming to its' boiling point, however it all depends how much tension there is and to be aware of that avoiding something will not always be able to be the resolution. I found this section in the paper to be interesting and good to be aware of.
After reading this part of the chapter, I became more aware of how I can handle avoidance better when in a small group or evento large group.

CH.12: Collaborative Conflict Resolution

An example of a collaborative conflict resolution I have engaged in was when I was when a small group of about five to six of us were in a team meeting and two of the group members were not in a agreement with each other just because they were both two different people, the rest of us had to decide how to resolve the current conflict in both the individuals. So myself and a fellow group member of mine started changing the subject to get the girls attention away from arguing with each other and to focus on something they both could agree on. Our technique on chaning the subject kind of worked then, it made one of the individuals leave the room. How the conflict was solved was by giving both the group members time and within a few days, and they were okay with each other. Competitive conflict has more to do with making decisions straight on the subject while avoiding personal tasks at hand. Using competition to assign leadership roles is the most efficient way to assess which individual is able to hand each responsibility at hand. I prefer collaborative conflict resolution because I am not a competitive person in general, I like to work with others as a team, "there is no I in team" which is what I strongly believe in, so to be able to work together in a group and be creative on solving the conflict is how I like and eould go about resolving a conflict in a small group.

CH.11: The Forum

If I had to choose one specific format for group presentations, I would choose and prefer the "forum" because the whole idea about a small or to even large group, is that people in the group get to be heard, and through the forum format and technique, there is a moderator who choose who gets to speak however the fact that people do get to voice their opinions and comments and have their voices heard. The speakers get to present and support arguments as the text mentioned and they get to ask questions based on what was stated by the other speaker. There are time limits however I believe it is important that people get to be heard in a group discussion because not everyone gets to speak in other formats such as a panel or in the colloquium or the symposium. With the panel, speakers get to make claims and arguments that others part of the group also may agree with and to be able to have that time to speak for others who are unable to speak for themselves and take a position in what was being stated is imperative in communication in a small group to a large group.

Solving Problems Creatively

A concept from the reading I found interesting that we have not discussed this week is solving problems creatively which is on page 174 in our text. This topic discusses five suggestions when we are unable to think of a creative idea. The five suggestions are: trigger your unconscious which means to take a break from what we are currently thinking about on trying to solve a problem. What can help during that break is taking a walk, or some form of exercise, something that will help clear our head. The second suggestion is to loosen your mind which means to let our mind wander a little, that way we will be able to come back to the task at hand and feel more refreshed. The third is break down the problem into a series of doable tasks which means the problem can be broken down into sections such as questions or a series of problems broken down so we can solve them one at a time. The fourth is to do some research which can help show us some examples in the same type of problem that is occurring somewhere else. The fifth one is ask yourself questions such as what are the different parts to the problems? Can I apply knowledge from other situations to this one? (Harris & Sherblom, 2011, 174). I found these five suggestions to be interesting and helpful because I never really thought of being able to solve problems creatively by these five different suggestions that I read in the text.

Cultural Barriers to Creativity

Five cultural barriers to creativity according to our text are, "a requirement for conformity, an expectation of politeness and efficiency, an expectation of politeness and of following rules for social order, a trust in the power of reason and logic, and a belief in an either/or perspective on issues" (Harris & Sherblom, 2011, 168). I have seen either some or all of these cultural barriers to creativity when it comes to working in small groups or even larger groups. I especially have seen on one of the cultural barriers on the expectation of politeness and efficiency take place which does not allow creativity to occur because creativity is based on being unique and some people may have their own creative way on being polite and efficient in the process at hand. However to others, their expectation of politeness and efficiency may not be the same standards or perceived differently. That's why I think how these cultural barriers would keep a group from being creative because they block individuals in a group from being themselves, by showing their creative side. Creativity is and should be encouraged and embraced in a group especially when everyone or some of the individuals can use their creativity to help lead the group to complete the task(s) at hand in a more better and successful way. Personally, I have experienced each of these cultural barriers in the past when in groups, however the main barrier I will always remember was when I was in the process of joining a group and the requirement for conformity was a huge cultural barrier to creativity in and for this group and for me especially because I had to conform to cultural expectations and norms of that group and there was no room for creativity. All of the new individuals in the group such as myself could not be creative because we had to conform to what the group members wanted us to do and act. So due to not being available for required events, I ended up leaving the group. One of the main things I learned from being a part of that group for that short period of time is that, we need to beat those cultural barriers in creativity because when we are in the position that we have to conform to other individuals' rules and regulations, unless we have to, if we have the choice, and if we want to continue to be able to show our uniqueness and want our creativity to be acknowledged and welcomed, then we must choose the best route for us to take in forms of that group we are in.

