1. Effective Communication
Prepared by Siti Rokiah Siwok for UHS 2052 students at UTM, Skudai, Malaysia.

2. Group & Team Communication

3. Making the Connection
One of the major factors which determine whether a group experience is successful and satisfying or not is effective communication.
Whatever the size, small group communication differs from other types of communication because:
it requires a variety of communication skills
It must include at least three interacting people

4. Small-Group Communication: Making the Connection
Recall groups you have participated in recently. What were the strengths and weaknesses of communicative behaviors?

5. What is a group?
To qualify as a group, the people must be related in six ways:
Perception : the members make an impression on each other and they perceive themselves as members of a group.
Motivation: Are there rewards for being together?
Goals: Do the members have a common purpose/goal?
Organization: Does each member have some role or task?
Interdependence: Must each person depend on the others for his or her task to be successful?
Interaction: Do the members communicate with each other?

6. Definition
A group is a collection of individuals who influence one another, have a common purpose, take on roles, are interdependent and interact with each other.

7. Reasons for joining a group
For psychological and social needs
To achieve goals
To get information and knowledge
For security
For positive social identity

8. Types of groups Two major categories of small groups, namely : Primary
Secondary

9. Primary Groups Focus on social or interpersonal relationships.
Mainly to satisfy primary needs for inclusion ( belonging) and affection( esteem, likeability, love).
Usually long terms, can include family, roommates etc.
Also include decision making, problem solving etc.
But the main purpose is to socialise, support each other, enjoy each other’s company and for catharsis,

10. Secondary Groups
Main purpose is to accomplish tasks or achieve goals or to get things done. Example: such as class assignments.
The groups can be called by various names such as:
“decision making group”, “problem solving group”, “therapy group”, “learning group” etc, depending on the task given or the objectives to be achieved.

11. Secondary Group: Decision Making
This kind of group is common; where a decision has to be made regarding something, such as when to hold a conference, where to buy a new property, what to do for when the minister comes, etc.
Voting is many times used when there is no clear decision as to which decision is the most acceptable.
Caution: Majority “voice” need not necessarily the best, as it depends on who the members of the group are. Culture and values for example, influence decision making
Discussion is the best .
Participation of members in group decision making has shown to be positively related to members’ performance

12. Secondary Group: Problem Solving
Small groups are excellent at solving problems; at various levels and everywhere.

13. Secondary Group: Committees
Committees are groups that are either appointed or elected and assigned a specific task by a larger group or by a person with authority.
Committees are therefore formed to help the larger group.
If properly assigned and led by a good leader, committees can be very effective.
As in any group, the aim of the formation of the committee is very important.

14. Secondary Group: Learning and information sharing
This kind of group is also common and happens in all settings, such as corporations, institutions, schools, social clubs etc.
The essential reason for sharing and learning new information is to educate, to inform and improve understanding on specific issues.

15. Secondary Group: Therapy or Personal Growth
This type of group is mainly used to help people with their feelings, behaviours, attitudes or some aspects with their life.
Examples: to overcome addition, coping with grief, coping with a disable family members.
Usually the group is being led by a professional trained in counselling or psychotherapy.

16. Primary of secondary Group?
It is more likely that groups are not purely of one type. Group can serve many functions at once.
There is usually a mix of functions. However, the objective of the formation of the group will determine whether the group is primary of secondary.
What is most important is having the necessary skills to function as an effective group member.

17. Characteristics of Small Groups
Interdependence ( the most important)
Commitment
Cohesiveness
Group Size
Group Norms
Group culture

18. Teams Scholars make a distinction between a group and a team
A team is a special form of a group, with close-knit relationships among members.
The members have different and complimentary activities; have a strong sense of identity.
Similar to groups in that it involves interaction, interdependence, common goals, personality, commitment and rules.
There are some difference from groups though.

19. Teams verses groups
Teams are more like to consist of people with diverse abilities, with their own specialization and different perspectives to ensure the completion of a common task. Eg: a surgical team.
Teams usually develops more interdependence compared to groups.
Members in teams have high degree of group identity and thus more like to identify themselves as a team.
ALL TEAMS CONSIST OF GROUPS, BUT NOT ALL GROUPS ARE TEAMS.

