Throughout this course, we talked about how groups collaborate and the need to establish relationships with those groups. We may long to participate in the perfect group where conflict helps facilitate the team to improve a process or solve and ongoing problem. We may wish that all team members actively participate and share ideas in a non-threating creative environment. However, one rarely, if ever will have an opportunity to work in such a picture-perfect group. This paper explores the relationship within a small group, tasked with completing a thirty-minute presentation on creativity. Examined in detail, functional theory, group competencies, task roles and maintenance roles, and leadership as it related to the outcome of the group’s presentation.
Review of Group Communication
Functional Theory Based on the studies by Dennis Gouran and Randy Hirokawa, “the researchers suggest that effective group problem solving and decision making are most likely to occur when group members attempt to satisfy task requirements” (Beebe & Masterson, 2015, p. 47). The functional approach to small group communication is concerned with the results or outcomes of behaviors and structures. Communication helps team members by encouraging rational assessments and analytical thinking, as well as stopping team members from faulty or flawed decision-making and problem solving (McGraw Hill, 2016). This theory helps group members overcome constraints such as stress from deadlines, the team project
Working in small groups is either welcomed with excitement by individuals or dreaded with apprehension. However, group work is a fact of life. Whether in a classroom setting or workforce collaborating within small groups are experiences many will interact at some point or regularly participate in. According to the 2010 third edition of the book A Pocket Guide to Public Speaking by Dan O’Hair, Hannah Rubenstein, and Rob Stewart, small groups can be defined as “a collection of between three and twenty people” (321). Small groups, though, are interesting in that while a small collection of people communication role is imperative to the success of the group, but also demonstrates individual’s behaviors when interacting. During small groups, they way in which the member communicates with each other illustrates how individuals perform by taking on specific roles as well as exposing their leadership style. During participation in group work, there is a set of expectations individuals hold for themselves as well as members of the group. Individuals will subconsciously take on a specific role as to how they will help the group achieve their goal, whether that be cohesively or disconnected. Subsequently, the recognition of these acquired roles provides an insight into the individual’s corresponding leadership style. Depending on roles and leaderships style group work can be a consistency of either individual challenging or complimenting one another.
Our group worked on all the components of the project together, which included the research, reference pages, scripts, and the PowerPoint. I believe our decision to not assign specific tasks to a single individual allowed us to fully understand all the information and get along better due to the fact we all were doing the same amount of work. In a group setting, we had to work together and communicate with one another in order to create a suitable presentation. One thing I saw that our group thrived at was listening to one another. Our book defines listening as the “active, complex process that consists of being mindful, physically receiving messages, selecting and organizing messages, interpreting messages, responding, and remembering (Wood, 2016).” Each group member had to
Whether groups are formed for social or task oriented purposes, the ability to produce and maintain a sense of affiliation, peer support and collaboration is important for overall group functioning. The cohesion of a social group is produced through the establishment of a set of group norms, which are later defined as a guide for conduct accepted within a group of individuals. However, in order for a group to perform and produce results, the team leader should guide his/her team through the proper stages of group development, which includes the following steps: forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning. Although teams should follow all these stages of group development, the forming and the norming stages are the most important,
Randy Hirokawa and Dennis Gouran developed the Functional Perspective on Group Decision Making theory to “offer practical advice on how participants can act to ensure better group decisions” (Hirokawa, 1999, p. 170). They believe that as long as the members in a group care about the issue and are reasonably intelligent, the group interaction will have a positive effect on the final decision. In order for a group to reach a high-quality solution, Hirokawa and Gouran believe the group 's decision-making process needs to fulfill four task requirements they refer to as requisite functions of effective decision making. "Three core assumptions define the functional perspective: (1) groups are goal oriented; (2) group performance varies in quality and quantity, and can be evaluated; and (3) internal and external factors influence group performance via the interaction process.” (Wittenbaum, 2004 p. 19).
