Narrative Report of Group Activity – Ecology
As part of our ecology class, we dug a soil bed to make it ready for planting of seeds. It was a group work. In the process, we were able to make the soil bed and made ready for planting of seeds and plants that we would be growing. Personally, the activity impressed several lessons in my head, in terms of theories regarding planting, as well as how I relate with other people, especially in a group wherein I will be working with, either now or in the future. In a sense, the group activity was not just intended for us to learn of the process of digging soil and making it ready for planting, but I also learned life lessons on relating with people, communicating with them, and interacting with other people especially in workplace scenarios.
I have divided this paper into three parts. First, I will be discussing the agricultural and ecological knowledge that I learned while conducting the group work. There are many things that I need to learn about ecology, the world we live in, and how we interact with this world. Second, I will be narrating the experiences that I had with the group with commentaries on the actions that my group mates had while we did the project. Lastly, I will be exploring different frameworks, concepts and theories relative to the behavior of persons especially if they are in a group work.
Ecological Principles Learned
To be able to plant, we had to dig and prepare a 120 x 800 cm soil bed. In our group activity of digging soil and preparing it for planting, the primary issue is soil fertility. According to Wigley et al. (2013), soil fertility is a major drive that affects ecological processes. By perspective, there is a need to dig the soil because it ensures that nutrients that are down deep be scattered or the nutrients of soil that are the surface will be submerged as much as roots of plants always go down in search for moisture. In the same manner, there are plants that are not penetrating down to the bottom part of the soil. Because of these, there are nutrients that are not yet used in the deep parts of the soil. With the aid of digging, nutrients of soil will be redistributed throughout the soil bed to ensure that plants are able to have access to enough soil nutrients for them to grow.
What we did in the group activity is break the ground first. As noted, there are nutrients that may be in the deep parts of the soil, so it is necessary dig deeper. In the digging process, we also took away plastics and other non-biodegradable objects that are buried deep in the soil. These materials don’t rot and don’t join the soil. In fact, they may even have toxins that may be absorbed by the plants, thus causing them to wither and die; if not, they will not boost growth.
Another important rationale of digging soil is to allow the ground to lose its bonds of particles and to allow air to be distributed through (Zuckerman & Byrne, 2009). When soil is not broken into pieces, air supply may not reach the root parts of the plant. In fact, it would be very hard for plants to penetrate the soil if it is very hard. Instead of going deeper in search of moisture, the roots of the plant may just stay at the surface parts of the soil, thus making its feeble and easily withered if there is no proper vegetation. When soil is dug, the soil particles also break, thus allowing air to enter the deep parts of the soil. Air brings in additional moisture that can help plants to grow better. In the same manner, it allows roots to penetrate into the deep parts of the soil. It increases the ability of the plan to sip in nutrients, water supply, and withstand strong winds or even intense heat.
From the surface of the soil that we broke, we also had to keep the soil bed feet above the normal ground level. With this method, broken soil is being placed at the top of the already dug ground soil, thus increasing the level of soil surface that can receive moisture from air. In the same manner, it also increases the level of soil that can be penetrated by plants soil. We called the area as a bed because it looks like a bed.
While we only dug the ground to create a soil bed, I think it is very important to add additional soil to the soil bed. It is recommended to use organic soil which could be mixed with the soil that is already broken and dug. When we add organic soil to the soil bed, it also adds nutrients to the entire area. It must be understood that soil, especially if exposed to chemical and toxic substances may have lost their nutrients. This explains why soils in most urban areas are less in nutrients compared to soil in rural areas (Coleman & Crossley, 1996). The good thing of the soil that are in most rural areas is that they are always provided with enough vegetation and their nutrients are restored by dead leaves and other matters that just decay in soil.
In the same manner, it should be understood that the need of adding organic soil to the soil bed is based on the rationale the soil nutrients disintegrates and decreases in the process. When one plants on soil, the plant will absorb soil nutrients to be used for its food production. As a result, soil is less nutrient than before. To avoid this scenario, adding organic soil to the soil bed that was prepared is reasonable and should be done as a way to prepare the soil for another cycle of plant’s nutrient absorption process. Otherwise, plants may not have access to nutrient-filled soil area, thus affecting its growth.
Another important reason for digging of soil and preparing the soil which is usually above ground is to keep the roots of new plants or the seeds being planted to be soaked with too much if it rains. Because the soil bed is surrounded by a water drench, water will not stay at the surface of the soil bed but will just flow to the drench. This process ensures that water will not damage the integrity of the plant’s roots and to ensure that water will be distributed to the surface of the soil bed properly. If the lowest part of the soil is soaked with water, the moisture will go up to the surface of the soil, thus providing ample amount of water to plants, without soaking them and without scorching them to death,.
