Decisions, Decisions, Decisions. I don't think anyone would have thought that the Professor would have given us options as to what to do with the first exam and the format to the second exam. There were only 2 requirements, there needed to be 100% agreement and the decision had to be made within the class time. From MGT 3120, we learned several ways people behave during decision making conflict: "Compete to Win," Avoidance, Compromise, Accommodation, and Collaboration. When the class was presented with this issue, I feel that it created tension amongst the group because everyone had their own self-interests. There was also a sense of excitement, the possibilities were endless, within reason.
I first started trying to compromise within the group, understanding everyone had their own self-interests. This was more important during the second-half of the decision concerning the format of the second exam. I feel one of my biggest contributions to the group was the decision to use the whiteboard to write down our options. I was one of the first people to realize that without writing down our options we wouldn't get very far. This gave the group a chance to visually see the ideas on the board and decide collectively which options they saw fit. Once the professor stepped away from the decision, everyone is equal in the class, therefore everyone deserves to have their voice heard.
As ideas started getting thrown up on the board, I took more of the accommodation approach. I wasn't 100% satisfied with the grade that I received, however it wasn't the worst case scenario. Once the professor showed us the curve he was going to use, I would have been satisfied with just that; anything over and above that was a bonus to me. I'm sure there were plenty of people who received a lower grade then I did, therefore this decision was much more important to them then it was to me. It's not that I was withdrawing from the decision, but I saw several people taking charge and I decided to let them come up with a solution. Looking back at it now, there was a certain risk involved with that decision. I was willing to trust my classmates because I knew that they would try and boost the grades as much as possible.
During the decision on the format of the second exam I saw the group taking more of a collaboration approach. There was bargaining and negotiation based primarily over the idea of the essay. Most of the class did not want an essay on the exam for one reason or another. I personally would have like the entire exam to be multiple choice, but that's just my opinion. There was this idea of an "extra credit essay," which I actually thought wasn't such a farfetched idea, however I don't think many people would have time to write it at the end of the exam. In the end, we left the decision up to the professor, which was the easiest solution if we wanted to achieve 100% agreement. I believe there was only one student who chose the avoidance approach, she decided to leave the class with or without the understanding that she wouldn't receive any of the benefits.
After knowing the patterns of communication, the reaction of classmates, and the results of decision making, I saw much room for improvement. There was major lack of communication within the group. At one point, it seemed whoever could yell the loudest would get to speak. I know for a fact that some people, like myself, who weren't going to yell over others and didn't get chance to present their ideas to the class. This is unfortunate because who knows if they had a better idea. I liked the idea that the professor had come up with, splitting us up into groups, however I don't know if this would have made the decision more difficult. Next time, I would like everyone to get the chance to speak to have their voice heard. Maybe it would be beneficial to create some sort of order to give the chance that everyone would be able to have their voice heard. Overall, I feel we did an "okay" job with the decision, I'm glad that we were able to achieve 100% agreement and I was happy with the options that were decided for the first exam, as well as the format for the second exam.
Decision Making Grade = B
I also felt that the class was not organized the beginning. Everyone was just screaming their ideas out and hope that people would hear. It was unfair that only the people who were the loudest where heard. However, when I tried to voice my idea, the people around me tried to get the class to listen to me which helped. It would have been much better if the class was more organized about it by taking turns to speak. However, we were just left without any rules to approach the problem. I assume a lot of people in the beginning did not feel like they had the right to take charge. Even if they took charge, there would also have been the issue if the class would listen to him/her.
ReplyDelete"At one point, it seemed whoever could yell the loudest would get to speak." I totally agree with you, it was very difficult to speak up.
ReplyDeleteI also like the idea that we got it all written down on the whiteboard which helped us to see the entire proposal on the board. So it makes it easy to have 100% agreement on it. so on the accomadation approach, i felt the same as you. i also thought that it was more important for other students than mine. matter fact it was hard to have your voice heard when everyody was yelling and stuffs. over all we got, what we need and thatz the good part.
ReplyDeleteI was definitely shocked when the professor gave us the opportunity to decide what to do with the exams. However, I knew when he gave us the authority that it would somehow become a class lesson in and of itself––which I must say, proved to be a very effective teaching method. I also would have been satisfied with my grade with the curve, but being ambitious and competitive I thought, why stop here when I can clearly get more out of this? I think the class definitely felt the pressure of the time towards the end, forcing us to use the collaboration approach, since everyone had different self-interests coming into the decision-making process––collaborating was the only way to get 100% agreement, even if it meant that not everyone was going to get what he/she wanted. It is unfortunate that many people were unable to voice their opinions, be it because they were too reserved, didn't want to scream over the commotion, or simply didn't care; but in the end I feel that if you really wanted your input to be considered, you need to step out of your comfort zone and make sure your thoughts heard. Otherwise, those who didn't speak up about it suffered losses brought upon by themselves because they didn't speak up about it.
ReplyDeleteI was basically in the same boat as you, just the curve was a huge help to my grade and I also felt that any other thing we agreed on was a bonus. In the end we got a whole lot more than just the curve which will be a huge help to everyones grades. I also agree that there was terrible communication, but I didn't really see much of a change from the beginning to the end, besides eugene getting up to write his ideas on the board
ReplyDeleteI think it was a very smart idea that you came up to whiteboard to let everyone visualize the whole plan, most of the class would have even to shy to help us out like that. I do think that many students did not want the essay, and even though only some of the students really wanted the essayi thought it was very accommodating the way the students who did not want the essay this showed how much we compromised in the process.
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