Learning Through Service

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Learning Through Service

• CMUN 10 Service Learning Assignment
• Fall 2008

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Status

• Status is an individuals importance to the
  group
• High Status
• Low Status
• Status Achievers
• Status Seekers

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High Status

• Shown more deference
• Are listened to more often
• Asked for advice more often
• Rewarded with greater share of goods
• Bigger car/office/salary
• Receive more recognition for contributions
• High Status group members talk more often to
  other high status members/total group
• Are more likely to have a leadership role-person
  with the highest status is usually the leader
• Have more influence on the process than low
  status members

4
Low Status

• Direct conversation to high status, not low
  status group members.
• Communicate more positive messages to high status
  members
• More likely to complain about the task they have
  been assigned (victim mentality)
• Are more likely to have comments ignored
• Communicate more irrelevant information

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Power Bases

• Legitimate Power
• Those elected/chosen
• Referent Power
• Those we allow to have power because we admire
  them
• Expert Power
• Those with knowledge/experience
• Reward Power
• Those able to reward others performance (grades)
• Coercive Power
• Those able to use threats/blackmail

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The Gender Issue
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Power/Status and Gender

• Do men and women have different power bases in
  our society?
• How does culture impact the issue of power/status
  and gender?

Communication Website Deborah TannenMen and
Women in Conversation is Cross-Cultural
Communication
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Men vs. Women
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Group Activity

• Divide into gender based groups
• All men in one group
• All women in one group

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Group Activity

• As a group of men/women you are to
  brainstorm answers to questions that will be
  given.
• Record all ideas without censoring
• Look over list and mark those ideas that apply to
  75 of the population

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Group Activity

• As a group of men/women who are
  representative of all men/women, give your first
  thoughts to the following
• How do you think members of the other sex see
  themselves as members of a group?
• How do you think they think you see yourselves as
  members of a group?

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Group Activity
How do you think members of the other sex
see themselves as members of a group?
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Group Activity
How do you think they think you see
yourselves as members of a group?
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Group Activity

• How do perceptions impact
• what happens
• Socially
• Academically
• Professionally

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Comparing Approaches
Gender and Conflict

• Males
• Demanding and competitive
• Verbally aggressive
• Give orders
• Focus on content

• Females
• Cooperativeness, compromise, and accommodation
• More likely to engage in protracted negotiation
• Make proposals and give reasons for their
  positions
• Focus on feelings

Communication Website John Gray Men are from
Mars
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Collectivist vs. Individualist

• Clash of the Cultures

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Diversity and Conflict

• Cultural values influence attitudes toward
  conflict
• Individualist cultures
• Conflict used to air differences
• Handled openly and directly
• Step along the problem-solving path
• Collectivist cultures
• Conflict perceived as a threat
• Efforts made to suppress it in public
• Dysfunctional, distressing, and dangerous

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Culture Quiz

• You are invited to give a presentation at a
  business meeting in Malaysia. After the meeting
  is on its way for half an hour, you still have
  not started discussing business - but the hosts
  are asking questions about your country, your
  family etc. What do you do? Choose the correct
  answerA Continue talking until my hosts signal
  that they are ready to move over to business
  negotiations. B Start to mix business issues
  and private issues in order to finally start
  giving the presentation. C Friendly ask my
  hosts if I could start my presentation now.D
  Stop talking and start giving the presentation.

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Answer A

• Building trust and establishing personal
  relationships are more important in collectivist
  countries like Malaysia than business facts.
  Therefore it is important to build up trust and
  get friendly with you counterparts, rather than
  sticking to your business presentation.

