group think!

Have you ever wondered how a group is able to gel so well and work together to achieve a common goal? What is it that brings certain people together and forms a group?

In my opinion, a group is a collection of individuals who interact and work together based on similar interests. Over time, these individuals will work together towards a common goal.

The Vancouver Winter Olympics that is taking place during this period holds numerous apt illustrations of group communications and the importance of it. Team events like ice hockey, speed skating and ski jumping are all examples that paint the dynamics of a group and the importance of group communication.

How are teams formed? What made these individuals form a group and participate in the Olympics? Though it may be true that the formations of the teams are out of their control as it is based on talent (i.e. only the best of the best are chosen to form a team and take part in the Olympics), undoubtedly, the individuals in each team share similar interest and passion towards the same sport. For example, individuals in the ice hockey team obviously share a passion for ice hockey and by being selected to represent their country in the Winter Olympics, they are now working as one towards a common goal, which is to earn a medal and do their country proud.

With similar interest/passion and a common goal, how do these individuals develop their relationship and at the same time, achieve their goal? Members of the group must be able to juggle 2 roles – task and maintenance roles, in order for the group to work well.

Take the amazing Austrian ski jump men’s team for example who recently won gold for the Olympics ski jump team event. How did they achieve this amazing feat?
Wolfgang Loitzl, Andreas Kofler, Thomas Morgenstern and Gregor Schlierenzauer made up this team that did their country proud and pushed Austria up to 7^th place in the medal standings. The fantastic four were able to work together despite their differences in age and level of experience and perform remarkably towards their goal. In addition, through trainings they had prior to the competition, these boys forged bonds with each other and I doubt the bond will be broken when the Olympics end.

The oldest in the group, Loitzl took on the role of a leader and an encourager, pushing the team forward during trainings. Whenever someone in the group feels like giving up, Loitzl will be the one to encourage them to look up and stay positive.
Kofler, one of the pioneers in the group is the one that coordinates sessions together. Being one of the ski jumpers with a good record, the rest respects him and will usually follow him.
Morgenstern is the most experienced and well respected member in the group despite his young age. Having won a lot of competitions in both team and individual event, Morgenstern is the person that the members look up to for advice to improve on their skills. As the saying goes, age is but a number and in this case, experience is valued more.
The youngest, Schlierenzauer (aka my favourite), is the group’s rising star. With 32 World Cup victories under his belt, he is seen as the one who will eventually top the charts. As all groups, the youngest are usually the ones who gels the group with their weird antics. Schlierenzauer is responsible for maintaining the group’s energy.
Despite the roles that they have, every one of them contributes to the social development of the group. Strong relationship within the group is important as it makes achieving the common less of a burden. Each knows that every one is there for each other and this acts as a reinforcement that everything will proceed smoothly if they just believe in each other.

I have presented the point that each member assumes two roles in a group. What if the members have a common goal (task) but they lack social relationship with each other? Can the group proceed and achieve what they have set out to do?

how we perceive, depends on who we are

The recent news surrounding G-Dragon’s Shine a Light concert caused a great ruckus in the KPop world, especially among his fans. For those who have no idea as to what I am talking about, click here and here. G-Dragon (real name: Kwon JiYong), leader of the awesome Big Bang, recently held his solo concert on 5^th December 2009. Apparently, according to fan reports, during one of his performances, “Breathe”, he was literally dry humping his dancer on a bed on stage. To add to that ‘misconduct’, he sang 2 songs (“She’s Gone” and “Korean Dream”) that were reportedly labelled as inappropriate as it contained vulgarities. These acts landed him a ticket to be interrogated for his ‘improper’ behaviour in public. Why, you ask, is this wrong?

Well, since he did not set an age restriction for his concert, it is inevitable that minors were part of the audience. Obviously, such acts are considered inappropriate for their pure minds. Furthermore, South Korea is still very much considered to be a conservative country so sex on stage (albeit with clothes on) is very much a no-no in their culture.

Personally, it all boils down to PERCEPTION. The process whereby we make sense of the world around us, perception is influenced by both psychological and social factors. Whatever we see, hear and experience, undergoes a thorough process before we finally perceive things. We select, organise and eventually interpret the information before forming our own conclusion of it. How is it applicable here? The fans who went weren’t complaining, so why did the ‘authorities’ interfere? I shall attempt to break down their thought process upon arriving to such conclusions, for both the fans and the authorities.

In the eyes of the authorities, G-Dragon’s stage stunt totally crossed the line. Since he is a singer/musician and a role model to many (personal constructs, cognitive schemata), he should not have performed an explicit bed scene especially since there were minors. Furthermore, as his concert had no age restrictions, all the more he had ‘no right’ to perform such acts on stage. His role as a singer and position in society made the authorities take action. In addition, the responsible figures might also have been concerned about how his actions and his obscene act can affect the audiences’ future behaviour (punctuation). For example, the minors may take it the wrong way and assume that public display of over affection is acceptable in their community. When this happens, they may bring said value to their future and practise it (interpretation). Like mentioned, South Korea is still a relatively conservative country. As such, G-Dragon’s stunt would not have been approved by the older generation Koreans. Influenced by the community that they are living in and the consequences that they have to bear in the event that someone complained, the authorities probably figured that they should be the one who makes the first move and interrogate the severity of his misconduct.

The fans, on the other hand, have a different story to tell. According to fan accounts, many were unperturbed by his bed scene, saying that it was no worse than any Western films with bed scenes in them (But hey! You really can’t compare because western culture and Korean culture is different). Being fans, they probably think that as a singer/musician, G-Dragon has a task to carry out, that is, to entertain and satisfy the fans with his music and performance. Instead of zeroing on the figure (the focus of attention) like what the authorities are doing, the fans take the whole concert as a package by itself (the ground i.e. the entire environment), not just a single performance, to conclude GD’s whole show. Despite their conservative culture, it is without a doubt that the youngsters are moving away from the norm and adapting a more Westernised lifestyle. They are more open minded to such exposure and would obviously not follow blindly the actions of their idols.

I guess it is reasonable that the authorities are interrogating him. Despite the absence of an age restriction to his concert, I am quite sure that the fans know what to expect in GD’s concert. And since the fans weren’t complaining, shouldn’t the authorities just let it go? As William Shakespeare said, “There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so”. We see what we want to see and we perceive things as who we are. Undoubtedly, our surroundings (culture, family, society) play a part in influencing our thought process but ultimately, we interpret it as how we would like it to be.

“A primary function of art and thought is to liberate the individual from the tyranny of his culture in the environmental sense and to permit him to stand beyond it in an autonomy of perception and judgement.” - Beverly Sills
I think GD did just that and then some.

Watch the video and do share your opinion! :D