Running head: GROUP OBSERVATION #1: BASELINE PAPER

Group Observation #1: Baseline Paper

Tyler Sanders
Western Michigan University

GROUP OBSERVATION #1: BASELINE PAPER

Group Observation #1: Baseline Paper

Forming, storming, norming, conforming, and adjourning; for all of my life I have
watched John Tuckmans (1997) theory of group establishment work within the organizations I
have been involved with and also all of those that were around me. Looking at the start of a new
year or semester, I am always excited to see the new faces, the freshness of the forming phase
and observing the organization that I observed. This year at Western Michigan University,
Residence Life decided to take a different approach to the traditional way that hall government
organizations are run. The first was changing the name to leadership council, which directly
implies a removal of power. This went away from the traditional executive board and towards
more out of the box feel to the organization hierarchy. Whatever the students want to do is how
the organization will run and thus every leadership council has become its on special identity.
On this cold January Tuesday night, I made the trek to Valley three to visit the leadership
council of Harrison/Stinson Hall also known as SHARC, Stinson/Harrison Association of
Residents Council. SHARC meets every Tuesday at 9:30pm in the large lounge space on the east
side of the building. Arriving to the space, I was warmly welcomed by the council chair, Kara,
who asked if I had any questions and made me feel comfortable to be there. While Kara took the
lead now, I recognized the work that the advisor had put into making the organization run
without any assistance. Stacie Epson was the Graduate Assistant Hall Director for the building
and was the advisor for SHARC. In the fall one of Epsons duties was to recruit student leaders
from her building that wanted to become involved in the organization. This is the traditional
creation of the organization as retention is not successful due to students moving out of the
building or off campus. Harrison/Stinson is a primarily first year student residence hall and is
home to the business living learning community. The leadership council in this building

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specifically caters to these needs by being an in-hall student organization that put on programs
and initiatives that promote academics, diversity, service, and community.
As the first semester progresses, Stacie had shared her trials and tribulations of the
storming phase within the group. As Zacaro, Rittman, and Marks (2001) explained, as an
advisor Stacies role is responsible for selecting team personnel, providing the team with
resources and establishing the normative basis for team functioning (p. 453). Elections were
held for the two leadership positions of the group that were in charge of leading meetings and
keeping everyone accountable. This is where Kara received her position along with another
individual who was not present at the meeting. In the meeting, Kara took the harmonizer role in
the group by helping to mediate the differences among the group, but to also focus thoughts into
a collective understanding (Winston, Bonney, Miller, & Dagley, 1988). I observed great
leadership out of Kara for the extent of the meeting as the group showed her great respect and
her attitude helped to motivate and also mediate well throughout various issues.
The group also included a resident assistant liaison who acted as a co-advisor, but
essentially acted as a supporter in all of the messages that the group made during the meeting
(Winston et al., 1988). An important observation is that as the liaison, the resident assistant did
not have a say, but must learned to mediate similar to the role of the advisor and president
without visible favoritism. The group also included quieter members who found their roles
through volunteer opportunities and behind the scenes work. One of the more vocal members of
the group, Kyle, was an information seeker and continuously asked questions and repeated
information for clarification (Winston et al., 1988). As a student with Aspergers, Kyle brought a
different perspective to the conversation and also allowed for unique observations of group
dynamics.

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The meeting began as Kara welcomed everyone and started with the ice breaker question
of what everyones favorite winter sport was. This was a great way to include everyone during
the first meeting and to get them interacting as a whole. For the rest of the meeting Kara and the
group discussed some of their upcoming programs, trying to find volunteers, answering logistical
questions, and clarifying any questions that individuals may have had. During the meeting group
members also worked on completing some tangible tasks that needed to be completed. To me it
was obvious that the group was in Foley and Bonneys experimental stage as they were trying to
find their footing with their ideas, but not necessarily had confidence in the decisions that the
group was making (as cited in Winston et al., 2010).
Looking over all of the components that go into group dynamics and success, I would say
that the group is functioning very well. With strong sense of their group dynamics SHARC has
been able to find their role on the team throughout the school year thus far. Is there room for
improvement? Of course there is, but currently the group has been able to come together to work
on tasks as a team. As SHARC continued to be in the experimental stage, the group will
experience more success and failure that helps them to gain confidence and fit more surely into
specific roles (Winston et al., 1988). Some of the specific student actions that were evidence for
their strong function came from how roles have been created. The students had started to
recognize their strengths and then support these by giving them specific tasks in meeting the
goals of the group. I think it was also evident that the students took a vested interest in the
group. When Kara asked for volunteers or for work to be done, the group was not hesitant to
support her and were very willing to help lead to successfully complete any project.
Advising my own leadership council. I was impressed with the group dynamic of
Harrison/Stinson leadership council, SHARC. From great leadership of their president to the

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exciting and creative programs and initiatives, SHARC has already made great strides as a
student organization and I look forward to additional work that they do throughout the semester.
While they have already started to experiment, I look forward to my return later in the spring to
see how much further the group has progressed and to see what else they can complete in
building community in Harrison/Stinson.

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References
Tuckman, B. W., & Jensen, M. A. C. (1977). Stages of small-group development revisited.
Group & Organization Management, 2(4), 419-427.
Winston, R. B., Bonney, W. C., Miller, T. K., & Dagley, J. C. (1988). Promoting student
development through intentionally structured groups, (3-72). San Francisco: Jossey Bass.
Zaccaro, S. J., Rittman, A. L., & Marks, M. A. (2001). Team leadership. The Leadership
Quarterly, 12(4), 451-483.