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Running head: PAPER 1

Group Analysis Paper 1


SW 4010
October 29th 2014
Amanda Cummings

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Analysis of Group in the Early Stages

The kind of group being analyzed for this paper is a volunteer group that I joined over the
summer. The group was called International Student Volunteers (ISV) and it was made up of
college students from all over the United States to volunteer for one month. The type of group
this is known as is a formed group because everyone came together from an outside influence
from all over the country and they were convened for the particular purpose of volunteering. The
group included two project leaders and 12 college student volunteers. There were 3 males and
11 females from ages 19 to 24 years old. The groups purpose was to help the communities
located in the Dominican Republic by creating childrens programs and doing community
development work. The group met everyday first to get to know one another and then to debrief
about the work accomplished for the day. This type of group would be known as a task group
because the overriding purpose of this particular group was to accomplish a goal that was not
linked to the needs of the members of the group but rather the members of the community they
were trying to serve and complete the tasks of volunteer work.
The planning stage of this group was quite productive and affective. The focus was to
recruit college students to volunteer in countries experiencing poverty. Recruiting members was
done by former volunteers coming to talk to classes about ISV and handing out flyers with
information about the program. I remember how I joined the group by picking up a flyer off of
the desk in my classroom and going home to do more research about the program. The majority
of the people in my group said that they heard about it from the student that came to talk to their
class and that was how they decided to join and get involved. When composing the group the
principle of homogeneity was implemented because everyone who wanted to join had a similar
purpose for joining the group. Filling out a questionnaire about your personality and skills was

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required to participate so that it made it easier to compose a group that would work well together.
This was implementing the heterogeneity principle because they wanted to compose a group that
had different skills to help towards making a good group to get the work done in the
communities of the Dominican. After the members were recruited and the group was composed
it was time to start orienting the members to the group. This was done by the group meeting
together and watching an orientation video upon arrival. Being that our group had people from
all over the country our group was very diverse and the group was very mixed which seemed to
make it more affective working as a task group.
The significance of the first session for this group was very important to the groups
development both as a whole and to each member. In the first session we were all meeting for
the first time and were in a completely new environment. This session was all based on
information about our environment, ground rules, getting to know one another, and what our
projects and tasks will be. Upon arrival the group gathered to watch a video about the
Dominican Republic and an example of the program tasks that the volunteers were expected to
do. After the video everyone was instructed by the project leaders to sit in a circle so we could
introduce ourselves and get acquainted. The project leaders told everyone to introduce
themselves with their name, age, where they were from, what their major was and what school
they attended. The instruction seemed to ease some of the pressure since the introductions were
easy to come up with since everyone knew what to say when introducing themselves and nothing
included coming up with a random fact to share when introducing themselves. Some people
shared the same major so that helped those people make some connections right away. After
introductions the project leaders briefly explained the purpose of the group and what everyone
was going to be working together to make happen. They explained how we will be working as a

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group to do a summer camp for the children and coming up with lesson plans to help teach basic
subjects that are taught in schools and also coming up with fun activities to do with the children.
They also explained how we would be working as a group to do several projects for community
development. The ground rules were explained about the program and how the group will
function and interact when we do our debriefs each night. Then they opened it up to the rest of
the group to give their input on what they would like to add to the purpose of the group and if
they had any personal goals to add or any rules they could think of. No one in the group opened
up to share their ideas and the group seemed to be uncomfortable sharing at this point since we
were all so new to each other and have not developed that trust yet. The project leaders
discussed that the group time sessions are a safe place to talk and discuss ideas and opinions
without being judged and everything being kept between the group. They explained that the
reason why we meet as a group everyday is to help build as a team so we can complete our task
in the best way possible and that people sharing helps explore better ideas and better ways to
function as a group. One person shared a goal they had for this experience and the leaders
showed a lot of support towards that goal and others in the group nodded their head in
agreement. Since no one else was really opening up they decided to do an exercise to help the
group warm up to one another. We played some ice breaker games which made the mood more
relaxed and helped people get to know one another and find out more commonalities to help
them become more comfortable. The ice breaker they started off with was going around the
room and each person had to say a describing word about themselves that started with the same
beginning letter of their name. For example my name is Amanda and I am active. This was a
great way for this quiet group to start to open up and at the same time get to know one another by
describing a little about themselves. Another ice breaker that we did was playing the human knot