20. Factors affecting Group Performance
Group cohesiveness
Group homogeneity
Stability of membership
Isolation
External pressure
Group size
Group status
Group ability and confidence
Personality of group members
Communication network
Group role
Presence of others
Individual dominance

21. Factors affecting Group Performance
Group cohesiveness
It is the extent to which group members like and trust each other, committed to accomplish a team goal and share a feeling of group pride ( Beale, Cohen, Burke & McLendon, 2003 in Aamodt, 2007)
Group homogeneity
It is the extent to which members are similar
Homogeneous or heterogeneous will lead to the best group performance?
Stability of membership
The greater the stability, the greater the cohesiveness
Thus members who remain for long periods of time are more cohesive and perform better than groups that have high turnover (Bell, 2005 in Aamodt, 2007)

22. Factors affecting Group Performance
Isolation
Group that is isolated tends to be highly cohesive
External pressure
Groups that are pressured by external forces tend to be highly cohesive; which can be explained by the phenomena psychological reactance ( Brehm, 1966 in Aamodt, 2007)
Group size
Groups are most cohesive and perform best when the size is small.
However, not all small group are always the best; also depends on the tasks.

23. Factors affecting Group Performance
Group status
The higher the group status, the greater is the cohesiveness; thus a group can be made more cohesive by increasing its status, at least in the eyes of the members.
Group ability and confidence
Groups with high-ability members outperform groups with low-ability members
Groups whose members believe that their team can be successful perform better than those whose members are not confident.
Personality of group members
Groups with members who score high in openness and emotional stability will perform better that groups whose members do not have these characteristics ( Bell, 2005 in Aamodt, 2007)

24. Factors affecting Group Performance
Communication network
Communication network affects groups’ performance
The best network depends on the situation and the goals of the group.
A good leader must choose the best communication network which facilitates the achievement of the group’s goals.

25. Factors affecting Group Performance
Group role
The extent to which the members of a group assume their roles affect group performance
Members roles must fall into one of these categories:
(1) task-orientated roles, such as offering new ideas and coordinating new activities
(2) social-oriented roles, such as encouraging cohesiveness and participation
(3) individual role

26. Factors affecting Group Performance
Presence of others
Social facilitation provides the positive effects of the presence of others, but for easy tasks or well learned tasks.
Individual dominance
If the leader has an accurate solution to a problem in the group, then the group performs at high level.

27. Characteristics of a small group
Interdependence
Commitment
Cohesiveness
Group size
Group Norms
Group culture

28. When conflicts happens……

29. Group conflicts
Working together in groups or teams always presents the potential for the occurrence of conflicts.
A conflict is the psychological and behavioral reaction to a perception that another person is keeping you from reaching a goal, taking away your right to act in a particular way or violating the expectancies of a relationship.
Key component to conflict is perception.
The level of conflict is a function of the importance of the goal, behavior or relationship.

30. Dysfunctional and functional conflicts
Most conflicts results in lower team performance, and lower members satisfaction,
Most conflicts are dysfunctional , as the conflicts prevents people from working together, lessens productivity and increases turnover.
Moderate degree of conflict , called functional conflicts can result in better performance- stimulate new ideas, increase friendly competition and increase team effectiveness.
Moderate conflicts reduce the risks of larger conflicts.

31. Types of conflicts Interpersonal conflict Individual – group conflict
Group –group conflict

32. What are the causes of conflicts?

33. Competition of resources Task independence Jurisdictional ambiguity
Causes of conflicts
Competition of resources
Task independence
Jurisdictional ambiguity
Communication challenges
Beliefs
Personality
( Aamodt, 2007)

34. Conflicting styles Avoiding style Accommodating style Forcing style
Collaborating style
Compromising style

35. Determining conflict style
Organization Conflict Inventory II (Rahim and Magner, 1995)
Cohen Conflict Response Inventory (Cohen, 1997)

36. Resolving conflict
Prevention /prior to conflict occurrence
When conflict first occurs
Third -party intervention

37. Prior to conflict occurring
An organisation should have a formal policy on how conflict to be handled, which states that :
Employees should first try to resolve their own conflicts
If the above is not successful, employees can utilise a third party intervention
Employees should receive training on the causes of conflict, ways to prevent conflict and strategies to resolve it.

