Welcome Back

1
Welcome Back!

• Communication Competence key to group
  performance and members experiences
• Groups are Systems

2
Comm Competence

• Communicating effectively and appropriately in a
  given context
• Effectively progressing towards goal
  achievement.
• Appropriately complying w/norms, rules,
  expectations of the context

3
Competence

• Knowledge of norms/rules/expectations of the
  group.
• Skills that you can perform a behavior and
  repeat that performance.
• Sensitivity you can detect, decode, and
  comprehend signals sent in groups.
• Commitment to improve ones relationships
  w/others and onesself.

4
Synergy

• The energy that moves your team.
• Drives of members
• Needs of members
• Motives of members
• Vitality of members
• Positive Energy

5
Groups are Systems

• Interrelated and interacting
• WORK AS A WHOLE
• Openness ? interchange w/environment
• INPUT ? information, energy, people, ideas,
  experiences from the environment. (Tends to
  elicit change)

6

• Groups adapt to the input
• Degree / Rate / Desirability
• Controlling boundaries
• Boundaries regulate the degree of openness and
  consequent exposure to change in a system.
• Controls the amount of access a group has to
  input and influence from outsiders.
• Critical to group function

7
Controlling Boundaries

• Erecting physical, psychological and linguistic
  barriers.
• Establishing rules, roles and networks.

8
Barriers

• Physical
• Obvious and not-so-obvious
• Psychological (make you feel you dont belong)
• Ignore contributions
• Treated as outcasts
• More and less overt
• Linguistic
• argot

9
More Boundary Control

• Rules
• Control membership, influences, and contextual
  behavior
• Roles pattns of behav.
• Have expectations attached
• specify appropriate behavior
• Networks
• Control access and flow of info in the group
• Isolate group from outside influences

10
Group Size Affects Group Function and Structure

• Bigger groups more interactions betw. Individs.
• 2 ppl 2 interactions
• 3 ppl 9 interactions
• 5 ppl 75 interactions
• 7 ppl 441 interactions
• Smaller groups inhibit overt disagreement and
  dissatisfaction
• Size affects participation
• ? Groups of 10
• THE BEST SIZE THE SMALLEST SIZE CAPABLE OF
  PERFORMING THE TASK EFFICIENTLY