Roles Among Groups

I don’t know about you, but I dread the class where the instructor says, “We are going to divide everyone up into groups of 3 and you need to find your partner.” This has always been the hard part for me because I am the quiet and shy one. Working in groups and teams can be both intimidating and a challenge. It is not easy to work in groups and teams when everyone doesn’t really know each other well. It becomes complicated when you put people of all different personalities into one group or team. However, this can also be the most interesting part of project. When you work with people you don’t know well you can bring in different perspectives that you wouldn’t have thought of on your own. Everyone has their own personality and everyone fits into different roles when they starting working in groups with other people. “Every group has roles that need to be filled in order for the group to function effectively” (Argosy, 2012). Once these roles are established it is extremely important for everyone to communicate with each other. There are many different roles that people can fall into. I will begin with the role that I generally fall into myself. I like this role because I am naturally good at it and it makes me feel like I am doing something productive for the group. I am the Orienter. The orienter “reviews and clarifies the group 's position. Provides a summary of what has been accomplished, notes where the group has veered off course, and suggests how to get back on target” (Benne & Sheats, 2007). The good thing about this role is that there can be more than one person doing this role and it can be done by a person doing another role, like the leader. The leader is a great person to keep the group on task as well. I like to stay on task and keep the goal in mind and in focus during the entire project. If we can all just stay focused and not get distracted by other things. There are roles that people bring to the group that will be

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