What a gem!

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to be a part of what I would refer to as a social experiment. In class, I was asked to get into a group of three people. Together, we formed a country and had to use our countries "resources" which were represented as gemstones to barter with the other "countries" to diversify our resources. Thinking this would be a fun experiment, I was ready to get started. Something I wasn't anticipating was the issues that would arise from the group dynamics. The instructor didn't really offer any rules. We could trade or not trade with the other countries. We could trade as a country or we could take some of our country's resources and run off as an individual and trade for individual gain.
I decided out of personal choice, to trade as a group. I didn't want to be a traitor. I wanted to help my country. My group mates felt the same way. So, we chose to trade as a group.
With a business background, I had a different view of resource worth than my group members did which caused a lot of head-butting and a sort of stalemate between the three of us.
I thought it was very interesting to see how outside elements played into how we ran our group. My business background affected the way that I thought about the challenge. However, the other two girls did not have a business background. Unfortunately, I had made up my mind about how I wanted to attack the challenge and they had made up their mind to attack the problem in a different way. Neither myself, nor the other two girls were willing to budge on our solutions.
Group projects have always bothered me. I have tried to learn to become whatever the group needs me to be. I am a born leader, but I have the ability to be a follower, if I feel that the group leader has the ability to lead. I felt that I had a fresh idea that no one else in the class had, but I wasn't being listened to. It is frustrating to be in a group and feel that your ideas are not being heard.
This was a growing experience for me. Looking back, I should have taken some of the country's resources and went off on my own. I never dreamed that values, educational background, and communication style would have such an impact on something as simple as the trading of gemstones. It was really interesting and as I said, quite a learning experience.