Julia Trovato
Professor Dugal
Bus 345
17 December 2019
Business in Society with Professor Dugal is unlike any class I have taken so far at the University of Rhode Island. Throughout the course of the semester, we posted and interacted in a “fishbowl”. We formed and wrote in this fishbowl to create understanding and knowledge. The class was broken up into groups of three students that interacted with one another through the fishbowl. I was able to have the pleasure of working with Chris Regalbuto and Jess Pusateri within this. We shared our experiences with one another in many different ways throughout the semester. Our first interactive assignment was an in-person meeting with our group. By doing this, we were able to learn about each other and form relationships. Getting to know each other was important because we would have to work with our same group members the rest of the semester. When working with others, it is important to understand each other. When understanding one another, it makes the learning environment much better and usually ends in much better results for the group. The main work we did in our groups throughout the semester was completing our fishbowl (10+1)’s.
Within the (10+1)’s we were exploring the four characteristics of global businesses. These four characteristics include, Integrated Networking Structures, Complex Adaptive Systems, Dynamic Decision Making, and Unique Innovative Capabilities. The first characteristic we began to form an understanding of was Integrated Networking Structures. Completing our (10+1) assignment the first time around was confusing at first. I have never been tasked an assignment like this one so far at the university. Although it was something different than what we were used to, my group members and I made sure to execute this assignment as well as possible. We took the 3 words, created word pools for them, formed sentences with an individual word from each word pool, used these worlds in a felt experience and then formed dichotomies. After forming the dichotomy, we then used our two words, created word pools for them, and then completed an additional felt experience with the new words. After this was done, we then had final paragraphs where we are reflecting on the work we completed and the effect of the words we used. When coming to the end of this structure, I came to the realization that, “words can be used in so many different ways and contexts and how one decides to use them is very unique and important”. Throughout these assignments, all members of the group are taking the same words and its very interesting to see how different all our outcomes are. Reading my own felt experiences, as well as my two groups mates all incorporating the same 3 words as one another each time, it is so interesting to see how different our felt experiences are. Of course, this makes sense as we are all separate individuals with many different life experiences, but it is interesting to see how the same words can be used in so many different contexts.
On the second time around, we explored the characteristic of Complex Adaptive Systems. In other words, Intricate Flexible Process, or as my group mate inferred, Complicated Customizable Scheme. Going through this assignment a second time, I had a much clearer understanding of what I was supposed to do. As I learned in class, it is very important and helpful to step away from your work, clear your mind, and then go back to it. During this process, I made sure to do this. After choosing my words, I stepped away from my work to give thought to my felt experience. We are learning to restructure our sentences and words. By doing this, we aren’t only restructuring our words but we are also restructuring our thoughts and meanings through our experiences.
Overall, the fishbowl has opened my eyes up to learning in a whole new way. The main impact this class has had on me is through the words. I’ve never really thought much about the words I use, but doing these structures has changed this for me completely. In our assignments, we took a grouping of three words and deconstructed them to form great meaning in our lives through felt experiences. I was able to share a lot of my experiences as well as learn a lot about my groupmates between their life experiences. The vocab and words we dived into put meaning into the experiences we were talking about and sharing with each other. Working alongside my classmates has given me a great viewpoint on how other individuals reflect and come to conclusions. As we continued with the different characteristics of a global business, our self-reflections became deeper and deeper. As the semester comes to an end, I feel completing these assignments and participating in the fishbowl has been a learning experience like no other one. Words are one of the most important things in our society and becoming interconnected with so many new words will definitely benefit me in the future.