Groups

Consider your experiences at work, school, and in your personal life. You have, at some point, been asked to work with a group to achieve a particular goal. It might have been a group research project, a new marketing plan, a learning plan, a schedule to roll out new technology, planning a wedding, or even planning and creating a large family meal. In many collaborative efforts like these, there are disagreements. Select one collaborative experience from your past that involved some disagreements or significant differences of opinion.

Describe the project that you were working on, including the people involved.

1. Explain the problem that you encountered with the group. How was that problem overcome? What was the end result of encountering and dealing with that problem?
2. What do you think was the cause of the problem? How much of the problem came from miscommunication, either from you or from other people involved? What did you do to help resolve the problem?
3. If you were able to relive that experience, how would you change the way that you approached the encountered problem? How would you communicate differently?
4. How, ultimately, was the conflict resolved?