Small Group Communication

1
Welcome!

• Small Group Communication
• Ellen Waddell
• Instructor

2
AGENDA

• Leadership
• Leadership Styles The good, the bad, and the
  ugly!
• Leadership exercise
• The importance of using an effective leadership
  style
• Theories concerning leadership skills

3

• The successful organization has one major
  attribute that sets it apart from unsuccessful
  organizations dynamic and effective
  leadership.
• 
  P. Hersey and K.
  Blanchard

4
Management vs. Leadership

• Management
• focused on the control of existing
  operations/functions
• Leadership
• more strategic and visionary
• The primary roleguidance
• strategically defined goals and objectives.

5
Traits of Leaders

• Think of examples of excellent leaders
• What characteristics are essential for effective
  leadership?
• What behaviors demonstrate leadership ability?
• How many of these behaviors require communication
  skills?
• Who in history, or now living, exemplifies the
  true leader?

6
Leadership Defined

• Leaders
• emerge naturally
• appointed/hired
• Leadership is the ability to influence others,
  either positively or negatively.
• Positivetask accomplishment by a group, or team.
  
• Negativetask accomplishment is inhibited.

7
Key Role for the Leader

• Key role?
• Setting the context
• Incorporation of strategic goals and objectives
  daily work/activities.

8
Group Exercise

• Split into four equal teams
• The team process is important to this exercise,
  so everyone must participate.
• Follow the instructions of your leader carefully.
• Using the provided Tinker Toy sets, your team
  will have five minutes to build something that
  worksdoes somethinghas a purpose.

9
Leadership Exercise

• What happened in your groups?
• Was the leadership effective?
• Why/Why not?
• What characteristics did the leader of your group
  display?
• What would have worked better?
• How did the leadership style impact the end
  result?

10
Leadership styles are critical to the process of
team building and positive results.

• Empowered leaders use appropriate styles of
  leadership
• Leadership causes results

11
Leadership Styles

• Autocratic/controller
• Laissez-faire
• Democratic leadership
• Type X The Performer
• Type Y The Transformer
• Task vs. Maintenance

12
Autocratic/Controller Leader

• ALL Controlling Dictator
• end result is made predictable.
• Individual team member assignments
  limited/specific in nature
• Team needs are secondary.
• Responsibility is not shared.
• Decisions are made by the leader only.
• Motivation is through fear or intimidation
• Highly productive team
• BUT when leader is away, no work occurs
• Sabotage probable
• Aggressive, or apathetic members likely
• Generals/Admirals in the armed forces must be
  controllers to win wars
• Size of group might require this leadership style

13
Laissez-faire Leader

• Group has freedom to do as they please
• No News is Good News
• Dont bother me and I wont bother you
• Nonparticipation of leader
• Leader makes infrequent, spontaneous comments on
  member activities
• Unless questioned, makes no attempt to appraise
  or regulate course of events
• Hallway delegation
• Teams report less satisfaction
• with the leader/group as a whole
• what is produced as a result of their work

14
Does Leadership Style Really Make a Difference?

• Superman-style outdated
• Team decisions
• collectively made
• Over-all good of organization

15
Democratic Leader

• Democratic process
• all participants have equal voice.
• Information is freely shared.
• Authority is delegated
• Responsibility is shared by all members
• Complex Individual team assignments
• Feelings of contribution to the team goal prevail
  
• When the leader is away, work continues to occur.
  
• Best in small group situation
• collaborative work vs. time available
• Teams report more satisfaction
• process and task
• functional and positive team work

16
Leadership Styles
Type X - The Performer a transactional
leader Type Y - The Transformer a risk taker
17
Type X Leader

• A leader who does not trust team members to work
  and is unconcerned with the personal achievement
  of team members.
• Does ALL of the work because no one else can do
  it as fast, or as well as him/her
• No confidence in the ability of the group. Only
  concerned with their own grade, or evaluation and
  not willing to have that compromised by group
  failure to perform. The group lacks confidence,
  since the leader communicates to them their lack
  of ability to perform up to standard.
• Reactive leadership that often responds to
  problems in a punitive manner
• Emergency situations require performers

18
Type Y Leader

• A leader who displays trust in team members and
  is concerned with their sense of personal
  achievement.
• Transformational leaders
• are more of a risk taker
• more trusting of the group, and are concerned
  with each persons personal achievement
• Proactive-not reactive
• Charismatic leadership that inspires exceptional
  performance

