I hope the Schein Team on Maintenance Roles has much more than what I’ll share here, and I don’t mean to preempt them, but I do want to comment on the care group members showed to each other yesterday.
First, two of you did remember to watch the clock, so I was able to participate in the candelight vigil “in time” with others around the world. Thank you. 
While you were getting organizing in your Schein Teams, I overheard a comment in the Communication Team concerning a layering of stages of group development. This is a sophisticated notion and I was very pleased to hear it! The Team was discussing how to identify different stages, grappling with the fact that things in real life rarely match theoretical models. What <I>are</i> the relationships between observable behaviors (individual and patterned) and determinations of the status of a group-as-a-whole? Each new fishbowl constitutes a new group: they begin “at the beginning” and could get stuck anywhere along the way. As a subgroup of our entire class/group, their ways of communicating, deciding, switching between maintenance and task roles (to name some categories) can reflect the overall group-as-a-whole stage, or serve to work out particular elements on behalf of all of us, or dash us all back into a previous stage where there might be some unfinished business.
Some of the challenges we are now being faced with concern members who have been absent and return. So much occurs in each class session, and we are trying to attend to so many threads and layers, that keeping up through the wiki – while possible (and encouraged!) – is insufficient by itself. Hopefully, everyone is paying attention to the members of your Team who are not present (for whatever reason), and are proactively doing what you can to keep them in the loop.
Did anyone notice anything interesting about how Fishbowl K proceeded in comparison with Fishbowls H and I (Week Six). Several people chuckled when one of the fishbowl “fish” misspoke while trying to say “diverse” (it came out, initially, as “divorce”). A theory of group relations would not ignore the potential “Freudian slip” quality of this faux paux. There was (wasn’t there?) some tension in Fishbowl K. I was fascinated by what seemed to be almost a reversal of dynamics that had occurred before, including the application of similar strategies but with a markedly changed tone. I thought it significant, later in the Fishbowl, when the same “fish” expressed relief at Sara’s statement that she did not think the coursewiki/webpage had to be comprehensive. If you noticed something, please reply and share your observations and thoughts! For bonus (!), please quote (or paraphrase) from Weber (on the Life Cycle of Groups/Stages of Group Development) to provide a theoretical ground for the meaning you propose to make of your perceptions. Note this information on virtual communities, too.
References:
What to Observe in a Group, by Edgar H. Schein
The Group: A Cycle from Birth to Death by Richard C. Weber. Reading Book for Human Relations Training (Arlington, Va.: National Training Laboratories, 1982), 68-71.
Wednesday April 2, 2008 at 8:47 pm
Because I had not set my class schedule in stone on Spire before the Add/Drop period ended, I believe the first class I attended was the fourth class. Obviously, an infancy stage occurred, but I believe that when I joined, the class as a whole was just beginning to move into the Adolescent stage of “Storming”. In Weber’s article, he explains how the “experience of a ‘bad group’ is attributed to poor leadership, a lack of compatability of the members, lack of time, or innatention to process.” Now, I don’t think we’re a bad group at all, considering all the factors that have come into actually forming this group. But two of those attributions of a bad group that I think we definitely fall under are “a lack of compatability of the members” and “lack of time”. We didn’t all decide to take the class because of a common interest of wanting to learn about group dynamics. Some joined to fulfill a requirement; others may have joined because it was the only class available to fit their schedule. Sure, some may have joined because they were actually interested in learning about group dynamics, but the fact is that not all of us joined this group for the same interest and/or reason. Also, we obviously are experiencing a lack of time. The class, or group, only lasts for one semester, and will be disengaged next month. With this lack of time, many of the decisions we will make and have been making are rushed and/or contrived to attempt and accommodate for the duration of the class. While I do believe that the direction and pace we are moving at will ultimately end with a quality product that will be attractive to at least next semester/year’s COMM352 class, it will not end up with the same quality it could if the class were, say, a year long. Through Fishbowl K, it is evident to me that we are right at the end of the “Storming” stage and beginning to enter into the Adulthood stage of “Norming and Performing”. Weber, in his article, says that in the “Storming” stage, “individuals start to respond to the perceived demands of their task, usually with a full range of emotions.” We have definitely gone through this full range of emotions, ranging from anger to impatience and desperation, and I can see that we are finally starting to become a cohesive unit and, as Steph said, we are starting to care about each other, as opposed to trying to establish our place and establish a designated leadership. As I said, I completely support Sedona1’s idea of setting up committees to move things along in the process, and also the idea of writing up a concrete proposal for change if someone does not like the way things are going. Through Sedona1’s actions in trying to set up these committees and gaining some order to the whole process, she supports Weber’s claim, and mine, that “as group members persevere in their attempts to create acceptable order/process for decision making within the group, they will lead themselves into Stage III (the Adulthood stage).” I can definitely see that meaningful, functional relationships are beginning to form. The majority of people talk before, during, and after class about how their spring break was, how they’re doing in another class, or how their weekend was. I’m just hoping I’m correct that we’re finally moving into Stage III, because going through Stage I and II all over again would be hell.
Wednesday April 2, 2008 at 8:51 pm
P.S. Sorry about the huge block of text. For some reason, I always neglect to break the text into separate paragraphs when I’m typing in a box like this.
I’ll work on that for my next post.
Friday April 4, 2008 at 1:18 pm
“As group members persevere in their attempts to create acceptable order/process for decision making within the group, they will lead themselves into Stage III. The activity and skills gained in this stage are essential for the group to proceed. If the group tries to escape from the unpleasantries of this stage, it will experience failure and will return to stage I and II again until the process is completed and power issues identified, including the mechanics of decision making.”
