Not-So-Chaotic Decision Making

Even though I only voiced out an opinion once during that semi-chaotic decision making process for our test, I felt like I handled the conflict with more of a compromise rather than a withdrawal. The combination of ideas integrating into one decision felt like the most sensible thing. But to be more reasonable, there were so many ideas being put out there so it was really hard to combine what everyone wanted. Just because ideas were approved and denied back to back didn't make me want to withdraw from the decision making. I basically participated in eliminating or sticking to these ideas by raising my hand. My grade is affected by the final decision so might as well participate in the poll.

I think collaborating feels like the most sensible method to use because the decision isn't only for me, but for the entire class. It would have been nice to form small groups first but since we were under time pressure we just skipped this process. Although that step was skipped, we still ended up combining two sets of ideas: extra credit and dropping the lowest grade, to create a combination that everyone seemed to agree on (unless others were forced into agreeing because people were just worried about time constraints). It felt like everyone was competing to win in the beginning and then eventually collaborating which turned into a seemingly win-win outcome.

I did have doubts that we will not be able to come up with a decision on time but having a leader made it more organizable and put the process more at ease.

A Successfully Cracked Egg

In my opinion, I think our group did a moderate job in the planning process even though we failed at creating a successful egg protector. First off, we missed step 1 which is defining the goal and objectives. I think we felt that we’ve already processed the goal in our heads and so we went straight to brain-storming due to lack of time. Our group didn’t have a specific leader because it seemed like it wasn’t one of our priorities. Our main priority was to have an idea of how to build our protector.

We didn’t really touch on step 2 either which was identifying the resources because the resources were already discussed earlier. Also, we already knew that each of us needed an idea of how this protector should look like so all of us just kept throwing ideas, either going against it or agreeing to it.

Discussing several alternative strategies and any mishaps that may occur were definitely mentioned (step 3). One mishap that was discussed and that actually happened was the egg rotating when it was dropped straight. The idea of the egg rotating was scratched out because we felt that if the egg were to drop straight down, the yolk would be at the bottom of the egg and light part of the egg will be on top, creating a straight down fall. False. That theory didn’t work. It’s interesting and funny looking back at it.

The tactical plan approach, which was stage 4, was definitely followed. Each of us knew our role as to who will handle the specific job in this process. We also implemented the plan and evaluated the results, which was stage 5. While we had the actual necessities to build the protector, our group still kept throwing out ideas and finding ways to modify the plan.

A reason why we failed in creating a successful protector was that we didn’t really focus on if there’s a loophole to this activity or we didn’t really “think outside the box.” We focused on a more obvious idea and finding ways for that obvious idea to work. Other reasons were not determining the leader of the group and time-pressure.

I give my team an A for effort and 10 extra points each for the test because even though our egg protector didn’t work, we worked well as a team. But too bad that's not my decision to make.