Group Communication

Presented by:
Kanika Sood
Gundeep Singh Kapoor
What is a group?
 “A group is two or more persons who are interacting
with one another in such a manner that each person
influences and is influenced by each other person.”
 Three or more individuals who interact over time,
depend on each other and follow shared rules of
conduct in order to reach a common goal.
 Ideal size: 4-7
Group can also be defined as:
1. Where participants know each other by name/role.
2. Considerable amount of interaction among the
participants.
3. Each participant has some degree of influence on
each other member.
4. Each participant defines him/herself as a member of
the group and is also defined by outsiders as a
member.
5. The participants share some common goal, interest
or benefit by holding membership in the group.
6. There is leadership.
Small group vs. Large group
What is a Team?
Small number of people who:
 Possess complementary skills
 Are committed to a common:
o Purpose

o Performance goals
o Approach whereby they feel
mutually accountable
3 Aspects on which Group
Communication depends
Group communication
Strengths Weaknesses
 Greater Commitment  Time consuming
 Greater Creativity  Conformity pressures

 More complete information and  Potential domination by one

knowledge of a few members
 Increased diversity of views

 Higher quality decisions

 Increased acceptance of decisions

 Increased morale
 Steps followed in Group
Communication
Agenda for Decision Making

Define the Problem

Analyze the Problem

Establish Criteria

Generate Solutions

Select Best Solution

Implement Decision

Action Plan to Monitor and

Fine-tune
Factors Influencing Group or Team
Performance
 Cohesiveness:
Extent to which members of a group like
each other and want to remain members of
the groups
Group Composition and Nature of
the Task
 Homogeneous  Heterogeneous
 Simple tasks  Complex tasks
 Sequential tasks  Collective tasks (tasks
are divided and summed
to produce the output)
 Creativity required
 Cooperation required
 Speed not important
 Speed important
Norms
Informal rules of behavior that provide some order to group activities.
 BEHAVIOR NORMS
-Appearance
-Informal seating arrangements
 PRODUCTION NORMS

 ENFORCEMENT OF NORMS - This will happen if:

-They facilitate group success or ensure group survival
-They simplify (or make predictable) what behavior
is expected of group members
-They reinforce specific member’s roles within a group
-They help the group avoid embarrassing
interpersonal problems
 Examples:
 There is no such thing as a stupid comment.
 Being on time for meetings is required.
 Listening with an open mind is encouraged.
 Negative criticism of another person is
unacceptable.
 Taking risks with ideas is encouraged.
 Meetings are “strictly business.”
Deviancy
 Refers to behaviors that other members
of the group consider threatening,
embarrassing, or irritating enough
that they bring special sanctions to bear
against the person.
A Deviant in the group can:
 Facilitate appreciation of the fresh
perspective from new members
 Force the group to test the usefulness and
ultimate validity of its norms
 Provide new and different ideas
 Detract from productivity due to process
losses
How group size effects
performance
 Large groups have more resources available,
they can complete more relatively
independent tasks than small groups
 Large groups tend to from subgroups
 Helpful if the task can be subdivided
 Large groups tend to produce more than
smaller groups (depending on the task)
 Large groups show more tension release and
giving of information than in smaller groups
More group size
 Interactions and communication patterns tend
to be more formalized in large groups
 Large groups may be less efficient than
smaller groups
 Smaller groups report greater satisfaction
 Importance of getting along is inversely
related to size
 Actual performance = Potential Performance
less Process Losses
Role
 Behavior or expectation for behavior within a
group
 Types:
 Task Roles: Performed to achieve the goals of the
group and to facilitate participation and decision-
making (e.g. Information Agent, Elaborator, Initiator).
 Personal Roles: Enacted for the purpose of initiating,
developing, or managing interpersonal relationships
among group members (e.g. Harmonizer,
Gatekeeper, Sensor).
 Problem Roles: Attempt to satisfy individual vs. group
needs (e.g. Blocker, Recognition Seeker, Digresser).
Conformity
 Agreement with or correspondence to a set of
ideas, rules, or principles
 Reasons for conformity
 Conformity and group functioning
Groupthink
 The tendency of group members to seek
agreement solely for agreement’s sake.
 Minimizing Groupthink: Use critical evaluation
to question group decisions.

 Conditions that give rise to groupthink

 Out of touch
 Out of order
 Out of resources
 Overruled
Groupthink

 Symptoms
 Having an illusion of Invulnerability
 Close-mindedness
 Censorship/pressure toward uniformity
 Rationalizing poor decisions
 Believing in a group’s morality
 Exercising direct pressure on others
 Not expressing your true feelings
 Using mindguards to protect the group from negative
information
Some solutions include:
 Using a policy- forming group which reports to the
larger group
 Having leaders remain impartial
 Using different policy groups for different tasks
 Dividing into sub-groups and then discuss differences
 Discussing within sub-groups and then report back
 Using outside experts
 Using a devil’s advocate to question all the group’s
ideas
 Holding a “second-chance meeting” to offer 1 last
opportunity to choose another course of action
Conflict
 Conflict does not signal that a meeting is
disorderly, raucous, or rude.
 It is a sign that people are actively discussing
issues.
Groups as Systems
 Systems Theory: Refers to interdependency,
or how various parts are related to each
other; if one part changes the other parts are
also affected.
Small Group Communication
Networks
 Wheel Network
 Information flows between the person at the end
of each spoke and the person in the middle.
subordinate

subordinate Manager subordinate

subordinate
 Circle Network
 Each member communicates with the people on
both sides but with no one else.

