When
interdependence and interrelationship does not work well in a small group the
group starts dissolving and breaking its unity. The members start deviating from their specialized roles and fail to work mutually as a team. Thus members of the group do not share similar goals and the group breaks down in parts.
EXAMPLE: I consider my family of 4 as a small
group working towards running our household ship smoothly. My house is the
ship, I am the anchor of the ship and my husband is the navigator. My children
are little interns on the ship who are learning their life skills everyday.
Whenever I get in difference of opinion with my husband, our ship rocks but as
long as we keep our intentions clear and stay united, we can get over the
differences and move on. There is a sense of interdependence among all of us,
which makes us perform our individual duties responsibly. Similarly, I would
not like to jeopardize the relationships amongst us as that can break the whole
synergy of our group.
EXAMPLE 2: My friends and me had started a kitty
party with an intention to get together once a month and have potluck party.
That way our families would mingle to get to know each other and have fun. We
contributed 100 dollars every month and conducted lucky draw to find the winner
of the kitty. We were 9 friends living in Singapore for work purpose. All went
well until about first round of 9 months. When it came to continue for the next
round, one of our friend backed out saying she cannot spare one Sunday every
month for she had other commitments, one friend backed out saying she always
wins the draw in the end, other friend said her in laws had joined them so she
was not comfortable to meet once every month. Thus every friend came with
different reasons to break the kitty group. However 4 of us thought of
continuing the family get together without money element, which worked great
until one of our active participant moved out of Singapore. Finally we lost
interest in the kitty concept because it made no sense anymore as every member
in the group exhibited different interests so ultimately we closed the kitty
and the whole group dispersed.
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ReplyDeleteHi, Spring Blogger. Nice to “see” you online again. I enjoyed your comparison of your family to the way a ship is run. I loved your analogy of you being the anchor and your husband being the navigator. How useful would a ship be if it had no anchor to keep it where it needs to be at times or had no navigator and always moved aimlessly about?
ReplyDeleteThe most effective small groups are those whose members have clearly defined and accepted roles that take advantage of the talents and abilities of each individual member and blend with each other to function as a system. Each family member needs to know his or her role and be capable of fulfilling that role. To have the system work, each family member needs to be mutually reliant on each other (interdependent) and work with each other in a reciprocal relationship (interrelationship). If family members can’t rely on each other and they can’t trust each other to reciprocate, then, as you wrote, the synergy of the group breaks down, which doesn’t lead to a family that works together as a highly-functioning system.
Hey Lee! Good to see you again. Welcome to 141P. By the way, Thanx for the great response on my post.
ReplyDeleteHey, Spring Blogger!
ReplyDeleteI really like the ship analogy for your family. Every successful group that I have ever been a part of has always had clearly defined roles for each person. By doing that, everyone is able to play to their strengths and cooperate more efficiently. If everyone is able to trust and rely on each other, everything runs more smoothly. You made a really good point about how to right the ship when you and your husband have a difference of opinion; talking to each other, keeping your intentions clear (synergy), and being open to each other's thoughts and input is key in making sure your family stays focused on what you want to do (openess).
Hey spring blogger,
ReplyDeleteI think it's important to remember that there are many different types of small groups. Even though we see our families every day and even consider them the people we go to to get away from our working groups, they are still a group that follows the same rules and theories as any other group. It is easy to forget that they may hit the sae thresholds and go through the same process as those we work and play with. We may be able to learn more about groups, as you have, by remembering that a group is simply 3-20 people with a common goal. I'm glad I read this post. I could use a fresh perspective on making things run smoothly at home in addition to other places.