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Group
Circumstances and
Structure
Stewart L. Tubbs
McGraw-Hill
© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 2
Group Circumstances and
Structure
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McGraw-Hill
Physical Environment
Group Size and Structure
Type of Groups
Review of the Systems Approach
© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 3
Physical Environment
• In the small group context, environments
that promote creativity and productivity can
actually improve group performance
(Semper)
• Researchers and theorists in environmental
psychology have found that “personal and
cultural expectations” affect how an
individual interprets and functions in a
particular work space.
McGraw-Hill
© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 4
Physical Environment
• Territoriality
– In addition to identifying certain places as our
territory, we also move about in a portable space
bubble of about 18 inches in each direction that
we let only certain people violate.
• This is referred to as our personal space.
McGraw-Hill
© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 5
Physical Environment
• Territoriality
– Intimate distance extends from touching to
about 18 inches.
– Personal distance ranges from 18 inches to
about 4 feet.
– Social distance refers to the distance between 4
to 12 feet.
– Public distance refers to 12 feet and beyond.
McGraw-Hill
© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 6
Physical Environment
• Seating Patterns
– Research has shown that even the seating
patterns around rectangular tables have a major
impact on interaction.
McGraw-Hill
© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 7
Physical Environment
• Seating Pattern
McGraw-Hill
© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 8
Physical Environment
• Seating Patterns at Rectangular Tables:
(a) Corner-to-Corner, (b) Face-to-Face,
(c) Distant-Opposite, (d) Corner to End,
(e) Side-by-Side, and (f) End-to-End.
McGraw-Hill
© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 9
Physical Environment
• Seating Preferences at Round Tables:
(a) Side-by-Side, (b) Distance-Opposite,
and (c) Side-to-End.
McGraw-Hill
© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 10
Group Size and Structure
• Communication Networks
– Centralized networks, such as the chain and the
wheel, are better for solving simple problems.
– When the problem is complex, the decentralized
networks, such as the circle and the all-channel
are faster and more accurate and result in higher
member satisfaction.
McGraw-Hill
© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 11
Group Size and Structure
• Communications Networks: (a) Wheel,
(b) Chain, (c) Y, (d) Circle, and
(e) All-Channel.
McGraw-Hill
© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 12
Group Size and Structure
• Communication Networks
– These communication networks are also
relevant for groups not in the same location i.e.
they have definite applications in the virtual
meeting space.
– The emerging internet generation has many
members that prefer small groups to organize
online when distance prevents face-to-face
meetings.
McGraw-Hill
© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 13
Group Size and Structure
• Group Size
– As the group’s size increases arithmetically
(linearly), the potential number of interactions
increases geometrically (exponentially).
– Social loafing, the decreased effort of each
individual member in the group, occurs more as
the number of people in a group increases.
McGraw-Hill
© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 14
Group Size and Structure
• Group Size
– Forsyth (1999) suggest the following guidelines
to minimize social loafing:
1. Increase personal involvement.
2. Minimize free riding.
3. Clarify group goals.
4. Set high standards.
5. Increase collective efficacy.
6. Increase unity.
McGraw-Hill
© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 15
Types of Groups
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McGraw-Hill
Primary Groups
Casual and Social Groups
Educational Groups
Work Groups
Problem-Solving Groups
© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 16
Types of Groups
• Primary Groups
– Primary groups usually includes family and
closest friends.
– Primary groups influence self-concept as well as
personality from childhood to adulthood.
– Members of our primary group are sometimes
referred to as significant others.
McGraw-Hill
© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 17
Types of Groups
• Casual and Social Groups
– Casual and social groups include neighborhood
groups, fraternities, and in some cases, fellow
members of street gangs.
– A study revealed that the emotional distress
caused by being left out of a social group
actually caused blood flow to the portion of the
brain that is stimulated by physical pain (Paul
2005)
McGraw-Hill
© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 18
Types of Groups
• Educational Groups
– Also called learning groups or enlightenment
groups.
– Members get together for the primary purpose
of study or instruction.
– Small group interaction classes frequently
conduct problem-solving discussions
concerning national or international issues; but
members don’t have the authority to implement
their decisions.
McGraw-Hill
© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 19
Types of Groups
• Work Groups
– The level of productivity is set by group norms,
not by physiologic capacities.
– Noneconomic rewards and sanctions
significantly affect the behavior of the workers
and largely limit the effect of economic
incentive plans.
– Often workers do not act or react as individuals
but as members of groups.
• A recent innovation in work groups is the selfdirected work team (SDWT).
