Sheet1Team Ring Toss ResultsRound 1Round 2Total PointsTeam NameDistancePayoffDistancePayoffBlue Cheetahs661206Team Gucci82483660The Winners8129384396Big Reds12126938451056s12010576576 Sheet2 Sheet3 Ring Toss Rules 1. Each team will choose a team member (the player), who will have 4 official tosses per round. 2. The same player must toss the rings for all rounds. 3. Once the player selects a distance and tosses the first ring, all other rings must be tossed from that same distance for that round. Adjustments may be made between rounds. 4. The player achieves team points according to the payoff schedule (see below). 5. The player must toss the rings with his/her toes behind the distance line. 6. The playing field cannot be changed. 7. Time limits may be imposed by the instructor and must be strictly adhered to or loss of points may result. Process A. Preparation and practice (5 minutes): Teams will come up with a team name to be used throughout this activity. During this time, each team may have 8 practice tosses. Rings may be tossed from any distance during practice. B. Round 1: Teams will take their turn in an order determined by number draw. C. Caucus (5 minutes): Each team may hold a brief team meeting to reorganize strategy (although the same player must toss the rings each round). D. Round 2: Teams will take their turn in the same order as in round 1. Payoff Schedule Distance Payoff 1 1 2 1 3 1 4 2 5 4 6 6 7 8 8 12 9 16 10 24 11 32 12 42 Journal Entries: Format and Grading Criteria Points: /100 points Following specific in-class exercises (see Syllabus for Learning Journal Activities) you will choose one of the LJ activities and write a 3-6 page journal entry. This assignment is your way of reflecting and commenting on the experience. The format is designed to mirror the learning process, making you conscious of each element as you work to actively learn from the class or group exercises. The following questions should be used as a guide for structuring your journal entries; however the content of each entry is up to you. That is, which elements of an exercise you choose to address depend upon what you feel was most important, interesting, and/or surprising about the experience. I. CONCRETE EXPERIENCE Exercise Description: What happened during the experience? Does this section contain a clear, objective description of the exercise? (e.g., as if describing to others) Does it contain a subjective description of feelings and perceptions that occurred during the experience? Does it provide too much irrelevant detail? This section should not be longer than 1-2 paragraphs II. REFLECTIVE OBSERVATION Themes: Upon further review, what seemed to be happening? Does this section look at the experience from the different points of view of the major actors involved? Did you attempt to figure out why the people involved, and you in particular, behaved as they did? Did you make use of verbal and non-v.

1. Sheet1Team Ring Toss ResultsRound 1Round 2Total
PointsTeam NameDistancePayoffDistancePayoffBlue
Cheetahs661206Team Gucci82483660The
Winners8129384396Big Reds12126938451056s12010576576
Sheet2
Sheet3
Ring Toss
Rules
1.
Each team will choose a team member (the player), who will
have 4 official tosses per round.
2.
The same player must toss the rings for all rounds.
3.
Once the player selects a distance and tosses the first ring, all
other rings must be tossed from that same distance for that
round. Adjustments may be made between rounds.
4.
The player achieves team points according to the payoff
schedule (see below).
5.
The player must toss the rings with his/her toes behind the
distance line.
6.
The playing field cannot be changed.
7.

2. Time limits may be imposed by the instructor and must be
strictly adhered to or loss of points may result.
Process
A.
Preparation and practice (5 minutes): Teams will come up with
a team name to be used throughout this activity. During this
time, each team may have 8 practice tosses. Rings may be
tossed from any distance during practice.
B.
Round 1: Teams will take their turn in an order determined by
number draw.
C.
Caucus (5 minutes): Each team may hold a brief team meeting
to reorganize strategy (although the same player must toss the
rings each round).
D.
Round 2: Teams will take their turn in the same order as in
round 1.
Payoff Schedule
Distance
Payoff
1
1
2
1
3
1
4
2
5
4

3. 6
6
7
8
8
12
9
16
10
24
11
32
12
42
Journal Entries: Format and Grading Criteria
Points: /100 points
Following specific in-class exercises (see Syllabus for Learning
Journal Activities) you will choose one of the LJ activities and
write a 3-6 page journal entry. This assignment is your way of
reflecting and commenting on the experience. The format is
designed to mirror the learning process, making you conscious
of each element as you work to actively learn from the class or
group exercises. The following questions should be used as a
guide for structuring your journal entries; however the content
of each entry is up to you. That is, which elements of an
exercise you choose to address depend upon what you feel was
most important, interesting, and/or surprising about the
experience.
I. CONCRETE EXPERIENCE Exercise Description: What
happened during the experience?

