Chapter Twenty-Eight

1. Chapter Twenty-Eight Communicating in Groups

2. Chapter Twenty-Eight Table of Contents • Becoming an Effective Group Participant • Leading a Group • Making Decisions in Groups • Making Presentations in Groups

3. Communicating in Groups • Small group: limited to between three and twenty people. • Presentational speaking: reports delivered by individuals or groups within a business or professional environment.

4. Becoming an Effective Group Participant • Clear communication is vital to working cooperatively in groups. • Listening is key, as is critically evaluating information.

5. Becoming an Effective Group Participant • Focusing on the Group’s Goals • Assuming Roles within the Group • Using Productive Conflict to Focus on the Issues • Avoiding Groupthink

6. Becoming an Effective Group Participant:Focusing on the Group’s Goals • It may be easy to go along with the majority or get emotional, but remember to use your group’s goals as a guide.

7. Becoming an Effective Group Participant:Assuming Roles Within the Group • Task roles: group members’ roles related directly to the objectives and mission of the group. • Information giver • Information seeker • Elaborator • Initiator

8. Becoming an Effective Group Participant:Assuming Roles Within the Group • Interpersonal roles: relational roles that facilitate group interaction. • Harmonizer • Gatekeeper

9. Becoming an Effective Group Participant:Assuming Group Roles • Counterproductive roles: negative interpersonal roles that are usually irrelevant to the task. • Blocker • Avoider • Recognition seeker • Distractor • Dominator

10. Becoming an Effective Group Participant:Using Productive Conflict to Focus on the Issues Productive conflict is issue-based rather than personal-based. • Personal-based conflict: group members argue about each other rather than with each other • Issues-based conflict: productive conflict in which group members test and debate ideas and potential solutions

11. Groupthink: tendency of group participants to accept information and ideas without critically analyzing it. Becoming an Effective Group Participant:Avoiding Groupthink

12. Leading a Group • One of the primary responsibilities of the leader is to set goals and encourage active participation.

13. Leading a Group • Setting Goals • Encouraging Active Participation

14. Leading a Group:Setting Goals • Each member should be able to identify the purpose and goals of the group. • The group leader should set the goals and ensure they are reached.

15. Leading a Group:Setting Goals • Guidelines for setting group goals: • Identify the problem. • Map out a strategy. • Set a performance goal. • Identify resources. • Recognize contingencies. • Obtain feedback.

16. Leading a Group:Encourage Active Participation Group members may not want to participate for the following reasons: • Apprehension • Lack of self-esteem • Dominance • Status differences

17. Making Decisions in Groups Effective groups make decisions that all participants understand and to which they are committed.

18. Making Decisions in Groups • John Dewey’s group decision-making: • Identify the problem • Conduct research and analysis • Establish guidelines and criteria • Generate solutions • Select the best solution • Evaluate the chosen solution

19. Making Decisions in Groups:Identifying the Problem • All members must agree on the issue or problem at hand. • Each participant should briefly state what he or she thinks about the problem.

20. Making Decisions in Groups:Conducting Research and Analysis • The group may need to research an issue for several reasons: • To close gaps in information. • To investigate past solutions to similar problems.

21. Making Decisions in Groups:Establishing Guidelines and Criteria • Group participants should establish criteria to evaluate the problem. • Establishing guidelines and criteria is an interactive process that should end in consensus.

22. Making Decisions in Groups:Generating Solutions • Conduct a brainstorming session. • No debate and discussion of the merits of the proposal should occur during this stage of the decision-making process.

23. Making Decisions in Groups:Selecting the Best Solution • Next, weigh the relative merits of each against the criteria agreed on earlier. • Select the best alternative.

24. Making Decisions in Groups:Evaluating the Solution • Re-evaluate the criteria and guidelines against which the solution was measured: • Were the criteria useful and appropriate? • How strictly were the criteria used? • Does the solution resemble the criteria that were developed? • What other criteria would have been helpful? • Does the solution have any weaknesses?

25. Making Presentations in Groups • In a group presentation some or all of the members divide the tasks that would ordinarily be done by one person.

26. Making Presentations in Groups • Assigning Tasks • Ensuring Consistency of Delivery

27. Making Presentations in Groups:Assigning Tasks • Together with the group leader, members must decide who will do which tasks.

28. Making Presentations in Groups:Ensuring Consistency of Delivery • Each group member should practice delivery to avoid inconsistencies of style within the group.