Speech 140 Chapter 3 Group Developments 1 In Mixed Company Chapter Three Group Development

Speech 140 Chapter 3 Group Developments

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In Mixed Company Chapter Three

Group Development


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Task and Social Dimensions: Working and Socializing

• All decision-making groups have both task and social dimensions.

• The task dimension is the work performed by the group.

• The social dimension is the relationships that form between members in the group and their impact on the group as a whole.

• The task and social dimensions are interconnected.


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Task and Social Dimensions: Working and Socializing

• The output from a group’s task dimension is productivity. Productivity is the result of the efficient and effective accomplishment of a group task.

• The output from the social dimension is cohesiveness. Cohesiveness is the degree to which members feel a part of the group, wish to stay in the group, and are committed to each other and to the group’s work.

• In general, cohesiveness enhances group productivity unless overemphasized. This relationship, however is stronger in small groups than in larger ones, for ongoing natural groups than for artificially created groups, and for cooperative groups than for competitive groups.


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Building Cohesiveness: Bringing Us Together

1. Encourage compatible membership- When group members enjoy each other’s company and share an attraction for one another, cohesiveness can be easily built. Although some membership is mandated from outside.

2. Develop shared goals- one aspect of cohesiveness is sharing a common vision. When all group members are pulling together to achieve a goal valued by all, cohesiveness increases.


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Building Cohesiveness: Bringing Us Together

3. Accomplish tasks- If group members feel good about work accomplished this often pulls the group together and promotes team spirit. As a rule, successful teams exhibit harmony, yet unsuccessful teams manifest bickering and finger pointing.

4. Develop a positive history of cooperation, if group members work together cooperatively rather than competitively, cohesiveness can flourish.

5. Promote acceptance of group members by making them feel valued and welcomed to the group.


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Interpersonal and Group Attractions

• We seem drawn to others who are similar in personality, attitudes and beliefs, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, and economic status.

• Forming social bonds with group members can provide protection from outside threats to one’s person and possessions.

• Joining a group because you are attracted to the group’s activities doesn’t preclude the additional draw from social connection among members.


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Attraction to Group Goals: A Purpose-Driven Membership

• Another reason why we join groups and wish to remain as members is an attraction to the group’s goals. – Political groups gain members because

individuals are drawn to the cause of the candidate.


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Establishment of Meaning and Identity: Groups-R-Us

• We sometimes join groups to make sense of our world.– Consider Cults, making sense of the world is

the fundamental basis of cult conversions. Individuals who join cults are in the throes of an identity crisis. They are searching for meaning in their lives, and cults offer such meaning and identity.


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Fulfillment of Unrelated Needs: Our Miscellaneous Reasons

• We join groups to satisfy needs that are unrelated to the group’s task, goals, members, or even our desire to belong. We may become group members to enhance our resume or establish business contacts.

• The reasons individuals join groups have noticeable effects on the productivity and cohesiveness of those groups.

• If they join because they are attracted to the other members, the likelihood of cohesiveness in the group is certainly more probable than if they join to meet self-oriented needs.


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Fulfillment of Unrelated Needs: Our Miscellaneous Reasons

• The competent communicator can show sensitivity to the needs of the group during the forming phase in the following ways:

1. Express positive attitudes and feelings-Avoid disagreement and disagreeableness. This phase is the getting –acquainted stage of group development. This is not the appropriate time to be deviant.

2. Appear friendly, open, and interested- be approachable by establishing eye contact with group members, responding warmly to interactions with others.


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Primary and Secondary Tension

• When you first gather in a group, you normally feel some jitters and uneasiness called primary tension. (A natural dynamic of group life)

• The stress and strain of tight deadlines for task completion, later in the groups development is secondary tension.

• Signs of secondary tension include a sharp outburst, a sarcastic barb, hostile and antagonistic exchanges between members.


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Secondary Tension

• A competent communicator can handle secondary tension as follows:

1. Tolerate and encourage disagreement- suppressing differences of opinion will likely increase tension and exacerbate conflict.

2. Keep a civil tongue- disagree with out being disagreeable while fostering a cooperative discussion environment.

3. Be an active listener- make an hones effort to understand the point of view that is in opposition to your own.


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Types of Norms: Explicit and Implicit

• Explicit norms are rules that expressly identify acceptable behavior. Such rules are codified in constitutions and bylaws of fraternal organizations, religious orders, and the like. (A syllabus)

• Implicit norms are rules that are indirectly indicated by uniformities in the behavior and expressed attitudes of members. (Not interrupting teacher while teaching.)


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Purpose and Sources of Norms: Achieving Group Goals

• The general purpose of norms is to achieve group goals, and there are three sources of norms in small groups.

1. The first source of norms is from systems outside the small group. Standards of excellence and specific norms of performance for work teams within organizations often are externally influenced by management outside the team.

2. A second source of small group norms is the influence of a single member. Research show that a single person can influence the group to accept higher standards of behavior and performance that would exist without the influence of this member.

3. A third source of small group norms is the group itself. Small group norms most often develop from transactions within the group. Sometimes this is explicitly negotiated, but most often it emerges implicitly from trial and error.


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Degree of Conformity: Strength of Group Pressure

• Conformity is the adherence to group norms by group members, in this case “followed the crowd” by choosing the wrong answer.

• Collectivist cultures place greater emphasis on group harmony and on individuals blending into groups than do individualist cultures.


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Why We Conform: Fitting In

• We conform for two principal reasons:1. First, we conform to norms to be liked, we want social

acceptance, support, companionship, and recognition. Loyalty to the group is manifested in conformity to group norms and is reward with approval from the members. Norms create solidarity with group members. Our natural desire to belong and to be liked makes such solidarity attractive.

