A Crucial Decision

So last Monday's class was kind of crazy. Having the authority to not only influence our exam grades, but to be able to decide how our next exam was going to be structured, was a hot topic that truly concerned every student in that room. Regardless of your participation in the decision making, or if you got a 100 on the first exam, the decision to be made was going to affect everyone. It was a great relief to me that someone with a strong voice and personality stepped up early, to lead the decision making process. It was a role necessary for the decision to be made, and if no one took that role upon him-/herself early, we as a group would have lost valuable time.

In the early stages of the decision making every one got a chance to speak up and make a suggestion. This stage was fairly stress free and people didn't seem to tense about it. As the deadline came closer it seemed like the whole class became so eager to agree on something that it didn't matter so much what it was we agreed on, as long as we made a decision. I think that it was that kind of spirit that made everyone compromise, and try to find a common ground to build on. Many of the ideas were similar to each other, and some the same, so I think that a more detailed description of each alternative would have been helpful.

I think this exercise really showed the difficulties in decision making when there is no authority. Because even though we had a leader, her vote counted no more or less than anyone else. The group was very large which led to many people talking at the same time and confusion about the meaning of some suggestions. It would have been more effective if we had split into groups, as one girl suggested, where everyone could get their voice heard. This would have narrowed down our suggestion pool, which in turn would have saved some time to discuss each alternative a little bit more in depth.

My response to the chaos that was created that class, was to just listen to other peoples suggestions instead of throwing myself into the debate. Having that said I don't think my way to handle the conflict can be described as avoidance, because it wasn't as if the decision didn't affect me or that I wasn't concerned about what decision would be made. I was happy with my grade and definitely didn't want to just disregard that exam, but at the same time I understood that by dropping one exam would benefit a lot of people in the class. I think my typical way of dealing with a conflict is by accommodation, and that was my response in this case as well.

The Plan to Succeed

My first reflection on last class' exercise was how amazingly engaged everyone was. As soon as that timer started the adrenaline started pumping through people's veins, and the competitiveness among the groups grew intense. Looking back at the planning process my own group went through, I continued to be amazed over how all steps were at some point were covered, although not necessarily in the same order you're "suppose" to.

The first step our group took was to clear up any confusion over the task (when are we allowed to use the tools? how much time do we have after the planning process is done?). By doing that we went through step 1 in the planning process by clearly defining our goals and objectives. After everyone was on board with what the goal was we quickly decided who was to drop the egg and who should run for the scissors when it was time for that. I guess you could call that determining your resources and current status, which is step 2. I think this step would have been more important if the assignment were more complex with more different tasks. In this specific case it would have been a waste of time to spend more effort on analyzing each individuals strengths and weaknesses.

Next we came up with a handful of designs, but quickly found flaws in each one. We didn't go through step 3 and 4 in order, but instead just threw out ideas and criticism (good and bad) to each one. Looking back we probably would have been better off by not rejecting different designs so fast, because we kept going back and forth between different designs. Eventually we decided on one that we thought could work. But what we forgot to do was to decide who should do what and it was also a little unclear exactly how the execution of our plan should pan out. I guess this could have been prevented if we had a clear leader who could assign the different tasks so that when it was time to actually build this protection everyone knew what to do.

Step 5 was somewhat of a disappointment as we soon discovered that the tejp we were given wasn't sticky enough to secure the straws onto the egg. This forced the group to rethink fast and to revise the previous strategy. Eventually we managed to finish our construction and made the deadline. Sadly our construction didn't protect the egg from breaking. The way we had positioned our straws made the straws weak and soft instead of firm and protective.

In conclusion I think that our group did really well on the planning part. Although we didn't have a leader everyone in the group was involved and really wanted to contribute. Although I think we collectively disregarded ideas a little too fast, there was still a lot of support for the ideas brought up. It's pretty interesting how people who don't know each other at all, given a mutual goal, can become so connected and supportive of each other. And while our group might have mixed up a few steps, and not thoroughly gone through other, the overall planning process I think went really well.

The "Green" Shirt

Moving to the U.S. I strongly believed I knew all about the culture in America. Growing up I was so influenced by American music, TV, and movies that I didn't even reflect upon the culture clash I might experience by moving here. After almost four years in New York I am still learning about the differences in the diverse existing cultures in N.Y., and the culture I grew up with that I thought I knew all about.

Many of the differences are very obvious, and easy to learn and understand; such as holidays celebrated. Other things such as attitudes and values are much harder to truly understand. One of the first common attitude I found strange was the overall view on environmental questions and global warming by both people and corporations. I have always been taught, not only by my family but from school, companies in my town, and the government, the importance of recycling and reducing your carbon footprint.

For many years I've been so conscious about my consumption and how it affects the planet we live on, that it completely blew my mind to hear people argue that such actions are unnecessary. I currently live with an American family and therefore learn about their point of view first hand. I have many times argued the importance of recycling, and gotten the answer that there is no point. I agree that it is useless unless their is a functioning organization to take care of your recycled products. But I do think that it is the governments and the corporations responsibility to take the appropriate actions to encourage such actions. When such institutions exist it is up to us individuals to take our responsibility to help reduce our waste. I was horrified when I discovered that many people threw batteries, food, paper, plastic, and glass bottles all together in the same bag. Back in Sweden my mom would have been furious if I by mistake threw a Coke bottle with the cap in the same recycling bin (the cap on a Coke bottle is hard plastic and should be separated from the soft plastic).

In fact recycling is such an important part of the culture in Sweden that it is considered unacceptable not to take responsibility for your consumption. When my family was struggling to pay the rent my mom would still insist on paying the extra kronors (currency in Sweden) for the environmentally friendly products. I have slowly come to realize that what I thought to be universal is in fact a belief fostered by the culture I grew up in. I've met many Americans who just don't really care about environmental issues, but I have also met many that really do show and interest. It seems to me that caring about the environment is an emerging trend here and that more and more people become aware of the problems that arise with the industrialized countries exaggerated consumption.

What's interesting to me though is that many people seem to think that more consumption is the answer(!). I see people walking around with green t-shirts that say: "I recycle" or similar messages, but what do you really know about the company producing that shirt? Are they really supporting the message you're trying to spread? And is buying more products really the answer? Although I'm very pleased to see companies and individuals take initiative to create awareness about this issue, I'm sometimes confused as to how more consumption is suppose to reduce the damage we cause the environment, to me that seems like a paradox:/