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Collectivist vs. Individualist

• Rites of passage
• Western/Individualistic
• degrees/promotions/material objects
• Individual achievement is not related to group
• Collectivist
• recognition of pride for group, not just
  individual
• Individual achievement/failure group
  achievement/failure

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Group Assignment I

• Work on group assignment
• Meet in Library after brief break for
  research/internet

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Learning Through Service

• CMUN 10 Service Learning Assignment
• Fall 2008

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Group Goals, Structure, and Climate

• Goals motivation for existing
• Structure positions/roles
• Climate emotional atmosphere
• Patterns of communication
• Norms
• Effective climate characteristics
• Supportiveness
• Participative decision making
• Trust among group members
• Openness and candor
• High performance goals

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Group vs. Individual Goals

• Goals
• Group goals transcend individual goals.
• The goal motivation for existing
• Individual goals
• Camaraderie and fellowship
• Rubbing elbows
• Professional/political connections
• Prestige of membership
• Genuine interest in group activities and goals

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Communication Competence

• Communicative behavior that is both effective
  and appropriate in a given context.

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Levels of Competence

• Conscious incompetence
• We know that we dont know
• Conscious competence
• We must work consciously to perform skill
• Unconscious competence
• Skill becomes second nature to us
• Equation for Competence
• Competence motivation knowledge skill

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Organizational Culture Impacts Group Climate

• Shared assumptions, values, beliefs, language,
  symbols, and meaning systems that hold the
  organization together.
• Patterns of sustained communicative acts or
  behaviors
• Verbal and Nonverbal Communication
• Defensive vs. Supportive environment
• Confirming vs. disconfirming responses
• Listening Skills
• Is developed by the group-your choice!

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Trust

• Trust must be earned
• Trust develops when you can predict how another
  will behave under certain circumstances-and they
  do as expected
• Trust is always a gamble
• Previous experiences in small group settings will
  influence how you are able to trust others to do
  tasks as agreed

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Small Groups The Trust Factor

• We have talked about Roles vs. Size
• Now we must address Trust vs. Distrust

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Small Group Model

• ROLES
• Task helps accomplish the groups goal
•  Maintenance defines the groups social
  atmosphere
• Example A member who works to create a
  harmonic, peaceful atmosphere is performing
  maintenance on the group
•  Individual contribution of individual toward
  group goal
• -can be counter productive to group goals.
  Some one who is more interested in what they can
  get out of the group process, than what they can
  contribute.

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The Trust Factor 

• High Trust equals
• High Performance
• Low Trust equals
• Low Performance

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Collaboration Goals of The Group ProcessThe
Me vs. We Syndrome

• Me
• I want to get this done so I can do other things.
• I will do only what I have to do
• or
• I will do it all, since I can trust no one else
  to do it right, or fast enough

• We
• As a group, we need to produce a quality
  presentation
• We will all work together collaboratively to find
  a way to achieve our goal
• We will allow the time needed to accomplish our
  goal, and remember that the process is just as
  important as the end result.

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Group vs. Individual Rights
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Individual Rights

• To be the judge of your own behavior
• To express you beliefs and feelings
• To ask for respect
• To give self credit
• To change your mind with more information
• To make mistakes
• To offer no justification

• To offer no justification
• To be disliked
• To decide not to be assertive
• To say, I dont know I dont understand
  No
• I dont care.
• To decide not to be assertive
• To be disliked

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Individual Responsibilities

• To allow others different opinions
• To be constructive
• To give respect
• To give others credit
• To be sensitive to others
• To listen to others

• To explain changes to people who are affected by
  the change
• To allow others to make mistakes
• To deal with the consequences of your behavior
• To be flexible

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Five Stage Model of Group Development

• Forming Introductions coming togetherfirst
  agenda (uncertainty/apprehension/ex
  citement/interest)
• Storming Testing (breaking limits/
  challenges/nonparticipation fear/anxiety/loss of
  control)
• Norming Reaching agreement/safeguards/defining
  the agenda/acquiring skills/ contracting with
  rules and procedures to follow as group members
• (relief/stability/commitment/negotiation
• Performing Undertaking group task
• Mourning Ending/hanging on/leaving
  early/forward planning/departing
  (Sadness/joy/regret /celebration/
  anticlimax/anticipation)

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The Johari Window

• Psychological testing device that allows us to
  examine both how we view ourselves, and how
  others view us.