38. When conflict FIRST occurs
The two parties should be encouraged to use conflict resolution skills which they had learned. These skills include:
Expressing a desire for cooperation
Offering compliments
Avoiding negative interaction
Emphasizing mutual similarities
Highlighting common goals

39. When conflict FIRST occurs
Key to resolving conflict is to reduce tension and increase trust between the 2 parties; which can be accomplished by :
Stating an intention to reduce tension
Publicly announcing steps to be taken to reduce tension.
Inviting the other side to take action in to reduce tension.
Making sure all initiative are unambiguous.

40. When a conflict is unavoidable, there are several ways/styles to be adopted.

41. What determines one’s responses to conflict?
Goodwin and Griffith (2007) state that one’s responses to conflict is determined by two considerations:
How important is a particular outcome to you?
How important is the relationship with the other party?
Clarifying your values is very important.

42. Responses to Conflict: Avoidance
People will adopt avoiding approach to conflict when the conflict is trivial to them or has little stake in the outcome or concern with whom there is dispute
The issues are not important to them
The “cost” of engaging in the conflict is not worth the possible benefit to be gained
Needs to buy time such as to gather information

43. Responses to Conflict: Avoidance
This response is also called withdrawal or retreating (Why?)
It is failing to engage ( Corvette, 2007)
Avoidance be partial or total.
What are the reasons people withdraw?

44. Responses to Conflict: Avoidance
What other variables are at play if this response style is adopted?

45. Responses to Conflict: Adversarial/Forcing /Competitive
This style is a win/lose approach.
Underlying this approach is a perspective that resources is limited.
This style may range from mildly adversarial to extremely aggressive.
Behaviour that exemplifies this approach includes making remarks with no regard to other people's feelings, refusing to back down, belittling the other, using accusatory tactics and the like.

46. Responses to Conflict: Adversarial Forcing/Competitive
Other characteristics such as criticizing, defensiveness, stonewalling and contempt.
This style is self-centred.
On the extreme this style may lead to trickery and violence.
A behaviour which may be associated with this approach is agreeing openly but internally dissatisfied.

47. Responses to Conflict: Accommodating /Compromising
This style is to give up part of you want at the request of the other.
It is a “middle-of the road” approach, without totally giving up one’s own needs.
Compromising is giving in; different from collaborating.

48. Responses to Conflict: Collaboration
In cooperation or collaboration style, we are finding a way to get the other person/group want and what we/our group want.
It is consistent with win-win approach.
Both parties put their efforts ( creatively) together to meet mutual goals.
Key behaviours are listening and expressing feelings and desires in the best manners.
Assertiveness and respecting other peoples’ views are essential too.

49. Choosing the appropriate style
All four styles may be used in one negotiation.
Each of the four styles can be used appropriate at diferent times.
The collaborative style is usually the most effective choice; but not all the time.
Other style may be useful too, but when?
Styles may vary from person to person and from situation to situation.

50. Choosing the Appropriate Style
In complex matters, containing many issues, we may compromise on certain things while the main approach is collaboration.
For issues not important and “ not worth” to put your energy in, you may use “avoidance”.

51. Choosing the Appropriate Style
Seldom competitive is the best choice, but a necessity when in an emergency or when you have to “ act accordingly”, especially when the other party is competitive.
Collaboration is most of the time the best approach ( although not always) . It needs lots of efforts and creativity. You may have to do what you are not used to do.

52. Choosing an Appropriate Style
Accommodating or compromising may have to be the choice in a circumstance. This style is suitable when relationship is more important than the issue.
Accommodation or compromise is also the next-to-best option.
Our natural negotiation style is strongly influenced by our view of conflict and your personalities.

