Group Organizational Patterns
Alusine M. Kanu DA
The study of small-group communication investigates: (a) the nature and effects of members of small collectives (a minimum of three people) using verbal and nonverbal messages to share and create meaning (referred to as a symbolic-management focus) and (b) how groups and their processes and products result from message activity (referred to as a symbolic-constitutive focus). Scholarship on small-group communication emerges from the general study of group dynamics and, thus, has important grounding in, and ties to, research conducted in communication and social psychology.
Groups may be formed for task completion, social support, economic gain, personal development and change, spiritual growth, or another reason. Groups may emerge and evolve quite naturally, or its members may develop and maintain it through planning and conscious effort. Groups may also have a very transitory existence, or they may be stable over time. A groups' structure and operation can be causal or formal. In most groups, there are particular roles or patterns of behavior. Three broad categories of roles typically occurring during group interactions were identified by Kenneth Benne and Paul Sheats - task completion roles, group building and support roles and individualistic roles. Task completion roles are those roles related to the completion of a given activity or job and include information seeker, information giver, opinion seeker, recorder, evaluator-critic and coordinator. Group building and support roles are roles related to encouraging the group's social development and include encourager, compromiser, harmonizer, observer, follower and gatekeeper/expediter. The following organizational patterns are ways group members facilitate group discussions.
Organizational Patterns
Examples
Reason Giving
Three reasons why we should increase the dues are . . .
Time Arrangement
The college's hiring steps must be complied within the following order . . .
Space Arrangement
The following membership increases occurred in the East, South, West, and Central regions . . .
Problem-Solution
This research method avoids the problems we encountered last time . . .
Causes and Effects
Here's what could happen if we fail to increase our dues . . .
Stories and Examples
I've contacted four community associations in this county and here's what I found . . .
Compare-Contrast
Let's take a look at the two research methods we considered…
A typical characteristic of groups is that they always have leaders. Sometimes leaders emerge from the inside of the group and sometimes they are placed in charge from the outside. A study carried out at a Hungarian nursery school demonstrated that a successful leader is one who initially conforms to group rules and then gradually starts to suggest new ideas. A leader should first be trusted and then followed. Groups have a powerful influence on each member and it can help people improve their performance thanks to the effect of competition. However, competition between groups tends to be adverse as people start feeling they are in an "us-and-them," situation. On the other hand, when being part of group sometimes people tend to rely on the efforts of the rest and start acting idly. Further researches have shown that gossip and rumors make up a great deal of a group's communication.
A study on workplace communication found that 80 percent of the time people were talking about work and 80 percent of the information was accurate. There is a variety of approaches to making decisions in a group, including consensus, compromise, decision by leader, majority vote and arbitration. As part of a consensus, all members of a group arrive at a decision with which they all genuinely agree. Compromise refers to decisions that result from negotiation and give-and-take so that the decision is acceptable to all members. Under majority vote, the final decision of the group is the one supported by the majority of the members. The decision by leader approach consists of the leader imposing his or her decision on the entire group, while in formal negotiation and arbitration an impartial "third party" often helps so that opposing positions are reconciled.
The study of small-group communication investigates: (a) the nature and effects of members of small collectives (a minimum of three people) using verbal and nonverbal messages to share and create meaning (referred to as a symbolic-management focus) and (b) how groups and their processes and products result from message activity (referred to as a symbolic-constitutive focus). Scholarship on small-group communication emerges from the general study of group dynamics and, thus, has important grounding in, and ties to, research conducted in communication and social psychology.
Groups may be formed for task completion, social support, economic gain, personal development and change, spiritual growth, or another reason. Groups may emerge and evolve quite naturally, or its members may develop and maintain it through planning and conscious effort. Groups may also have a very transitory existence, or they may be stable over time. A groups' structure and operation can be causal or formal. In most groups, there are particular roles or patterns of behavior. Three broad categories of roles typically occurring during group interactions were identified by Kenneth Benne and Paul Sheats - task completion roles, group building and support roles and individualistic roles. Task completion roles are those roles related to the completion of a given activity or job and include information seeker, information giver, opinion seeker, recorder, evaluator-critic and coordinator. Group building and support roles are roles related to encouraging the group's social development and include encourager, compromiser, harmonizer, observer, follower and gatekeeper/expediter. The following organizational patterns are ways group members facilitate group discussions.
Organizational Patterns
Examples
Reason Giving
Three reasons why we should increase the dues are . . .
Time Arrangement
The college's hiring steps must be complied within the following order . . .
Space Arrangement
The following membership increases occurred in the East, South, West, and Central regions . . .
Problem-Solution
This research method avoids the problems we encountered last time . . .
Causes and Effects
Here's what could happen if we fail to increase our dues . . .
Stories and Examples
I've contacted four community associations in this county and here's what I found . . .
Compare-Contrast
Let's take a look at the two research methods we considered…
A typical characteristic of groups is that they always have leaders. Sometimes leaders emerge from the inside of the group and sometimes they are placed in charge from the outside. A study carried out at a Hungarian nursery school demonstrated that a successful leader is one who initially conforms to group rules and then gradually starts to suggest new ideas. A leader should first be trusted and then followed. Groups have a powerful influence on each member and it can help people improve their performance thanks to the effect of competition. However, competition between groups tends to be adverse as people start feeling they are in an "us-and-them," situation. On the other hand, when being part of group sometimes people tend to rely on the efforts of the rest and start acting idly. Further researches have shown that gossip and rumors make up a great deal of a group's communication.
A study on workplace communication found that 80 percent of the time people were talking about work and 80 percent of the information was accurate. There is a variety of approaches to making decisions in a group, including consensus, compromise, decision by leader, majority vote and arbitration. As part of a consensus, all members of a group arrive at a decision with which they all genuinely agree. Compromise refers to decisions that result from negotiation and give-and-take so that the decision is acceptable to all members. Under majority vote, the final decision of the group is the one supported by the majority of the members. The decision by leader approach consists of the leader imposing his or her decision on the entire group, while in formal negotiation and arbitration an impartial "third party" often helps so that opposing positions are reconciled.
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