Focus: We did in fact have a group of individuals, with different personalities, working together to accomplish one task, make eggs. When Beth split us up into our sub groups, making us in charge of different "projects" inside that task, it was easy. Then she started switching those groups up, making it a little more difficult to manage the task at hand.
Clarification: Clarification is one thing that we were trying to accomplish in our groups, to assist the chef in making our dish (hopefully edible!) Three people were trying to guide the chef, with just their voices. I think that we did a decent job of guiding the chef(s) towards the goal. Only there were some issues with clarification between the three main people assisting the chef(s). Sometimes they would talk over each other, confusing the chef(s), making it more difficult for the chef(s) to accomplish this task in a timely manner. I did notice that when the stove was actually on, only one person would guide the chef(s) towards the pan and away from the burners.
Mouse: There is always one or more people that tend to be quieter than the rest of the group. Some were better at this than others. I know that when it was my turn to shut up, I still was trying to give directions to the guides or the chef(s). Obviously I was not the mouse! I really couldn't point out just one mouse, I know that Chewy was pretty quiet, until it was his turn to help guide the chef(s).
Loudmouth: It turns out... that I was the loud mouth of the group. I had to have my hands and mouth into the whole project. It actually took Beth telling me to be quite when I wasn't a guide, for me to hush up a bit. When I saw something I though should be changed or added, I usually just whispered into a guides ear. Because I can't NOT have a say so in everything apparently...
Written Record: There was no real written record of this event (at least not until we all had to write our blogs,) but a couple of people did record and take pictures via cell phones. Probably just in case someone caught the faculty kitchen on fire, or burnt themselves.
Feedback (negative): I think that we all could tell there were a couple of things that we could have done differently, but its to late to change it now. We did finish under the time limit, but who really knows if the eggs were really cooked all the way. I know I burped that little bit of egg, all day!
Feedback (positive): Overall, I think we did a great job. Maybe we could have gagged and bound Beth so she wouldn't have moved people around so much, but hey, groups change all the time.
Handling failure: The tasks inside of the group were done, then redone, the redone again. The group sent to handle place settings went and set it all up in the break room, but didn't account for us actually having to dish it out and transport it to the break room.
Handling Deadlock: The only deadlock we had was towards the end when Beth "promoted" Cabana to efficiency expert, and Alec to quality control. At some time, the decision to turn off the stove, that set us back a little bit. We ended up adding two more eggs, to help soak up that crazy amount of butter, and I think that that might have set us back and make us a little scared to eat the product at the end. (It could have been way worse!)
Sign Posting: This is were some of the communication breakdown occurred. But I know it would have taken longer to accomplish. Beth did tell us along the way that certain things could and could not be done to assist the chef(s) in accomplishing the cooking of the eggs.
Active Communications: I am sure we all could say that there were many breakdowns in communication, as we progressed with guiding the chef(s) to the overall goal, as well as communicating with each other. I know that I had a good time with being blind folded and guided. I had the job of breaking the first two eggs into the hot pan. I have to say, that it was pretty intense. You really have to take your guides instructions to the tee, or you might literally get burned. I have to say that I broke both eggs WITHOUT leaving shells in the pan (something I can't do when I am looking at everything I am doing.)
Single Solutions: We did become a little foggy on the overall goal. I don't know if it was the fact that Beth kept switching people out, or the communication in the group trying to accomplish the task. Had she left people in certain roles, it might have been better to the outcome of the project.
I really liked every part of the experiment except for when I wasn't in control! I think that our whole group, in general, have enough in common to make this experiment, successful. There are always things we could approve on, and given the chance, I'm sure the eggs would have at least been cooked all the way!
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