Ch.2 Question #1

According to the text, interdependence deals with how members of a group depend on one another.  Each member has a task of some sort that they are responsible for and other members of the group count on that individual to complete the task so that the group can grow and achieve their goals together.  If one person fails to achieve their responsibility then the whole group suffers.  In communication it seems that both interdependence and interrelationships are valued.  It is important to have group members that are self sufficient enough to be assigned to a task, do the necessary research, and report back to the group their ideas or look for input.  There needs to be a balance between being independent and working with people; nobody wants to "hold a person's hand" through a task, but everyone should be there to give advice and necessary direction.  On the flip side, no one wants to work with a person who only looks out for themselves and won't communicate with their team.

Throughout my career as a student, I have had to learn how to deal with many different types of people and their different skills.  During one class assignment, I was assigned to a group of six to make a PowerPoint presentation on global warming.  We all exchanged email addresses and checked in with each other on a daily bases to make sure everyone was on task and didn't need any help.  We never heard from one of our group member, so when it came time to present our power point, no one knew what to expect from this student.  Did they get all the necessary info? Did they make it look neat and presentable? Nobody knew the answer.  This person's independent nature and lack of communication caused unnecessary stress on everybody else.

Another example is when I was voted to be head of our groups project.  As the group "manager" it was my job to make sure everyone was understanding and completing their task.  This was a more positive experience because everyone worked very efficiently individually as well as together.  As a result our project had a nice flow to it and everyone contributed to the project equally.

Thanks for checking out my post!
-Jessica

Welcome to my blog!

Hi Everyone,
My name is Jessica or jstoltz89, and I am a senior at SJSU.  I am 21 years old and decided rather late in my college career to become a communications major.  Now that I am a communications major, I am very excited to be enrolled in this class.  Being able to communicate, whether it be in the work place or amongst friends, is a very important skill to have.  For me, one of my biggest struggles is being able to effectively express my ideas and instructions so that people can really understand what I want to try to accomplish.  From this class I would really like to learn the best strategies to communicate in a group of people.  I would also like to learn when the appropriate time is to use different types of communication.  I am really looking forward to getting started in this class and eager to read your different blog posts.  Talk to you soon!
-Jessica
(jstoltz89)