Pictures adapted from wikipedia
Knowing that the sources for my blog need to come from a variety of media prints, my attention fell on the latest issue of ‘Teens’ as I was on my way home. Not surprisingly, I managed to spot an article in which I can apply the concept of group communication on. It is an article under entertainment page 48 of the ‘Teens’ October issue, titled “So Keen”.
The article focused on a British band, Keane who have make remarkable results in their music career and it also went on to talk about how they managed to get together as a band. Apparently, the debut album of the band Hopes and Fears “went straight to #1 on the UK album charts with the album eventually reaching sales of five and a half million copies worldwide and counting.” Their second album, Under the Iron Sea “sold over 200,000 copies the week on its release in June 2006. They are now on their way to releasing their third album. Apart from their wonderful achievement, the article described how the band was eventually stabilized when a member of the group, Tim Rice-Oxley decide not to leave the band for another, Coldplay.
It was indeed impressive that Tim did not leave the group for Coldplay, a famous band but rather he chose “stuck to his guns” and develop their own music which revolves around piano. I strongly believed that being loyal is an important factor in a group as it helps to build the trust of the members and give them a sense of security that the band is not scattered nor divided. Being with a group from the very beginning also enables the members to understand each other better which is another major factor to work together. Different people have different thinking thus being with the group and understanding each other can helps them to hopefully see from the other party’s point of view and thus avoid unnecessary conflict that might arise due to different in perceptions. In addition, I believe that for Tim to make the decision of staying with his original group requires that full support of the other members so as to encourage him to stay on and work towards their goal in making their very own music.
Another major factor that the group has make decision on would probably be to stick to piano and omitting guitar in their music. Though the reason was not mentioned, agreeing with such decision is never easy because not all the members specialized in piano. Personally, I feel that the band had invested lots of time coming together and discussing over this issue before they finally agree to use only piano for the music. Probably within the group, there is either a compromiser or follower who helps to enhance the social climate of the group. Their easiness prevents conflict that will emerged when perceptions differs.
Personally, I believed that in order for a group to exist in the first place is never an easy task. There are various factors that need to be sorted out before a group can decide if they can work together as it would implied that individual’s thoughts are no longer the key factor but rather the idea in which majority of the members agreed upon become the central idea.
Therefore, the group’s decision to stay united and work together with each other based on terms they have agreed upon is something worth applauding.
