Rappers

For this project, I observed the interactions of a rap group. I chose to observe a rap group because I listen to rap, and wanted to know more about the culture. I wanted to observe if the art of rapping had an actual business aspect. I went into the project not knowing much about the group; I came out with a wealth of knowledge. I liked this project because it gave me the opportunity to see into the life of a culture that I had very little knowledge of.

I learned a lot about not just rap music, but about different people from different cultures too. One of the members in the group had been arrested, and he felt that rapping was the only way to stay out of trouble. I also learned that recording in a studio is expensive. I was surprised that members of the rap group had jobs just so they could pay for studio time. Also, the members of the group all had different directions that they wanted to go. When I hear about famous groups breaking up, I now have a clearer understanding as to why this may happen. It may not be because they are at a big disagreement like the media may portray, but for the fact they wish to pursue their own ventures. I can relate this to the professional work world. Often, we will change our focus because we feel that our skills are better suited for other projects.

Posting 3

The forum format offers a smaller format so that groups can listen to larger audiences. In this type of format, the full audience can participate in the discussion. Participants can give responses in the form of reaction speeches one at a time. The panel is a public forum where four to eight people discuss an issue in front of an audience. Following a problem solving format, humor is sometimes used to keep the audience focused. The colloquium is public discussion in which three to six experts discuss a problem with a moderator leading the discussion. The Symposium is a series of two to six brief speeches giving by people who have more knowledge on the subject.
I prefer the forum format because it encourages everyone to participate, and can relieve some jitters and stress. I like the fact that the audience can give responses to what is heard, as it allows for more real time responses. The audience can be diverse offering different perspective on the problem.

Idea Writing

Idea Writing is the process of splitting up a large group into a smaller group so that a group goal can be accomplished. In idea writing, the group responds to a question via writing. Unlike Buzz Sessions, participants respond by writing instead of verbally. After each person responds, they pass their paper to the next person so that they can respond. At the end, the group discusses the main points that were learned.
I first experience this in my English 1B class at San Jose State University. My teacher would have us write in journals in response to a question, and then break into groups to allow others to read it. The students would then respond with short messages to help creative thinking. I think this is important because sometimes groups can get off track when discussing orally. Also, it may be easier to write our thoughts rather than speak it. By doing this, I feel I could fully express myself, and not feel shy about it.

Conflict Resolution

Collaboration conflict resolution entails that everyone comes out a winner. The group comes to a consensus and agrees to what is better for the group. Although each side may not get everything they want, the goal is to try and get the most important items. I believe that collaboration conflict resolution happens in group activity everyday. A good example of this happens when family discuss where to eat for dinner. Usually when it’s time for dinner, everyone has their place they want to go. In order for the group to function and eat, everyone needs to feel as if they have won. This situation happened last week, and we ended up choosing a buffet where everyone could have what they wanted.
Competitive conflict resolution has an outcome of a win-lose situation. It is unfortunate that everyone cannon win, but competition creates environments where people can have a healthy way of winning. A good example of this occurs in sports, like football and soccer, or in professional settings like sales jobs. Tomorrow there is a boxing match that I will watch. This match is between to evenly match players and is sure to encourage competition among viewers. Although there can be only one winner, the competition will show who the better opponent is.

Openness

The concept of openness is a term that I think is important in being creative in a group. It is important for people to feel that they can say anything that comes to their mind. If people feel that they cannot say anything, then the process can not go on. Because some of these ideas may seem far fetched to some, it is important to understand what the ideas can develop into.
A good example of this is being in a group environment with my family. I know that I have a supportive environment for communicating almost any idea that I may have. I feel I can say anything in front of my parents, and I will not be shunned because of it. They are supportive of my ideas and thoughts, no matter how off the beaten path they may be. I know that because of the openness in my family that I can use my freedom in my school work, as well in the professional world.

Cultural Barriers

I found this section to be very interesting, as it shows how different cultures are blocked from creativity. Five cultural barriers include a requirement for conformity, an expectation of politeness and following rules for social order, a reliance on statistical proofs, a trust in the power of reason and logic, and a reliance on expert knowledge.
Two cultural barriers stood out as key blockers to creative thinking: a requirement for conformity, and a reliance on expert knowledge. A requirement for conformity can inhibit a culture from being creative by not allowing those individuals to be different. If everyone has to conform to the same rules, and the same ways of thinking, then it’s going to be very difficult to think outside of the box. It’s as if thinking differently will bring embarrassment to the culture. Often time those who are different are shunned away for not following the rules. Often time, alternative thinking is what sets people apart.
A reliance on expert knowledge does not offer anyone motivation for improvement or alternative answers. If we are taught to rely on the same answer for every problem, then we might not seek a different answer that could be closer to fact. If for example we always rely on newspapers for our information, then motivation for an alternative truth will not be there. We should be encouraged to go to the library to do further research, or talk to others to see what they have to say. I think that there is not one answer to anything; we are taught that there is only one answer.

Creativity

The chapter offers many different version of the definition for creativity. The definition that further relates to my experience is “the power to originate, to break away from the existing ways of looking at things…” (Sack, 1995, pp. 241-242). When I think of being creative, or thinking in a creative way, I think in a way that is not of the norm; not traditional. My new venture class was the basis for this type of thinking. Our main objective was to think outside of the box, and to think of alternative ways to solve not only existing problems, but to come up with our own ideas or ventures.
A good example of this is when we were doing our final presentation for our group new venture project. The last and final part of the project was to design a commercial that would fully show our marketing campaign. We wanted our commercial to stand out, because we wanted it to be one that people could remember. We ended up combining a puppet show, with real San Jose State students to offer a laughable view of our solution.
I think the biggest problem with being creative is that we are not taught to think differently. From my experience, we are taught to arrive at a solution via the same means. We are not taught that there are more ways to solve a problem. And the benefits to being creative far outweigh the traditional methods of “do as the book says.” If not for creativity, many of the luxuries that we’re used to might not be around today.