Creativity: Example of Personal Experience vs. CH's Discussion

I believe we are all creative in our own ways. I really like how the text stated,
"When what you do is new, different, and helpful, it shows creativity" (Goman, 2000). There are quite a few other definitions on what creativity is, however for example, I always say I use my creativity when it comes to writing birthday cards, and various cards for different occasions. The way I like to design the cards, put different stickers, put unique quotes, make the card colorful. I use my creativity to complete the card. When it comes to small groups, since we all do not think the same, it is important to use our own creativity to an advantage. Like that saying goes, "two heads are better than one." Same goes with creativity, when one member of a group may have a creative idea about something, and someone else has another. When we put both of the individuals' creative ideas together, that can help the group complete the task(s) at hand. Creativity when I design and add to cards for different occasions fits in with the chapter's discussion of creativity because the text discussed how "creativity is the result of looking at things and seeing them in a new way.." (Harris & Sherblom, 2011, 164). Individuals who are creative generate ideas and make something happen as a result. So whenever we have to write a card for a certain holiday in my family, or for a wedding, or birthday, or a thank you card, my family always have me write it and design the card(its a Hallmark card) and I just add to the card and fill it up with the usual words and depending on the occasion, that is when creativity comes in by me using certain stickers, certain colors to make the card look nice and have the end result. Another example how creativity in a small group based on the chapter's discussion is, if one individual had a neat and creative idea, a different approach(seeing something in a new way, a new perspective), as the text mentioned, that idea can help add to the group's task at hand, and strengthen the end result or product.

Effective CMC Group Meeting Facilitation

An interesting concept I found from this chapter that we have not already covered was Table 15.5 which discussed Effective Computer-Mediated Group Meeting Facilitation on page 276. It mentioned how just how face to face groups have a meeting facilitator have guidelines to follow, an effective CMC group meeting facilitator should also for example encourage group responsibility, and promote member ownership of the group process and results, they should listen, clarify, and be able to integrate new ideas. They should help keep the group focused on the goals and to develop and present clear and concise well-developed ideas. Also to create and continually reinforce an open, positive and participatory environment. I felt this one task/goal the facilitator should engage is so imperative especially in a CMC group because it is easy to not stay on task when not meeting in person and follow behind in tasks in a small group so it is important for the group facilitator to keep the group on track and to meet the group's goals and to stay on track.

Anonymity, Group Size, and Proximity

Since anonymity has to do with how one chooses to hide their identity or to remain anonymous, group size is how many individuals there are in a group and how that group size affects how the group carries their selves, and proximity is how much space we can occupy, all three of these factors can influence participation and communication in CMC groups because for example, if I were to be in a small group of about five to ten people and we are all trying to finish as project via online because none of us are able to meet, that is where proximity comes in because depending how far apart each individual is from each other, that can affect why we are not able to meet in person or if one or two of the five to ten students is in another country and we are talking to them over skype, proximity comes in and group size plays a big factor as well. Anonymity in CMC groups can influence participation and communication in CMC groups because if an individual in the small group doesn't feel like sharing their information with others or felt overwhelmed with the tasks at hand, the individual's communication and participation would be influenced by staying anonymous in certain activities.

CMC vs. f2f communication

Computer-Mediated Communication versus or compared to Face-to-Face (FTF) Communication are different in several ways. One way being, CMC groups tend to take longer to complete a task and that is usually so because when we are face to face, we are able to delegate to the person in that small group what task needs to get done and that individual can either write what they have to do down, and as a group we know that person received the message at task at hand. However, if an individual was told through computer mediated communication such as an e-mail, unless that person responds within a few hours or whenever, as a group, we will not know that individual received that e-mail or even looked at it unless we send a follow up e-mail and they said they received it. That is why CMC groups usually take longer to complete a task in comparison to individuals using face to face communication. Another way how CMC is different than f2f communication is, "when time is limited, CMC groups perform better than FTF groups on tasks that are less involving" (Harris & Sherblom, 2011, 264). That is a true statement because I've even personally noticed this, that when I have worked in a group online (CMC), members of the group were more prompt and willing to get the task done within limited time because they knew no one would be right there in front of them to tell them what to do, and all of us were able to perform better because we did not have to deal with seeing each other face to face and see the different actions of other members and deal with any expressions if someone did not want to participate, or were not willing to, or show signs of disbelief if we had limited amount of time to complete a task.