53. Choosing the Appropriate Style
The optimum negotiation strategy will be determined by the dynamic interaction of each party’ unique personality, style of interaction, temperament;also culture, value, needs, goals etc
Personality pervades each of the items.
Creativity is always useful.
Knowing ourselves aids in developing alternative style s as well as using our natural style to the optimum

54. A third-party intervention
Impasse may occur at any point in the process of negotiation and persuasion process.
A third party may then be necessary to facilitate agreement and resolution.
A third-party intervention can help the conflicting parties to reach either a : conciliation, mediation, arbitration or litigation.

55. Groups and teams: What about gender differences?

56. Gender Differences Who is more likely to: Dominate a discussion?
Respond immediately to a leader’s request?
Cooperate with opponents?
Share resources?
Behave with antisocial behaviours?
Make disclosures to facilitate cohesiveness?

57. Disadvantages of small groups
Being in groups have also a number of disadvantages.
Groupthink
Unfair workload
Pressure to fail
Grouphate Phenomenon
Time consuming
Varying communication style

58. Groupthink
Too much cohesiveness can lead to conformity and blind loyalty to the group even when it is not in the best interest of the members. This leads to groupthink.
Groupthink is a dysfunctional situation in which group members see the harmony of the group as being more important than considering new ideas, critically examining their own beliefs, changing their flawed practices or poor decisions

59. Groupthink
Janis, a specialist in organizational behaviour, states there are eight (8) symptoms which lead to groupthink. These can be classified into three categories.
Overestimate of the group’s power and morality.
Close-mindedness.
Pressure towards uniformity.

60. Time consuming
Decision making or problem solving process in a group is time consuming.
The more members, the more time it takes to achieve.
How you balance the need to achieve a decision fast and to involve the members depends on your understanding, belief system and skills .
The last point is a personal note from me, based on my experience in a group and my beliefs that go with it.
I shall illustrate by using my own belief system as a Muslim.
Muslims are enjoined to do “syura” ( consultation) in all matters, as stated in the Holy Quran. Therefore when we do “syura”, not only we get reward from Allah, but also benefits of getting the best ideas. It is time taking but the benefits are great.
To ensure a good “syura”, it needs a good facilitator and all members observe their ethics during the discussions.

61. Pressure to fail
This may seem against common sense. But it is happening. The majority of the group members place a pressure on the most capable members not to excel. It implies that the group it being controlled by the weaker member of the groups. Thus the group does not meet its potential due to this syndrome. Members who go beyond the “norm” of the group may be teased or criticized for going beyond the “norm”.

62. Grouphate Phenomenon
This is phenomenon where there are people who have a great dislike of group work.
These people avoid group situations as much as possible.
Usually these people do not have the skills in communication.
How can we help these people?

63. Other disadvantages
Varying communication styles: Each member has a different communication style . Some dominate, while some might not contribute at all.
Unfair workloads:
Workload may not be distribution evenly. Some members may not be motivated and do not give their best or do their fair share of workload (social loafing).

64. Ethical behaviours in group communication
For groups to be effective, both leaders and members must be ethical.
Although there are cultural differences in the stress of individualism or collectivism, it is important to realise that groups by their very nature take on collectivist value.

65. References:
Seiler, W. J and Beall, M. L ( 2008). Communication. Making Connections ( 7th ed). Boston: Pearson
Aamodt, M.G (2007). Industrial /organizational psychology. An applied approach. Belmont, CA: Thomson.
Mullins, L.J. ( 2006). Essentials of Organisational Behaviour. England: Prentice Hall
Goodwin, C . & Griffith, D. B (2007). The Conflict Survival Kit. Tools for Resolving Conflict at Work. New Jersey: Pearson.
Corvette, B.A. B( 2007). Conflict Management. A Practical Guide to Developing Negotiation Strategies. New Jersey: Pearson/Prentice Hall.
Allyn and Bacon ( 2008) .Group and Team Communication Slides.