4. Does this section contain a clear, objective description of
the exercise? (e.g., as if describing to others)
Does it contain a subjective description of feelings and
perceptions that occurred during the experience?
Does it provide too much irrelevant detail? This section
should not be longer than 1-2 paragraphs
II. REFLECTIVE OBSERVATION Themes: Upon further
review, what seemed to be happening?
Does this section look at the experience from the different
points of view of the major actors involved?
Did you attempt to figure out why the people involved, and
you in particular, behaved as they did?
Did you make use of verbal and non-verbal cues to
understand how others viewed the experience?
III. ABSTRACT CONCEPTUALIZATION Theories: How
did you make sense of the experience?
Did you draw on at least two course concepts to
understand what was happening in the experience?
Did you accurately apply concepts or theories from the
assigned reading, either for today or earlier?
Did these concepts help you sort through the experience, to
find meaning in what the exercise was about?
IV. ACTIVE EXPERIMENTATION Relevance, Future Skill
Development: So what?
Did you summarize practical learnings that you derived from
the exercise? These could be about yourself, others, or similar
experiences at school or work?
Did you thoroughly describe actions you will take in the
future to put these learnings into action?
(e.g., in the workplace, or other group projects?)

5. INTEGRATION AND WRITING QUALITY
Is the entry clear and well-written – cohesive, organized,
striking a professional tone?
Is the entry free of spelling and grammar errors? Have you
provided appropriate citations from readings?
Are the four sections integrated, drawing your major
theme(s) through all parts?
Elements of the Journal Entry (Management 417)
1. Concrete Experience (CE)
In this part of the journal entry, briefly describe what happened
in the experience – a simple description of events is not
sufficient! The feelings you experienced as well as your
thoughts/perceptions during the experience are relevant. Think
about this section as possessing both an objective and subjective
component:
Objective component: facts of the experience, like a newspaper
account – with no attempt to analyze the content.
Subjective component: “here and now” personal experience of
the event. This is composed of feelings, perceptions and
thoughts.
It might help to replay the experience in your mind. Then,
write a report of what you saw, heard, felt, thought, and what
you heard and saw others doing. Keep feelings and thoughts
confined to those felt/thought during the experience, anything
after the experience is part of your retrospection, and should be
included in the reflective observation section. Finally, avoid
presenting the detailed mechanics of the experience.
2. Reflective Observation (RO)
Ask yourself: what did I observe in the experience and what

6. possible meanings could these observations have. Your task
here is to gather as many observations as possible by observing
the experience from different points of view.
Your main skill to work on is perspective taking or “re-
framing.” Look at the experience from and describe it from
different perspectives. How did other participants view the
situation and what did it mean to them? What would a neutral,
or objective, observer have seen and heard?
Try to figure out why people, you in particular, behaved as they
did. Look beneath the surface to try to explain why the people
involved (yourself included) acted the way that they did.
Moreover, what can you learn about yourself, looking back at
the experience?
3. Abstract Conceptualization (AC)
In this section, you must relate assigned readings and lectures
to what you experienced. Through this process, you will
demonstrate your ability to understand conceptually abstract
material through your experiences. This will help you refine
your model of people and organizations. Assigned readings will
have varying degrees of helpfulness to your experience – but it
is important that you make several references and not limit your
conceptualizing to just one source. Learning ACROSS the
course modules is important.
Try to use at least two concepts or theories from course
readings. Provide sources where appropriate (for example, Kolb
et al., p27; Robbins and Judge, p125. This is also the place to
insert your own personally developed theories and/or models if
they assist you in making sense of the experience.
Overall –identify several specific concepts or theories that
relate to your experience. First, briefly define the concept or
theory as you would for someone who was not familiar with it.
Next apply the concept thoroughly to your experience. Linking
the theory or concept to your experience should include specific
details of how the theory relates to and provides insight into
your experience. Does the experience support or refute the

