Alba valdes group 3 blog post

Albacecilia valdes 

Throughout my life I've never really ever been a leader, nor have I ever come close to being one. I have also never been super educated on anything related to meetings and how they function, or even on different social groups and such, but I’ve learned a few new things from my Speech class these past couple of weeks. As our first assignment, the class was split into three groups and each one was assigned a topic to create a presentation for. The first group’s topic was on Culture and Communication; therefore, their presentation included details on ethnicity, sex and gender, socioeconomic status, age/generation, power distance, and more. There were so many things I never knew about culture and communication that are so important for meetings, social gatherings, and even social skills in general. They touched up on the importance of having a system of shared beliefs and attitudes along with interactions in order to come together. Along with this, they describe the importance of understanding cultural differences in the business world because it is the basis of all business activities, yet it is something that is usually out of people's conscious awareness. Something I found very interesting was when they talked about cultural shock, because there are 5 phases which include: The Honeymoon Phase, The Rejection Phase, The Regression Phase, Recovery Phase, and Reverse Culture Shock. Basically all phases describe the process from how culture becomes new and exciting, to how someone becomes accustomed to their culture after the in between process. I was able to really understand how culture influences communication because of the way someone grew up and such, which affects how someone’s mind is programmed. Race/ethnicity and sex/gender also play a big part in Culture and Communication. It is important for a group of people to respect each other's language, religion, nationality, history, and sexual orientation. It is important to make people feel comfortable to be proud of who they are and where they come from, and that is okay to be different. Socioeconomic statuses are also very important to respect and understand. There are three categories based on income, education, and occupation, which are: High, Middle, and Low class. Those who have power influence everything around the world which creates a boundary between middle and low class, which can create an awkward tension because those in middle and low class might not feel “worthy” of being in a group with a higher hierarchy. This can also be understood with the concept of Power Distance which includes two positions: High Power distance culture and Low power distance culture. For the high power, there are strict social rules for a person to fit in society and value tradition, as for low power, there is a value in democracy and power has to be equally distributed. Overall, Group one really opened my eyes in terms of realizing how self conscious someone can be about their culture, because it is easy to feel like you don’t fit into society. It really is important to make someone feel welcomed and accepted for who they are and who they will continue to be. 

The second group covered the topic on the different types of groups and their nature. The first thing they talked about was about how each group has a different purpose, but everyone has to come together as a whole depending on their communication as one group. Social groups are groups composed of people who genuinely care about each other and spend time together, basically like a usual group of friends. Support groups are groups with similar experiences and concerns, who create a safe space for everyone included, for example, rehabilitation centers and such. Interest groups are groups of people who try to influence those around them on a basis of common interests or ideas of concern, usually politically or socially involved ideas. Service groups are those groups that do charitable work, volunteer, and are part of organizations and such, for example, first responders. All of these groups are responsible for communicating and interacting correctly in order to function how they should. It is important for these groups to set and agree on a time for meetings, assignments, and any other thing they need established. Purpose,volunteer,expression, support, and goals are part of the process of cohesiveness, which creates a synergetic group; which is crucial for group success. It is important to understand the goal, the roles, and who each person is as an individual. Keeping positive attitudes, open minded mentalities, and showing interest in the people in the group creates a very positive and trusting environment to work in. I think this is very important to understand because it is important to value communication and understanding in order to function well. Culture and conflict also plays a major part in groups because of cultural and communication norms, so it is important to be aware of cultural differences in order to understand each and handle situations appropriately. I never realized how many different types of groups there were until group two touched up on their chapters. I do agree that it is very important to understand the people in a group in order to work properly and get the best results of whatever it is the group is trying to work diligently on. 

The last group was the group I was in, which was all about leadership. This topic was my favorite not because it was my group, but because leadership has always been something I have always felt I lacked in. This section of the chapter really helped me understand what it means and what it takes to be a leader. In a group a leader should always be established, and apparently it’s very easy to identify who is the leader off the bat. For example in our group, Greg was our leader, why? Well greg was easily comfortable in taking action and was okay with being the boss and working out how things will function. He easily communicated with each member without a worry, and obviously revealed himself as an extrovert. In this section I feel like I realized how much it takes to establish roles that fit perfectly with an individual. There are just certain characteristics some people have that others don't, which all tie into the process of how the group will be functioning based on your assigned role.  In this section it also went into depth of how to deal with miscommunication and conflict in groups, as well as how to function well and appropriately in meetings, whether in person or virtually. With this presentation I actually took some pointers from the chapter and made myself another leader second to Greg. I realized I had to break out of my shell and take action in order to have the group function well. I established the importance of submitting the videos to me and Amanda on time, and consequences of not doing their part of the work. It felt good to take action and have people listen to me, I felt like a different person and overall I realized that in all honesty, I think I make quite a good leader.