Melanie Cruz

Intercultural communication, communicating in groups, and group problem-solving are three chapters (and topics) we have discussed in class. Frankly, these are topics that I hadn't thought about if I were going. Maybe it was something I didn't want to think about, but I had previously experienced some of these topics... sometimes these experiences were positive, sometimes they were slightly negative. Wait, let me rephrase that, they weren't "negative" they were just.. "educational"

One topic that group one spoke about was intercultural communication competence. 

It was something I hadn't thought about before but had experienced. 

To give some background information, I joined a theater about a year and a half ago. This theater was in Davie- versus me, who was (has been)  born and raised in Hialeah, Florida. When I walked into this theater, the culture shock genuinely confused me (though I had been on vacation in different places beforehand). The genuine culture shock I felt when walking into that theater was surreal. Suddenly people were calling me "darling" just to be nice. Though the people in that theater also experienced a culture shock from them. One part of chapter three that I read was a thing about "low content cultures" and "high context cultures" low context cultures are the ones where the words said are the ones that are supposed to be said. An example could be that if I said, "I want to start working to make some money," that would have to mean, "I want to start working to make money" verses in a low-context culture, I would be saying, "I want to start working to make-" 

When I joined that theater, I then became aware of my low context culture syndrome. It wasn't a problem; it was just a difference between them and me. I would say something like, "So you want me to go here?" as I stood on the right side of the stage, but my director would say, "Melanie, I need you to stand on stage right." It wasn't an issue after the third rehearsal, but it was a way I had to alter my brain chemistry... still to this day around not family I'm very high context culture in front of my family, but my code switch comes in handy with other groups of people so that I can be understood correctly. 

The second group spoke about a vital topic I also related to. 

They spoke about communicating in groups, which (again) was something I had yet to think about. We learned as a group about social groups, support groups, interest groups, service groups, work groups, and teams— I hadn't realized how interconnected these three groups are. Obviously, all these are groups, but they can tie into one another so easily. when I was younger, I used to be a part of a youth group, but when I tried identifying what sort of group it was— I couldn't. It was a social group, interest group, and service work— frankly, that group had every tie, so it was fun to try to find which group my group related to more. Having to entertain the thought was mind-boggling and entertaining to tackle. However, these groups aren't always for the benefit of humankind. I read in the book about the "Pro-Ana" diaries... Basically, the "Pro-Ana" diaries were in support of anorexia. Though this group consisted of women online through a social media platform. When we look at groups, we definitely need to look at the good and bad side of things, frankly, I remember my mom telling me growing up, "don't talk to strangers online," and that was definitely a quote that was reminded me to be when I was reading that story of women who were supporting one another in this process, under the name of "health." The sad part about this was that it's also under the name of "freedom of speech," which is sad to think that women believed they were building each other up, but in reality, they were just tearing one another down. 

When it was time for group three to present, I was excited for our group to present because our topic was quite different from the past two. The past two had to do with what defines people and how people interact on different platforms. Though, when it came to our group, we got to talk about leaders. I enjoyed hearing about the other kind of leaders because (AGAIN!) I hadn't thought about it before. (I need to think about these things more often— or maybe consciously think about these things and write them down) But anyways, hearing about the different leadership styles and seeing how they applied to my life and of those around me. we have the autocratic leader, the participative leader, laissez faire, trformational and servent. Frankly, when our speaker spoke about the participative leader, I realized that usually, the leader connects more with the audience. Usually, they are the ones to ask you about your day or ask you if you need any help. When it comes to professors, I've realized that "Participative leaders" are the ones that usually have the higher ratings. Autocratic is an automatic no for most people (I don't have a statistic), but from my two siblings, I've heard them say some awful stories about Autocratic, like professors. I'm pretty sure they would've dropped that class if my mom would've allowed them to. 

Another thing I liked about our chapters was that we truly learned what being a leader means. Being a leader, sure it can be defined as the most competent person in the room or the one with the most exercise— but none of the steps in our chapter ever talked about smarts. The best leader usually is the one who listens, the one who asks, and at the end of the day, is the most organized. it isn't the person who holds a flag way up in the sky; that person just probably had a powerful arm— they might've not actually been a leader. The leader was perhaps the person who asked that person to hold the flag way up in the air. That was the leader. 

And I know I'm creating some sort of fictional scenario (Its what I do), but think about it... 

The leader isn't the one who holds the flag. A true leader asks somebody else to carry the flag for the team and not them.  I was going to say, "hopefully one day I can be that person" but no. 

Not "hopefully". I will be that person.