1 / 19

GROUP PROCESS

GROUP PROCESS. Chapter 8. Overview. Group Process Perspectives Functional Approach – 3 Explanations Interactional Approach RESEARCH FOCUS Relationship Between Group Process & Group Output Possible Phases in Group Discussion. Perspecitives/Paradigms REVIEW.

Audrey
Download Presentation

GROUP PROCESS

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. GROUP PROCESS Chapter 8

  2. Overview • Group Process Perspectives • Functional Approach – 3 Explanations • Interactional Approach • RESEARCH FOCUS • Relationship Between Group Process & Group Output • Possible Phases in Group Discussion

  3. Perspecitives/Paradigms REVIEW • Conflict – Relational Perspective • Conformity & Deviance – Structural • Cohesion – Structural & Relational • Group Process • Communication in decision-making groups • Functional Approach (deviant of structural) • Interactional Approach (deviant of relational)

  4. Functional Approach to Group Processes • Functional perspective concerns the behaviors of people in a social system • FUNCTIONS = GOALS • Maintenance • Task performance • “Any social system has a set of goals toward which it directs it actions” • Primary goal: SURVIVE & MAINTAIN • Members perform the functions the group needs • Positive & Negative Functions • Facilitate or prevent the group from reaching its goals • Types of Functions

  5. Discussion Functions • Functional Roles— (Benne & Sheats, 1948) • Group Task Roles (Table 8.1) • Group Maintenance Roles (Table 8.2) • Individual Roles • “Equilibrium Problem” - TASK (Bales, 1950) • Task and Maintenance Extremes • Managed by developing properties to balance the extremes • Sequential Task Problems • ORIENTATION – common understanding and definition of task • EVALUATION – develop common values regarding what a good solution must accomplish. • CONTROL – find best solution for the task, using power and influence relationships among its members • Bales’ IPA (Interactional Process Analysis) (Table 8.3) • “Essential Functions” (Hirokawa, 1982)

  6. Hirokawa’s Functional Perspective • Four Essential Functions of Small Group Decision Making • Ability to Analyze the Problem • Ability to Identify Appropriate Criteria for Making a Decision • Ability to Develop Alternative Choices • Ability to Evaluate Positive and Negative Aspects of Alternative Choices • Accounts for 60-70% of the Variance • Quality of Decision should be determined by people who are impacted by the decision.

  7. Hirokawa’s Functional Perspective • Application of Method to Communication Functions • “Action Relationships” • Ladder of Abstraction (Figure 8.1, pg. 9) • Relationships among levels are flexible • Functions are ACTIONS • The “Act-Tree” and the Three Proposals • Theories of Communicative Functions RELATE to Group Performance

  8. Functional Approach Summary • Levels of Functions (low, middle, high) are important • Theories should not “mix” levels of abstraction • Group performance and functions are not all related in the same way. • Functions from different levels perform differently, and any theory about group performance must account for this!

  9. Interactional Approaches to Group Process • Investigate group patterns that form over time. • Repetitive communication sequences become patterned over time • Systems exist when a number of objects are interrelated • Human Systems Model (HSM) • Objects are People • Study Relationships AMONG People • Interact Systems Model (ISM) – “Interactionalists” • Units of communication (ACTS) are the objects that interrelate • Focus is on recurring patterns of these acts • INTERACT – a system of two “acts” • Q: “Are utterances in group discussion probabilistically related?” • Inductive (theory generating) research

  10. Interactional Approach Summary • Not Particularly Helpful • Inductive – theory generating • Deductive – theory driven • Theories would not have told us anything particularly useful • Did not focus on output variables

  11. Group-Process Research • Study relationship between group interaction and group output • Q1: Does group process relate to group output? • Q2: Can scientists divide the process of group discussion into a series of phases?

  12. Relationship Between Group Process & Group Output • Bales – groups use communication in different ways to perform the balancing act between task and maintenance roles • Method – three criteria • Who said it? • To whom what is said? • What is the function of the act? • Results • A successful group’s output is based on the proper proportion and sequence of communicative functions. • Low Level Functions

  13. Relationship Between Group Process & Group Output • Hirokawa (high level functions) • Confounds • Trainers looking for functions • “halo” and “horn” effects • Conclusions • Groups need a small set of “critical functions” to make successful decisions • When communicative statements help groups meet these requirements, they bring about a high-quality decision

  14. Relationship Between Group Process & Group Output • Hewes (1986) • Group discussion does not affect group output • Systems Model • Inputs-Process-Output Model • Synergy • Interdependence • Importance of Individual Aspects • Thinking Aloud • Vacuous Acknowledgments • How “good” groups appear “good.”

  15. QUESTION • Does small group discussion consist of more than vacuous acknowledgments and thinking out loud?

  16. Answer • YES…well sometimes, yes! • There are situations in which group process has no effect on output • Other situations where PROCESS is CRITICAL for group performance! • Important Variables • Group homogeneity • Task complexity

  17. Possible PHASES in Group Discussion • Concerns the manner in which group members conduct their discussion. • Bales’ Phase Hypothesis • Orientation, Evaluation, Control • Tuckman’s Four Phase Model (p. 23) • Groups pass through four phases, with each phase containing both maintenance and task phases that run roughly concurrently • Linear Phase Model of Group Process – GROUP STRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT • Scheidel & Crowell (1964) • Linear – never go back to earlier stages • Spiral Model – GROUP IDEA DEVELOPMENT • Fisher’s SYNTHESIS MODEL “The Four Phase Sequence Model” • FUNCTIONS (interpretation, substantiation, clarification, modification, evaluation) • VALENCE (favorable, unfavorable, ambiguous) • Poole focused on how groups “SHOULD” make decisions • Groups simultaneously progress along a series of tracks, with each track representing a feature of group processes (TASK, MAINTENANCE, TOPIC PROCESS • Pavitt’s attempts to refine theory(ies) of group development

  18. Possible Phases - Summary • Linear Phase Model is too simplistic! • Cyclical Processes occur as a group discusses specific proposals • Large disparities exist in the number and order of phases that individual groups go through during discussion.

  19. Summary • Group Process Perspectives • Functional Approach (concerned with the ways groups complete their tasks and maintain their cohesiveness) • Interactional Approach (concerned with discussion patterns and how group patterns form over time) • RESEARCH FOCUS • Relationship Between Group Process & Group Output • The ways groups utilize types of statements during group discussion – (Possible Phases in Group Discussion) • Linear phase models • Spiral (Cyclical phase) models

More Related