Group Conflict Analysis: Proposal Assignment

Four students formed a group (they chose each other) to complete an assignment for school, which required them to write a proposal.  Over the course of 5 weeks the team had several conflicts. As a result, three team members stopped communicating with each other. 

 

One of the members, Rob, an international student from the Caribbean, was at a loss of what to do.  During the past conflicts he had tried to be supportive by agreeing with whichever member he had an interaction with that day.

 

He felt it was important that everyone get along, but more importantly everyone should be focused on just completing the assignment because he wanted to graduate this year.

 

Right from the start, Clara had taken the lead on the project, identifying the theme of the proposal and how it should be written and presented.  She wanted to make sure the project got her an A+ and nothing less.

 

She wanted to attend University after her graduation and needed excellent marks in order for her application to be competitive. Unbeknownst to all of her group members Clara had been diagnosed with a mood disorder earlier in the semester, was still having difficulty with her medication and had numerous appointments to attend.

 

The other two members, Zara and Charlene, had by chance met on the subway before the course began and they had exchanged their ideas about the proposal.

 

Both had spoken excitedly about how this proposal could actually bring about real change. They are about the same age as Clara and felt that Clara has been dominating the discussion and is insensitive to their concerns.

The proposal centered on a specific Anishnabe community’s issues. Clara, a middle class white woman, felt she knew about these issues since she had lived on a reservation for a few months when she was younger.

 

Zara and Charlene are both status Anishnabe women who had lived most of their lives on a reserve. 

 

In their last conversation, Clara had insisted that the format for the presentation follow the same style of presentation that a group of students who got A+ last year had used.

 

This style was a straightforward fact-based presentation where everyone read from the PowerPoint. Zara and Charlene suggested that they start the presentation with some smudging and drumming and that they then tell real stories about people’s lives on the reserve. Rob had no real opinion either way.

 

As Clara insisted on her way, Zara and Charlene started to shut down in the conversation, saying less and less.

 

Clara, realizing this, started to speak loudly and quickly, and admonished them for not wanting to get good marks. She yelled at them – also saying that she has worked so hard on this proposal and she has not yet gotten their written parts to the assignment (which was true) and she thought they were taking advantage of her by not doing anything.

 

She stormed out of the study room, crying saying she was going to the Professor to demand that she write this assignment alone.

 

By the 5th week no one was communicating with anyone else and Rob had come to the Professor with his concerns. The assignment, which was mostly done, was due in week 7 along with their presentation. He was informed that the group had to work it out amongst themselves and he needed to take on the role of facilitator/ mediator.

Choose 2 areas from this list to focus on when analyzing the scenario.

 

i. Group theory and formation

ii. Goals: Individual & Group goals.

iii. Leadership Styles: Relationship vs Task focused

iv. Norms

v.  Roles: Individual, Maintenance, Task

vi. Communication styles and barriers to communication

vii. Culture

viii. Signs of Defensiveness/ Feedback

ix. Conflict styles & Conflict management

1. Analyze the group dynamics in this scenario, using 2 areas from the list above and

a) Define the 2 areas you have chosen.

 

b) Identify why the group is in conflict and where you observe this occurring in the scenario. Provide an example to illustrate your point.
  
c) Discuss the impact on the functioning of the group for each of the 2 areas. 

2. Identify 3 ways in which Rob could help the group become more functional?