Groups1

the feeling of antipathy and hostility many people have about working in a group, fostered by the many ineffective, time-wasting groups that exist

• three or more people with an interdependent goal who interact and influence each other
• “persons who are interacting with one another in such a manner that each person influences and is influenced by each other person” (Marvin Shaw)

an objective shared by members of a small group in such a way that one member cannot achieve the goal without the other members also achieving it

a group of at least three but few enough members for each person to perceive all others as individuals, share some identity or common purpose, and share standards for governing their activities as members

a small group of people communicating with each other to achieve some interdependent goal, such as increased understanding, coordination of activity or solution to a shared problem

• primary group
• secondary group
• activity group
• personal growth group
• learning group

a group whose main purpose is to meet members’ needs for inclusion and affection

a group whose major purpose is to complete a task, such as making a decision, solving a problem, writing a report, or providing recommendation to a parent organization

a group formed primarily for members to participate in an activity such as bridge, bowling, hunting, and so forth

a group of people who come together to develop personal insights, overcome personality problems, and grow personally through feedback and support of others

a group discussing for the purpose of learning about and understanding a subject more completely

a group whose purpose is finding ways to solve a problem or address a particular condition

a small group of people given an assigned task or responsibility by a larger group (or parent organization) or person with authority

a group that goes out of existence after its specific task has been completed

a group given an area of responsibility that includes many tasks and continues indefinitely

a group of employees who meet on company time to investigate work-related problems and to make recommendations for solving these problems

a small group of peers who determine within prescribed limits their own work schedules and procedures

a team composed of top officers of an organization charged with making complex strategic decisions

a person who makes a minimal contribution to the group and assumes the other members will take up the slack

an active participant in a small group who at the same time observes and evaluates its processes and procedures

the rules or standards that a person or group uses to determine whether conduct or behavior is right and appropriate

the situations or environments that influence the dynamics of communication

a process in which messages produced by people are received, interpreted, and responded to by other people

• an arbitrary, human creation used to represent something with which it has no inherent relationship;
• all words are symbols

all interactants mutually and simultaneously define both themselves and others during communication

any action, sound, or word used in interaction

receiving and interpreting oral and other signals from another person or source

• people-oriented listener
• action-oriented listener
• content-organized listener
• time-oriented listener

a listener who is sensitive to others, nonjudgmental, and concerned about how his or her behavior affects others; can become distracted from task by others’ problems

a listener who focuses on the task, remembers details and prefers an organized presentation

a listener who enjoys analyzing information and dissecting others’ arguments; can be seen as overly critical

• a listener sensitive to time;
• may be impatient or try to move group prematurely to closure

• 1. Pay attention to the context of what is said.
• 2. Pay close attention to the feelings of the speaker.
• 3. Help facilitate understanding in the group.
• 4. Interpret silence carefully.

listening with the intent of understanding a speaker the way the speaker wishes to be understood and paraphrasing your understanding so the speaker can confirm or correct the paraphrase

restatement in one’s own words of what one understood a speaker to mean

group members’ use of computers to communicate with one another

a conference that takes place electronically over networked computers

the extent to which group members perceive that a particular communication medium is socially and emotionally similar to face-to-face interaction

communication where there is a delay between messages (such as e-mail)

messages other than words to which listeners react

symbols and combinations of characters used in computer-mediated communication to help convey relational messages and social presence

nonverbal behavior used to control who speaks during a discussion

the study of uses of space and territory between and among people

the illusion of proximity individuals may have when they are using vieoconferences for group business

study of communication through movements

nonverbal characteristics of voice and utterance such as pitch, rate, tone of voice, fluency, pauses, and variations in dialect

• nonverbal vocalizations such as mm-hmm and uh-huh that are uttered while another is speaking;
• partly determined by one’s culture, can indicate one’s interest and active listening

a regional variation in the pronunciation, vocabulary, and/or grammar of a language

the study of perception of and use of touch

an entity made up of components in interdependent relationship to each other, requiring constant adaptation among its parts to maintain organic wholeness and balance

the property of a system such that all parts are interrelated and affect each other as well as the whole system

the property of a system that the whole is not the sum of its parts, but may be greater or lesser than the sum

the system’s principle that different systems can reach the same end point

the system’s principle that systems starting out at the same place can reach different end points

the principle that each change in a system is caused by numerous factors

observable characteristics or qualities that can vary

• the energy, information, and raw material used by an open system that are transformed into output by throughput processes;
• in a small group these include the members; the reasons for the group’s formation; resources such as information, expertise, money, and computer technology; and environmental conditions and forces that influence the group

• the actual functioning of a system or how the system transforms inputs into outputs
• (e.g. roles, rules, and norms; procedures the group follows; the group’s leadership; communication among members; and all the other things that are part of the process as the group works toward completing its task)

• anything that is produced by a system, such as a tangible product or a change in the system;
• in a small group, includes such things as reports, resolutions, changes in cohesiveness, and attitude changes in members

the context or setting in which a small group system exists; the larger systems of which a small group is a component

a system with relatively permeable boundaries, producing a high degree of interchange between the system and its environment

a system, such as a small group, with relatively impermeable boundaries, resulting in little interchange between the system and its environment

• a response to a system’s output;
• it may come in the form of information or tangible resources and helps the system determine whether or not it needs to make adjustments in moving toward its goal

the perspective that focuses on naturally occurring groups with stable but permeable boundaries and are interdependent with their environment

a group whose members come from different organizations to form a temporary alliance for a specific purpose

a group member who monitors the group’s environment to import and export information relevant to the group’s success

• the belief that one’s own culture is inherently superior to all others;
• tendency to view other cultures through the viewpoint of one’s own culture

the patterns of values, beliefs, symbols, norms, procedures, and behaviors, that have been historically transmitted to and are shared by a given group of persons

the identification with and acceptance of a particular group’s shared symbols, meanings, norms and rules for conduct

a grouping that sees itself as distinct but is also part of a larger grouping

interaction between and among individuals from the same culture or co-culture

interaction between and among individuals from different cultures or co-cultures

one’s beliefs about the nature of life, the purpose of life, and one’s relation to the cosmos

culture in which the needs and wishes of the individual predominate over the needs of the group

a culture in which the needs and wishes of the group predominate over the needs of any one individual

• the degree to which a culture emphasizes status and power differences among members of the culture;
• status differences are minimized in low power-distance cultures and emphasized in high power-distance cultures

• the degree to which members of a culture avoid or embrace uncertainty and ambiguity;
• cultures high in uncertainty avoidance prefer clear rules for interaction whereas cultures low in uncertainty avoidance are comfortable without guidelines

the quality of cultures that value assertiveness and dominance

the quality of cultures that value nurturing and caring for others

communication wherein the primary meaning of a message is carried by the verbal or explicit part of the message

communication wherein the primary meaning of a message is conveyed by features of the situation or context instead of the verbal, explicit part of the message

learned and culturally transmitted sex-role behaviors of an individual

biologically determined characteristics of femaleness and maleness

• individuals born before 1945;
• key experiences include the Great Depression and World War II

• individuals born from 1946 to 1964;
• key experiences include the Vietnam war, the civil rights movement, and Watergate

• individuals born from 1965 to 1976;
• key experience includes divorce on a massive scale

• individuals born from 1977 to 1997;
• the first truly “wired” generation, comfortable with technology in all forms

communication in which the participants are thoughtful, paying careful attention to what the other participants say and also to what they say