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Conflict

• Conflict means different things to different
  people
• Conflict is not necessarily bad, just different
• Conflict is, disagreement over available options
  caused by seemingly incompatible goals among
  group members and their thinking that others can
  keep them from achieving their goals

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Gender, Culture, and Personal Styles

• Men and women focus on different aspects of the
  groups life
• The cultural background of group members affects
  the nature of communication in the group/team
• Class Discussion How did the video describe
  gender communication at work? What were the
  major themes on this topic? How would you apply
  the same principles to cultural communication, as
  well.

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(No Transcript)
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Comparing Approaches
Gender and Conflict

• Males
• Demanding and competitive
• Verbally aggressive
• Give orders
• Focus on content

• Females
• Cooperativeness, compromise, and accommodation
• More likely to engage in protracted negotiation
• Make proposals and give reasons for their
  positions
• Focus on feelings

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Diversity and Conflict

• Cultural values influence attitudes toward
  conflict
• Individualist cultures
• Conflict used to air differences
• Handled openly and directly
• Step along the problem-solving path
• Collectivist cultures
• Conflict perceived as a threat
• Efforts made to suppress it in public
• Dysfunctional, distressing, and dangerous

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GROUP THINK

• Preservation of group harmony
• Suppression of dissenting opinions
• Wish to complete task quickly
• impedes effective group functioning
• Limits critical thinking
• Used to avoid conflict
• Self censoring/Member censoring

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Communication Conflict Styles

• Avoider/Closed remove self from conflict
• Accommodator/Hidden overvalues relationships/
  undervalues own goals
• Compromiser tries to find a middle ground
• Competitive Forcer/Blind win-lose
  orientation/personal goals paramount
• Problem-Solving Collaborator/Open win-win
  orientation

Communication Studies Website Conflict - An
Essential Ingredient For Growth
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Communication Conflict Styles
Closed
Hidden Avoidance/Withdrawal
Accommodation

Smoothing
Compromising
(any style) Blind

Open Competition
Collaborative/

Problem Solving
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Closed Style

• Task focused
• Productive in interpersonal free environments
• Need security
• Prescriptive guidance.
• ?Maintains neutrality at all costs ?
• Conflict?
• Removes self from group
• physically
• mentally when conflict arises
• Assertiveness/cooperation not valued
•  

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Closed Style

• How do you communicate with such a person?
•         Very carefully
•        Needs safe working environment
•        Explain rules/chain of command.
•        NO personal issues
•        Dont expect participation in meetings

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Communication Conflict Styles
Closed
Hidden Avoidance/Withdrawal
Accommodation

Smoothing
Compromising
(any style) Blind

Open Competition
Collaborative/

Problem Solving
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Blind Style

• Task focused
• Know what they want.
• Well-organized
• Not afraid to exercise authority
• Very demanding
• Their way is the best.
• Punitive with the failure of others.
•   

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Blind Style

• How do you communicate with such a person?
• Follow through
• Follow chain of command
• Dont expect interpersonal connection
• Dont keep them waiting

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BlindCompetition

• Personal goals 1
• Conflict is a win lose situation
• High respect for power and authority
•  
• BUT winners and losers grapple for power
• If you win this person might just be waiting
  for you to make a mistake so they can regain
  power
•  
•  
•  
•  

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Communication Conflict Styles
Closed
Hidden Avoidance/Withdrawal
Accommodation

Smoothing
Compromising
(any style) Blind

Open Competition
Collaborative/

Problem Solving
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Hidden Style

• Process/Relational focus
• Fun to be around
• Good listeners
• Good interpersonal skills
• Unable to give opinions or ideas
• Distrustful of meanings
• Views conflict as destructive
• Harmony important at all times
• Works to smooth over conflicts
•  
•  
•  
•  
•  
•  