2. Second, we conform to norms because we want to be right. Acting incorrectly can be embarrassing and humiliating. Group norms identify correct behavior.


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Conditions for Conformity: When We Bow to Group Pressure

1. The stronger the cohesiveness in the group, the greater is the conformity to group norms. Cohesiveness, by definition, is the degree of attraction we have to a group and our desire to be a member.

2. Conformity increases as the task importance increases. When accurately performing the group task assumes great importance, we tend to conform even when other group members confess to a general lack of confidence in the accuracy of their own judgments.


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Conditions for Conformity: When We Bow to Group Pressure

3. Conformity is grater when individuals expect to be group members for a long time. Since you will be with these people a long time why make your life unpleasant by not conforming.

4. Conformity is greater when individuals perceive that they have somewhat lower status in the group than other members or that they are not completely accepted by the group.


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Addressing Nonconformity: When Groups Get Tough

1. Group members attempt to reason with the deviant. Groups show an intense interest in convincing nonconforming members of their folly.

2. If reason fails to sway nonconforming member, a group will often try seduction. This is usually a ploy to make the deviant feel guilty or uncomfortable because the group is made to look bad in the eyes of outsiders.

3. The third line of defense against nonconformists is coercion. This is where groups begin to get rough. Communication turns abusive and threatening by using nasty and unpleasant tactics.

4. The final stage of group pressure to induce conformity is ostracism. This strategy ignores or excludes a member by giving the silent treatment or isolating the member from social interaction with the group.


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Addressing Nonconformity: When Groups Get Tough

• A competent communicator should do the following during the norming phase of group development to be appropriate and effective.

1. Adapt communication to the norms of the group

2. Encourage change when norms are excessively rigid

3. Encourage change when norms are too elastic.


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Motivation to Perform: Social Loafing and Social Compensation

• The Collective Effort Model (CEM) suggests that group members are strongly motivated to perform well in a group if they are convinced that their individual effort will likely help in attaining valued results.

• If members view the task as unimportant or meaningless or a members effort is expected to have little effect on the group outcome even when the outcome is highly valued, then social loafing will likely occur.


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Social Loafing

• Social Loafing is the tendency of a group member to exert less effort on a task when working in a group than when working individually.

• Members display social loafing by missing group meetings, showing up late to meetings, performing and participating in a lackluster manner, or failing to star or complete individual tasks requested by the group.


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Addressing the problem of Social Loafing

1. Choose meaningful tasks2. Establish a group responsibility norm3. Note the critical importance of each members

effort4. Hold members accountable5. Enhance group cohesiveness6. Confront the loafer7. Consult a higher power8. Kick the loafer out9. Sidestep the loafer (minimize responsibilities)


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Social Loafing

• Social Compensation- an increased motivation to work harder on a group task to counterbalance the lackluster performance of others.

• Social compensation is especially likely when a high ability group member senses that his or her maximum effort is required for the group to be successful on a meaningful task because other group members have less ability to perform effectively.

• Compensation is especially unlikely when high-ability group members are suspected of loafing.


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When Groups Outperform Individuals

1. When the task requires a wide range and variety of information and skills, groups tend to be superior to any individual.

2. Groups generally outperform individuals when both the group and any individual compared are without expertise on the task.

3. Groups will usually outperform an individual when both the group and the individual have expertise and the task is an especially large and complex one.

4. Even when comparing a group of reasonably bright and informed non-experts to an individual with special expertise, group, group decisions are sometimes superior.


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When Individuals Outperform Groups: No Magic in Groups

1. Groups composed of uninformed laypersons will not usually outperform someone with special expertise, such as a doctor or lawyer, on issues of medicine and law.

2. Individuals outperform groups when groups establish norms of mediocrity.

3. When groups become too large, individuals outperform groups.

4. When the task is a simple one, groups are not superior to individuals.

5. Finally, when time is a critical factor, groups usually perform less effectively than individuals.


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Risk Taking and Polarization

• Group polarization is the group tendency to make a decision after discussion that is more extreme, either riskier or more cautious, than the initial preferences of group members.

• Groups tend to polarize decision making if there is a clear majority leaning one way (risk) or the other (caution).


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• There are two primary explanations for group polarization:

• Social comparison• A second explanation for the group polarization

effect is persuasive argumentation. • In general, the greater the number of arguments

advanced during discussion that support the initial majority group opinion, the more cogent, reasonable, and persuasive they seem to be; and the more original or non-redundant the arguments are, the greater will be the group polarization.


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• A competent communicator does the following to enhance group performance:

1. Focus on the task.

2. Encourage participation from group members.


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Nature of the Group: The Challenge of Acceptance

• First the level of group development has a direct bearing on a newcomer acceptance.

• Second the level of group performance affects the acceptance of newcomers.

• Third, the number of members affects acceptance of a newcomer into a group

• Fourth, the degree of turnover in a group also affects acceptance of newcomers.


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Newcomer Strategies: Gaining Acceptance

1. Conduct a thorough reconnaissance of the group. Most newcomers do a poor job scouting out a group to determine whether they and the group are a good match.

2. Play the role of newcomer. Seek the advice of longtime members, avoid disagreements with old-timers, and talk less than they do.

3. Seek mentors within the group.4. Collaborate with other newcomers. When more

than one newcomer enters a group, they stand to gain from banding together.


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Newcomer Strategies: Gaining Acceptance

• Group development encompasses four periodic phases: forming, storming, norming, and performing.

• These periodic phases do not occur in rigid sequence. They frequently overlap, and groups ay jump around between phases depending on the circumstances and situations groups face.

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Speech 140 Chapter 3 Group Developments 1 In Mixed Company Chapter Three Group Development