Group Member Roles

MAINTENANCE ROLES AND BEHAVIORS

Maintenance roles and their corresponding behaviors function to create and maintain social cohesion and fulfill the interpersonal needs of group members. All these role behaviors require strong and sensitive interpersonal skills. The maintenance roles we will discuss in this section include social-emotional leader, supporter, tension releaser, harmonizer, and interpreter.

Doormat

- A member who is chronically submissive and compromises for the sake of the group to the point where it hurts the group's progress. - Behaviors include quickly giving in when challenged, self-criticism, claims of inadequacy, find it difficult to be self-assured or assertive, conflict avoidant, or can even think that their behavior will make other group members like them better. - On the other side of behavioral trends, these people may play the martyr and make sure to publicly note their "sacrifices" for the group, hoping for elicit praise and/or attention. - If their efforts are not recognized they may in other negative behaviors, such as whining and/or insecure compliment seeking.

Self-Centered Roles

Diverts attention from the task group members exhibiting the behavior. Although all these roles share the quest to divert attention, they do it in different ways for different reasons. The self-centered roles include central negative, monopolizer, self-confessor, insecure compliment seeker, and joker.

Self-Confessor

- A member who tries to use group meetings as therapy sessions for issues not related to the group's task. - Tend to make personal self-disclosures that are unnecessarily intimate. - While it's expected that members may want to consult with the group about personal problems (especially if they have formed close relationships with group members) these people consistently come to meetings with drama or personal problems. - likely to build frustration among other group members that can lead to interpersonal conflict and a lack of cohesion and productivity. FIX Most groups develop a norm regarding how much personal information is discussed during group meetings, and some limit such disclosures to time before or after the meeting, which may help deter the self-confessor.

Interpreter

- A special kind of harmonizer that helps manage cultural differences within the group. - Helps manage diversity within the group by mediating intercultural conflict, articulating common ground, and creating a space where differences are seen as opportunities rather than things to be feared. - Helps support a person who may feel left out of the group because they have a different cultural identity than the majority of the group. - Act as allies to people who are different even though they may not share that specific cultural identity. - Proactive in addressing conflict before it begins, like taking a group member aside to explain why their behavior/comments may be perceived as offensive.

Central Negative

- Argues against most of the ideas discussed in the group and often emerges as a result of a leadership challenge during group formation. - The failed attempt to lead the group can lead to feelings of resentment towards the leader and/or the purpose of the group, which then becomes negative behaviors that delay, divert, or block the group's progress toward achieving its goal. - Unfortunate because this person is typically a motivated and intelligent group member who can benefit the group if properly handled by the group leader or other group members. FIX Group members should attempt to incorporate central negatives into group tasks to make them feel valued and to help ease any residual anger, disappointment, or hurt feelings form the leadership conflict, otherwise, they will continue to argue against the group even when they may actually be in agreement. WHO Task leader

Information Seeker

- Asks more information, elaboration, or clarification on items relevant to the task group like factual information or group member opinions. - Asks questions that help provide an important evaluative function. - Most groups could benefit from more critically oriented information-seeking behaviors. - By asking more information, group members have to defend (in a non-confrontal way) and/or support their claims, which can help ensure that the information discussed is credible, relevant, and thoroughly considered. - Active listeners - Increase all group members knowledge by paraphrasing and asking clarifying questions.

Supporter

- Communication behaviors that encourage other group members and provide emotional support when needed - Primarily occurs in one-on-one exchanges that are more intimate and in-depth that the exchanges that typically take place during full group meetings. - Uses active empathetic listening skills to connect with group members who may seem down or frustrated by saying something like "ABC, you seemed kind of down today, is there anything you'd like to talk about?" - Communication behaviors are probably the least noticeable of any of the other maintenance roles, which may make this member's efforts seem overlooked. FIX Leaders and other group members can help support the supporter by acknowledging his or her contributions.

Joker

- Consistently uses sarcasm, plays pranks, or tells jokes which distract from the overall functioning of the group. - Incompetent tension releaser. - Rather than being seen as the witty group member with good timing, these people are seen more as a "class clown". - Similar to the insecure compliment seeker, joker's usually seek attention and approval from other group members as a result of an underlying insecurity. FIX A group's leader may have to intervene and privately meet with a person engaging in joker behavior to help prevent a toxic or unsafe climate from forming. This may be ineffective, though, if a joker's behaviors are targeted toward the group leader, which could indicate that the joker has a general problem with authority. In the worst-case scenario, a joker may have to be expelled from the group if his or her behavior becomes violent, offensive, illegal, or otherwise unethical. WHO Insecure compliment seeker, task leader.