McGraw-Hill
© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 20
Types of Groups
• Problem-Solving Groups
– The terms task-oriented, problem-solving, and
decision-making groups have been used
interchangeably to stress the emphasis on the
cognitive end products of group discussion.
– One recent innovation is the use of tiger
teams—small groups of high-performing people
who are challenged by a company’s executive
team to take problems and find workable
solutions.
McGraw-Hill
© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 21
Types of Groups
• Problem-Solving Groups
– Types of Discussion Questions
• An effective problem-solving discussion begins with
an effectively structured discussion question.
• A topic should be limited to one issue.
–
–
–
–
McGraw-Hill
Questions of fact
Questions of definition
Questions of value
Questions of policy
© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 22
Types of Groups
• Problem-Solving Groups
– Discussion Group Formats
• Dialogue—a discussion or conversation between two
people.
• Panel—usually involves a small number of people
conducting an informal discussion on a topic that
they have all thought about and possibly researched
beforehand.
• Symposium—includes several participants, each of
whom gives a short formal presentation on a
prepared topic.
McGraw-Hill
© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 23
Types of Groups
• Problem-Solving Groups
– Discussion Group Formats . . . (continued)
• Forum—a question-and-answer period designed to
allow audience members to interact with the
discussion group.
• Colloquy—involves questioning of experts by the
other experts on the panel, laypersons on a second
panel, or laypersons in the audience.
McGraw-Hill
© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 24
Types of Groups
• Discussion Group Techniques
– Phillips 66
• A specific technique developed by J. D. Phillips, it
allows all members of an audience to form groups of
about six people to discuss a specific topic for about
six minutes and then report the group’s conclusion
through a spokesperson.
– Case discussion
• An educational discussion centered on a real or
hypothetical event.
McGraw-Hill
© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 25
Types of Groups
• Discussion Group Techniques (continued)
– Role playing
• Allows participants to adopt a new “role” or set of
behaviors.
– Fishbowl
• One small group attempts to solve a problem for a
specified period of time (e.g., 30 minutes), while a
second group, seated around the outside of the first
group, observes the process.
– Conference
• A series of meetings on topics of common interest
between and among people who represent different
groups.
McGraw-Hill
© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 26
Types of Groups
• Computer-Assisted Groups
– Through new software, small groups can now
do computer-supported cooperative work by
means of groupware.
• Idea Generation and Anonymity
1. Idea generation/brainstorming
2. Idea grouping/issue analyzing
3. Voting
4. Outlining
5. Annotating
McGraw-Hill
© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 27
Types of Groups—Practical Tips
Here are 10 of the most common “team traps” to
avoid.
1. Leader abdication
2. Successionless planning
3. Downsizing
4. Political suicide
5. Team arrogance
6. Undefined accountability
7. Short-term focus
8. Disruptive team member
9. Poor teamwork habits
10. Decision by default
McGraw-Hill
© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 28
Types of Groups—Practical Tips
Video conferencing works well when:
– You need the benefit of face-to-face contact and want to
save the time and expense associated with traveling to
another location.
– Your goal is to provide information such as briefings or
training classes.
– You are broadcasting presentations to many employees.
McGraw-Hill
© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 29
Types of Groups—Practical Tips
Video conferencing does not work as well when:
– The time lag difficulties will be distracting or
detrimental to communication.
– The added social context of face-to-face communication
is needed.
– The success of your meeting relies on short bursts of
input from all participants.
– The group must discuss sensitive issues.
– The group misses out on side discussions that often
result in new ideas during a face-to-face meeting.
McGraw-Hill
Adapted from Kristen Bell DeTienne. Guide to Electronic Communication
© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
(Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 2002), p. 79.
Slide 30
Types of Groups
• Leadership
– With the advent of computers, leaders must rely
on their groups to process the multitude of data.
– For leaders, computer-aided communication can
be an important means of influencing a group’s
methods and capabilities.
• Computer-Assisted Groups: Where Are
They Going?
– In coming years, computer technology will play
an increasing role in group interaction.
McGraw-Hill
© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 31
Review of the Systems Approach
• In systems theory, the elements that
constitute the internal influences of our
model would be called part of the
throughput of small groups.
• Probably the most important internal
influence in the model is the type of group.
• The all-channel network was best for group
member satisfaction, whereas the wheel
produced the fastest results.
McGraw-Hill
© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 32
The Systems Approach
• As group size increases, the all-channel
network begins to bog down in confusion,
and a more controlled network tends to be
more appropriate.
• The type of group format is related to the
discussion group formats and techniques and
the desired group outcome.
McGraw-Hill
© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.