Hello Class,
The concept I have chosen from chapter 7 to discuss is “Group
Size: How Big Is a Small Group.” The reason why I found this concept interesting
to discuss is because it talks about how a group begins at three people, and
how communication changes when a third person is added to a group. I feel that I
am a prime example of this concept. Since I am involved on a football team and
we are around each other for the most part of our day we build relationships
with one another.
Even though we are all on the same team and talk to one
another, we still have our little groups within the group. On page 168, Trenholm
discusses that once people in the group do not relate to one another in the
group, they sail off into smaller groups, which then make them into bigger
groups. That’s basically the concept with our team. We all love doing the same
thing and want to win, but at certain points outside of football we all have
different values and morals, and those are what separate us into our different
groups.
Hey!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing! In The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell, I remember him stating that a cohesive group cannot productively function with over 120 members. Though your football team might not have 120 members, I assume it is still very large. From my experience on the Cal Poly softball team, as well as in my sorority, the small, sub-groups you mentioned are altogether too familiar. What Gladwell pointed out is that after 120 members the “six degrees of separation” is too far; with groups that get too large there is no way to keep in contact with all the members, thus smaller groups form within the group. What is interesting to me is that on a smaller scale, the softball team at Cal Poly, and perhaps you can relate with your football team, the sub-groups caused much more unrest than when subgroups are formed on a larger scale, like in the case of my sorority of 170+ women. In my experience, the small sub-groups within a small population form out of negativity, whereas in larger groups, sub-groups form to give individuals a sense of connectedness.
Hope you have a great week!
Hey,
ReplyDeleteI like what you had to say. I myself am also on a sports team. I played water polo, and although we are a team and one big group, there are smaller groups who are closer with each other than others. At practice when we split into groups, the groups are always the same when we get to pick. In my case, i find that the smaller groups of formed by what language is our first language. Mine is spanish, there were several other guys on the team whose first language was also spanish. We were usually in a group, or at least myself and one other. There were several guys on the team whose first language is croatian. Small groups forming out of a larger group usually form because of something they all have in common.
I found your post really easy to relate to because you compared it to a sports team. great job man