Journal 01 Week: Two
Date:18/08/2010
Words: 532
Task/Incident:
Introducing and Socializing
Selecting & Describing
With the fear of not knowing anyone I entered in the first class of the Leadership and Organisation Dynamics. As not being a native English speaker I was worried that either the members of the groups will take me into their groups. As the class began my tutor John asked us to write our names in a tag and wear it, we were also required to sit in away so that we are facing each other in the class. John then asked to start the first activity which was to introduce the member sitting in front of each of the students. My mate sitting in front of me was Liam and he is working in hospital as a part time employee. On the other hand Abdul sitting next to me is doing HR as major. I felt that by undertaking this activity john was trying to develop our team or classmates and build strong relationship within our group. The activity enabled students get to know each other and It was about to think which group or people I would join for the group task. Finally at the end of the class john formed us in a small group and also helped us to understand the unit outline.
Reflecting & Inferring
By being a part of the introductory class I realised that we were all in the same track and therefore we needed to introduce ourselves so that we can all reach our task. The first task was to form PLG(Peer Learning Group) which did require us to know each other so that we are well fitted in a group. It was a challenge for me to meet the other member in the LLG. Although I knew Abdul before the situation which was quite comfortable for me moreover, other students behaved in the same way as they were trying to be open to meet everyone. Contrary behaviour was also reflected in some of the students as they knew each other and did not feel like talking to others.

Theorising & Generalising
Tyson (1998) expresses that; a part of group development will encourage members to interact with each other. The fore the interacting process helped us to form the PLG in the second week. He also emphasized that ‘members have a common task or goal to reach which gives direction to the activity patterns of communication emerge and people develop by bonding’ (Tyson 1998). We all knew that our common task is to be work efficiently in the group in order to achieve our goal which was to pass the subjects and learn effectively for future.
Active Planning
I will try to become easier with other member of the class for a better performance. The reason I need to get out of my communicating barrier is the class had the same goals and we can all be more effective if we allow ourselves to understand our surroundings and keep everyone developing in the group by including all individuals and encouraging each other to interact with everyone. If don’t allow myself communicating at the end of the day I won’t be benefitted.

Journal 2
Week: Three
Date:25 /08/2010
Words: 639
Task/incident:
Formation of PLG
Selecting & Describing
At the beginning of the second tutorial John asked us if we had attended the lecture or not, after that he introduced the first activity of the class. We were asked to form into small learning groups of four or five for contact learning and for our upcoming presentation and assignment. It was noticeable that the groups were formed very fast. I was looking at the whole class to see which group needed a member. There were four girls sitting next to me. I spent time looking to the window and had no idea which group should I join and felt confused and left out. However, after realizing that everyone was already in a group except me, I then went to the girls and asked them if I could join their group. Surprisingly they agreed without any hesitation. Finally, I was in a group. My group mates were Andrea, Jacquelyn, Gen, Morgan and me. In the group Andrea was our leader as she posse’s kind of controlling personality and has come to the class being prepared from the very first class.
Reflecting & Inferring
After the PLG formation I didn’t have any idea what is our task and what to do. I was still thinking about the group formation which was not as easy as I expected, I realised that I needed to know at least what kind of people you are going to work with. I was looking around and I found that all the students who were in groups didn’t know each other they just approached and joined in a group. The formation of PLG was interesting for me as I am used to with groups who are formed by the teacher. The experience had leaded me to understand that it is important to open yourself talk to each other without hesitation. If I don’t talk and communicate at the end of the day I will be the one who will be in trouble, exactly which has happened.
Theorising & Generalising
Tyson (1998) explains that s part of group development will encourage members to interact with each other member have a common task or goal to reach which gives direction to the activity patterns of communication emerge and people develop by bonding. Therefore effective communication was required to join in a PLG and for the PLG’s quick formation. However, The formation of PLG was done and I was in a group. I was able to join the group because they agreed to take me as one of their member where communication emerges and a bonding was created among all of us. On the other hand the Art Model (2004) expresses that, Self authorisation in relation to roles and task acts on each member to take their own authority. Moreover, it approaches to complete the task lacked authority, role and task from every individual within the group. As I was finding difficulty to join in a group according to Tyson (1998) “Difficulties can happen when the decision making process is lacking problem solving skills which I did not have. However, forming and joining the PLG was a difficult task for me as I was unable to the right decision and was unmindful while the group was forming.
Active Planning
I should be more confident in terms of joining a group. I should not only wait for someone to ask me weather if I want join or not. I must ask others and be more open. I learned that the person who talking much in the group is not necessarily to be the leader. In the future, I will try to be more confident and open person. Also, I will try to develop my communication skills in order to deal with a various personalities.