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Hidden Style

• How do you communicate with such a person?
• Dont expect full disclosure
• Good at acting open
• Motivate with
• public praise
• social standing
• Listen carefully
• Keep your opinions to a minimum
• Expect comments to be searched for double
  meanings
•  
•  
•  
•  
•  
•  

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Communication Conflict Styles
Closed
Hidden Avoidance/Withdrawal
Accommodation

Smoothing
Compromising
(any style) Blind

Open Competition
Collaborative/

Problem
Solving
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Open Style

• Task and Process focused
• Flexible with the needs of a group, or individual
• Able to collaborate and accepting of other
  communication styles
• Can accept constructive criticism.
• Easily discloses personal information
• Less impressed with the show and more impressed
  with factual information
• Can be seen as ineffective by Blind group members
  who want results in a more timely manner

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Open Style

• So, how do you communicate with such a person?
•         Be honest and open, but use tact
•        Look at all sides of the problem
•        Share/disclose personal information
•        Accept shared responsibility
•        Give constructive criticism
•        Avoid being pushy or manipulative
•        Treat them as equals

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Communication Conflict Styles
Closed
Hidden Avoidance/Withdrawal
Accommodation

Smoothing
Compromising
(any style) Blind

Open Competition
Collaborative/

Problem Solving
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Compromise

• Middle of the road approach
• Agreeable solution/Feelings important
• High quality second
• Willing to sacrifice to reach a compromise
• Compromise is the second choice
•  

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Resolving Conflicts

• Cooperative vs. Competitive Conflict
• Cooperative willingness to share rewards to
  resolve conflicts
• Seek mutually beneficial way to resolve
  disagreement
• Win-win situation
• Competitive all-or-nothing must defeat other
  participants
• See winning as a test of personal worth
• Win-lose situation
• Transform conflict from competitive to
  cooperative
• Effective communication techniques
• Role reversal

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Resolving Conflicts

• Focus on the problem, not the person
• Problem approach
• It is not the evidence you mentioned or the
  logic used to consider the validity and value of
  that evidence, but the conclusions drawn from
  that information that I find wrong
• Person approach
• You always try to force your ideas on us. Its
  probably because you are just a man/woman

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Negotiation

• Goal setting
• Situational knowledge
• Formal vs. informal bargaining
• Communication competence/presenting a position
• Dimensions of negotiating/strategies, tactics,
  and behaviors
• Information management
• Concessions
• Positioning
• ?

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Negotiation

• Goal setting
• Planned
• Structured
• Strategic (future based)
• Two or more positions
• Different goals ? mutually desired outcome
• Give and take
• Concessions/compromise expected

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Negotiation

• Situational knowledge
• Formal bargaining
• Reoccurring issues Labor management contract
  negotiations
• Deliberation
• Confrontation
• Goal setting important!
• Planned
• Structured
• Strategic

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Negotiation

• Situational knowledge
• Informal bargaining
• Spontaneous issues
• Resolution of divergent goals
• Work schedules
• Office space
• Roles
• Evenprices of goods/services

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Negotiation

• Communication competence
• Presenting a position
• Dimensions of negotiating/strategies, tactics,
  and behaviors
• Information management
• Personal goals vs. group goals
• Concessions
• Should serve both partys goals
• Positioning
• Focusing on issues that are important to you

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Productive vs. Destructive Results

• Productive all participants are satisfied and
  believe they have gained something
• Cooperative problem-solving methods
• Willingness to trust each other
• Destructive all participants are dissatisfied
  and believe they have lost something
• Win-lose encounters characterized by
  misconceptions and misperceptions inaccurate,
  sketchy, and disruptive communication
• Hesitancy to trust each other

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• End of presentation

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Persuasion and Worldviews

• Persuasion is the ability to get people to do
  what you want them to do
• Uses Aristotles Three Proofs
• Considers Worldviews
• Employs courage at all levels
• Courage is what it takes to stand up and
  speak courage is also what it takes to sit down
  and listen.
• Sir Winston Churchill

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ARISTOTLES THREE PERSUASIVE PROOFS

• ETHOS Speaker Credibility
• Competence
• Goodwill
• Character
• LOGOS Logical Appeal/Reasoning
• Drawing conclusions from evidence
• Inductive vs. Deductive
• PATHOS Emotional Appeal
• Appeals to the listeners needs, wants, desires,
  etc.

