Stewart L. Tubbs McGraw-Hill© 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 3 C H A P T E R Relevant Background Factors

McGraw-Hill Slide 2 © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Relevant Background Factors Glossary Case Study Explaining Why We Do What We Do Personality Gender Age Health

McGraw-Hill Slide 3 © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Relevant Background Factors (continued) Attitudes Values The Systems Approach

McGraw-Hill Slide 4 © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Glossary Affection —refers to the friendship and closeness between people. Attitudes —a mental state that exerts influence over an individual’s behaviors. Attitudes have three components: (1) a cognitive component, which refers to a concept; (2) an affective component, which is emotion; and (3) a behavioral component, which is the readiness to act. Consistency Theories —based on the assumption that human beings have a strong psychological need for consistency. This is often referred to as a need to maintain cognitive balance.

McGraw-Hill Slide 5 © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Glossary Control –Refers to our need to influence, lead, and develop power over others or to be influenced, be led, or have others exert power over us. Inclusion –Our need for belonging, feeling a part of, and being together with others. Values –Values are fewer in number than attitudes and serve as important predictors of behavior. They appear to be more stable and long-lasting than attitudes.

McGraw-Hill Slide 6 © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Case Study Adventures in Kenya 1. What issues and/or problems can you identify in this case? 2. How does this case illustrate the systems model for analyzing group interaction?

McGraw-Hill Slide 7 © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Explaining Why We Do What We Do Diversity: Groups in Conflict –All behavior occurs in some context. –Hamden-Turner and Trompenaars (2000) have identified six dimensions that distinguish people. 1. Universalism-particularism 2. Individualism-communitarianism 3. Specificity-diffusion 4. Achieved status-ascribed status 5. Inner direction-outer direction 6. Sequential time-synchronous time

McGraw-Hill Slide 8 © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Explaining Why We Do What We Do Diversity: Groups in Conflict (continued) –Believing in specific ways is usually seen as an attempt by the individual to meet certain needs. –Probably one of the best-known models for explaining people’s needs is Maslow’s (1970) hierarchy of needs. Physiological needs Security needs Belongingness needs Esteem needs Self-actualization needs

McGraw-Hill Slide 9 © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Explaining Why We Do What We Do Maslow’s Needs Hierarchy

McGraw-Hill Slide 10 © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Personality FIRO-B –Schutz (1958, 1967, 1971) hypothesized that most people share three needs that groups help fulfill. Inclusion Control Affection

McGraw-Hill Slide 11 © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Personality Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) –The theory is that we all possess personality traits in pairs of opposite characteristics. Extroversion (E) versus Introversion (I) Sensing (S) versus Intuition (N) Thinking (T) versus Feeling (F) Judging (J) versus Perceiving (P)

McGraw-Hill Slide 12 © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Personality Although personality is one of the most important background factors in small group communication, other factors are also involved. –Organismic factors or variables are those that are part of the organism.

McGraw-Hill Slide 13 © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Gender Communication between the genders is both the most interesting and sometimes the most challenging of all types of communication. –Deborah Tannen’s (1995) excellent research has demonstrated that men and women talk differently in group situations. –Loden (1990) found that women approach teamwork and participatory management differently than do men.

McGraw-Hill Slide 14 © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Age Communication patterns differ from childhood through adolescence to adulthood and old age. –Zenger and Lawrence (1989) found that age similarity of group members had a positive effect on the communication of information within project groups.

McGraw-Hill Slide 15 © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Age Communication patterns... (continued) –Fullerton, Kerch, and Dodge (1996) found that age was a good predictor of a person’s ethics. As age increased, so did one’s ethical standards. –Goleman, Boyatzis, and McKee (2002) found that “neoteny,” or perpetual enthusiasm for learning and for life, creates what they call “resonance.” Chronological age is probably much less important than psychological age when it comes to effectively working with others.

McGraw-Hill Slide 16 © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Health Deficiencies in both physical and mental health of members seem to impede group performance.

McGraw-Hill Slide 17 © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Health—Practical Tips Hinsberg (1996) offers the following 10 practical tips for managing stress. 1. Exercise. 2. Share it. 3. Know when to relent. 4. Care for yourself. 5. List and delete. 6. Always right? Wrong. 7. Tears for fears. 8. Set a serene scene. 9. Meditate. 10. Time out.

McGraw-Hill Slide 18 © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Attitudes As each of us develops through childhood and adolescence, a myriad of experiences shapes our view of the world. –These experiences are called developmental factors. –According to Triandis (1971), attitudes have three components: (1) a cognitive component; (2) an affective component; and (3) a behavioral component.

McGraw-Hill Slide 19 © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Attitudes Some of the most intuitive yet provocative theories concerning attitudes are the so- called cognitive consistency theories. –These theories are based on the assumption that human beings have a strong psychological need for consistency. Heider (1958) refers to this as a need to maintain balance.

McGraw-Hill Slide 20 © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Attitudes Some of the most intuitive... –These theories... (continued) A related consistency theory is called cognitive dissonance theory (Festinger, 1957). –Consonance is the same as Heider’s concept of balance, and dissonance is equivalent to imbalance in that it serves to motivate a change back to consonance. –According to Festinger and Aronson (1968), you may reduce dissonance in five ways: (1) devalue the importance of the issue; (2) derogate the disagreeing person; (3) attempt to change his or her attitude; (4) seek additional social support for your view; and (5) change your attitude.

McGraw-Hill Slide 21 © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Attitudes

McGraw-Hill Slide 22 © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Attitudes

McGraw-Hill Slide 23 © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Values Rokeach (1968, 1971, 1973) has argued that people’s values are also important as a predictor of behavior. –Values are seen as more fundamental than attitudes and are more stable and long lasting.

McGraw-Hill Slide 24 © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. The Systems Approach— Practical Tips Tropman (1996) identifies several value differences that can influence group discussions. –Multipurpose versus unipurpose –Pragmatism versus excellence –Status versus class –Personal versus organizational purpose –Empirical versus qualitative decision-making bases –Disposable labor versus intimate concern

McGraw-Hill Slide 25 © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. The Systems Approach Small group interactions are the result of influences that can be labeled inputs, throughputs, and outputs. Group norms, leadership style, and communication patterns all tend to influence the satisfaction level of group members. The three organismic factors discussed in this chapter were gender, age, and health.