© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Tools for Assessing & Evaluating Groups © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. C H A P T E R 7 Twelfth Edition Theory and Practice EFFECTIVE GROUP DISCUSSION

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Chapter Content  Internal Assessment  External Assessment: The Consultant  Functions of a Consultant  Ethical Principals for Consultants  Planning the Consultation  Instruments for Observing & Consulting

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Reasons for Research  To benefit yourself  To benefit the group  To benefit the discipline

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Ask yourself:  What do I want to measure?  What observable evidence does that quality have?  Is there an existing instrument I can use?  How can I make the process easy for the respondent and for me?

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Internal Assessment Assess:  Yourself  Others  The group

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Self-Assessment  Personality inventories and rating scales  Examples:  Grouphate  Preference for procedural order  Assertiveness  Conflict management style  Leadership

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Member & Group Assessment  Participant rating scale  Leader rating scale  Group ratings  Focus on any element of a group  Post-meeting reaction forms

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

External Assessment: The Consultant  Consultants are not group members  To become a consultant:  Practice  Observation skills

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Functions of a Consultant  Remind group members of communication principles  Teach procedures and techniques Continued

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Functions of a Consultant  Critique a group’s performance  Problem-solving discussion  Group process  Group product  Leadership  Give feedback sensitively

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Ethical Principals for Consultants 1.Do not harm group members 2.Tell the truth 3.Make your criticism constructive 4.Respect the privacy and confidentiality of group members

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Planning the Consultation  Conduct background research  Record the group’s discussion  Prepare questions to guide observation  Focus on aspects of a group

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Instruments for Observing & Consulting  Verbal interaction analysis  Content analysis  SMYLOG  System for the Multiple Level Observation of Groups Continued

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Verbal Interaction Analysis Figure 7.13 Verbal Interaction Diagram

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Verbal Interaction Analysis Verbal Interaction Worksheet Brown Jones Lingle Gallo Radeau Marx Totals Brown Jones Lingle Gallo Radeau Marx Group Totals

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Verbal Interaction Analysis Figure 7.15 Data Displayed from a Verbal Interaction Diagram

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Content Analysis Figure 7.16 Content Analysis of Behavioral Functions of Members

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Content Analysis Figure 7.18 Pie Chart Displaying a Group Member’s Behavioral Functions

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. SYMLOG  System for the Multilevel Observation of Groups  Assumes member behavior can be classified on dimensions:  Dominant/ submissive  Friendly/ unfriendly  Task oriented/ emotionally expressive

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. SYMLOG  Can be used by observers, or  As a rating scale completed by group members  Intended to create “snapshots” of the group interaction, including cohesiveness

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. SYMLOG Diagram Figure 7.19 SYMLOG Diagram of Noncohesive Group

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. SYMLOG Diagram Figure 7.20 SYMLOG Diagram of a Unified, Productive Group

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.  Groups and group members benefit from evaluation – self-evaluation and evaluation by knowledgeable outsiders.  These scales are useful in themselves and as examples of how such instruments can be constructed.