Interdependence in Groups

According to Dan O' Hair and Mary Wiemann in "The Essential Guide to Group Commnunication," interdependence is the most beneficial characteristic among a group. In this section, Hair and Wiemann explained what interdependence behavior is, and how it effects a group's effectiveness and efficiency. They also gave an example of interdependence by relating it to an office with a manager, secretary, and employees. If one member does not give the effort to do their jobs correctly, that will bring down the entire group; or in this case, office.

From this topic, I strongly agree with this idea. If a business did not collaborate and work together as a team to promote, sell, and diffuse their ideas/products, the business would then be a failure and eventually collapse. However, interdependence does not only apply to businesses or offices. This term also applies to  "groups" in its simplest form: small or big groups that come together to work on a simple school project, a club in school, or even a sports team. When one member lacks effort and does not contribute the same amount of energy as others (or no input at all), this will bring down the entire team. Whether their role is small or large, a team/group requires effort from every single person. For an example, two semesters ago, I was assigned as a "director" for my group's play in my theater-arts class. In this class, we were divided into several small groups, each having a part as if we were a real theater company: a director, actors, costume designer, props manager, music/lighting tech manager. As a director, it is very important to take charge and make sure each member was on top of their game, being on time for each rehearsal and doing their parts correctly. However, I had a few slackers in the group: people who did not memorize their lines in time, those who showed up late, and others who did not go along with the agreed assignment. This made my job really hard, especially when a play requires huge amounts of input from each station to make it work. From that experience, I've learned exaclty how essential it is for one person alone to obey the rules and follow through with what their responsibilities are. Remember, there is no "I" in "TEAM."