19
Theories of Leadership

• Trait theory leaders are people who were born
  to lead
• Special built-in, identifiable leadership traits
• Functional theory several group members should
  be ready
• Any task or maintenance activity can be
  considered leadership

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Situational Leadership

• Leadership is situation dependent.
• Leadership style dependent upon the needs
• Team
• Individual
• Particular problem.
• Can be affected by
• the nature of the problem
• social climate
• personalities of group members
• size of the group
• time available to accomplish the task

21
Situational Leadership

• Adaptive leadership style
• Accurate assessment of situation
• react appropriately.
• Styles employed
• Type Y
• Autocratic/controller
• Laissez-faire
• Democratic

22
Circle of Management/Leadership
23
Leadership Exercises

• Next
• defining the difference
• leadership and authority
• technical and adaptive work.

24
Welcome!

• Small Group Communication
• Ellen Waddell
• Instructor

25
AGENDA

• Leadership (continued)
• Authority
• Trust
• Task vs. Maintenance Leadership
• Status
• Power Bases

26
Authority

• A degree of power and influence over others
• goals and objectives
• The proper use of authority
• adapting to situation
• decisions need know-how
• beyond technical knowledge
• wisdom to adapt

27
Respect and Trust

• Respect and trust are byproducts of the type of
  leader you are, and how you treat those around
  you.
• Respect and trust are not the result of the
  dictatorship you use to command respect from
  those who work for you.
• Dr. Phil

28
Authority and Trust

• The proper use of authority requires
• Consistency
• Congruity walking the talk
• Reliability
• Integrity

29
Eastern Philosophy of Leadership

• The wicked leader is he who the people despise.
• The good leader is he who the people revere.
• The great leader is he who the people say We did
  it ourselves.!

30
Small Group LeadershipTask vs. Maintenance

• What should the role of the leader be in the
  small group model 3-12 people?
• How does that differ from a leader of a large
  organization, military, a state, or nation?

31
Task Leadership

• Keep the members on-task.
• Initiating Generating ideas to solve problems
• Coordinating Exploring the contributions of
  each member and the value of those contributions
  to the whole.
• Summarizing The ability to make long
  explanations precise, and reduce group
  uncertainty concerning the problem and its
  solution.
• Elaborating Exploring ideas that are presented
  to their fullest.
•  

32
 Maintenance Leadership

• Tension release Knowing when to work, and when
  to take a break
• Gate keeping Coordinating the discussion to
  ensure all members can express their views.
• Encouraging Recognizing individual
  contributions
• Mediating Managing conflict and keeping it
  issue oriented, rather than person-oriented.
•  
•  

33
Status

• Status is an individuals importance to the
  group
• High Status
• Low Status
• Status Achievers
• Status Seekers

34
Status

• Status is an individuals importance to the
  group
• High Status
• Low Status
• Status Achievers
• Status Seekers

35
High Status

• Shown more deference
• Are listened to more often
• Asked for advice more often
• Rewarded with greater share of goods
• Bigger car/office/salary
• Receive more recognition for contributions
• High Status group members talk more often to
  other high status members/total group
• Are more likely to have a leadership role-person
  with the highest status is usually the leader
• Have more influence on the process than low
  status members

36
Low Status

• Direct conversation to high status, not low
  status group members.
• Communicate more positive messages to high status
  members
• More likely to complain about the task they have
  been assigned (victim mentality)
• Are more likely to have comments ignored
• Communicate more irrelevant information

37
Power Bases

• Legitimate Power
• Those elected/chosen
• Referent Power
• Those we allow to have power because we admire
  them
• Expert Power
• Those with knowledge/experience
• Reward Power
• Those able to reward others performance (grades)
• Coercive Power
• Those able to use threats/blackmail

38
Trust

• Trust must be earned
• Trust develops when you can predict how another
  will behave under certain circumstances-and they
  do as expected
• Trust is always a gamble
• Previous experiences will influence how your
  ability to trust

39
Self Disclosure

• The deliberate communication of information about
  yourself to others.
• Should be appropriate for the time, setting and
  people in the group
• It is a function of an ongoing relationship
• It is reciprocal

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• End of Presentation

41
Welcome!

• Small Group Communication
• Ellen Waddell
• Instructor

42
Individual Rights Responsibilities

• Agenda
• Cohesiveness
• Style Dimensions
• Hierarchy of Human Needs

43
Cohesiveness

• The degree of attraction members feel toward one
  another and their group
• Communication styles directly impact the
  cohesiveness of a group
• Those who report the least amount of pleasure
  with the cohesiveness of their group are most
  likely to be those who display verbal
  aggressiveness during group work.

