Blog 1

Edis Barrios' Blog Post 1

    Group one presented intercultural communications. Prior to this presentation the phrase "intercultural communications" was very foreign to me. I learned how people with the same backgrounds tend to choose living near each other. Living in hialeah my whole life, I can see how this is true. Hialeah is filled with Cubans and it's commonly referred to as "mini Cuba" amongst the people living here. The cuban culture is reflected from the restaurants around here to the clothes people wear. Although I am Honduran and not Cuban and how there's differences in cultures, I do see that I would rather live in a place where mostly Hispanic and Latino reside because of how "at home" these places makes me feel. I've traveled a lot throughout the US and living in a place where mostly hispanics reside isn't only about me, it's also about my parents. They came from Honduras to a country where they had no prior knowledge of, completely different language, and they had to build everything they have from the ground up, so living in city where there are mostly hispanics makes them feel comfortable. I've gone to places like Texas, Virginia, North Carolina, New Orleans, Washington D.C etc. and these places have a whole different culture compared to Miami. It's really crazy to see how even in different states in the same country, the culture feels so different than it does here in Miami. This is not me saying these places aren't awesome and cool, its simply me saying that adjusting to a different culture, even if it may be in the same country would be hard because of how comfortable I am where I am. Group one mentioned ethnocentrism, the belief ones own culture is superior to the rest, and I think this is really important. It's also important to study and do your own research on a countries mannerisms and normalities before visiting it. Take Japan for example, their culture is far from my own culture. They take tipping offensive, wearing short sleeve shirts and showing your tattoos is linked to gangs in their culture. So I think it's really important to learn about another country before visiting it to not offend the people who reside there. I really enjoyed group one's presentation, it opened up my eyes to things I've never even thought of. 

    I was a part of group two. We presented Communications in groups (Chapter 9). I learned a lot on how you should act when in a group. I think this was perfect considering this class is focused on working in groups. We talked about real life groups as well as virtual groups. We talked about the stages of group development and how to combat the struggles these stages might come. I think since we were all informed on this, we took all the information in and actually applied it to our group. I think this is really important because in workplaces, you often work as a team and there will be obstacles being in a team. Our group talked about how being in a group is more than just being in a group. When you're part of a group, you and your teammates ARE the group, the group is one, its a social entity rather than just people in a group. All in all, I liked how our group worked together as a team and everyone contributed something to the slides. 

    Group three's presentation was on Chapter 10 which focuses on leadership and problem solving. They talked about how you should act if you wish to be a good leader. This chapter uses leadership and problem solving which I think is needed in order to become a leader. You need to be a good problem solver in order to have good leadership and this chapter delves into this idea. Group three did a good job in explaining this. One example they gave was a group of ants working together. At first, I found it funny how they decided to use a video of ants over any other video but its actually genius considering they're really small insects so they really do have to rely on each other and work together. Ants are known for being worker insects, they're whole life id dedicated into their colony. I think this is also an important chapter to really read and take in because if you're working at a job and you've been doing a good job, they might give you a position to a leadership job. For example, I used to work at footlocker and they gave me the opportunity for a position to work as an assistant manager/shift leader. When I got offered this I really set myself back a few levels and I do regret not taking the position. Although I felt honored, I thought I couldn't do a good job in this, especially because I'm in school. To end off, I really liked group threes presentation and I was able to take in this information.