Task Leader

- Designated leader. - Has a high group status because of their maturity, problem-solving abilities, knowledge, and/or leadership experience, skills, and functions primarily to help the group complete its task. - Task leaders tend to talk more during group interactions and also tend to do more work than the other group members. - Experience higher levels of stress. - Substantive leader is the "idea person" who communicates "big picture" thoughts and suggestions that feed group discussions (the "thinker"). - Procedural leader is the person who gives the most guidance and consistently follows up on previously mentioned ideas and/or discussions between group members (the "doer"). A skilled and experienced task leader may be able to perform both of these roles, but when the roles are filled by two different people, the person considered the procedural leader is more likely than the substantive leader to be viewed by members as the overall group leader. This indicates that task-focused groups assign more status to the person who actually guides the group toward the completion of the task (a "doer") than the person who comes up with ideas (the "thinker"). FIX Task leader's stress may be lightened through some of the maintenance roles and behaviors.

Aggressor

- Exhibits negative behaviors such as putting others down, attacking group members personally when they feel confronted or insecure, competing unnecessarily to "win" at the expense of others within the group, and being outspoken to the point of distraction. - These behaviors can quickly cross the fine line between being abrasive or dominant and being unethical. - Aggressive behavior is a spectrum, on the lower end there is assertive behavior, the middle is aggressive behavior, and the unethical side is bullying behavior. - At their worst, an aggressor's behaviors can lead to shouting matches or physical violence. FIX Establishing group norms and rules that clearly state expectations to ensure a safe environment for all group members to have discussions. Include mechanisms for temporarily/permanently removing a group member who violates the safe space and run them by all group members during the first session.

Harmonizer

- Group members who help manage the group conflicts that present themselves during group communication. - They keep their eyes and ears open for signs of conflict among group members and typically intervene before it starts to escalate, like suggesting that the group take a break or meditating between group members in a side conversation. - Helps lead the group in perception-checking discussions that help members see multiple perspectives. - In order to be effective, it's important that they be viewed as impartial and committed to the group as a whole rather than to one side of an issue/person. FIX For a harmonizer to be effective, it's important that he or she be viewed as impartial and committed to the group as a whole rather than to one side of an issue or one person or faction within the larger group. WHO Interpreter.

Information Provider

- Includes behaviors that are more evenly shared that other roles when group members present new ideas, initiate discussions of new topics, and contribute their own relevant knowledge and experiences - When group members are brought together with different types of information, members take turns briefing each other on their area of expertise.

Blocker

- Keeps things from getting done in the task group by creating barriers, suggesting unnecessary work, or avoiding group members. - Intentionally, this member might suggest the group look into a matter further even when a final decision has been made, in order to delay the functioning and progress of the group. - Information gathering behaviors can be good for the group, but when they're unnecessary or irrelevant they become blocking behaviors. - Unintentionally, this member may participate in blocking behaviors by missing a meeting or not getting their work done. - "airhead" members avoid their responsibilities by claiming ignorance when they actually do understand or even intentionally perform poorly on a task so the other members question their intellectual abilities to handle other tasks within the group. - An "airhead" is the opposite of the "egghead" role. FIX Exhibiting airhead behaviors gets a person out of performing tasks, they can also be a tactic of a withdrawer. WHO Monopolizer, "airhead", withdrawer

Monopolizer

- Makes excessive verbal contributions, preventing equal participation by other group members. - Like to hear the sound of their own voice and do not follow typical norms for conversational turn-taking. - excessive verbal contributions become monopolizing when they are not related to the task or when they provide unnecessary information. - lack sensitivity to nonverbal cues like when other members are tired of listening or annoyed. - Some try to make up for their lack of knowledge or experience by passing themselves off as an expert. - "stage hog" consists of one-upping and narcissistic listening to others in order to find something they can connect themselves back to, not to understand the message. - "egghead" consists of excessive contributions based on actual knowledge, but exceeds the level of understanding of other group members, lacks social sensitivity and is typically naive OR flaunts their intellectual superiority. FIX While the first type of egghead may be tolerated to a point by the group and seen as eccentric but valuable, the second type of egghead is perceived more negatively and more quickly hurts the group. In general, the egghead's advanced knowledge of a subject and excessive contributions can hurt the group's potential for synergy, since other group members may defer to the egghead expert, which can diminish the creativity that comes from outside and nonexpert perspectives. WHO "Stage hog", "egghead" 1 (naive), "egghead" 2 (pompous),

Gatekeeper

- Manages the flow of conversation in a group in order to achieve an appropriate balance so that all group members can participate in meaningful, informational discussions. - They help correct member imbalances who have provided a lot of information already, and members who have been quiet by saying something like "ABC we've heard a lot from you today, let's hear from someone else. XYZ, what are your thoughts about what ABC said?" - Make the group members feel included FIX Be cautious about "calling people out" or making them feel that way. Instead of reprimanding group members for not participating, they should be invitational and ask for members to contribute to something specific rather then just asking if they have anything to add. WHO Since gatekeepers make group members feel included, they also service the relational aspects of the group.

