1. Chapter 5
Roles in Groups

2. Introduction
Roles – patterns of expected behaviors associated with parts that we play in groups
Examples
Professors/Students
Nurses/Doctors
Employers/Employees

3. Influence of Roles
Role Status – what are the perceptions of your role?
Importance, prestige, power
Role Conflict
Having to balance/choose
How do we prioritize?
Role Reversal
Empathy

4. Types of Roles Formal roles Informal roles Task roles
Position assigned or designated
Informal roles
Emergence
Function, not position
Task roles
How do you contribute to getting things done?

5. Types of Roles Task Roles Maintenance Roles Disruptive Roles
Contributing to task dimensions
e.g. “Information seeker,” “Coordinator,” “Devil’s advocate”
Maintenance Roles
Striving to promote and maintain group cohesiveness
e.g. “Harmonizer-Tension Reliever,” “Gatekeeper-Expediter”
Disruptive Roles
Me-oriented
Diminishes productivity and cohesiveness
e.g. “Clown,” “Cynic”

6. Role Adaptability Tensions during role assignments or formations
Role flexibility
“the capacity to recognize the current requirements of the group and then enact the role-specific behaviors most appropriate in the given context”
Role fixation
“acting out of a specific role and that role alone no matter what the situation might require”
Why should group members exhibit role flexibility?

7. Role Emergence
“Role emergence is a relevant concern primarily to small, informal, leaderless groups without a history.”
Members bid for a desired role and seek endorsement from other members.
Trial-and-error model
Maintenance roles tend to be viewed as lower in status.
Role specialization
Settle into role, but not trapped

8. Newcomers Experiences of new members are influenced by: Hazing
Level of group development
Level of group performance
Number of members
Degree of turnover
Group’s expectations that newcomers will adopt the norms, values, and practices of the group
Hazing
Group socialization