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Habits that Hinder ThinkingEthical Reasoning
vs. Reasoning Fallacies

• Ethical speakers do not use reasoning fallacies
• Argumentum ad Hominem old fashion name calling,
  or an attack on the person and not the issue in
  question
• Red Herring using an irrelevant issue or
  distraction to divert the focus to another issue
  (think of a BAD smell)
• False Division/Dichotomy Polarization of
  options, when in reality there exists many
  options of choice.
• Post Hoc (False Cause) Identification of an
  issue as the cause of another problem, when there
  is not relationship
• Argumentum ad Populum (bandwagon) But,
  everyone is doing it! An appeal to popular
  opinion
• Argumentum ad Verecudiam Appeal to authority,
  or the testimony of someone who is not a true
  expert

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Speaking Persuasively

• Attitude A learned predisposition
• response favorable/unfavorable
• Our likes and dislikes change easily
• Our beliefs or values harder to change.
• Belief The degree of confidence
• Perception of true or false.
• highly central a beliefs hard to change
• Value An enduring conception of right or wrong,
  good or bad.
• least likely to change over time.

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The Worldview

• Beliefs reflect worldview
• Beliefsbuilding blocks of attitudes
• Attitudes visible through behavior

FINAL EXAM TOPIC
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How DO You Know What You Know?

• Epistemology
• How we learn
• Develop our breath and depth of knowledge
• Beliefs, attitudes, and values
• Diversity of experiences
• Family
• Religion
• Education
• Socioeconomics
• Culture

75
Worldview vs. Evidence

• Exact same evidence 2 different conclusions
• It is not the evidence you mentioned or the
  logic used to consider the validity and value of
  that evidence, but the conclusions drawn from
  that information that I find wrong
• Internal noise can hinder the listener
• Agreement/disagreement w/ worldview
• Perception vs. Truth

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Worldview and Small Group Communication

• Small groups are impacted by and impact the
  interaction of group members
• Group Discussion How would the worldview of the
  following members play out in a discussion of
  religious beliefs?
• Lupe Female, 46, married with 3 children,
  Hispanic, Catholic
• Tom Male, 34, unmarried, no children,
  Caucasian, Jewish
• Joe Male, 22, unmarried, 1 child, Caucasian,
  Atheist
• Cindy Female, 29, married, 2 children, African
  American, Evangelical Christian
• Mei Female, 39, divorced, 4 children, Chinese,
  Agnostic
• Sandy Female, 18, single, no children,
  Christian
• Ahmed Male, 26, single, no children, Muslim

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Worldview and Small Group Communication

• How did the worldview of the group members impact
  the process and discussion?
• Climate
• confirming/disconfirming messages
• Nonverbal communication
• Individual rights/responsibilities

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Handling Group Conflict How to Disagree Without
Becoming Disagreeable

• Define conflict and explain how you feel when
  involved in a group conflict
• Define groupthink and explain its consequences
• Distinguish between competitive and cooperative
  conflict orientations
• Identify how to use the conflict grid and the
  benefits and problems that can result from
  effective and ineffective handling of group
  conflict
• Identify behaviors that can be used to resolve
  conflicts effectively

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Conflict

• Conflict means different things to different
  people
• Conflict is not necessarily bad, just different
• Conflict is, disagreement over available options
  caused by seemingly incompatible goals among
  group members and their thinking that others can
  keep them from achieving their goals (p. 373).

