On maybe the second or third day of class, we arrived to the classroom and were told to get into our group project groups. Each group was then given a supply of spaghetti noodles and gumdrops. (Each group had the same number of spaghetti noodles and gumdrops, but I cannot remember what the number was, nor is it that important...the important thing was that each group had the same resources). We were told that we had 40 minutes to design and build a structure that should support the weight of old VHS tapes. There were a maximum of 8 VHS tapes that could be supported. Points would be given for the group that had the structure that could hold the most tapes, for the structure that was the most aesthetically pleasing, and for the structure that was the tallest. One extra credit point would be given to the high point earner in each category. There were also varying level of points within those categories, so that even if you were not the tallest structure, you might earn some measure of points for being the second or third tallest. The group that had the most total points would win 2 extra credit points in addition to any category points they had earned. During the building process, we were also to be observing how we interacted with one another.
While we worked, patterns of behavior began to form. Leaders and followers emerged. Introverted and extroverted personalities were revealed. Differing strategies were bandied about. Some people thought that the best was to earn points was to build the tallest structure possible even at the expense of weakness in holding the tapes. Others went for the strongest structures, and still others went for the most beautiful structures. My groups strategy was to use the strength of triangles to build a sturdy structure, but it was not the best looking thing. We also tried to get some of the "tall" points by adding spaghetti noodle spires and flags. We conserved our resources by cutting our gumdrops in half using our student ID's. In the end our group won the strength category because our structure was able to hold up all 8 VHS tapes (and probably could have held one or two more had the professor had them). We also got a couple of the "tall" points, but the professor thought ours was ugly and gave us only 1 point for aesthetics, even though we felt our didn't look as bad as he said. We ended up only a few point shy of being the overall winner, but at least we did win the category.
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| OUR WINNING CREATION IN THE "STRENGTH" CATEGORY |
The game really stuck out in my memory because I can remember the competitive feeling that came upon my whole group. We were very serious about winning the 1 (or 3) extra credit points. So much so that some of my group members were very stressed out. It also stuck out in my memory because it was very fun and challenging even though so very simple.
The game was a good way to show what can happen with group dynamics when they are thrown together in a competitive situation. This was a good game to draw parallels to real life organizational behavior. The professor referred back to our game several times during the semester when explaining different organizational behavior theories.
The game definitely helped me understand the material better, because it put a lot of the "theories" into simpler to understand examples. For example, when lecturing on the "five stage model of group development", we could see tie-ins in each stage as our group worked on the project, from the formative stages, to the "norming stage" where team members take on clear roles, to the "performing" stage where members focus on meeting their goals.
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