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where we all got tangled up by holding each others hands and we had to undo the knot without
letting go of each others hand. This was a good ice breaker to help lighten the mood and have a
little fun and also show that everyone could work well together and function as a good team.
After the ice breakers everyone seemed to be warming up and talking more so the mood seemed
more comfortable. I felt like the human knot game really helped because it made us interact
instead of only talking about themselves and trying to get acquainted. The project leaders talked
about the agenda that we would have each day and they asked again about goals and this time
more people gradually added their own input and asked some questions still with a little
hesitation. Group members were commended for sharing and the first session came to a close
with everyone putting their hand in the middle and shouting ISV.
Throughout the session I could see a little development within the group and how the
group changed as a result of this session. At first everyone seemed very tense and hesitant about
talking because of all the new people and surroundings but as the session went on it became
more comfortable. The project leaders direction helped the groups development because this
seemed like a shy group they needed that direction on how to open up and become more
comfortable. The ice breakers played a huge part in the groups development in this session
because it they did break through a lot of the discomfort many seemed to be feeling with all of
the new people and surroundings.
In this session I observed several group dynamics. The main goal for this group was to
focus on the group as a whole to facilitate change in the community and have a personal
influence on the members of the group. The verbal communication was very low for this session
but non-verbal was displayed from several members by the way they were presenting themselves
to the group, many closed off and nervous. The pattern of interaction that the group displayed

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during this first session would be a display of maypole because the leader was the central figure
and the communication occurred from the leader to the members and from the members to the
leader. Although the group had this type of interaction I felt that the leaders were striving to
facilitate the development of group-centered rather than leader-centered interaction patterns
because they were trying to get the members to talk and interact with one another rather than just
to them when they asked. The group did have a display of cohesion because they all had shared
goals that they wanted to accomplish and one shared goal as to the reason they were all there,
they just needed to work on the socialization part. The status and power was given to the project
leaders because they were the only ones who were eager and willing to take lead, communicate
and interact. The group norms were beginning to be established in the first session mainly by the
ground rules that the project leaders discussed and how they would like the group to interact with
respect and follow the rules for their safety and be on time for everything. As the group develops
the norms will also develop more as members observe one anothers behavior in the group and as
members express their views then the norms will be more clear. The group culture in this group
seemed to be good because all of the members of the group were all college students and they
were willing to volunteer to make a difference so, many of the group members shared the same
values and beliefs. Some of these values and beliefs in the group were the belief that you should
help those in need and they valued all types of human life all over the world and giving people
the opportunity to help build them a better life by volunteering to help. Since the students were
from all over the United States some had different customs and traditions of ways of saying and
doing things. At the beginning stages the group has not yet had a chance to completely share and
explore others value systems but when they do a common set of values will develop and become
the groups culture.

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In this first group session it was all about the first impressions that everyone was giving
off. For the most part I believe the members gave off the impression that they were a quiet and
shy group to the project leaders because they had to initiate a lot and give a lot of instruction for
the members to speak up and interact more. The first impressions of each member I thought
came from the ice breaker we did about describing ourselves with one word and also how certain
people interacted during the human knot game. Some people voiced what to do more than others
and we got the impression that they were a good leader.
I believe that the plan of action to change the group behavior is to develop more of a
bond with the members so they open up more and we could do this by having them do more
activities together like the ice breakers. I feel like the bond needs to happen in order for the
group to be more effective because if everyone is shy and not willing to share in group then we
will not be able to expand on how we can help serve this community. We need more people to
feel comfortable sharing their thoughts and ideas. A good way to plan to help bring this out with
this group could be to have them write their thoughts and ideas down and then the group can
share with one another.

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