Collaboration and group development by Rachel Morisky

1,000 word blog post

If you’re reading this, welcome! This is my 1,000 word blog post where I will be diving into collaboration as well as the parts of group development and how the two go hand in hand. Let me start by asking a question, what does it mean to collaborate? Before I give my thoughts on collaboration I will give you a specific definition to go off of. By definition, it means “to work jointly on an activity, especially to produce or create something.” In my opinion, collaboration is essential in order for people to create ideas and get different viewpoints. We are always collaborating even when we are not aware of it. Collaboration is a topic that we are discussing a lot in our class and learning the ways that we all collaborate. One article from our weekly readings was called “What is collaboration anyways?” At first sight of seeing this reading I knew it would be important because that is such a true question that many people don’t have an accurate answer to. This reading goes further into depth about what is necessary to have collaboration. As it states in the reading “Collaboration requires goals.”(Adam Hyde Et Al pg 58). This is essential to having collaboration because without a goal, the people collaborating have no specific subject to need to collaborate on. They will merely lose interest because there is no structure of common idea to go off of. Collaboration is not merely putting your thoughts out there, but getting others opinions and working together with all the given information from each person.

Image by Wikimedia Commons

Some of the ways that I personally collaborate is with family, at school, and in everyday life. When collaborating with family, one specific experience comes to my mind. My cousin Marie had her baby shower and I had to collaborate with my fellow family members in order to come to an agreement on what the best decisions would be for the party. Having to pick out the right colors for the party and the perfect decorations. This was a true testament to collaborating as we each had our strengths and got to each contribute to make the shower the best it could possibly be. In school, I have collaborated many times on school projects but one that really stands out is a group project for my spanish class last semester. We had to create a song in Spanish, and each member of the group needed to participate. In order to create a song we each had to talk through what we felt would be the best words and music to go into it. This type of collaboration was interesting to me because everyone has different opinions and we really had to work together and compromise to come to an agreement.

Before taking this class, there was a lot about collaboration that I did not know. I knew that is was about how people work together, but I had little information about how it could help me in my schooling as well as my future endeavors. As I am an information science and e-society major, knowing about how to appropriately collaborate is going to be so important for when I get a real job. My goal is to work for a Public Relations company and I will be able to use my collaborative skills to work with others and engage in a positive environment.

Image by: Wikimedia Commons

A huge part of collaborating properly is working in a group. One of the readings we have had this past semester was about Tuckman’s 5 stages of group development. This article goes into depth about each of the 5 stages of group development and what occurs during each stage. The 5 stages are forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning. The first stage is forming which is when the group is first getting to know each other and they typically avoid sensitive topics. The second stage is storming which is “characterized by competition and conflict in the personal relations dimension an organization in the task-functions dimension.”(Tuckman) It is during this stage when conflict typically occurs. An example of this storming phase is when my group project members and I were disagreeing about the beat for the song. It was affecting the whole group and needed to be resolved. Next up is the third stage which is norming, the stage where the group members are finally coming together to work as a team. During this stage, each member is starting to trust each other and break down their walls. This could be best identified with my group as we worked through our issues and were able to find a common goal and bond. This happened for us by taking a break from writing the song and just getting to know each other on a more personal basis. The next stage is performing, which is one of the most crucial stages. This is when the group is mostly productive and is aiming to achieve their goal. When my group members and I presented our song to the class, we were in our performing stage. The final stage in the 5 stages of group development is Adjourning. This is when the group will come to a final close and no longer serves each other to stay together. An example of this is when my cousins baby shower came to a finish as our group of workers no longer needed to be associated. Each of these 5 stages can relate to how everyone in a group interacts and getting to each stage shows the success of their group.

Now I’m sure you’re wondering, how does this apply to me? This is all important information because if you want to be able to work in a group setting, each of these steps and collaboration tips are necessary. Maybe you have a group project at school, or maybe you are creating a website for fun with your friends. Collaboration is essential for these potential projects to go well and be effective. So the next time you need to work with others, keep all of this in mind and don’t forget, collaboration is fun.

Attached  is a video that I think will help engage you further with collaborating! Woohoo! 

Citations 

1. Tuckman, B. (1965) Developmental Sequence in Small Groups. Psychological Bulletin, 63, 384-399. 

Tuckman, B. & Jensen, M. (1977) Stages of Small Group Development. Group and Organizational Studies, 2, 419-427.