Post 1 by Sofia Rangel

 Post 1 by Sofia Rangel, part of Group number three. Reflections of the group presentations for chapters three, nine and ten of Comm6.

Having as reference the book Comm6 Speech and Communication from Deanna D. Sellnow; Kathleen S. Verderber; Rudolph F. Verderber was assigned to three groups chapters three, nine and ten for each of them to make a presentation in which we all had to explain and summarize the contents of each chapter to the class.

The presentation of Group number one was about chapter number three, Intercultural Communication and it focused on the role of communication in the interaction of different cultures. Starting with the description of each concept, our partners shared their understanding of culture as shared values, beliefs or traditions from a community or identity; and communication as a group of rules in a language. Our classmates explained how many factors in the culture, such as co-cultures, culture identity, sexual orientations, race & ethnicity, population, sex & gender, religion, socioeconomic status and age & generation have an important influence in the way people express themselves and transmit their thoughts. They also explained about the potential barriers of different cultures and how they may interfere when communicating and sabotage or disturbed the entire process of effective communication. 

The presentation of Group number two was about chapter number nine, Communication in Groups and it focused on the different types of groups that exist and the role of communication in them. It started with the core of all groups, family, and explained about the types of families, which are protective, consensual, laissez-faire and pluralistic. Our classmates continued and explained about other groups like social groups, support groups, interest groups, service groups, work groups and virtual groups. The characteristics of a healthy group, which are interdependent, cohesive, develop and abide by the productive norm, accountable and synergetic in its different stages. Finishing with the various conflicts that can arise in groups such as pseudo-conflict misunderstandings, issue-related group conflicts, personality-related conflict, culture-related conflict and conflicts in virtual groups.

The presentation of Group number three was about chapter number ten, Leadership, that focused on the most popular practices to successfully guide and organize a group. Our team started with the leadership styles and then explained the task roles of this position, those were givers, seekers, and analyzers, then the maintenance roles also involved, the supporters, interpreters, harmonizers, mediators, tension relievers, expediters, gatekeepers and recorders. We also gave an explanation about how to make effective meetings from both participants and leaders point of view to guarantee its success. Then it was given some guidelines for problem solving and dealing with unexpected hardships, giving a series of general steps: identify and define the problem, analyze the problem, generate a host of solutions, evaluate solutions and decide, and implement the agreed upon solution and assess it. These steps would have to be shared with the group in a written, virtual or oral format. Finishing with the concepts of group dynamics and group presentations. 

The themes of the chapter were deeply related with each other, given that each of them is immensely needed in college and in our professional development. Building skills in communication, work in groups and leadership is very important when thinking about the rest of our academic and laboral life, given that we are highly likely going to be constantly exposed to situations in which we are going to have to use each of these competences. Also we have dealt with them for most of our life as already exposed in the presentations, with the different factor of our culture we see reflected and theorized how the way we are raised, the communities we belong to and the identities we embrace as ours have mold the way communicate, not only through words but also with expressions, affect, gesticulation, etc. In the same way, looking back to our family, our dynamics and those customs we learned from them about how groups work. 

As we can see, communication and  the process of building or acquiring the correct abilities to improve our way to transmit what we think and understand, and empathize with what the others are trying to say is important in all of the dimensions of our lives. It is not only important to improve and learn the correct way to communicate for the “Communication’s class” but it is important in all aspects of life. There are many conflicts and problems that are caused by misunderstandings and failed communication. This is precisely the reason why the book, and the presentations as well, aim to give us some advice to avoid and achieve effective communication.  

In my opinion all the groups did a nice job. We could see how each participant tried to transmit the best they could what they understood of the portion they chose to present of the chapters that were assigned. Also how they tried to help the members that for some reason could not assist and demonstrated their group communication to assess problems that arose during the presentation. 

Emphasizing my group (group number three)I think in some parts most of us could work harder in the cohesion of the group. Probably due to most of us not being familiar with each other, there was not much partnership and the group and we limited ourselves to separate each theme that was going to be presented and help the other if any problem arose, which is fairly good but I hope it can improve in future activities. Other than that I think all the members of the group made their analysis and provided a detailed explanation and examples for all of the class to have clarity on the topics that were explained in chapter then

While listening to the presentations and working on my own, I realized we were also applying and could use many of the guidelines and tips the book provided about group work, communication, presentations, problem-solving, meetings and leadership. Proving the relation between the contents of the chapters three, nine and ten and its relevance and implementation in the activities of the class.