Hindsight Bias
Looking back and saying "I knew it already"
May make us view competent communication as common sense
Grouphate factors
Overestimating our contributions
Frequent and unproductive meetings
Social loafing of some members
Grouphate can be combated through
communication competence!
Group defined
Not just an aggregation of individuals
Three or more individuals
Interacting to achieve a common goal
Members influence and are influenced by one another
Myths about Communication
Communication is a cure-all
Communication can break down
Effective communication is merely skill building
Effective communication is just common sense
Verbal Communication
Meaning is in people not words (depends on common agreement)
Words can be ambiguous, have more than one meaning
Verbal misunderstandings are complicated by culture
Bypassing:
assuming that everyone has the same meaning for a word
Context
The who, what, to whom, why, where, when and how of communication
Culture is a central feature of the communication context.
Continuum from individualist to collectivist cultures
Communication is transactional
senders and receivers enter into a relationship, are both sender/receiver
all parties influence each other
communication involves content and relationship dimensions of messages
Communication Competence Model
engaging in communication with others that is both effective and appropriate within a given context
Achieving Communication Competence
#NAME?
Tannen's Gender Communication Model
Status
Independence
(separateness)
Competition
(contest)
Power
(control)
Connection
Interdependence
(intimacy)
Cooperation
(consensus)
Empowerment
(choices)
Gender Communication In mixed-sex groups
Men's speech: more talkative; task-oriented, instrumental communication; more interrupting to seize the floor
Women's speech: supportive and facilitative communication; interrupt to indicate interest, clarify comments, or support others
Input, Throughput, Output
Input: what goes in (information, ideas, etc.)
Throughput: transforming input to output (process involving roles, rules, norms, etc.)
Output: what goes out (decisions, solutions, etc.)
Entropy
a wearing-down process moving a system toward disorganization and termination
Primary Elements of a System
#NAME?
Ripple Effect
chain reaction. Can be bad or good. Small parts of system can produce huge ripples
Synergy
when group performance from joint action of members is more effective than the skills of just one person. genius. 2+2=5.
Deep diversity
substantial variation in skills, knowledge, abilities, beliefs, values, perspectives, and problem solving strategies. (good for synergy).
Negative synergy
when group members working together produce a worse result than expected based on perceived individual skills and abilities of members: 2+2=3
Negative synergy caused when members:
Know little about a subject
Compete against each other
Resist change
Share a collective bias or mindset
Succumb to personal conflict or grouphate
Dilbert Cartoon
Pooling Ignorance
Dynamic equilibrium
the range in which a system can manage change effectively
^Sustained when a system regulates degree, rate, and desirability of change effectively.
Boundary control:
amount of access a group has to input from outsiders.
Openness
degree of continuous interchange with outside environment
Adaptability
adjustment of group boundaries in response to change
Methods of Boundary Control
Physical Barriers
Psychological Barriers
Linguistic Barriers
Rules
Roles
Networks
Size Matters! Influence of size
Quantitative significance
Qualitative significance
Growing your group size INCREASES
Complexity
Factionalism/cliques
Formality/hierarchy
Information distortion
Quality decision making (unless group is too large and unwieldy)
Difficulty achieving consensus
Likelihood that talkative members become leaders
Growing your group size DECREASES
Participation in group discussion
Cooperation
Pressure to conform
Member satisfaction with group
Access to information
Flow of negative information to top
Speed of decision making
Group Size
The best size for a group is the smallest size capable of performing the task effectively. (Trade-off between quality and speed.)
Dealing with difficult group members
Work towards a cooperative climate
Change your communication
Don't placate the troublemaker
Don't be goaded into a reciprocal pattern
Remove yourself mentally from the conflict
Don't provide a soapbox
Reframe to convert disruption to contribution
Confront the difficult person directly
Remove the disruptor if all else fails.
Task output=
productivity
social output=
cohesiveness
All decision
making groups have both task and social dimensions.
Groups should find ___________ ___________ between cohesiveness and productivity!
optimal balance
Too much task=
stress, conflict
Too much social=
socializing, having fun
cohesiveness
enhances group productivity unless overemphasized.
Periodic Phases of Group Development
Forming (gathering members)
Storming (tension/conflict)
Norming (behavior regulation)
Performing (group output)
T/F
Phases can go out of sequence, overlap or go in cycles
Why we join groups
Social/Belongingness need
Drawn to group members
Activities: FUN!
Shared group goals
Meaning/Identity (to make sense of world)
ETC (resume, networking, work requirement)
T/F
We may drag down a group if we are only in it for personal gain.
Diverse Membership:
proportional representation by culture, ethnicity, gender and age
What does a Diverse Membership have to offer?
Counteracts biases
Offers more varied skills, perspectives, experiences (decision making resources)
Can be a Challenge! May result in conflict or difficulty achieving agreement
The 20% rule:
when no less than 20% of a group and no fewer than 2 members are ethnic minorities and/or women.
Primary tension:
initial jitters
Reduce through small talk, joking, chatting about noncontroversial topics
Secondary tension:
disagreements and conflicts.
Not always bad�can energize group. But can deteriorate into personal attacks
Group Norms
Explicit: specifically stated rules, policies etc.
Implicit: unstated behavioral codes
The general purpose of norms is to achieve group goals
Sources of norms
Systems outside of group
Influence of a single member
Transactions within the group
Conformity
adherence to group norms
Why we conform:
To be liked
To be right
When we conform:
In highly cohesive groups
As task importance increases
When group will be together for a long time
When we perceive low status within group
Addressing Nonconformity
Reason: logical arguments
Seduction: manipulation (guilt/shame or rewards)
Coercion: getting tough (e.g. ultimatums)
Isolation: excluding the group member
Social loafing:
tendency of a group member to exert less effort on a task when working in a group than when working individually.
Occurs:
If members view task as unimportant
If member's effort is expected to have little effect on group outcome
Combatting social loafing
Choose meaningful tasks
Establish responsibility norm
Note importance of individual effort
Hold members responsible
Enhance group cohesiveness
Confront the loafer
Consult a greater authority
Boot the loafer
Sidestep the loafer
Social compensation =
increased motivation to work harder on a group task to counterbalance others' poor performance.'
More likely when members attribute others' poor performance to external causes (bad luck, life stress) than internal ones (laziness).
Group Superior to Individual
Conditions
Broad-range task
Neither have expertise
Experts, complex tasks
Individual expert, informed group
Reasons
Pool knowledge, group remembering
Synergy
Share the load, teamwork
Error correction, synergy
Individual Superior to Group
Conditions
Individual expert, uninformed group
Groups establish mediocrity norms
Group becomes too large
Simple task
Time is a critical factor
Reasons
Pooling ignorance, negative synergy
Insufficient motivation to excel
Difficulty coordinating, social loafing
Minimal resources required
Groups too slow