7. theory? Most importantly, avoid merely providing a data dump
of what you have read – you should discuss in some detail how
you see concepts and theories relating to your experience.
4. Active Experimentation (AE)
This section should summarize the practical lessons you have
learned and the action steps you will take to make you more
effective in the future. You should consider the following
question: How can I test out the concepts I developed in the
preceding phase (AC)?
Present your “lessons learned” in the form of rules of thumb or
action resolutions. You should elaborate in detail how you see
your action ideas being carried out.
· Be specific and thorough
· Don’t just repeat tips from the book
· Include at least one action resolution that is built from the new
knowledge that you gained about yourself because of writing
this journal entry.
For example, if you were to relive your experience, what would
you do differently?
Based on the insight you’ve gained about yourself and others,
how would you handle a similar situation in the future? Try to
describe a future experience where you might be able to
implement your ideas. Then elaborate on that experience as a
way of demonstrating how your actions will be carried out.
Examples:
CE example.
We all sat at the table together. Not a sound came from any of
us. Finally, after what felt like an hour to me, I simply had to
say something. “Why are all of you taking this course?” I
asked. One person, a small, male international student, said “I
needed this course to complete my BS in Finance.” Others

8. laughed. Another person, a nicely-dressed woman, said, “I’d
like to get an easy ‘A’”. I thought to myself: What a bummer!
I don’t want to be in a group with people who didn’t want to
take the subject matter seriously. When the meeting ended, my
perceptions of the group had somehow changed. Maybe this
was a good group to be in after all. Some of the members had
similar interests to mine, and most of them were nice people
that I could see getting along with. I felt somehow hopeful that
this quarter wouldn’t be so bad after all.
RO Example:
I found it interesting to note the role reversal of the instructor
and the class between the first and second attempts. During the
first run, it was the class that appeared apprehensive. We
lacked confidence and understanding, and were confused by the
objective. Our instructor, on the other hand, was confident that
she was doing a good job. Since she couldn’t view our reaction,
she had no feedback or pressure to change her behavior. On the
second run, however, there was an amazing change. Since the
instructor was looking at us, she became more human and
approachable. We had the freedom to question her instructions
in order to better understand the picture. As a class, we were
able to learn. However, the teacher’s confidence went down.
She appeared uncomfortable at being put on the spot, frustrated
at not getting her point across and challenged by her limitation.
AC Example:
There are several organizational behavior concepts that helped
me to understand this experience. One is the Thomas-Kilman
story of conflict (Kolb, p284-285), which is based upon two
axes, either the concern for one’s own interests or the concern
for the interests of the other party. The five styles reflect a low
or high position on these two axes, and are labeled competition,
compromise, avoidance, accommodation, and collaboration. In
the incident I described, my coach began with a collaborative
style, high concern for both his own interests, and the interests

9. of the other party. He tried to work out a solution that would
satisfy both of us, but I neither saw, nor heard, his point of
view. I just wanted to get my way and practice in the same way
I had on my previous team. I can see now that the conflict style
I used was the competitive style, high concern for my own
interests and low concern for the interests of the other party.
Looking back, this is the style I have used most often through
my life, and I usually got away with it because I was such a
good athlete. However, my experience with the coach supports
Kolb’s description of the losses that may result from using this
style. I lost everything when I was kicked off the team and I
certainly alienated the coach and the other players and
discouraged them from wanting to work with me.
AE Example
If I were in a situation like this again, I would first try to do a
better job of managing myself. I would remember that it takes
two sides to make a conflict and I need to be as objective as
possible and not go along with the group in criticizing “them”
so that I feel more a part of the group. Second, had I made the
effort, I might have been able to establish at least one positive
relationship with someone in graphics. I should have asked my
positive colleague how he managed to develop such a good
relationship with them. I suspect his advice would have been to
spend more time with them, treat them with greater respect,
refrain from blaming them when things go wrong, and be more
empathetic. Third, I would talk to my manager or supervisor
about the problem. By making my feelings known and telling
him or her that I wanted to do my part in conflict management
maybe he or she would be more willing to take action. if not, at
least I tried. At the bottom line, my negative actions only made
my job more difficult. I now realize that was not a very smart
or effective way to conduct myself. The positive thing about
having negative experiences is that hopefully I learn from them.
I do not have control over other people but if I act
appropriately, I will have a much better chance of getting the