Learning how to work effectively in a group situation is key to success in many professions as well as in social situations. Groups vary from each other based on the individuals that make up each group, all of us belong to various groups at one time or another. The roles that we fulfill vary from group to
There are many factors altering group behavior and effectiveness, such as decision- making, cohesion and communication (Crocker, 2016). The later has also shown a positive relationship with group task cohesion (Smith et al., 2013), and methods of enhancing intrateam
Throughout this project, I found that working through the Standard Agenda to solve a problem was an effective way for a group to decide upon a solution. Even though our group was unexperienced using the Standard Agenda, we were able to use each other’s strengths to improve the quality of our discussion about the issue of rising college tuition. Looking back to previous projects, I can see how our group has grown to better understand the methods of effective group work. While there were both beneficial and impeding forces at work in the task and social processes, I feel that overall our group had a successful problem solving discussion.
Furthermore, research suggests that conflict in the decision making process promotes creativity amongst group members (Nemeth 1986), higher levels of commitment and satisfaction from group members (Peterson 1999), and group members become more knowledgeable about the interests of their co workers (Peterson 2007). In comparison to the first simulation, this result was evident in the second attempt. On the other hand, the decision making process was time consuming. Luckily, there were no time constraints, however, towards the end of the task, group members including myself, became tiresome and overworked. Eventually, I began to lose control of my group and those with the most useful information provided to them during the simulation began to
Group setting can affect the quality of solutions. According to Tubbs (2012), “A clear finding of small group research is that groups have the potential to make better-quality decisions than the same individuals would make if working alone” (p.359). When a difficult problem arises, having multiple people work towards a solution instead of one individuals increases the chance of the problem being solved properly (Tubbs, 2012, p.360) Although the group must be prepared to accept the solutions. “For solutions to be effective, they must be of high quality and they must be accepted by those who must carry them out,” states Tubbs (2012, p.363).
Like my performing arts high school, Bowdoin College is an adherent in creating a difference through rigorous academics and the arts. I’m interested in the belief that creativity is vital amongst a group in order to synthesize innovative ideas and obtain additional knowledge about the individuals whom we interact with. I believe that when planning or resolving, cooperation of different sides brings creative insights and talents to produce a eureka moment. A team functions because each person’s unique individuality is an integral part in accomplishing the goal. As a student at Bowdoin, I’ll be poised on catching other student’s notions to expand the spectrum of learning and understanding their thoughts to cultivate intellectual discovery.
This novel written by Keith Sawyer held so much information on how to better group interactions- anyone can walk away from this book with broader outlook on creating a “Group Genius”. Sawyer has laid out all of these great concepts and ideas in front of readers. It was an amazing way to express the possibilities that both, groups and teams can achieve. Whether these be small or big business teams, one or a couple inventors beginning their story or a sports team- all of these groups can apply what Sawyer has written, into their work and group atmosphere. A group has the choice to take these skills and adapt them into their own experiences, it can all spark from just one person making a change. I learned a lot
The Tuckman’s stages of team development (Levi, 2007) will be used as lens to evaluate the work of the group presentation. The Tuckman’s stages of team development consist of five stages of forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning (Levi, 2007). In the forming stage we tend to know each other and figure out how we are going to run the presentation. At this stage, there was discomfort due to unfamiliarity together with confusion on how we will function together. The solution for that case was, everyone had each member contact detail, had a clear ground rules, as well as planned how we will accomplish our tasks. In addition, we also experienced the storming and norming stage. Levi (2007) says that the in the storming phase there are often
Working within a group or team is unavoidable for most people. We are involved in sports teams, assignment groups, work teams, social groups and a variety of other groups and teams. Each of these groups share one thing in common, that is each requires us to communicate in some way in order to reach a shared goal or target. Therefore, it is imperative to know and understand how to work and communicate effectively with others to maximise outcomes and productivity.
Working in a group can be very difficult at times. Different people with different views may not always agree which one another. Throughout the various task I played the communicator. I made sure everyone was on track on what we wanted to do. I also made sure people was okay and happy in the role they was playing in the group. My group worked together in collecting ideas from one another and making it into one.
There are three functions to verbal communication in groups, task ordering, process orientation, and narrative (Harris, 2008). Task ordering focuses on either/or choices and creates a purpose. Small groups are usually formed to achieve a goal (Harris, 2008). Process orientation is how we say something. Many teams have failed because plans have been derailed