Small Group Interaction - Ch. 1-3

Small Group Interaction

(Forsyth's 5 considerations of small groups) Size - 3 to 12. Interaction - Do they communicate? Structure - How are the members organized into roles? Group Cohesion - How strongly do members feel a sense of unity? Social Identity - Do the group members share a perception of being members of the group? Goals - What is the group trying to accomplish? The process by which three or more members of a group exchange verbal and nonverbal messages in an attempt to influence one another.

Kirkman and Rosen - Four dimensions related to empowerment.

1. Potency - This means that teams feel that they have some degree of power to accomplish a goal. 2. Meaningfulness - This refers to a team's experiencing its tasks as important, valuable, and worthwhile. 3. Autonomy - This is the degree to which team members experience freedom, independence, and discretion in conducting their business. 4. Impact - This is when a team produces work that they feel is significant.

Three characteristics of polarizing

1. The statements get more intense emotionally. 2. They go from being specific to being more general. 3. They tend to move away from the topic at hand to other issues.

Disadvantages of using small groups - Problems people have with meetings (I think these interrelate)

1. They're usually about abstract concepts, not real things. 2. They usually convey an absymally small amount of information per minute. 3. They drift off-subject easier than a Chicago can in a snowstorm. 4. They require preparation that takes time that people don't have. 5. Their agendas are too vague. 6. They usually include one person who wastes everybody else's time. 7. They procreate. One meeting leads to another, etc.

Emotional Intelligence (Myers & Tucker, 2005)

A combination of intrapersonal communication (personal competence) and interpersonal communication (social competence). The ability to gather, interpret, analyze, and respond to data may be a function of technical competency, the ability to receive, interpret, analyze, and respond to messages, both external and internal, is regulated by one's emotional intelligence.

Cycles

A cycle is characterized by the results of group interaction being fed back to the group and becoming input for future interactions. For example, a team's success adds strength to the group's cohesion in future activities.

Psychopest

A person who tries to read too much into behaviors.

Virtual Teams

A virtual team is one which members communicate with each other through computers and may or may not be located near one another.

Empowerment and the advantages and disadvantages of using empowerment.

Advantages: Leads to greater productivity, quicker responses to problems, improved quality of communication between groups, increased individual motivation, and improved overall organizational effectiveness. Disadvantages: Can cause frustration, since traditional sources of authority have been changed. Ambiguity as to who is responsible for what can also occur. New behaviors must be learned, new relations between groups must be established, and new levels of trust must be developed.

The American view of teams

Americans are the most individualistic and least team-oriented culture in the world.

Appropriateness

Appropriateness includes several factors that help determine the timing and extent of self-disclosure.

Difference between authority based and self-managing -

Authority based - are groups highly structured. They are group environments that we think as being traditional. In an authority-based group, orders come from the top and no one in the lower ranks question the leader, Authority-based groups are mechanical systems. In a mechanical system the communication moves in one direction, from leader to subordinate, no questions asked. Self-managing - Groups are organic systems. They are less structured, less traditional task groups. Communication in self-managing groups is more discussion-oriented, with more question and answer interactions, occurring between group leaders and subordinates.

Bypassing

Bypassing is a misunderstanding that occurs when the sender and the receiver miss each other with their meaning.

Four major problems with language in small groups and their influence on small groups:

Bypassing, inference making, polarizing, and signal reactions.

Content and Process

Content of a group discussion includes comments about the topic of the discussion. Process is the manner in which the discussion is conducted.

Defensive-Supportive Communication

Defensive communication occurs when a psychological barrier is created, known as a defense mechanism. This barrier acts to reduce effective communication. Supportive communication minimizes these types of problems.

Denotation

Dictionary (Definition) Connotation (What you mentally picture)

Differentiation

Differentiation is the specialization that occurs among people in small group communication.

Dynamic Equilibrium

Dynamic equilibrium is reached at the point at which the forces to change and the forces to resist change are equal.

Empowerment

Empowerment is a leadership style that enables group members to utilize their talents, abilities, and knowledge more effectively.

Negative Entropy

Entropy is characterized by all systems moving toward disorganization or death. Negative entropies are the forces that maintain the organization of a system.

Equifinality

Equifinality is the potential for adaptation that groups possess. This allows for various possible approaches to achieve a goal.

Types of nonverbal communication and their effects on group process

Eye contact, facial expression, physical appearance, vocal cues (para language), and body language (kinesics).

Feedback

Feedback is information groups receive and use to modify themselves.

Group Task Roles

Group task roles are identifiable behaviors that are directed toward accomplishing the group's objective.

Group-Building and Maintenance Roles

Group-building and maintenance roles help the interpersonal functioning of the group and alter the way of working by strengthening, regulating, and perpetuating the group.

Individual Roles

Individual roles are roles that are designed to satisfy an individual's needs rather than to contribute to satisfying the needs of the group.

Inference Making

Inference making refers to going beyond observations and what we know. Inferences have only a low probability of coming true.

Input

Input is the raw material of small group interaction. It includes six relevant background factors: Personality, gender, age, health, attitudes, and values. It also includes information the group receives from outside the group.

Integration

Integration in small group communication is synonymous with organization. It is the coordination of the various parts of the group.