I have a lot of hope for our group. I feel as though the struggle and frustration that we have gone through is now serving us as a catalyst for progress into the 3rd stage, and cementing us there. I can attest from personal experience that my own frustration and impatience has been bubbling steadily in the weeks to the point where I now feel motivated to take action even if just for the mere purpose of relieving this festering impatience arising from the Storming stage.
By taking action, I also find myself feeling more involved in the whole project. Whereas before I felt like it was another lame class assignment, which I didn’t care much for and didn’t see the point in, I now feel excited at the possibilities that may unfold. I think my classmates have come up with some incredible ideas and I am intrigued to see where this could go.
“With the frustration of the first two stages behind, the group can finally pull together as a real group, not merely a collective of individuals. Here the group becomes a cohesive unite as it begins to negotiate roles and processes for accomplishing its task.”
Yup, I can see this beginning to take stage.
“Functional relationships are explored and established in spite of differences. The group is ready to tackle its goals, working together collaboratively. With the accomplishment of some goals, group members may gain and share insights into the factors that contribute to or hinder their success.”
I believe we are right on our way onto this stage. In a way we have already begun to tackle goals and are beginning to work more cohesively. As we slowly begin to figure this out, we are becoming more aware of the factors contributing and hindering our success. A lot of time has been spend on misdirected energy, but that was part of the learning curve. As we learn to channel our energy in a more efficient and effective manner we will see more results and a correlating reduction in tension and frustration.
Sunday April 6, 2008 at 1:01 pm
I completely agree with the post from sedona 1. The class seems to have left the “storming” stage and is beginning to enter into the functional relationship stage.
According to Weber “Functional relationships are explored and established in spite of differences. The group is ready to tackle its goals, working together collaboratively. With the accomplishment of some goals, group members may gain and share insights into the factors that contribute to or hinder their success.”
This quote from Webers article does a good job of describing what went on in the last fishbowl last week. There was a lot of discussion around wanting to “take the next step” and working together. Some goals have been accomplished by deciding who are target audience will be, and it was agreed that we need to begin to designate areas of interest for the project. I’m hoping to see that take place next class.
Now that the class has left the storming phase, which I felt like we were in for a long time, probably like four classes! I feel excited, much like sedona to see what our final product will look like!
Sunday April 6, 2008 at 9:45 pm
I thought that the last fishbowl was interesting. While there was some tension at certain points (deciding who are “target” is going to be and what we are going to contribute) the overall attitude of the fishbowl seemed to be productive. I think that the fishbowl represents the attitude and stages of the larger class and we are now entering “Adulthood.”
I think this because according to Weber, “With the frustration of the first two stages behind, the group can finally pull together as a real group, not merely a collection of individuals. Here the group becomes a cohesive unit as it begins to negotiate roles and processes for accomplishing its task.” We as a group have begun to “negotiate roles” and “processes” for getting our course wiki together. Whether its in class or on wordpress.
On a side note an interesting thing that I noticed from the homework assignment about the quadrants within a group. The “Principles of Change” rule #4 says that “forced awareness (exposure) is undesirable and usually ineffective. I had originally thought that using Weber’s guide we would have an easier time “getting through” the stages, but that wasn’t the case. According to these rules of Change, “forced awareness” can even be counterproductive.
Monday April 7, 2008 at 12:03 pm
As I was re-reading the Cycles from Birth to Death article by Weber the same quote struck me as Sedona1, “As group members persevere in their attempts to create acceptable order/process for decision making within the group, they will lead themselves into Stage III. The activity and skills gained in this stage are essential for the group to proceed. If the group tries to escape from the unpleasantries of this stage, it will experience failure and will return to stage I and II again until the process is completed and power issues identified, including the mechanics of decision making.” I think this completely explains our classes struggle from the Adolescence stage in to the Adulthood stage. I think that we are just entering the third stage which will be when we are able to make the final decisions as a group. We have grown and matured together as a group with this assignment and it is time to keep moving forward on the struggle to come up with the perfect comprehensive Class Wiki. As we have entered into the Norming and Performing stage three of the cycle, “the group can finally pull together as a real group, not merely a collection of individuals.” Each fishbowl seems to make more and more progress and “the group is ready to tackle its goals, working together collaboratively.” Hopefully this week in class we will start to see that, “tasks are being accomplished by recognizing unique talents in the group-leading where appropriate and sanctioned and following where productive and necessary.” Our class has struggled through the same cycle as many other groups but we have made our own identity through the whole experience and are unique through it all. I am very excited to see what further work we accomplish through this final Adulthood stage of the cycle.
Saturday August 16, 2008 at 7:36 pm
[...] for the mere purpose of relieving this festering impatience arising from the Storming stage” (http://aplaceinspace.wordpress.com/2008/04/01/emergence-of-care-as-a-group-norm/#comment-967). Although this person is having problems within their group, but they know that by having patience [...]
Saturday August 16, 2008 at 8:09 pm
[...] left the “storming” stage and is beginning to enter into the functional relationship stage” (http://aplaceinspace.wordpress.com/2008/04/01/emergence-of-care-as-a-group-norm/#comment-976). It seems that the consensus is that their class was not going the way they wanted, but is finally [...]
Saturday August 16, 2008 at 8:37 pm
[...] left the “storming” stage and is beginning to enter into the functional relationship stage” (http://aplaceinspace.wordpress.com/2008/04/01/emergence-of-care-as-a-group-norm/#comment-976). It seems that the consensus is that their class was not going the way they wanted, but is finally [...]
Saturday August 16, 2008 at 9:22 pm
[...] for the mere purpose of relieving this festering impatience arising from the Storming stage” (http://aplaceinspace.wordpress.com/2008/04/01/emergence-of-care-as-a-group-norm/#comment-967). Although this person is having problems within their group, but they know that by having patience [...]