Group evaluation based on
Social Exchange Theory

Group evaluation based on
Social Exchange Theory
Social exchange theory suggests that each member of our group entered the group after first weighing the benefits verses the cost. In our situation as students in school, and assigned to a group in order to complete a graded project, what we must weigh is how social exchange theory would instead effect how much effort and dedication each person brought to the group. We must also consider that each person also had outside influences which added to their ability to contribute time on the project itself before giving a favorable or unfavorable opinion of a person’s contribution. For each of us, the benefits or reward are in most cases the same, we would like to get an A on our presentation. What will set us apart is how bad each of us as individuals really want that A. Since I have worked with each of the students in my group for over a year now it’s fairly easy to know and to set expectations as to who will do what within our group. Allan has cared about one thing since I met him a year ago, his GPA. He has not missed a day of school and like me is always the last to leave after class labs. Due to his dedication to maintaining a 4.0 GPA he had everything to gain by putting forth a great effort and contributing one hundred percent to his part of the project. Jolynn is also one who cares allot about her GPA and as with every other project I have been a part of, will give one hundred percent in order to get a good grade. The difference with her is really having more going on in her personal life. While she may get things to us a little later than we would like, it will still get to us in time to keep the project from being late. Last is Larry, he is the odd ball out when it comes to dedication. While he would like that A that we are all looking for, it does not hold the same importance as it does to the rest of us. While he does want to have a good GPA when he graduates it does not weigh as heavily on his mind as it does for the rest. He will be more likely to get distracted by other life events during the project and more prone to setting us behind. In the end, how each of us as individuals value getting an A on the project is what will determine the value of what we put into it, which in turn will affect the overall grade of the project as a whole.
In rating each person of my group I will use a scale of one to ten. I do believe that each person contributed pretty well, only differences would be in getting the information I required in order to put together a PowerPoint presentation and what information was given, by this I mean did it appear there was allot of research done or did they find the articles, read enough to make a slide and call it a day. Allen is easily a ten in my book, I may be biased due to working with him for so long but I also know how much time he does in fact put into his work. He was able to get everything I needed by either the times I requested or at least by the times he have to me. Jolynn I will put at an eight, primarily due to timeliness in getting required resources to me in order to put the presentation together. Her work is always good but sometimes she gets work in later than needed which caused me to do a bit more last minute work. Larry to me is about a seven out of ten and really that’s only cause I know he has stuff going on in his personal life otherwise he would possibly be a five or six in this case. While his work was late, it was good and I do think he did decent research for the information he came up with and created in his slides.
If worth is a positive number, it is a positive relationship. On the contrary, a negative number indicates a negative relationship. The worth of a relationship influences its outcome, or whether people will continue with a relationship or terminate it. (Monge, P.R. & Contractor, N. 2003). Overall I think our group did quite well in getting information and brining it together into a presentation. Each person took a fair share of research needed and completed it in a timely manner allowing our presentation to be completed on time. Best of all no one had to be pressured to get there work done so the project could be completed. I would easily rate this as a great experience working with fellow students. I would easily choose to work with any of these students in future projects or out in the work force.

Reference
Monge, P. & Contractor, N. (2003). Theories of Communication Networks. Los Angeles, CA: Oxford University Press