Decision Making...

On the Monday after our Exam. We received word that what had been billed as an easy exam produced results that overall were less than mediocre for most. I was included in what seemed to be a sizable group; my grade was only one point above the average. What surprised was that the professor opened up the floor for discussion of our failures in the exam. The consensus seemed to be that it was difficult, confusing, and long.

I did not raise my hand to give an opinion like many others. I had accepted my grade, and was not about to form excuses as to why I had done so poorly. I felt the exam was fair and I with only 2 hours of study the night before, I had set myself up for defeat. When everyone who felt wronged got a chance to voice their opinions, the professor decided to allow us to propose a solution so as to improve our grade. A formidable task considering that everyone in the class had to agree to said proposal (at the professor's discretion). We were to have until 7:05 to form a proposal.

Once the time had commenced, everyone was stunned and decided to form little pockets of conversations discussing what just had happened. Two seconds into 20 little conversations around the room, a guy from the front quieted everyone down and opened up the floor for discussion. I got the task of writing the proposals down, ( a job I didn't expect considering I was now in the role of mediator). I now had to consider the concerns of all affected parties. I wrote down those proposals I felt had some weight and agreement by other students. Hands went up in every direction, with other students outbursting when I had given the floor to another student.

How did I handle the conflict that arose?

I saw my role as that of Accomodation. Like I had mentioned before I felt the exam was fair and I was unprepared. I received the average grade so I didn't feel that a considerable amount of students were more prepared or less prepared than me for the exam. I would have been content with taking my 70, and actually studying and improving my grade come the next exam. By the screams and arguments going across the room, I felt that the issue was more important for others so I annotated the proposals that won a considerable amount of praise ( NO Essay, ACTUAL multiple choice, considerable REVIEW, etc.). They all seemed good proposals and I'm sure if we won any deal above the 69 average the class originally received; I would have been perfectly content.

In this exercise, I felt a role of Compromise would have been much more effective. Many people wanted their own proposals to be included, at the expense of those that had considerable weight but would have provided no benefit to them. Given more time, it would have been great to have little committees that would lobby their proposals with each other, actually COMPROMISING to the benefit of everyone.

Considering the decision-making task was thrust unexpectadly before us, and our limited resources (one or two moderators, limited time). I think our reaching consensus on something was commendable. I think we received a GREAT deal once the Professor accepted our proposal and the class voted in absolute favor.