44
Small Group Model
(Beebe, p. 47-48)

• ROLES
• Task helps accomplish the groups goal
•  Maintenance defines the groups social
  atmosphere
• Example A member who works to create a
  harmonic, peaceful atmosphere is performing
  maintenance on the group
•  Individual contribution of individual toward
  group goal
• -can be counter productive to group goals.
  Some one who is more interested in what they can
  get out of the group process, than what they can
  contribute.

45
Group vs. Individual Rights
46
Individual Rights

• To be the judge of your own behavior
• To express you beliefs and feelings
• To ask for respect
• To give self credit
• To change your mind with more information
• To make mistakes
• To offer no justification

• To offer no justification
• To be disliked
• To decide not to be assertive
• To say, I dont know I dont understand
  No
• I dont care.
• To decide not to be assertive
• To be disliked

47
Individual Responsibilities

• To allow others different opinions
• To be constructive
• To give respect
• To give others credit
• To be sensitive to others
• To listen to others

• To explain changes to people who are affected by
  the change
• To allow others to make mistakes
• To deal with the consequences of your behavior
• To be flexible

48
Maslows Hierarchy of Needs

• Self Actualization Living life to its fullest.
  Function as autonomous beings
• Esteem Need The need for respect or esteem from
  self, or others
• Belongingness Need The need to be a part of a
  group
• Survival Needs Physiological/Safety

49
We are needy people!

• How does Mazlows theory apply to small group
  work?

50

• End of presentation

51
Welcome!

• Small Group Communication
• Ellen Waddell
• Instructor

52
Communication Conflict Styles

• Agenda
• Conflict Styles Quiz
• Conflict Styles Discussion

53

Communication Conflict Styles
Closed

Hidden Avoidance/Withdrawal
Accommodation

Smoothing
Compromising
(any
style) Blind

Open Competition
Collaborative/


Problem Solving
54
Closed Style

• Task focused
• Productive as long as they can work in an
  environment free of interpersonal demands
• Need security and a prescriptive guidance.
•  
• How do you communicate with such a person?
•  
•        Very carefully
•        Ensure a safe working environment
•        Fully explain all the rules and the chain
  of command.
•        Dont ask about personal issues
•        Dont have high expectations of
  participation in meetings

55
Blind Style

• Task focused
• Know what they want.
• Well-organized and not afraid to exercise
  authority to get what they want.
• Very demanding and insist that their way is the
  best.
• Punitive with the failure of others.
•  Views personal goals as more important than
  group goals.
• Conflict is a win lose situation-a contest where
  someone has to lose for another to win.
• Has great respect for power and authority

• How do you communicate with such a person?
• Follow through with what you state you will
  accomplish
• Follow chain of command
• Dont expect interpersonal connection
• Dont keep them waiting

56
Hidden Style

• Process/Relational focus
• Fun to be around
• Good listeners with good interpersonal skills
• Unable to give opinions or ideas
• Are often distrustful of meanings
• Views conflict as destructive
• Believes harmony is important at all times and
  works to smooth over conflicts
•  
•  
•  
•  
•  

• How do you communicate with such a person?
•        Dont expect full disclosure
•        Motivate them with public praise and
  social standing
•        Share information and listen carefully
•        Keep your opinions to a minimum
•        Realize these people have learned how to
  act open
•        Expect your comments to be searched for
  double meanings
•  

57
Open Style

• Task and Process focused
• Flexible with the needs of a group, or individual
• Able to collaborate and accepting of other
  communication styles
• Can accept constructive criticism.
• Easily discloses personal information
• Less impressed with the show and more impressed
  with factual information
• Can be seen as ineffective by Blind group members
  who want results in a more timely manner
• (How do you communicate with them? ?)