10. cooperation that I desire. This experience taught me about the
dangers of going along with the group. I know that the next
time I am in this situation, I will behave differently.
Learning Journal 2
Letter Ranking
CE
The letter ranking exercise had two parts, an individual
portion and a group portion. We were given a list of 15 letters
from the alphabet and were given instruction to arrange them in
the order we thought they were most frequently used in
American language. We were told that the winning group won
prizes! The prize selection consisted of chips and candy. First
we did this as an individual exercise then we combined into
groups and did the same exercise again. When I did this
individually it only took me about two minutes. At first I
thought I had it down because I instantly thought of “RSTLNE”
from Wheel of Fortune. But then I realized there were other
vowels to choose from and I should probably mix a few of those
with the Wheel of Fortune letters. It took me a while because I
kept seeing new letters that I thought were better and I had to
keep rearranging my list.
After we completed our rankings individually, we grouped
up and did the same exercise. Now that we were in a group I got
to listen to other people’s explanations on why they thought
certain letters should be ranked higher. I mentioned to my group
I was hungry and really wanted to win. I was going to tell them
about Wheel of Fortune but some guy in my group beat me to it.
I thought it was absolutely insane that he thought of that also.
We arranged the letters in the order we thought was best as a
group. From there we were saying random words and seeing
which letters seemed to be the most common. While working
with my group on this exercise it took about six minutes for us
to rank the letters. It took a longer amount of time because we
were talking and sharing our opinions with each other. We had

11. to come to a conclusion as a group, which was sometimes hard
to do. I could tell everyone in my group found this assignment
to be very odd. We were all talking about how weird it was to
be given this assignment and how we had never thought about
how frequently used certain letters were before. We eventually
finished our rankings and from there were did some math to find
our correlation coefficient. The closer the number was to 1.0 the
better. Our correlation coefficient was .77. We also calculated
this for our individual rankings and mine was a .53. My group
worked much better together than we had individually. Each
group gave their numbers to the professor and we determined
the winner, which was not my group! I was disappointed but
only because I could not take the thought of Reese Cups off my
mind.
RO
During this exercise I was very into it. I was much more
into this than any of the other learning journal opportunities we
had done in the past. From the beginning of the exercise, it was
very clear to me why I was trying so hard. I was hungry. When I
saw the sour cream and cheddar chips and the Reese Cups on
the front table, I was motivated. I recently moved out of my
parents’ house and now know how expensive food is. I didn’t
eat much breakfast and didn’t have any cash for lunch, so
seeing that food really motivated me to try hard on this
exercise! The food definitely made me behave in a certain way.
I really wanted my group to try hard with this exercise, but
apparently not everyone in my group was hungry.
Everyone in my group acted differently. One girl in my group
seemed very uninterested with the exercise. She was very
unconcerned and just sat back and didn’t do much. She would
agree with what each person said and did not put out her own
opinions. I think that she behaved this way because she didn’t
care about the assignment. There are always people in classes
just because the class is required, and they don’t actually care
about the work or their grade. Since attendance is mandatory in

12. this class I think she was just there to get attendance points.
Another person in my group took the leader ship role. He kept
the group on track. When we couldn’t come to an agreement he
would restate each choice and push us to come to a conclusion.
I believe that he behaved in the way that he did just because he
is a very social and outgoing person. I would never take control
like that because I am so introverted. I think he did this because
he is comfortably in that position and he is very extroverted.
If a neutral observer had watched my group in this exercise they
would have noticed a couple different things. They would notice
that there were a couple people really into the exercise for the
food and others who really didn’t care much at all. They would
have noticed that for the most part we worked really well
together. We all listened to each other’s points and decided the
best order to rank the letters in. For the most part I think most
the people in my group felt that this exercise was weird and
they weren’t too involved. I don’t think this had much meaning
to anyone besides the fact that we might be able to win food.
Although most of the group wasn’t that interested in the
exercise we still worked well together and got the assignment
done.
I have learned a lot about myself from this experience. I am
really motivated by prizes. I picked up on this while at work
lately. Recently my manager has been giving us prizes for
whoever has the best sales. Because of this, I have been doing a
lot better than usual. The same thing happened with this
exercise. I was really interested in thinking logically about
letter rankings so we could get a good correlation coefficient.
At the same time I feel like since I am so motivated by prizes I
don’t work as hard when there aren’t any prizes. This can be a
bad thing. During the ring toss exercise there was no prize. I
hardly participated in that because there was no prize to hold
my attention. I feel like this could be bad down the road when I
have a career. What if I only perform well when I know there is
a bonus coming up?