Digging the soil bed is an important part of the agricultural process. While it seems that one can just plant seeds to a portion that is dug, it would be hard for the plant to take advantage of proper soil vegetation. To be able make the best for the plants, it is important to follow the strict demand of soil bed preparation. The digging process must be done with care, and it is necessary to keep the nutrient cycle of soil protected from further degradation.
Narrative of What Happened
To ensure that we would be able to accomplish the task of digging soil and preparing a soil bed, we were grouped together. The group must dig the soil ground, create a soil bed and prepare it for planting of seeds or seedlings. At first, it seemed to me that the task is very simple. Why were we grouped when the task was simple? However, when I was already out in the garden area of the campus and already saw the ordeal, I realized that the task really requires more people.
First, we decided to use the mattock to break the soil ground. As noted by Miller (2002), breaking the ground ensures sustainability of the soil nutrients. Initially, we agreed to do it one after the other. The mattock is a heavy one and it really required lots of physical energy to break the ground. However, after a girl group mate tried, we decided that the boys would do it. This did not mean that girls cannot the tasks, but it was just out of respect of girls. The boys continued the breaking of the ground. Sweat started to perspire from each other’s forehead because breaking the ground is a hard task.
The bad thing about the process of breaking the ground one after the other is not the hardness of the ground, thus requiring much physical force, but I guess it is the constant mouth of a group mate. A group mate would say to point the mattock toward this area, to put more force because the group is not yet broken, and so on. While it was already hard to break the ground, it was adding salt to the wound in complaining what to do. It’s hard to listen to the demands of the group mate to do things that way and so on. I guess it could have been better that the person just shuts up and just wait for the task to be done. As they: if you don’t have anything good to say, it is better not to say anything.
Second, after breaking the ground, we had to form the soil bed. In the process of doing it, it was necessary to break the soil by hand and form the soil bed. In this ecology class, it was expected to get dirty because it is what ecology means. We needed to keep the soil at the middle of the ground. We tried to take soil out of the surrounding area to create the drench around the soil bed. In a sense, the second part is a double purpose task. Through it we were able to make the soil and ensure that it is above the ground surface. And we were able also able to create the drench that will protect the soil bed from too much water and from being flooded with unnecessary water supply.
Yes, the task required our hand to be on the soil. But there were group members were unwilling to do it. For one, the one who was just complaining was pestering other group members because she did not want to be dirty with mud. It was really disheartening for people to say that digging soil and being dirty with it is just for those who don’t go to school. It was a myopic view of the world. Why are there not professional agriculturists who get their hands dirty to find ways on how to increase agricultural production and provide the world with enough food supply? I guess it is a sort of statement that tries to degrade or put down those who are living in agricultural occupation. It tries to belittle the industry that plays a vital part in the stability of the world as a whole.
Third, we added some organic soil that we bought. Organic soil is good because it does not contain chemicals and pesticides. Organic soil is usually from bio waste that is turned into fertilizers. Rather than using fertilizers, we decided to use organic soil that can be used to keep the nutrients of the soil at its peak. We want to ensure that the soil’s nutrients will be replenished to make sure that plants will grow big and will bear more fruit. Organic farming is a growing sector that attracts more people because more and more want to live a healthy lifestyle.
While we did the project and we added organic soil, other group members complained that it could have better and easier if we just spread or put some fertilizers to the soil bed. After all, it will still grow the same fruits or same produce. Honestly, it is really hard to imprint the understanding to group mates about the advantages of organic fertilizers to be added to the soil as part of the action in ensuring that plants will grow big. It is hard to see group mates complaining away and trying to point out the problematic reasoning behind the usage of organic soil. Rather than buying their arguments, it was better to continue preparing the soil bed.
Lastly, after adding the organic soil to the soil bed, it is also necessary to mix them together as a way of evenly distributing nutrients to the soil area. It is important to keep the process simple and easy. With the use of rake, the ground can be leveled, then raked again to mix them together. In the end after completing the mixing up of soil and the organic fertilizer, the rake was use to prepare the soil bed for the planting of seeds. With the use of rake, unnecessary materials that are in the soil bed will be taken out. Stones that are already big can also be raked out of the soil bed.
From end to finish, there were those who didn’t have anything good to say, but just complain about the processes being done. It was a usual thing, there were people who helped and there were those who just wanted to become pain in the neck. Rather than jumping on board their tantrums, it was better to continue doing the task and finish it before the sun closes. Actually, we were racing against sunlight because it would be hard to continue digging and preparing the soil bed when it was already night.
People’s Behaviors Affect Teams
According to the Porteus (n.d.), there are three main categories of roles that people play in a group: task behaviors, maintenance behaviors, self-oriented behaviors, and hindering behaviors. Task roles are involved in the initiation of action or decision making. These behaviors are commonly exhibited by people who want to achieve something for the group. In a sense, they are the drivers of the team or group. They initiate actions in clarifying things up or in gathering information that can be used for the group’s decision making. As leaders, these kinds of people are focused on the task before hand and in keeping up with the goal.