"In the middle of difficulty lies
opportunity."                      - Albert
Einstein
80
Resolving Conflicts

• Cooperative vs. Competitive Conflict
• Cooperative willingness to share rewards to
  resolve conflicts
• Seek mutually beneficial way to resolve
  disagreement
• Win-win situation
• Competitive all-or-nothing must defeat other
  participants
• See winning as a test of personal worth
• Win-lose situation
• Transform conflict from competitive to
  cooperative
• Effective communication techniques
• Role reversal

81
Productive vs. Destructive Results

• Productive all participants are satisfied and
  believe they have gained something
• Cooperative problem-solving methods
• Willingness to trust each other
• Destructive all participants are dissatisfied
  and believe they have lost something
• Win-lose encounters characterized by
  misconceptions and misperceptions inaccurate,
  sketchy, and disruptive communication
• Hesitancy to trust each other

82
Collectivist vs. Individualist

• Rites of passage
• Western/Individualistic
• degrees/promotions/material objects
• Individual achievement is not related to group
• Individual goals more important than group goals
• Collectivist
• recognition of pride for group, not just
  individual
• Individual achievement/failure group
  achievement/failure

83
Collectivist vs. Individualist

• Strategies to use
• Develop mindfulness
• Be flexible
• Tolerate uncertainty and ambiguity
• Resist stereotyping, negative judgments
• Ask questions and listen
• Be other oriented

84
GROUP THINK
85
Group Think

• A type of thought exhibited by group members who
  try to minimize conflict and reach consensus
  without critically testing, analyzing, and
  evaluating ideas.
• Groups need for unanimity overrides individual
  member motivation to realistically appraise
  alternative courses of action

86

• Group think occurs
• Critical thinking is not encouraged or rewarded
• Members believe that their group can do no wrong
  (arrogance)
• Members are too concerned about justifying their
  actions
• Members often believe that they have reached a
  true consensus
• Members are too concerned about reinforcing the
  leaders beliefs

• Desire for consensus overrides analysis
• Group feels secure
• Rationalization of decision
• Groups morality
• Us vs. Them
• Members censor comments
• Direct pressure to dissenting members
• Gate keeper of disturbing outside ideas or
  opinions
• Can be related to paradigm shift resistance
• Silence consensus

87
What does it like? Symptoms of Group
think

• Incomplete survey of alternatives
• Incomplete survey of objectives
• Failure to examine risks of preferred choice
• Poor information search
• Selective bias in processing information at hand
• Failure to reappraise alternatives
• Failure to work out contingency plans

88
Challenger Columbia Explosions
89
Organizational Culture

• Shared assumptions, values, beliefs, language,
  symbols, and meaning systems that hold the
  organization together.
• Patterns of sustained communicative acts or
  behaviors
• Cultures develop over time
• Cultures are VERY difficult to change
• Requires drastic measures to make impact on
  organizational culture

90
NASAs Environment

• Shuttle as a bus
• Lack of funds
• Cancelled flights
• Communication between NASA and Morton-Thiokol

91

• Shuttle operation
• Lack of escape pods
• Maintenance

92

• How O rings work
• Need for a flexible rocket
• Failure rate

93
How Cold is Cold

• Ice only in the shade or everywhere?
• Who is responsible?

94
How is the decision made?

• NASA tele- conference
• Morton off line

95
Group Think in Action
96
Group Think

• A type of thought exhibited by group members who
  try to minimize conflict and reach consensus
  without critically testing, analyzing, and
  evaluating ideas.
• Groups need for unanimity overrides individual
  member motivation to realistically appraise
  alternative courses of action

97
Suggestions to Reduce Group Think

• Gatekeeper should encourage critical, independent
  thinking
• Group members should be sensitive to status
  differences that may affect decision making
• Invite an outsider to the group to evaluate the
  groups decision-making process
• Assign a group member the role of devils
  advocate
• Ask group members to subdivide into smaller
  groups (or work individually) and to consider
  potential problems with the suggested solutions

98
End of Presentation