Small Group Communications Chapter 5: Roles in Groups

Self-center or disruptive roles

Serve individual nees or goals (Me-oriented) while impeding attainment of group goals.

Most common disruptive roles

Stagehog / Isolate / Clown / Blocker / Fighter-Controller / Zealot / Cynic

Most common maintenance roles

Supporter-Encourager / Harmonizer-Tension Reliever / Gatekeeper-Expediter

Clarifier-Elaborater

Task role; explains, expands, and extends the ideas of others and provides examples and alternatives that piggy-back off the ideas of eachother.

Devil's Advocate

Task role; gently challenges a prevailing point of view for the sake of argument to test and critically evaluate the strength of ideas, solutions, or decisions.

Information Giver

Task role; giving information and/or researching the topic to provide credible information to the group.

Opinion Seeker

Task role; helps the group determine where agreement and perhaps disagreement exist.

Facilitator

Task role; keeps participants on track, guides discussion, and regulates group activities.

Coordinator

Task role; organizes where, when, and how a meeting will take place. Encourages teamwork and cooperation among the group.

Secretary-Recorder

Task role; serves as a group memory function.

Initiator-Contributor

Task role; starts the ball rolling by offering lots of ideas and suggestions.

Information Seeker

Task role; takes an inventory of the knowledge base of the group when the group begins a task.

Role Fixation

The acting out of a specific role and that role alone no matter what the situation might require.

Role flexibility

The capacity to recognize the current requirements of the group and then enact the role-specific behaviors most appropriate in the given context.

Group socialization

The communication process in which new and established group members adjust to one another.

Group role

The pattern of expected behavior associated with the parts we play in groups.

Role status

The relative importance, prestige, or power accorded to a particular role.

Strategies that established groups can employ to make the tole of newcomer less challenging and intimidating

Welcome new members into the group; Orient new members; Mentor newcomers.

Role specialization

When an individual group member settles into his or her primary role once a role for a member has been endorsed by the group.

Role fixation in decision-making groups can occur when...

an individual moves from one group to another, or it can happen within a single group.

The central communicative function of self-centered, disruptive roles is...

to focus attention on the individual.

The central communicative function of maintenance roles is...

to gain and maintain the cohesiveness of the group.

A harsh initiation provides the group with...

valuable information about the newcomer.

Strategies newcomers can employ to improve their chances of acceptance from a group.

Conduct a thorough reconnaissance of the group; Play the role of newcomer; Embrace your new group/distance yourself from your previous group; Seek mentors within the group; collaborate with other newcomers.

Isolate

Disruptive role; deserts the group and withdraws from participation.

Cynic

Disruptive role; displays a sour outlook, engages in faultfinding, focuses on negatives, and predicts group failure.

Clown

Disruptive role; engages in horseplay, thrives on practical jokes and comic routines, diverts members' attention away from serious discussion of ideas and issues, and steps beyond the boundaries of mere tension reliever.

Blocker

Disruptive role; obstructionist by nature, prevents group from taking action, especially action they find objectionable.

Stagehog

Disruptive role; seeks recognition and attention by monopolizing conversation and preventing others from expressing their opinions fully.

Zealot

Disruptive role; tries to convert members to a pet cause of idea, delivers sermons to the group on the state of the world, and often becomes obsessively political in remarks.

Fighter-Controller

Disruptive role; tries to dominate group discussion, competes with members, picks quarrels, interrupts and interjects there own opinions into discussion, and makes negative remarks to members.

Harmonizer-Tension Reliever

Maintenance role; attempt to maintain the peace and reduce secondary tension by using humor and by reconciling differences between members.

Supporter-Encourager

Maintenance role; bolsters the spirits and goodwill of the group, provides warmth, praise, and acceptance of others, and invites reticent group members into the discussion.

Gatekeeper-Expediter

Maintenance role; controls channels of communication and flow of information, regulating the degree of openness within the group system.

Characteristics of a group that directly affect the acceptance of a newcomer.

Level of group development; Level of group performance; Number of members; Degree of turnover.

Hazing

Any activity expected of someone joining or participating in a group that humiliates, degrades, abuses, or endangers them regardless of a person's willingness to participate. Creates group cohesion and conformity.

Informal role

Emerges from the group transactions, and it emphasizes functions, not positions. Mostly found in small groups.

Most common task roles

Initiator-Contributor / Information Seeker / Information Giver / Opinion Seeker / Clarifier-Elaborator / Coordinator / Secretary-Recorder / Facilitator / Devil's Advocate

The central communicative function of task roles is to...

extract the maximum productivity from the group.

Playing roles is a...

fluid, dynamic process.

A harsh initiation may convince newcomers...

how dependent they are on longtime members (old-timers).

The role that has the greatest importance and most potent effect on us...

is usually the one we choose when we have to decide between conflicting roles.

Despite their critical importance to group success, maintenance roles are often viewed as...

lower status in a competitive culture such as the United States.

The harder it is to get into a group...

the greater will be the loyalty and commitment to the group once membership has been attained.

Groups are more accepting of a newcomer when members believe...

the newcomer accepts and will conform to the norms, values, and practices of the group.