Communication

1
Communication

• In small groups

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What is Communication

• A process of acting on Information
• An action process
• Information is transferred
• Interactive
• Includes feedback within a context
• Noise
• Transactive
• Simultaneous interaction
• Complex process
• Verbal and Non Verbal interaction

3
Small Group Communication

• Interaction among
• - small Groups (3-12 people)
• -who share a common purpose
• -and a sense of belonging
• -and who exert influence on each other

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Why Study Small Groups

• You spend most of your time in small groups
• Which ones do you belong to?
• When you understand, you can control
• You can reduce your anxiety about working with
  others in groups.
• You will understand your own behavior in groups.
• You can make the group function better(leadership)

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Teams and Small Groups

• Teams are small groups but
• Small groups are not necessarily teams

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Teams are defined as

• Groups with
• clearly defined member responsibilities
• clearly spelled out rules
• explicit goals
• a method of working tegether

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Team Competencies

• Task Orientation
• Define the problem
• Analyze
• Identify Criteria
• Generate solutions
• Evaluate solutions
• Stay on track

• Relationship Orientation
• Manage Conflict
• Maintain Climate
• Manage Interaction

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Advantages and Disadvantages of Working in Small
Groups

• Advantages
• More Information
• More Creative
• Improves Learning
• Personal Satisfaction
• Self Learning
• Emergent Properties

• Disadvantages
• Group Think
• Rely on one person to do everything
• One person dominates
• A safety pin

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Types of Small Groups

• Primary Group
• Family
• Friends

• Secondary
• Designed to accomplish some task
• Problem Solving
• Decision Making
• Study Group
• Therapy Group
• Committees

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How to Develop Competence as a Communicator in
Small Groups

• First you have to
• gain knowledge about the process
• develop skill through practice
• be motivated to be good at this
• And then you have to attain competence by going
  through four levels of competence.

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Four Levels of Competance

• Unconscious Incompetence
• Conscious Incompetence
• Conscious Competence
• Unconscious Competence