58
Open Style

• So, how do you communicate with such a person?
•  
•        Be honest and open, but use tact
•        Look at all sides of the problem
•        Share/disclose personal information
•        Accept shared responsibility
•        Give constructive criticism
•        Avoid being pushy or manipulative
•        Treat them as equals

59
Compromise vs. Collaboration

• Compromise
• Takes the middle of the road approach to solving
  problems.
• Believes that a high quality solution is not as
  important as an agreeable solution and the
  feelings of all involved
• Willing to sacrifice something important to reach
  a compromise
• Compromise is the second choice 
• Compromise can be inappropriate when the outcome
  is a lose-lose or the best solution is not reached

• Collaboration
• Gives equal consideration for others and self
• Highly values cooperation and assertiveness
• Guides group through basic problem solving
  procedure
• Tries to get consensus and willing to spend time
  to obtain consensus
• Good when there are common goals that require
  everyones cooperation
•  
• BUT Takes times and requires a shared value
  system.

60
Group Think

• A type of thought exhibited by group members
  who try to minimize group conflict and reach
  consensus without critically testing, analyzing,
  and evaluating ideas

61
Handling Group Conflict How to Disagree Without
Becoming Disagreeable

• Define conflict and explain how you feel when
  involved in a group conflict
• Define groupthink and explain its consequences
• Distinguish between competitive and cooperative
  conflict orientations
• Identify how to use the conflict grid and the
  benefits and problems that can result from
  effective and ineffective handling of group
  conflict
• Identify behaviors that can be used to resolve
  conflicts effectively

62
Conflict

• Conflict means different things to different
  people
• Conflict is not necessarily bad, just different
• Conflict is, disagreement over available options
  caused by seemingly incompatible goals among
  group members and their thinking that others can
  keep them from achieving their goals (p. 373).

"In the middle of difficulty lies
opportunity."                      - Albert
Einstein
63
Resolving Conflicts

• Cooperative vs. Competitive Conflict
• Cooperative willingness to share rewards to
  resolve conflicts
• Seek mutually beneficial way to resolve
  disagreement
• Win-win situation
• Competitive all-or-nothing must defeat other
  participants
• See winning as a test of personal worth
• Win-lose situation
• Transform conflict from competitive to
  cooperative
• Effective communication techniques
• Role reversal

64
Productive vs. Destructive Results

• Productive all participants are satisfied and
  believe they have gained something
• Cooperative problem-solving methods
• Willingness to trust each other
• Destructive all participants are dissatisfied
  and believe they have lost something
• Win-lose encounters characterized by
  misconceptions and misperceptions inaccurate,
  sketchy, and disruptive communication
• Hesitancy to trust each other

65
Welcome!

• Small Group Communication
• Ellen Waddell
• Instructor

66
Agenda

• Persuasion and the Worldview
• Problem solving and decision making
• Good and bad

67
PROBLEM SOLVING

• The process of overcoming obstacles to achieve a
  goal
• Obstacles something in the way or in opposition
  to goal
• Goal the end towards which effort is directed
  (Webster's)

68
PROBLEM SOLVING

• Requires
• Identification of existing undesirable situation
• Goal which group needs to achieve
• Obstacles preventing achievement of goal

69
PROBLEM SOLVING

• 3 approaches
• Descriptive
• Functional
• Prescriptive

70
ARISTOTLES THREE PERSUASIVE PROOFS

• ETHOS Speaker Credibility
• Competence
• Goodwill
• Character
• LOGOS Logical Appeal/Reasoning
• Drawing conclusions from evidence
• Inductive vs. Deductive
• PATHOS Emotional Appeal
• Appeals to the listeners needs, wants, desires,
  etc.

71
Habits that Hinder ThinkingEthical Reasoning
vs. Reasoning Fallacies

• Ethical speakers do not use reasoning fallacies
• Argumentum ad Hominem old fashion name calling,
  or an attack on the person and not the issue in
  question
• Red Herring using an irrelevant issue or
  distraction to divert the focus to another issue
  (think of a BAD smell)
• False Division/Dichotomy Polarization of
  options, when in reality there exists many
  options of choice.
• Post Hoc (False Cause) Identification of an
  issue as the cause of another problem, when there
  is not relationship
• Argumentum ad Populum (bandwagon) But,
  everyone is doing it! An appeal to popular
  opinion
• Argumentum ad Verecudiam Appeal to authority,
  or the testimony of someone who is not a true
  expert

72
Speaking Persuasively

• Attitude A learned predisposition
• response favorable/unfavorable
• Our likes and dislikes change easily
• Our beliefs or values harder to change.
• Belief The degree of confidence
• Perception of true or false.
• highly central a beliefs hard to change
• Value An enduring conception of right or wrong,
  good or bad.
• least likely to change over time.

73
The Worldview

• Beliefs reflect worldview
• Beliefsbuilding blocks of attitudes
• Attitudes visible through behavior

FINAL EXAM TOPIC
74
How DO You Know What You Know?

