Individual Proposal

Proposal: Improving Group Communication

Abraham Lopez
Salt Lake Community College
Communication 1010-027
October 27, 2015

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Individual Proposal

Contents
Overview

Project description

3&4

Group Assets

Group limitations

Recommendations

Conclusion

References

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Individual Proposal

Overview

What we focused on in our group was how we were going to educate

the public about glass recycling and importance of it. Our Plan of
action was first to educate the public, then execute a proposal to
provide every house in Salt lake city with their own personal glass
recycling bin. In order to come up with a good plan, we as group
decided to meet an extra day on Wednesdays.
This helped very much because it cleared up any confusion any group
members had. The only obstacle we faced in our group meetings was
staying on topic, sometimes a group member would ramble on even
though we were trying to answer the questions on the template. Even
after this small hiccup we did have one huge advantage, and this was
technology. The two most useful things were group text and Google
docs. Group texts helped us stay in touch in case we had any
questions and it helped us stay updated on any meeting we were
planning. The next thing that was extremely useful was Google docs;
this helped us do our writing in on our own time, also it was a live
virtual document so we could see who was writing at any giving time
and there was also a chat box to communicate. This last thing proved
to be very helpful when it came to putting all our ideas together.

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Individual Proposal

Project Description
When our group met for the first time, we had a little trouble deciding
on a problem to fix in our community. The first meeting was very
unproductive because we all had different ideas and rambled the entire
time. It wasnt until the second meeting, where one of our group
members took action and decided that we were going to do glass
recycling in Salt Lake City. At first it was just to educate the public and
expect a change to be made but as a group we decided we were going
to take it a little bit further and actually make a plan of action to
promote glass recycling in our community.
The first step of our group project was to gather all the information we
could about recycling and how it affects the environment. Once we all
had a basic understanding of it, we narrowed it down to glass recycling
in Utah. We learned that there were a few private companies that
offered this service but all came with a cost. The only one that was
free was all the way in park city and that wasnt our targeted city so
we ignored it and focused on the salt lake based companies.
We finally found a private company that was working with Salt Lake
City to improve glass recycling, they charged 7 dollars a month for a
bin and they would come every week. We still thought this was
problematic because it was a little expensive and difficult to sign up for
if you were just a regular homeowner. So we did a little more research
on our own and used the worksheet to help us come up with criterias
to our glass-recycling problem. As we went through the question, we
were able to come up with criterias that best fit our problem, this is
where we really had to work on as a group and brainstorm good ideas
and write down ones we all agreed on. We finally decided that we
wanted to provide everyone in Salt Lake City his or her own cost free
bin.
This posed a huge problem because as I mentioned earlier all the
companies we found came at a cost. So with more research we
realized that if the state provided bins and sold the glass to private
companies it could take away the cost of bins for all community
members. The next step in our project was to figure out the most
effective way to execute this plan. We struggled at first but then after
going through the worksheet we were completing in every meeting, it
helped us see our criteria and narrow down our solution to passing a
law. The whole group new this was going to be a little bit tricky but it
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Individual Proposal
was the only solution the best fitted our needs and criterias we set. So
we proceeded to research how exactly we could do this. Our resolution
was first to promote and educate the community members about the
benefits of glass recycling. We decided to do this by advertising, the
method we used was going to be putting up fliers, using social media,
and start a rally so that we could petition and get signatures to show
the support from the community. The next step was to show our
representative the signatures of all the community members that
agreed with our resolution, and also data that showed benefits for the
state and the environment if we went through with our glass recycling
resolution in Salt Lake City. We all decided on set time and due dates
for each event that we were going to do; this would ensure that our
process went according to plan and that we would be successful in
passing our proposed law.

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Individual Proposal

Group Assets

The two best assets that our group demonstrated was Commitment
and brainstorming
The reason I chose commitment was because in almost all our meeting
every group member showed up (except for one group member) and if
they didnt they had a valid excuse and would let the group know
ahead of time through group text. We also showed commitment
because we all were very engaged in our glass-recycling problem and
especially one group member was very knowledgeable with this topic;
as she was an big activist in the salt lake community. Even though not
all our ideas were written down, we all did a lot of research on our own
and came prepared for our group meetings. In my opinion there
wasnt anyone in our group who came to the meeting once
unprepared.
The second asset our group excelled in was brainstorming. In my
opinion this was our greatest strength in our group. Even though
brainstorming did help us out a lot in figuring out our problem and
coming up with a solution, it did have a disadvantage. This was
because sometimes we would brainstorm too much that we would get
a little off topic or too into our conversation that we wouldnt get our
group meeting worksheet done. Even after this set back, our group did
pull it together and we were able to get most our ideas on paper.

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Individual Proposal

Group Limitations
Even though our group was able to successfully finish the project, we
did run into some limitations. Two that stood out the most was we had
a Blocker in a group and also an attacker.
Blocker means anyone who prevents progress by constantly raising
objections. I say this was a limitation because this person would not
pay attention to what we were doing and when were trying to answer
a question she would ramble on thinking we were having a discussion.
It was a little hard to get used to at first but we were all respectful and
always tried to get back on topic. This said person was very
knowledgeable but maybe got distracted in what we were trying to
accomplish in each meeting.
The next limitation we had was we also had an attacker in our
group; this meant that they aggressively questioned others
competence or motives. Now even though an attacker was needed
because we also had a blocker, the reason this person was categorized
as a blocker in my opinion was that he was all about getting it done
and this prevented our group to be more engaged in the topic. Also I
did get the feeling like he also belittled other group members by either
dismissing their ideas too quickly or just plainly being blunt and saying
no to an idea. This did limit us from exploring our options in our
problem and resolution but he did help ensure that we got our group
project done.

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Individual Proposal

Recommendations

For my next group project I will be a more prepared a knowledgably

on what to do and what to avoid, for example; Its important to
contribute to the group by always showing up to meeting and by
coming prepared.
I learned that there will always be someone in the group who will pose
limitations but I learned to deal with them by always being respectful
to other peoples ideas and making sure everyones opinion is heard.
Also its very important to stay on topic and not get too carried away,
and if there is someone who is getting off topic to not be scared to let
them know what their doing wrong. At the same time its important to
evaluate yourself after every meeting so that your also not in the
wrong or being that person in the group who is limiting progress.
The last thing I found very important to know is that technology is you
best friend when it comes to group projects as they will help you get
your part done and help you stay in touch with other group members
so that there is confusions when putting the project together.

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Individual Proposal

Conclusion
In conclusion, I think my group was great and even though we had a
couple group members who posed a limitation, we were all able to
manage it and keep the project going.
The experience I received in doing this project will definitely help me in
the long run; now I know what to look out for and how to confront
certain situations. The skills Ive acquired will definitely be put to
action in my next group project and hopefully it will benefit my group
as a whole.

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Individual Proposal

References
Ronald B. Adler, Jeanne Elmhorst & Kristen Lucas, Communication at
Work. Mcgrawhill: 2013

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