Presentation One Overall Experience

 My overall experience working on this presentation was easy-going and great. This was quite shocking to me because I thought the process would be harder since it was a group project. Typically, I am not a fan of group projects because I don’t like the possibility other individuals may have on the outcome of my grade. I like to be in total control. In addition, when working with others you never know how their work ethic is so that also made me nervous. However, the group of individuals I worked with were all nice and did their part in a timely manner. I was in group one and our presentation was based on chapter three. Chapter three focuses on Intercultural Communication. We decided to each take certain parts of the chapter to read over. Everyone was able to choose the topic they preferred to work on. After we each had to summarize what our section of the chapter was about. The two sections I worked on were Uncertainty avoidance. Uncertainty avoidance is the extent to which people desire to predict what is going on. There are two types of uncertainty avoidance low and high. Low uncertainty-avoidance cultures tolerate uncertainty and are less driven to control the unknown. America, Denmark, and Switzerland are countries that practice this way of living. When it comes to communication the people are open to initiating relationships with people who may seem unusual or unique. These individuals are open to taking risks. Whereas countries like Germany, Portugal, Greece, Peru, and Belgium have high uncertainty avoidance. Ultimately means they have a high need to control the unpredictable and create fundamental rules used to provide security and reduce risks. Within this kind of society, the people are wary of strangers and will not form a relationship with someone they view as different. These individuals would prefer to meet people through friends and family. The other section I read and spoke about was indulgence. In short term, indulgence focuses on pleasure and restraint. A person can be highly indulgent or low indulgent. Highly indulgent cultures value pleasure and make decisions based on their enjoyment. On the contrary, low indulgent cultures value restraint, ultimately, they suppress their gratification and make purchases based on their children’s needs. Some other topics my group discussed:

•        Potential barriers
•          Race/Ethnicity
•         Sexual Gender/Orientation
•          Religion
•          Age/Generation
•          Disability
•          Masculinity/Femininity
•          Competent communication strategies 

Group two worked on chapter nine which is about communicating in groups. The introduction of this presentation discussed formal and informal groups. How each one has its own purpose but what they all have in common is their effectiveness depends on their communication. Something I found interesting was how a family can be described as a group. When it comes to the word family, I associate it with being related to someone through blood or friendship. I identify the word “group” with no sentimental value. Through this presentation, I realized how different the word “group” can be interpreted to someone. I also learned there are four types of patterns families use. The name of these patterns is protective, consensual, pluralistic, and laissez-faire. Group three presented chapter ten which was about group leadership and problem-solving. This presentation breaks down what it means to have effective group leadership and the responsibilities of every group member in achieving it. There are many roles within a group and each role has its own section of delegated workers. For instance, task leadership roles consist of givers, seekers, and analyzers. Maintenance leadership roles consist of supporters, mediators, and interpreters. Throughout all the different roles they all share the same five key leadership responsibilities: 

1. Be committed to the group goal
2. Keep discussions on track
3. Complete individual assignments on time
4. Encourage input from all members 
5. Manage conflict among members

From the presentation of chapter ten, I was able to learn effective methods to hold a meeting that will serve its purpose and have the outcome benefit the whole group. It starts by having an agenda set. I typically am not organized in that sense I tend to kind of just go with the flow of things, but now I know that I need to prioritize. This will help facilitate the goal of the group and aid in problem-solving. The main thing I noticed with both group two and group three is the incorporation of a lot of pictures and videos in their presentations. Personally, I prefer to read what I am learning than to watch a video of another person talking about the topic. Especially, if there are no subtitles because I tend to lose concentration. This is the only critique I have with the presentations. However, it may seem a bit biased since I am not a fan of those kinds of videos. Things I’ve learned about myself through this process is I need to practice speaking in front of others more often because I stumbled with my words when I presented my slides due to my nervousness. Another thing is not reading directly from the slides and practicing beforehand what I plan on saying. Professor Sinkoff said everyone did well but her only critique was our slides consisted of too much information. There wasn’t enough talking, because I read off the slides resulting in my views and thoughts were not fully conveyed to the best of their ability. Lastly, I should apply myself to take more leadership roles or bigger responsibilities. I think I possess some good qualities of what an effective leader would have, but I am just too shy and am an overthinker. I should probably start by taking on the role of an informal emergent leader first so that I can be more comfortable and gain some experience. I must start somewhere and following the presentations, I am more motivated into changing my old habits and incorporating some of the things I’ve learned into my everyday life. Overall, I think everyone did their best and will strive to make improvements. I wish everyone the best and to have a stress-free semester. 

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