Group Observation

Post Observation Questions

1. Each person played a number of roles, and some roles everyone did. Fortunately, far more of the positive roles were filled than the negative roles. Played the role of the supporter/encourager. Was the harmonizer between all of us, as she was easily the most neutral and calm person among us. Tension relievers were both X and Y. Y's tension relief sometimes went so far as to stretch into the dysfunctional joker role, as well. X, Y, and Z were the gatekeepers, as they kept us on track and moving forward the most. The feeling expressers were X, Y, and me, every so often. C and V were almost always the followers.

The dysfunctional roles were not used much and some not at all. X and Y were the blockers. X however was more on the accidental side, than Y for it. His blocking of our progress was mostly inability to understand that we were done with a previous section. X's blocking was more to "give" us chance after chance to go along with the idea he liked, whether or not anyone else did. Everyone but X and C played the role of the aggressor at least once. X was the dominator, as he interrupted when he wanted to say anything. And as mentioned before, he also played the joker a fair amount.

V, X, Z, and I were the initiators of most of the discussions, the opinion givers, and evaluators and critics. Z, X, and I were information seekers, in asking anything that was not clear. Y was the coordinator and secretary. X was the orienter/summarizer and diagnostician. Everyone performed the role of procedure developer.

2. Most of the dysfunctional roles were not filled, as well as the energizer. No energizing was overly needed as it was for a grade, which causes self motivation.

3. No roles were competed for overly. Most roles were shared or rotated based on what was going on, and who was strongest in that area.

4. Nobody sees this world the same as each other no matter what. That alone will cause group members to see their own behaviors differently from each other. Miscommunication and misunderstanding will also easily lead people to see each other differently than others do.

5. Observers will not always know the underlying information, behaviors, and understanding that the group members have of each other, since they are not a part of it. Without that information, it is very easy