Intentional vs. unintentional communication, including Freudian slips, Malapropisms, and Spoonerisms.

Intentional - That is, what we intend to communicate in order to achieve our purpose. Unintentional - Messages that are unintentional. The slip of the tongue (toxic behaviors) According to Freud our ID or pleasure center, leads us to reveal what we really feel, whereas our ego - the rational, data-processing part of our personality-tends to limit or censor what we utter. When the ID forces win out over the rational ego forces, the Freudian slip results. Freud stated that such unintentional verbal messages more than likely when are "distracted, confused, embarrassed, or simply not physically engaged or when the thoughts is insufficiently worked out or the problem particularly complicated. Malapropism - Inappropriate of a word you think it is right (mix up two words that seem the same) Spoonerism - Saying a word you didn't mean (when you mix up the sounds).

Intentional-Unintentional Communication

Intentional communication occurs when we communicate what we mean to. Unintentional communication occurs when we communicate something different from what we intend, as when we accidentally offend someone.

Ogden and Richards - Triangle of meaning

Meanings are in people, not in the words themselves

Benefits of a small group - Attributes/Skills needed for successful careers.

More minds, as long as "group think" does not get involved. More people to bounce ideas off of and create something greater. You work harder to show that you are accountable and intelligent. Communication and interpersonal skills, Ability to work well in teams, analytical and problem-solving skills, leadership potential.

Systems Theory

Open system - Such as a group is defined as an organized set of interrelated and interacting parts that attempts to maintain its own balance amid the influences of its surrounding environment. Closed system - Opposite of open, no interacting or interrelating parts.

Output

Output includes solutions, interpersonal relations, improved information flow, risk taking, interpersonal growth, and organizational change. It is sometimes called the end result of group interaction.

Emotional Intelligence

Personal and interpersonal skills that enable one to induce desired responses in others.

Three types of noise that occurs during the communication process

Physical - Any external or environmental stimulus that distracts us from receiving the intended message sent by a communicator. Physiological - Distractions due to the natural effects of the body, such as being tired or hungry. Semantic - Noise caused by the sender; occurs when grammar or technical language is used that the receiver cannot understand.

Polarizing

Polarizing is the exaggeration that occurs when people attempt to make a point.

The Tubb's Model of Small Group Interaction

See Figure 1.1 (Page 17)

Elements of the communication process:

Sender - The person(s) responsible to create or initiate the message to be sent. Message - Piece of info that a sender want to deliver to the receiver; verbal or nonverbal. Encoding - External messages, codes, and/or symbols are used to replicate the thought of the sender; correct delivery of the message depends on proper encoding. Channel - Transmission medium through which a sender sends his message and the receiver receives the message. Receiver - The person(s) who receives the message from the sender. Decoding - The exact opposite of encoding; the receiver attempts to find the meaning of the sender's message. Feedback - Any response made by the receiver in return to the message that was received. Noise - The obstacles and hindrance that interferes during the communication process. Context - The fields of experience as well as cultural backgrounds that influence the way communicators encode and decode messages.

Signal Reactions

Signal reactions are learned responses to certain stimuli, such as emotional reactions to offensive swear words or racial slurs.

The arc of distortion.

The gap between what we intend to communicate and what is actually received. The larger the gap, the less effective we are in our relations with others. We can reduce the gap if we are receptive to feedback from others and if others are willing to share their impressions with us.

Throughput

Throughput refers to all the actual verbal and nonverbal behaviors that occur in the course of a group discussion.

Two problems and two outcomes of bypassing -

Two problems related to bypassing occur when: 1. We use the same word to mean different things. 2. Different words are used to express essentially the same idea. The two outcomes that can result from bypassing: 1. We may have apparent agreement when in fact we are calling different things by the same name. 2. We may have actual agreement but apparent disagreement.

Verbal-Nonverbal Communication

Verbal communication is the use of words to get across a message. Nonverbal communication is the use of physical actions, such as facial expression or tone of voice, to get across a message.

Five universal characteristics of nonverbal communication.

1. Ambiguous - Unclear. 2. Continuous - You cannot NOT communicate. 3. Unconscious 4. Multi-Channeled (see, hear, taste, touch, and smell) 5. Tied to your culture.

Three requirements of high quality feedback.

1. Be clear and understandable. 2. Come from a trusted person. 3. Be as immediate as possible.

Ekman and Friesan's 5 categories of gestures

1. Emblems/Interpretations. 2. Illustrations. 3. Affect displays. 4. Regulator. 5. Adapters.

Ten Systems Concepts (Look up definitions at the beginning of this Quizlet)

1. Input - Raw material of small group interaction. 2. Throughput - Internal influences depicted in our model. All verbal and nonverbal. 3. Output - The consequences section of our model. 4. Cycles - Often the outputs of group interaction are fed back to the group and become inputs for future interactions. 5. Negative Entropy - The entropic process is a universal law of nature in which systems eventually move toward disorganization or death. 6. Feedback - All systems must receive feedback to modify themselves. 7. Dynamic Equilibrium - Management and labor have reached an unspoken agreement in virtually every organization on what constitutes a "fair day's work for a fair day's pay" 8. Differentiation - The need for specialists. 9. Integration - The need to coordinate various parts. 10. Equifinality - Refers to both the unpredictability and potential for adaptation of groups.