• Epistemology
• How we learn
• Develop our breath and depth of knowledge
• Beliefs, attitudes, and values
• Diversity of experiences
• Family
• Religion
• Education
• Socioeconomics
• Culture

75
Worldview vs. Evidence

• Exact same evidence 2 different conclusions
• It is not the evidence you mentioned or the
  logic used to consider the validity and value of
  that evidence, but the conclusions drawn from
  that information that I find wrong
• Internal noise can hinder the listener
• Agreement/disagreement w/ worldview
• Perception vs. Truth

76
Worldview and Small Group Communication

• Small groups are impacted by and impact the
  interaction of group members
• Group Discussion How would the worldview of the
  following members play out in a discussion of
  religious beliefs?
• Lupe Female, 46, married with 3 children,
  Hispanic, Catholic
• Tom Male, 34, unmarried, no children,
  Caucasian, Jewish
• Joe Male, 22, unmarried, 1 child, Caucasian,
  Atheist
• Cindy Female, 29, married, 2 children, African
  American, Evangelical Christian
• Mei Female, 39, divorced, 4 children, Chinese,
  Agnostic
• Sandy Female, 18, single, no children,
  Christian
• Ahmed Male, 26, single, no children, Muslim

77
Worldview and Small Group Communication

• How did the worldview of the group members in the
  scenario impact the process and discussion?
• Climate
• confirming/disconfirming messages
• Nonverbal communication
• Individual rights/responsibilities
• ? How was the worldview in your group expressed
  when talking about the scenario?

78
Welcome!

• Small Group
• Communication
• Ellen Waddell
• Instructor
• THE LAST LECTURE!!!!

79
GROUP THINK

• Agenda
• Define group think
• Example NASA

80
Group Think

• A type of thought exhibited by group members who
  try to minimize conflict and reach consensus
  without critically testing, analyzing, and
  evaluating ideas.
• Groups need for unanimity overrides individual
  member motivation to realistically appraise
  alternative courses of action

81

• Group think occurs when
• Critical thinking is not encouraged or rewarded
• Members believe that their group can do no wrong
  (arrogance)
• Members are too concerned about justifying their
  actions
• Members often believe that they have reached a
  true consensus
• Members are too concerned about reinforcing the
  leaders beliefs

82

• Group think occurs when
• Desire for consensus overrides analysis
• Group feels secure
• Rationalization of decision
• Groups morality
• Us vs. Them
• Members censor comments
• Direct pressure to dissenting members
• Gate keeper of disturbing outside ideas or
  opinions
• Can be related to paradigm shift resistance
• Silence consensus

83
What does it like? Symptoms of Group
think

• Incomplete survey of alternatives
• Incomplete survey of objectives
• Failure to examine risks of preferred choice
• Poor information search
• Selective bias in processing information at hand
• Failure to reappraise alternatives
• Failure to work out contingency plans

84
Challenger Columbia Explosions
85
Organizational Culture

• Shared assumptions, values, beliefs, language,
  symbols, and meaning systems that hold the
  organization together.
• Patterns of sustained communicative acts or
  behaviors
• Cultures develop over time
• Cultures are VERY difficult to change
• Requires drastic measures to make impact on
  organizational culture

86
NASAs Environment

• Shuttle as a bus
• Lack of funds
• Cancelled flights
• Communication between NASA and Morton-Thiokol

87

• Shuttle operation
• Lack of escape pods
• Maintenance

88

• How O rings work
• Need for a flexible rocket
• Failure rate

89
How Cold is Cold

• Ice only in the shade or everywhere?
• Who is responsible?

90
How is the decision made?

• NASA tele- conference
• Morton off line

91
Group Think in Action
92
Group Think

• A type of thought exhibited by group members who
  try to minimize conflict and reach consensus
  without critically testing, analyzing, and
  evaluating ideas.
• Groups need for unanimity overrides individual
  member motivation to realistically appraise
  alternative courses of action

93
Suggestions to Reduce Group Think

• Gatekeeper should encourage critical, independent
  thinking
• Group members should be sensitive to status
  differences that may affect decision making
• Invite an outsider to the group to evaluate the
  groups decision-making process
• Assign a group member the role of devils
  advocate
• Ask group members to subdivide into smaller
  groups (or work individually) and to consider
  potential problems with the suggested solutions

94
End of Presentation