Task Force Task Force

Member Member

Task Force Task Force

Member Member
 Chain Network
 Each member communicates with the people
above and below but with no one else.
Senior Manager

Manager

Assistant Manager

Management
Trainee
 All-Channel Network
 All members communicate with all other members.

Informal Group Informal Group

Member Member

Informal Group Informal Group

Member Member
Leader
 The member of a
group who speaks
the most, speaks
the most to the
group as a whole, is
spoken to the most,
and directs
communication in
the group to
productive
 Leadership is concerned with the control and power in a
group
 Groups will sometimes have 2 leaders- one for the social
dimension and one for the task dimension
The 3 main perspectives on leadership are:
 First- some are born with the traits that will make them a
good leader
 Second- the group’s leader selects an appropriate leadership
style for the given task
 Third- to some degree, leaders are born with traits that make
them good leaders, but that they also learn how to become a
leader and use strategies appropriate to a given situation
Four main styles of a leader:
 Autocratic: Leader uses his or her authority to
make decisions
 Democratic: Authority is shared and all group
members help make decisions
 Laissez-fair: A “hands-off” style in which the
leader allows the group to make its own decision
 Abdacratic: No one in the group exercises
leadership. This style, says researchers, leads
to group disintegration and is followed by
autocratic leadership
Effectiveness and Efficiency
 Group as compared with individual decisions
are:
 More accurate
 More creative
 Higher acceptance of final decision
Less efficient
Use Brainstorming
 Four simple rules
can encourage
divergent thinking
while minimizing
evaluation
apprehension.
 Group members are encouraged to generate as
many ideas about a particular topic as they can
 For instance, group members may use
brainstorming to generate as many solutions as
they can
 Group members should be encouraged to say
anything that comes to mind when brainstorming
 Every idea is written down and adjustments about
ideas are saved until later, when the group returns
to all of the ideas and selects those that are most
useful
Rules of Brainstorming
 No criticism
 Without criticism, team members might be willing to
suggest wild solutions or ideas
 Provide as many ideas as possible
 Quality increases with the number of ideas presented

 Speak freely
 Welcome wily and silly ideas since they can become
the basis of divergent thinking
 Build on ideas of others
 Members should combine and improve on the ideas
already presented – use team synergy
Theories and Models of
Small Group
Communication
Theories are...
 Very practical.
 Basic to human behavior.
 Systematic ways for understanding
experience.
 Essential to effective small group
communication.
Social Exchange Theory
 A psycho-economic model of group
attractiveness.
 Seeks to explain/predict people's
choices to join, remain in, and
leave groups.
 A relatively simple equation: costs
vs. rewards.
 A profitable situation (rewards >
costs) leads to a rewarding
experience which leads to group
cohesion, productivity, etc.
Systems Theory

 Groups can best be understood

as open systems.
 Characteristics of open systems:
 Interactionwith the
environment
 Interdependence of parts
 Input, process, and output
variables
 Goal of a system:
 To survive in an environment by avoiding
entropy.
 This can be accomplished through various
strategies of self-regulation or environmental
modification (equifinality).
Symbolic Convergence Theory
 Describes how groups develop a “collective
consciousness.”
 Group identity comes from communicating
group "fantasies" or stories.
 Fantasy: A creative and imaginative shared
interpretation of events that fulfills a group
psychological or rhetorical need.
 Fantasy theme: Common content or recurring script
in shared group stories.
 Fantasy chain: A string of connected stories
revolving around a common theme.
 Theory challenges notions of the value of "off
task" group communication behavior.
Structural Theory
 Explains how people use rules and resources
to produce and reproduce group systems/
structures.
 Combines elements of Rules Theory and
Systems Theory but goes beyond by...
 Acknowledging the dynamic, changing nature
of groups and group structures.
 Reaching outside the boundaries of the group
to understand structure development and
change.
 Structure + process = Structuration.
Functional Theory
 Based on the idea that group communication
behaviors can be strategically chosen and
planned to achieve particular outcomes such
as:
 Sound reasoning
 Critical thinking
 Preventing errors
 Building relationships
Characteristics of an Effective Team
– Look at yours from time to time.
1. has clearly defined, measurable objectives
2. resolves issues rather than avoids them
3. gets ideas and contributions from everyone
4. hears and accepts other’s ideas
5. has members who actively listen to one
another, feel empowered to do their best and
who support and trust one another
6. has enthusiasm, boldness, and willingness to
take risks
7. accepts conflict as a reality and works it through
to a successful outcome
8. uses humor to build upon people’s ideas
9. communicates openly and frankly
10. has a strong commitment to goals and the
group’s mission
11. uses decision making by consensus
12. uses total participation by all members
13. accepts differences of opinion
14. evaluates its own effectiveness
15. adapts to change
THANK YOU!!!