13. AC
There are several recent concepts we have learned in class
that relate to my experience. I now understand the five stages of
group development better than I had before. In Organizational
Behavior by Robbins and Judge, they define this, “The five-
stage group-development model characterizes groups as
proceeding through five distinct stages: forming, storming,
norming, performing, and adjourning” (page 286). They go on
to explain each phase. The forming phase is when the group is
beginning to come together. The group gets to know each other
but is uncertain at how things will go. The storming stage is
when the group begins to define certain roles and appoint a
leader. The norming stage is when there is cohesion among the
group. There begin to be certain norms throughout the group.
The performing stage is when the group gets down to business
and they are there to perform there given task. The last stage is
the adjourning stage, which is when groups begin to wrap up
their activities and eventually separate.
Now that I have worked in a group after reading about
these stages, I can clearly see when they happened. The forming
stage was easy to see. This was when we all looked around and
decided who would be in the group. We socialized for a minute
to kind of get to know each other. The storming, norming, and
performing stages almost happened at the same time. This
happened because we were only a group for ten minutes. We
didn’t have much conflict about who would be in control of the
group. One person stepped up and we let them be in control. At
the same time that we were defining our roles in the group we
also started to become unified. Robbins and Judge describe the
norming phase, “This norming stage is complete when the group
structure solidifies and the group has assimilated a common set
of expectations of what defines correct member behavior” (page
286). This is basically exactly what we did, just very quickly.
We figured out how we all worked well together and just started
working on the task at hand. We began to perform very quickly
and get to the point of what we were to be doing. We were

14. quickly in the adjourning stage because the exercise was so
short. This stage was when we finished our numbers and were
done working with each other. My experience supports the
theory of the five-stage group development model although it is
hard to say for sure since my group was only together for ten
minutes. It was difficult to see each phase separately. Robbins
and Judge state, “Sometimes several stages go on
simultaneously, as when groups are storming and performing at
the same times” (page 287). This statement helps me to support
the theory of the five-stage model.
In this exercise I also witnessed social loafing while
working with the group. Social loafing is defined on page 299
as, “The tendency for individuals to expend less effort when
working collectively than when working individually” (Robbins
and Judge). The one girl in my group was definitely social
loafing. She was kind of just riding on what everyone else was
saying. She gave no input of her own and just went along with
everyone else. My experience in the letter ranking exercise
supports the theory of social loafing. It is very clear that this
happens quite often in different classes I have had and even at
work.
AE
From this experience I have learned that I should always
participate in group activities. I now know that social loafing is
an actual concept and I need to stay away from it. During this
exercise I was in a group with someone who was social loafing
and I didn’t enjoy it. It was annoying that this person was not
helping and did not give any sort of input. When I look back at
the ring toss exercise I’m sure my group was annoyed with me
because I was social loafing. I did not give any input and wasn’t
very into the group. Now I know how irritating I was to my
group members during that exercise. If I were to relive the letter
ranking exercise I wouldn’t do anything differently. I think
during this exercise I worked well with my group- I offered my
own opinions and commented on others. If I were to relive the

15. ring toss exercise I definitely would have participated more and
acted more like a group member! In the future I will try to be
more aware of myself in different group activities and make
sure that I do not act like the “free rider.”
I have also learned that roles and their expectations and
perceptions are very important within groups. I now understand
that group members have certain expectations when it comes to
ways we should behave and act within the group. I had certain
expectations for my group members and now I know they feel
the same. I should always put forth my best effort when working
within a group and not just sit back and let everyone else do the
work. Even though I may find the assignment lackluster, it is
best to exert as much effort as expected so that I am not
perceived to be social loafing.
In the future when I am required to work with a group, I will
take my role seriously. I will be sure to put forth my ideas and
also listen to others. I will try to work just as hard on
assignments when there are prizes and bonuses and when there
are not. I would also like to step up to the plate and try to take a
leadership role when given the opportunity. I think it would be
best if I at least tried, if not I will never know if I have
management opportunities in my future. Maybe I will enjoy
being a group leader.