ACTIVITY REPORT

October 26, 2016

To: Megan Evens, English 320 instructor
From: Mami Kuwahara, student
October 26, 2016
Subject: Activity Report
In order to have a successful group work experience, following all the recommended small tips for success
is important. 9 tips such as working hard, taking turns, being nice, inclusive, timely, not being an enabler,
staying focused, improving the group mood, and not blaming each other is important (University of
Pittsburgh, 2008). These are easy to follow, but difficult to maintain depending on the situations. In order
to make this happen, the website mentions that we each need to have respect and a proper balance from
these 9 tips. Also, 3 tips are suggested such as making time and space to work as a group, clear goals for
both group and individuals, and cooperate in a supportive and responsible fashion (University of Sydney,
2014). I am from Japan and I sometimes cannot understand what other people in the United States share in
common, so I think being supportive and responsible leads to success in-group work. Everyone does not
have the same personalities, culture, or experience, so sharing stories and supporting other members to
understand makes a good group work and environment for the group members to learn in.
Even if you follow all of these tips, it does not necessarily lead to good group work all the time. The bigger
the group, the more schedules you have to synchronize, therefore it is more difficult to find time that works
for everyone and get everyones ideas together. Keeping groups small consistent, making time in class for
meetings, and assigning roles helps to reduce the problems (Carnegie Mellon University, n.d.).
Following tips from each university websites will lead to success in a group work and when conflict arises,
those tips will help to solve the problems.
I think that having a small group and being with them for a long period of time makes a good environment
for students to learn in. I was taking Botany class, which requires group work in class every week. The
group consisted of 4 people, which was easy to manage and communicate. Group work was used for
putting plant life cycle in orders, making dichotomous keys, and other assignments that required using a lot
of botany terms and complicated plant cycles. Reading a thick book takes a long time to read and
memorize. Group work makes it easier for students to understand the materials. If one person does not
follow, we help the person and they get to learn, while other members get to update the information. Also,
this group is together throughout the semester, so we get to know and trust each other. It makes students
feel comfortable and creates a great place to learn.
For a short-term small group, I had a hard time meeting outside the class. For a landscape design
assignment, we each needed to share our knowledge on where to plant certain types of trees in shade or
sunny parts of the landscaping and create our own original landscape design in 2 weeks. One person did not
show up to any of the meetings, which weakened our effectiveness and lowered our motivation. Also, a
small group limited the number of ideas compared to if we had a larger group, there might have been more
ideas.
Most of the time in-group work, I play a role as a mediator to try to prevent conflict. For the landscape
design assignment, whenever we had a meeting, someone was missing and they would tell the group that
they had schedule conflict after we had already held it. Of course, all of the members would not be
satisfied and the trust is lost. As a mediator, I gathered the members right before or after the class because
everyone will come to class. There were some people who did not share their ideas and wanted to change
the plan after the meeting, which was not efficient and was very time consuming. I made a rule that each
person has to share their ideas and opinions during the meeting and if it needs to be changed, prepare for
the next meeting which made the process very smooth and less stressful for all.

I have been working for the Plant Science Department as a student researcher and gained skills such as on
how to manage workers and how to run a greenhouse work through this job. There are a lot of problems
like a worker would over-water and under-waters the plants in the greenhouse, which is critical for the
plants wellbeing. Moreover, some workers do not show up to work on time or do work inefficiently. I give
instruction to workers and take care of their schedules as the leader, but as long as a worker can work on
their own, I would work as a meditator most of the time. I need to teach them how to water the plants
properly and apply a proper amount of fertilizer for the plants. Every time when a problem occurs, it needs
to be solved and planned to prevent the same problem from happening again. Using these management
skills, I solve these problems and teach my workers to work efficiently.
Combining my skills I gained through my work and tips that were suggested by 3 Universities, I would
play as a role as a meditator to find problems and think ways to prevent them to lead the group work to
success. This mixture will be used thorough out my job in the future if I become a greenhouse manager
and motivate workers to work as a team, which leads the business to success.

Works Cited
Carnegie Mellon University. (n.d.). What Are The Challenges of Group Work and How Can I Address
Them? October 27, 2016 from
https://www.cmu.edu/teaching/designteach/design/instructionalstrategies/groupprojects/challenges.html
University of Pittsburgh. (2008). Tips for Working in Groups. Retrieved October 27, 2016 from
http://www.speaking.pitt.edu/student/groups/smallgrouptips.html
University of Sydney. (2014). How Can We Make Our Group Work Well Together? Retrieved October 27,
2016 from http://sydney.edu.au/stuserv/learning_centre/help/discussGrp/dg_goodGroup.shtml