Day 5 – Group Dynamics, a Formula

You can know people for many years but never really understand them until you see them outside of their normal environment. There have been nine of us walking this week, well eight walking and Marion accompanying us at the cottage. Observing how people interact in this group situation is fascinating. I will illustrate my point by recalling this tale, which could be usefully titled – “Which Pub are we going to eat at tomorrow night”.

Up to now I have organised the external eating arrangements and for a couple of nights we have eaten at the house, a mixture of pot-luck suppers and simple easy to prepare food, However tonight nothing had been arranged, so there was a lively discussion amongst some of the group as to where we should go. The crux of the discussion can probably be expressed as the factors that you would place in a formula. I will also try to place them in some sort of priority

1. Hygiene Rating (HR) – Anything of three or under was dismissed. However this was related to another factor…
2. Ethnicity (E) – It was ok to eat at a pub rated as three but not ok to eat at or purchase takeaway from an Indian rated three. Allegedly this was because it was easier to make a safe choice in an English environment.
3. Trip Advisor rating (TA) – You might think that this was fairly self-explanatory, however again this was related to a second factor…
4. Spelling (S) – Reviews that were poorly spelt were discounted whether or not they were good or bad.
5. Proximity (P) – A fairly obvious one this.
6. Car parking space (CP) – Not entirely obvious as we are not in the midst of urban sprawl, indeed little seems to happen after 6pm.
7. Menu (M) – A contentious one this as was a small menu best as it implied that the food was home cooked, or was greater variety a draw. Again this is related to a second factor…
8. Vegetarian options (V) – in fairness essential for some of the party.
9. Beer selection (B) – A vital factor for the males of the party, completely non-essential for the females.
10. Population – We need to sub-divide this into males (M) and females (F)

Thus I think that the scientific formulae for deciding the pub to eat at reads something like this, improvements in the comments section will be most welcome.

((HR*E) + (TA/S) – P + CP + (M/V) + ((B * M)/ B* F)) / (M + F) = X where the highest score of X is the pub of choice.

Of course this scientific approach ultimately had one fatal flaw. The member of the party delegated to phone the pub during the day forgot to take their mobile with them. It just goes to show that the best laid plans can be ruined by communication problems.