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CHAPTER 19
GROUP COMMUNICATION
MGT 3213 – ORG. COMMUNICATION
Mississippi State University
College of Business
Benefits of Teams

Creates flat organizational structures
 Increases

efficiency
Allows for synergy
 Achieve
more collectively than individually
 “Two heads are better than one”



Improves decision-making
Improves employee motivation
Improves employee acceptance of change
Characteristics of Effective Teams


Members share a common goal
Size
 Want
lots of interaction? Go small
 Want broad input? Go large
 5-7 members best for decision-making
 Should be an odd number to break ties


Directed by strong leadership
Members play a variety of roles
Negative Group Roles

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

Dominator
Free rider
Detractor
Digresser
Airhead
Socializer
Positive Group Roles

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Facilitator
Harmonizer
Record keeper
Reporter
Leader
Life Cycle of Member Roles
Potential
Member
No longer
considered
a member
No longer
involved
ExMember
New
Member
Marginal
Member
Full
Member
Divergent
Member
Focuses on
differences
Still an
outsider
Knows the “rules”
And looked to for
leadership
Stages of Team Development
Team Behaviors at
the Performing Stage

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Commitment
Cooperation
Communication
Contribution
Barriers to Effective
Group Decision-Making

Oversampling
 Tendency
to focus on shared knowledge of group
members


Using discussion to avoid making decisions
Polarization
 Responses
of groups tend to be more extreme than
individual members’ responses

Limited interpersonal skills
Examples of Interpersonal
Barriers to Decision-Making



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Poor communication skills
Egocentric behavior
Nonparticipation
Sidetracked
Interruptions
Negative leader behavior
Attitudes and emotions
Groupthink

Occurs when:
 Group
members dominate the discussion
 Group members are intimidated by others
 Group members care more about social acceptability
than reaching the best solution
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYIh4MkcfJA&feature=related
Avoiding Groupthink





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Encourage voicing objections and critical thinking
Try to avoid ego and emotions to improve objective
thinking
Divide into separate groups
Get outsider’s feedback
Appoint a devil’s advocate
Hold a “second chance” meeting
Types of Conflict



Personal conflict
Task conflict
Process conflict
Personal Conflict



Dislike of other group members
Dissimilar personalities lead to more dislike and
conflict
Why more diverse groups tend to have more
conflict
Task Conflict





Conflicts about the group goal or purpose of their
work
Disagreements about issues that are relevant to the
group’s goals and outcomes
Positive conflict
Why groups are used to complete tasks
Can turn into personal conflict
Process Conflict


Conflict about how the work gets done (the process)
Can be minimized by adopting workplace
procedures and rules
 But
that can hinder creativity and flexibility
Other Sources of Conflict

Personality
 Competitors


vs. cooperators
Norm of reciprocity
Free riding
 Occurs
most frequently when individual’s contributions
are combined into a single product
Conflict Resolution Styles

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
Competition
Collaboration
Compromise
Avoidance
Accommodation
Ineffective Communication
During a Conflict

Mind-reading
 In
a conflict, we often think we know more than we
really do about why the other person did something.
 You tell them why they did something , or what they
were thinking, rather than asking them.

Self-summarizing
 When
you keep repeating what you’ve already said in
the fight.
 It ignores the response of the other party.
Ineffective Communication
During a Conflict

Cross-complaining
 Both
parties share complaints and fail to listen to the
other side.
 “You’ve been late to all our meetings this week.” “And
you’ve failed to post the minutes to the website.”

Kitchen-sinking
 The
parties bring up more and more past issues.
 Escalates the conflict.
Meeting Management


Face-to-face vs. electronic
When should you schedule face-to-face meetings?
 When
you need the richest nonverbal cues
 When the issue is sensitive
 When the participants don’t know each other
 When you need to establish group rapport
 When no other channel or medium of communication
will suffice
Meeting Management

Advantages of electronic
 Convenient
for geographically dispersed teams
 Speed up follow-up activities
 May limit dominator group types

Drawbacks of electronic
 Don’t
effectively build group rapport
 Make it harder to reach consensus
Tips for Effective Meetings


What are two reasons why you should distribute
an agenda in advance?
How does using agendas and minutes minimize
the effect of free-riders?