Withdrawer

- Mentally and/or physically removes themselves from group activities and only participates when forced to. - May attend meetings and seemingly pays attention but doesn't contribute to discussions or doesn't volunteer to take on tasks, rather relying on other members to volunteer first (social loafing). - May avoid eye contact with other group members, sit apart from the group, or orient their body away from the group to avoid participation. - Does not exhibit active listening and/or may stop attending group meetings altogether. FIX Adopting a problem-solving model that requires equal participation, building social cohesion early, and choosing a meeting space and seating arrangement that encourages participation can aid in minimizing withdrawing behaviors. WHO Gatekeepers, supporters, and group leaders can intervene to try to reengage the group member, 5+ group members.

Social-Emotional Leader

- Performs a variety of maintenance roles and is generally someone who is well-liked by other group members and whose role compliments, but doesn't compete with the task leaders. - Reassures and supports the task leader when they become stressed. - Reflective thinker who has good perception skills that they use to analyze group dynamics and initiate appropriate role behaviors in order to maintain a positive climate. FIX Social-emotional leaders can actually become detrimental to the group and lead to less satisfaction among members when the maintenance behaviors being performed are seen as redundant or as too distracting from the task. WHO Assists the task leader and acts as maintenance.

Tension Releaser

- Someone who is naturally funny and sensitive to the personalities of the group and the dynamics of any given situation and who uses these qualities to manage the frustration level of the group. - Being funny is not enough to fulfill this role, as jokes of comments could be humorous, may not be delivered at the appropriate time, which creates rather than releases tension. - Healthy use of humor uses the same functions as the empathy initiated by the harmonizer or social-emotional leader, but is less intimate and is typically directed towards the whole group rather than just one person. - Starts during the formation stage of group development when tensions are present due to typical uncertainties during initial interactions. - Helps "break the ice" or make others feel at ease during the group's more socially awkward interactions FIX Failed attempts to release tensions result in being viewed as a joker, which is a more self-centered role. WHO Joker, harmonizer, social-emotional leader.

Recorder

- Takes notes on the discussion and activities that occur during task group meetings. - Usually limited to one person since in most cases it wouldn't be necessary to have more than one person recording.

Expediter

- Task-related role that keeps the group on track by managing the agenda as well as setting and assessing goals in order to monitor the group's progress - Doesn't push group members mindlessly along - They have a good sense of when a topic has been sufficiently discussed/when a group's focus in one area has led to diminishing returns. - Makes sense of the chaos. - Requires flexible and creative thinking and an ability to stick to a time frame and assess progress. - To avoid the perception that group members are being rushed, a skilled expediter can demonstrate good active-listening skills by paraphrasing what has been discussed in a way that makes it easier for group members to see that they need to move on. - Restaurant kitchen expo (pushing along orders, checking food before it goes out, makes sure timing on food works out so it does not flood the staff, etc.)

Insecure Compliment Seeker

- Wants to know that they are valued by the group and seeks recognition that is often not task-related. - Wants validation from their relationships with other group members or seeks the approval of others by overcompensating for their insecurity by excessive behaviors aimed at getting compliments or drawing attention to themselves. FIX They don't want to be told they did a good job compiling a report; they want to know that they're a good person or attractive or smart—even though they might not be any of those things. In short, they try to get validation from their relationships with group members—validation that they may be lacking in relationships outside the group. WHO Joker

NEGATIVE ROLES AND BEHAVIORS: SELF-CENTERED VS UNPRODUCTIVE ROLES

A person may temporarily monopolize a discussion to bring attention to his or her idea. If that behavior gets the attention of the group members and makes them realize they were misinformed or headed in a negative direction, then that behavior may have been warranted. Negative behaviors can be enacted with varying degrees of intensity and regularity, and their effects may range from mild annoyance to group failure. In general, the effects grow increasingly negative as they increase in intensity and frequency. While a single enactment of a negative role behavior may still harm the group, regular enactment of such behaviors would constitute a role, and playing that role is guaranteed to negatively impact the group. We will divide our discussion of negative roles into self-centered and unproductive roles.

TASK-RELATED ROLES AND BEHAVIORS

Task roles and their related behaviors contribute directly to the group's completion of a task or achievement of its goal or purpose. Task-related roles typically serve leadership, informational, or procedural functions. In this section we will discuss the following roles and behaviors: task leader, expediter, information provider, information seeker, gatekeeper, and recorder.

Unproductive Roles

There are some negative roles in group communication that do not primarily function to divert attention away from the group's task to a specific group member. Instead, these unproductive roles just prevent or make it more difficult for the group to make progress. These roles include the blocker, withdrawer, aggressor, and doormat.

Website Link:

https://2012books.lardbucket.org/books/a-primer-on-communication-studies/s14-02-group-member-roles.html