Journal 3
Week: Three
Date: 25/08/2010
Words:467
Task/Incident
Cash Register Activity
Selecting & Describing
In this week John introduced us to a new activity called the Cash Register activity. In the task we were required answer some true/false questions given from a paragraph. John explained us the purpose of this exercise which was to find out how the case comes up with effective performance comparing the individual and both PLG and LLG perspective of view. However, at the beginning everyone was asked to answer the questions individually then john asked us to work out the answer of the questions within the PLG and LLG. As we were working in the group everyone was expressing his/her ideas against the answers freely. There were some arguments going on about some of the particular questions. However, at the end when everyone agreed in an answer the group finalised to choose one answer. Individual input was evident in the group in order to come up with arguments and vibrant discussion for the group’s effective performance.
Reflecting & Inferring
The activity allows me to learn how the work becomes more efficient when working in a group rather just doing it by myself. There were several reasons that it was better to work in a group. Firstly, the students can discuss about a certain issues which they can argue each other about a specific topic. Secondly, if someone in the group makes a mistake other members are there to help the person out to come with a correct answer. Finally, I learnt that in each group should have operated by a leader who can control, advice and guide them to the right track although we did not have any leader which made us a bit disorganised.
Theorising & Generalising
Paul (2009) expresses that, "We learn better when we make our own mistakes, but when it comes to the safety and security of high-risk process facilities, it is important we learn from the mistakes of others". Therefore, it was evident in our group that working in a group is better in terms of learning not only from your mistake but also from others mistakes. This entire process allows us the chance to learn more in a limited period of time. From the exercise, I observed others mistake which helped me to identify my mistakes and I could realise where the mistake due to the excellent cross conversation between the members was.
Active Planning
In the future I will consider working in groups for efficiency and better problem solving. When there is a problem or I am going to be stuck in a position I now know that groups can be the best place to solve. With everyone’s comments and discussion it will be easy and clearer to come up with a perfect solution or decision.

Journal 4
Week: Five
Date: 08/09/2010
Task/Incident:
Three Zones of Awareness Incident
Selecting and describing experiences
In this week when I entered the class John told us to find the partner that you feel comfortable with and find a location to sit in to do the three zones awareness activity. Me and Jacqueline we sit in front of each other then we started doing the activity. I started to say that I see the board, she was saying that she was looking at a bag. This went for two minutes. Then I started to think I am confused with this activity and was feeling that why were we doing this activity. Then she said, she was thinking all the students were feeling the same way in the class.
The most comfortable zone was 1. It was interesting because we were just watching around the class. It was a matter of laughing as we did not know why we were doing that. But later on I realised that I was doing that as it gave me more scope to think deeply and concentrate on the things surrounding to me.
Reflecting and Inferring
After the incident happened I realised that people’s awareness is important because it can understand the way a person will behave. I personally gained from the experience that looking at the different areas of awareness we can look at what makes up a group (e.g. the parts and roles) and how it behaves.

Generalising and Theorising
From my point of view the activity was based on the Getsalt’s three awareness theory. The lecture has introduces us to know from Gestalts theory of awareness that there are three zones of awareness. They are the Inner, Middle and Outer awareness. If we relate to the experience the LLG could have been taken into account to be aware of the surroundings. If we were able to think, judge and analytically analyse the situation we could have been into the middle area on the awareness zones. As we have lined up in a single queue and most interestingly there weren’t any one nearby me we actually were confused which level of awareness were we in. The entire situation was everyone was confused and no one noticed that it was an awareness activity. At the end by understanding the awareness process it helps to understand the behaviour, needs, and concern of the general characteristic in the group development can drives the group to move forward better (Tyson,1980).
Active Planning
Taking this exercise into account, I am aware of others and how they perceive me, I will try to be more active in class discussion and focus on the development of my PLG. I can’t change the way I feel towards others awareness but I can adapt to it by being a more effective member in the LLG. I will make more effort to do the readings for the topics in class and I will attempt to communicate more in class to show that I am an active contributor.

