Blog #1 Ayme Salcedo

 

Blog #1 Ayme Salcedo

May 19, 2026

My Experience with Group Communication by Ayme Salcedo.

Working on our group presentation was honestly a really interesting experience for me. At first, I thought it was just going to be another regular class project where everyone does their own part and then presents it. However, after working with my group and learning more about communication in groups, I realized that group work can actually teach a lot about teamwork, leadership, responsibility, and communication skills.

Our group’s topic focused on healthy groups, cohesiveness, productive norms, accountability, synergy, and the different stages of group development. While preparing for the presentation, I learned that healthy groups are not just random people working together. Healthy groups depend on communication, trust, respect, and cooperation. One of the most important concepts we explained was cohesiveness. Cohesiveness means that members feel connected and work together toward the same goals. I liked this topic because I could relate it to real life. In many situations, whether in school, work, sports, or even friendships, groups are more successful when members trust and support each other.

During my part of the presentation, I explained that there are several factors that help create cohesion in groups. First, members are attracted to the group’s purpose and goals. Second, people usually work better together when participation is voluntary because they genuinely want to be there. Another important factor is feeling safe expressing opinions, even when members disagree. I think this is extremely important because many groups fail when people are afraid to speak honestly. I also talked about how encouragement and positive feedback help groups become stronger. Finally, celebrating accomplishments together helps motivation and teamwork. While presenting these ideas, I started thinking about how true they are in everyday life. Even small things like encouraging classmates or respecting different opinions can make a huge difference in how a group functions.

Another topic I discussed was productive norms. Productive norms are basically the rules or expectations that help groups work effectively. Examples include respecting others, being on time, sharing ideas, staying focused, and participating equally. I explained that when members follow productive norms, groups become more organized, cooperative, and successful. On the other hand, when people interrupt others, arrive late, refuse to participate, or ignore responsibilities, the group suffers. I think this was one of the most relatable parts of the chapter because almost everyone has experienced bad group work at some point in school. Sometimes one person does all the work while others contribute very little. Learning about accountability made me realize how important responsibility is inside a group.

One thing I really enjoyed about this project was connecting the material to real-life examples. The book explained how different kinds of groups exist, including social groups, support groups, work groups, service groups, and virtual groups. I found the section about virtual groups especially interesting because today so much communication happens online through text messages, Zoom meetings, emails, social media, and discussion boards. Virtual communication can make teamwork easier because people can communicate from different places and at different times. However, the chapter also explained that conflict can happen more easily in virtual groups because people cannot always understand emotions or reactions through screens and messages. I think this is very true because text messages are often misunderstood, and small disagreements can become bigger problems when communication is unclear.

The chapter also talked about synergy, which was another concept I found meaningful. Synergy means that a group working together can achieve better results than one individual working alone. The phrase “two heads are better than one” perfectly explains this idea. I really believe synergy happened during our project because everyone contributed different ideas and perspectives. Some people were better at designing slides, others were better at explaining concepts, and others helped organize the information. In the end, the presentation became stronger because everyone added something different.

Another interesting part of the chapter was the stages of group development: forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning. I realized that our group actually experienced many of these stages. At the beginning, during the forming stage, everyone was polite and still getting comfortable with each other. Then, during the storming stage, there were moments when we had different opinions about slides, organization, and presentation styles. Thankfully, we handled disagreements respectfully, which helped us move into the norming and performing stages where the group became more organized and productive. By the end of the project, I felt like we worked together much more naturally and confidently.

I also enjoyed watching the presentations from the other groups. Each group had a different perspective about communication and teamwork. Some presentations focused more on leadership and problem solving, while others focused on relationships and communication styles. Even though every group had a different presentation style, I noticed that all of the topics connected together. They all showed how communication affects relationships, teamwork, conflict, and success within groups.

Overall, this project helped me better understand how important communication is in everyday life. Before this assignment, I mostly thought of communication as simply talking to people. Now I understand that communication also includes listening, respecting opinions, solving conflicts, encouraging others, and working together toward common goals. I think these are skills that will be useful not only in school but also in future careers and personal relationships.

Looking back, I genuinely enjoyed this project more than I expected. It was not only about learning information from a textbook but also about applying those ideas to real situations. Working together with my classmates showed me how groups can become successful when members cooperate, communicate clearly, and support each other. Even though group projects can sometimes be stressful, this experience helped me understand why teamwork and communication are such important skills in both academic and professional environments.