Throughout my years at Ryerson, I've had several experiences thus far in working with diverse groups. Although there have been a few memorable and good experiences, there have also been a few bad ones. Nevertheless, being able to effectively work and communicate with other people is a crucial skill to develop if one wants to succeed in their professional career. This report will combine communication theory and my experience in working with my current group for our presentation. Although I had a great time working with the group, there were a few minor bumps in the road, which will be discussed in this report through the concepts of group development, member roles, and conflict management. .
Group Development.
Engleberg (2013) indicates that, "like individuals, groups move through stages as they develop and mature. " These stages, based on Tuckmans model of group development, can be used to describe how our group formed and evolved. .
Forming.
In the initial forming stage, members are generally socially cautious and polite. This was exactly the case during our group's first initial meeting. We first introduced ourselves and got to briefly know one another. It was slightly awkward at first because not all group members were ready to open up. We had as what is referred to as "primary tension, " which is the social unease and stiffness that accompanies the getting acquainted stage in a new group. " Initially, there was not much talking going on but everyone was polite. We established a few goals and set up our meeting dates to ensure that they did not conflict with out schedules.
Storming.
In the storming stage, members often compete for status and openly disagree. This was certainly evident in our group because not everyone agreed on what topic we should do for the presentation. Two of the most confident members in our group began to compete while the rest of us started to build up more tension.