Based on the group activity, there are those who are eager to tell what to do and what to make out of the situation. For instance, one of the group members provided information of the need to break the ground first. It was a form of gathering information for the sake of decision making and action by the group. When the group discussed of the need to break the ground, we decided and agreed on digging the ground through the mattock one after the other. This means that there is a consensus testing happening within the group.
In the same manner, there are people within the group, as well as tasks, which can be tagged as maintenance. Other people are good at doing these ones. They are more of the encourager and harmony maker of the group. Personally, I am the kind of person who just wants to have things done rather than bickering. While there is a member of the group who was not really helping, but rather just complain about the situation, I don’t want to buy those discussions and those complains. I would rather encourage group members to focus on the task beforehand and do not buy out whatever the problematic person wants to say.
Those people who are really good at complaining and do nothing to help the group can be tagged as hindering ones. Hindering roles or behaviors can be in various ways. In the group, one can dominate everything, thus restricting ideas and killing consensus of all. On the other hand, a person may withdraw from joining with the others. As a result, he or she is not able to function effectively as he or she is not able to get the instruction properly. These are the kinds of people who just wanted to stand in the sideline and just wait for the project to be done. But worst than that, there are those who are good in degrading others and in making side conversations. These actions discourage others in doing the work and can even create bickering and quarrel within the group.
MD Anderson Center (2014) noted that it is easy to detect a high performing team. These teams have high standards, clear purpose, high trust, conflict management, commitment, effective leadership, SMART goals, competence, external relationships, and belief in success. All these factors must be present within the team for it to be considered as a high performing one. However, if the team has the problematic of hindering behaviors, it would be hard to become a high performing team. Standing at the top of the high performing team is effective leadership. It is important for a single person to lead the group and adjust the impact of hindering behaviors. In fact, the conflict management factor is present to ensure that people within the team are able to function efficiently and effectively without conflicts and issues that can cause performance to slug.
As per evaluation of the group that we had, we were far from being a high performing team. It is hard to become a high performing team when we cannot agree on the best thing to do. Foremost, there is the hindering behavior of a person. Instead of helping, a group mate just continued the complaints and the commands. While it is good to stir direction, but if one is not working, it is not effective leadership. It is important for a person to work as part of the team and not just command. This scenario has become a problem to becoming a high performing team. In the same manner, there are also side comments being made. Rather than discussing the problem and coming up with consensus, some members would choose to just talk about issues in the sidelines. Rather than help in shaping decisions, side conversations are doing nothing, but discourage those who are working for the achievement of the tasks.
Evaluation
The group project was completed. We were able to finish digging the soil and preparing the soil bed for planting. In the process, there are two things learned that help fuel success, and there are also two things that can be and must be improved on. First of the things that helped stir the group to success is leadership. While there is no established leader, there is always a group member who rises to the occasion and meets the challenge of being a leader. I believe that without the person, it would be hard to keep the entire team together and accomplish the task. As in everything, leadership still stands as an important of making the best action and the right decision.
Second of the things that helped stir the group to success is the encourager or the person who does the maintenance. While there was a reality of the complainer who did nothing, the encourager assures all group members that we were doing the right thing. It was a hard task because it was like putting a balm or a medicine on the wound created by the complainer. The goal of the encourager is to keep the harmony of the group even in the presence of the problematic attitude of the group member. Without the encourager, we would have been fighting over things, thus defeating the purpose of digging the soil and preparing the soil bed.
On the other hand, first of the things that the group needs to improve on is the ability to make consensus. While already made a consensus, there were side conversations and complaints. This meant that while the consensus was there, the act did not unite our ideas. Rather, the consensus could have been added division to the group. Next time, it is necessary to be objective in terms of consensus and not subjective. While we can fight over ideas during consensus, it must stay there. After decision is made, it is important for all members to support the decision because it was not just born out of a person’s mind, but it was the result of the consensus of idea being made.
Second of the things that the group needs to improve on is communication. Most groups and team fail because they don’t communicate. In fact, consensus fails because people don’t want to tell their ideas, but then give side comments when actions are done already. To be able to make the most of the team, communication must be kept open. Ideas must be allowed to freely flow. When there are comments and critique on what is done, it is important to listen to them because there are angles that they see but I failed to see.
Working within the group or a team is a challenge. It is not just a challenge of completing the task, but it is the challenge on how people of different personality and behavior can come together and agree on something. I guess this is the value of teamwork – trying to become one even if it is hard. It should be understood that the failure of one is the failure of all. Rather than just looking at oneself’s needs, it is necessary to consider other people, their concerns, and focus. This helps to reduce hindering behaviors that can help to translate high performance of the team.
References
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