Journal 5
Week: Six
Date: 15/09/2010
Words: 509
Task/Incident:
Pond Activity
Selecting & Describing
In this week John asked us the class to imagine the entire class as a pond. The central of the class is the deepest level of the pond. We were visualizing that everyone in the class is inside the pond. He then asked the students to stand up and put their self in the level of the pond that represent their involvement in the in the class. John was then stood up exactly in the middle of the pond which represents that he had a high involvement in the class. At the beginning I was pretty confident when I moved myself towards the pond and standing close to Nicole but then when I looked around most of the students were in the line except me and Nicole. I felt confused when I saw that no one was standing close to me. The entire process started to become more confusing.
I hear that some of the students whispering that they were confused. The rest of the groups remained silent as no one knew what do and what they should say moreover what is the aim for this exercise. I saw anxiety from most students by looking at the way they were standing with some arms crossed, and one of the leg bent.
Reflecting & Inferring
After the exercise, I draw back my attention into what had just happened in the pond activity. For me it was a confusing and activity that did not make any sense except just moving around. During the entire period of the exercise I was confused.
Therefore, when I looked back when the activity had just started, I found that I was not as confused as I was in the end of the exercise. For me, initially, the task was clear ‘moved to the pond which represent your involvement in the class’ I was moving towards Nicole, and stand up in between John and Nicole. I might move towards Nicole because I thought I closed with her; she was with me in two previous subjects , moreover, I wasn’t moved far from Morgan, because I don’t want to be away from my PLG group. To conclude this activity, John was asking us of what we felt during the activity, and as I assumed, most of the student was feeling confused.
Theorising & Generalising
Tyson (1998) expresses that, synergy occurs when the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. That means we all were in the group were confused and did not really pay attention to the activity that was in place as there was not any synergy in place in the group in the pond activity.

Active Planning
In the future, I should be more aware with what was happening around me by reflecting in the three zones of awareness outer, middle and inner. The tutor has explained us how to show that we are aware but from next time we should be careful enough to hear the instructions properly.

Journal 6
Week 7-8
Date:
Task/Incident: Woodward’s Clock
Selecting & Describing
In this exercise, we looked at the development of our group. The task was to score your group individually from 1 to 24 by assuming that your group development was in day; from day light into midnight. It asked you to put your group as whether is in the early day or later in the day. There were four parts in the clocks for every six hour with different characteristic; the undeveloped team, experimenting team, consolidating team, and mature team.
The first team called undeveloped team; it was early morning until sunrise (1 am to 6 am). It said the team in this group has characteristic such as unclear objectives, law improvement bureaucracy, and boss takes most decision. The second group called an Experimenting team, which is from sunrise to the midday (6-12pm); with characteristics such as experimentation, risky issues debated, wider options consideration, personal feeling raised and increased listening. The third group from midday to sunset called consolidating team. In this group the team has established group rules, agreed procedures, and experimented with methodical working. And the last group is a mature team which has a priority development, experiment with consolidation and flexibility, and has appropriate leadership.
I feel a little confuse because I think my group is somewhere around early day until after midday. So, I couldn’t decide whether i should call my PLG as an experimenting or consolidating team. And for the LLG, I believe that my group is a very early stage of the clock.

Reflecting & Inferring
I took nearly ten minutes to decide which one is my PLG’S development i reflected back that my group has a clear objective, but it has a low improvement. It has a risky issues discussed sometime, wider options. In this few weeks, our personal feeling increased and maintenance contact. We worked in the task but sometime we cannot focus on it. We started dividing the roles but we do not really have rules. In the end, put them as an experimenting team, which I think my group is seems like a day between 10 am to after midday (1 pm).
After that, I had to score my LLG in the clock. I gave the LLG as in 5 am in the morning. Because it says that as undeveloped team, the boss takes most decision, which I believe marg is the boss in the LLG. It also says that the group has a low improvement, poor listening, and feelings not deal with the workplace, or in this case the class room. And also I found that the personal feeling in this glass was not raise as much as in the PLG.

Theorising & Generalising
Need some theory

Active Planning
As Tyson (1998) recommended that the group can moved from stage i (undeveloped team) into stage 2 (experimenting team)
By show willingness to engaged in the team building activities, in the future i might be more involve in the class activity so that the LLG development can move into more mature stage. (teacher comment how will you do this)