Group Dispute
Never have I experienced that so-called group dispute. Members of the groups that I belong were usually conformist. Well, actually disagreement is not a big deal unless it doesn't appear 2 days prior to the presentation day! One of the members of my group in the marketing class is too stubborn to change his part! (I'm not talking about modifying, but he has to change his part to make the flow of presentation consistent)
The end of the semester is approaching, final presentations, loads of paper assignments, and final exams are just couple of days ahead. Tonight, this Tuesday, I'm going to have my database final exam. I'm supposed to concentrate and finish my database materials. But instead, I feel so uneasy about this marketing presentation thing that I have to write it in this blog and listen to this lovely bossa nova/samba jazz, Astrud Gilberto "So Nice (Summer Samba)" from the original soundtrack of "Something's Gotta Give" (I have to listen to soothing songs to relax my feeling).
Okay, about this marketing group presentation dispute, it is actually a disagreement of the majority of the group against one guy. A chinese, he is eventually the oldest in the group (By the way, my group is very eclectic, it consists of an Indonesian, which is me, a Thai, an American, a Russian, a Chinese, and a Singaporean). The Singaporean lady is the one who is very diligent, she's the one who always prepares ahead all the group's materials, especially the presentation slides (I often feel bad about this one since it appears she's doing almost all the works). The Russian guy, the funny and talkative one, is the brain in the group, whatever he said rules the decision (eventually, all of his ideas make sense). The Thai guy, is also the brain in the group, the thing is that, he is very quiet and calm, and talk only when it is needed. The American girl, she's also quiet and she often complains of being left behind, but she is very diligent; she does the research needed for the materials. I myself contribute some ideas and do some research for the materials as well. And this Chinese guy, I suppose he should be one of the brains in the group. The thing is that, all of his ideas don't make any sense and he is too wordy and confusing.
I remember during the first presentation, the Chinese guy did his part with thick-letter papers on hands (those are not note cards, please keep that in mind ;-p) as though he was reading a speech ;-p (he did not look at the audience and kept bending his head behind the papers, OMG ;-p) Lucky for him, this is not a communication class, otherwise he (or worst of all, all members of the group) would be penalized and the grade would be reduced as well.
As I said, most of his ideas don't make sense. The other members never listen to him. Whenever he suggests something, the others will just keep silent. I remember clearly, during the last lab session, one day before I left to Washington DC on November 18, 2004, we were all confused about the reason of choosing the location for the target market (we are presenting the DS700 MP3 player by Sharper Image). Nobody knew exactly the answer. I didn't either but I was the typist, so I wrote according to what I'd heard. The Chinese guy gave his opinion that I think only Henry V and Elizabeth I understood it ;-p I remember he mentioned something about head count and national GDP, but nothing was about taste, demand, the latest trends of music and technology, and other logical psychographic and behavioral factors. In addition, what do national GDP and head count have to do with location of target market? There will always be somebody who can afford a 90 GB Pound MP3 player, especially in cities with density beyond 1,000 K in United Kingdom! I hesitated first (yo dude, that doesn't make any sense), but since I saw nobody said something (although I saw bitter smiles on their faces ;-p), I typed what he had to say. When he left to the restroom, the Russian guy then started to object the idea and demanded that I erase it immediately. The Thai guy supported him. The Chinese guy returned to the class and went silent the whole night (he didn't contribute after that).
And then there was a group meeting in Brentwood's Border in which I couldn't attend due to my absence to Washington DC. According to what I heard, there was some disagreement between the Chinese guy and the rest of the group (except me and the American girl who didn't attend the meeting) over the competitive analysis of DS700. The Chinese guy threatened not to give presentation if his part was changed. Foolishly, the rest of the group didn't further object it nor finally agreed with it but instead they assigned the American girl (who is to do the introduction and the conclusion parts) to do what they want the competitive analysis to be in the introduction part.
The result is, my dear loyal readers, a discrepancy between the facts of competitors given in the introduction part and the facts stated in the competitive analysis part! By the way, each person is responsible to develop his or her own slides based on the part assigned to him or her. Each of the conflicting parties are currently too stubborn to react (they don't mention this via e-mail so it seems that everything is okay until the Singaporean lady started panicking and demanded that someone do something about this discrepancy and the presentation scheduling) and the presentation is just 2 days from now! In addition, the Russian guy has had a surgery on his leg and the American girl has had her wisdom teeth removed, surely they can't give presentation. We will have to reschedule the whole parts of the presentation. Plus this Chinese guy who doesn't want to give his part of presentation if his part is changed. The rest of the group (including me) has already covered parts of those who cannot give presentation because of health issue. Now all I can do is to beg the others to listen to this Chinese guy this time for the sake of our grade (of course, without the Chinese guy, we would have to cover so many things, three times the amount of one person's part plus the grade would be reduced because of inconsistency). This is so ridiculous.
