First blog for Chapters 3, 9, and 10 (by: Michel Melian)

The presentation was divided into three different groups, made up of approximately 10 participants. 

The first group to present discussed chapter number 3, which was about the different types of intercultural communications that exist.

We talked about the importance of communication between cultures. The most dominant cultures, co-cultures, and cultural identities were also explained. I found the part where they explained the differences between these cultures exciting since there are many differences between them; some of these are individualistic, collective, and low context cultures.

Then with various images and videos, they explained how intercultural relationships are developed, which presents a series of characteristics, such as potential barriers, which limit socialization within groups. These competent communication strategies help us improve and educate ourselves more about other cultures. This chapter also dealt with the attitudes that must be taken in order to have satisfactory communication between cultures, among them are to tolerate ambiguity, be open-minded, and be altruistic.

After group number one finished chapter 3, then the exposition of chapter number 9 began, led by group 2 members.

This chapter discussed the types of communications that exist between groups. The first theme was the different types of groups that exist: the family group in which most of us belong, support groups, which are responsible for encouraging us and developing positive emotions. In this part, we also find interest groups made up of people who share the same type of interest. The other remaining groups were work and team groups and virtual groups, each of which has distinctive characteristics, which define each of these groups and make a positive contribution to society. After this, with images and videos, they showed us the different aspects that healthy groups present. They started with the concept of a healthy group. After this, they mentioned and explained each one of the characteristics that make up this type of group, such as independence, cohesiveness, accountability, and synergy. During the exposition of this chapter, I learned that each of the groups presents a formation stage where members are oriented and tested to reach the final objective. The storming stage is where each participant's opinion is listened to and valued the position in which all the members feel comfortable. After this comes the final step, in which we put all these strategies into practice harmoniously and productively. If any attached change is required for this, there is the adjourning and transformation stage. In this part, they explained the conflicts between the groups, such as the pseudo conflict, issue related group conflict, personality-related group conflict, the culture and conflict, and virtual groups and their conflicts.

 The third part of the presentation was about group leadership and problem-solving. The slides they created for their exhibition were very professional. They inserted videos and photos to color the project. They started talking about the types of leaders that a group can have. After this, they discussed the different roles that the participants can present in a group, such as a task role, maintenance role, procedural role. In this part, they also talked about how each of the group's tasks should be distributed equally. After this, they discussed how to have a productive meeting. They explained the steps that should be followed to solve any problem that exists in the group, which are 6. In the final part of this exposition, they discussed the situations for communication in groups and the effectiveness of group evaluation.

In general, all the groups did incredibly well; I learned a lot from each presentation's content.