The end of the semester is approaching, final presentations, loads of paper assignments, and final exams are just couple of days ahead. Tonight, this Tuesday, I'm going to have my database final exam. I'm supposed to concentrate and finish my database materials. But instead, I feel so uneasy about this marketing presentation thing that I have to write it in this blog and listen to this lovely bossa nova/samba jazz, Astrud Gilberto "So Nice (Summer Samba)" from the original soundtrack of "Something's Gotta Give" (I have to listen to soothing songs to relax my feeling).
Okay, about this marketing group presentation dispute, it is actually a disagreement of the majority of the group against one guy. A chinese, he is eventually the oldest in the group (By the way, my group is very eclectic, it consists of an Indonesian, which is me, a Thai, an American, a Russian, a Chinese, and a Singaporean). The Singaporean lady is the one who is very diligent, she's the one who always prepares ahead all the group's materials, especially the presentation slides (I often feel bad about this one since it appears she's doing almost all the works). The Russian guy, the funny and talkative one, is the brain in the group, whatever he said rules the decision (eventually, all of his ideas make sense). The Thai guy, is also the brain in the group, the thing is that, he is very quiet and calm, and talk only when it is needed. The American girl, she's also quiet and she often complains of being left behind, but she is very diligent; she does the research needed for the materials. I myself contribute some ideas and do some research for the materials as well. And this Chinese guy, I suppose he should be one of the brains in the group. The thing is that, all of his ideas don't make any sense and he is too wordy and confusing.
I remember during the first presentation, the Chinese guy did his part with thick-letter papers on hands (those are not note cards, please keep that in mind ;-p) as though he was reading a speech ;-p (he did not look at the audience and kept bending his head behind the papers, OMG ;-p) Lucky for him, this is not a communication class, otherwise he (or worst of all, all members of the group) would be penalized and the grade would be reduced as well.
As I said, most of his ideas don't make sense. The other members never listen to him. Whenever he suggests something, the others will just keep silent. I remember clearly, during the last lab session, one day before I left to Washington DC on November 18, 2004, we were all confused about the reason of choosing the location for the target market (we are presenting the DS700 MP3 player by Sharper Image). Nobody knew exactly the answer. I didn't either but I was the typist, so I wrote according to what I'd heard. The Chinese guy gave his opinion that I think only Henry V and Elizabeth I understood it ;-p I remember he mentioned something about head count and national GDP, but nothing was about taste, demand, the latest trends of music and technology, and other logical psychographic and behavioral factors. In addition, what do national GDP and head count have to do with location of target market? There will always be somebody who can afford a 90 GB Pound MP3 player, especially in cities with density beyond 1,000 K in United Kingdom! I hesitated first (yo dude, that doesn't make any sense), but since I saw nobody said something (although I saw bitter smiles on their faces ;-p), I typed what he had to say. When he left to the restroom, the Russian guy then started to object the idea and demanded that I erase it immediately. The Thai guy supported him. The Chinese guy returned to the class and went silent the whole night (he didn't contribute after that).
And then there was a group meeting in Brentwood's Border in which I couldn't attend due to my absence to Washington DC. According to what I heard, there was some disagreement between the Chinese guy and the rest of the group (except me and the American girl who didn't attend the meeting) over the competitive analysis of DS700. The Chinese guy threatened not to give presentation if his part was changed. Foolishly, the rest of the group didn't further object it nor finally agreed with it but instead they assigned the American girl (who is to do the introduction and the conclusion parts) to do what they want the competitive analysis to be in the introduction part.
The result is, my dear loyal readers, a discrepancy between the facts of competitors given in the introduction part and the facts stated in the competitive analysis part! By the way, each person is responsible to develop his or her own slides based on the part assigned to him or her. Each of the conflicting parties are currently too stubborn to react (they don't mention this via e-mail so it seems that everything is okay until the Singaporean lady started panicking and demanded that someone do something about this discrepancy and the presentation scheduling) and the presentation is just 2 days from now! In addition, the Russian guy has had a surgery on his leg and the American girl has had her wisdom teeth removed, surely they can't give presentation. We will have to reschedule the whole parts of the presentation. Plus this Chinese guy who doesn't want to give his part of presentation if his part is changed. The rest of the group (including me) has already covered parts of those who cannot give presentation because of health issue. Now all I can do is to beg the others to listen to this Chinese guy this time for the sake of our grade (of course, without the Chinese guy, we would have to cover so many things, three times the amount of one person's part plus the grade would be reduced because of inconsistency). This is so ridiculous.
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