1. Presentation Prepared by: Nader H. Chaaban, Ph.D. Montgomery College Rockville, Maryland McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2012 McGraw-Hill Companies. All Rights Reserved.

2. 1-2 CHAPTER 1 WHAT IS SMALL GROUP INTERACTION?

3. 1-3 WHAT IS SMALL GROUP INTERACTION? A Definition Empowerment A Conceptual Orientation for Small Groups General Systems Approach General Systems Concepts

4. 1-4 A DEFINITION Small group interaction  The process by which three or more members of a group exchange verbal and nonverbal messages in an attempt to influence one another. Team  “ A high performance task group whose members are actively interdependent and share common performance objectives ” (Francis and Young).

5. 1-5 VIRTUAL TEAMS Virtual teams can save organizations time Virtual teams connecting us world-wide continue to grow Research has shown that online games can be used to improve internal communication Teams can perform a premortem which helps teams identify risks at the outset

6. 1-6 A DEFINITION Why Study Small Groups? Organizations are utilizing human potential better through the increased use of small groups. Small groups can help you in college. Working effectively in small groups can save time and money. Few leaders today can succeed without the help of competent and committed team members.

7. 1-7 EMPOWERMENT Empowerment  A leadership style that enables the leader to utilize more effectively the  talents,  abilities, and  knowledge of others and,  at the same time, to increase his/her available time to work on more strategic activities.

8. 1-8 EMPOWERMENT Advantages of empowerment:  Greater productivity  Quicker response to problems  Improved quality of communication between groups  Increased individual motivation  Improved overall organizational effectiveness

9. 1-9 EMPOWERMENT According to Kirkman and Rosen (1999), empowerment has four very closely related dimensions:  Potency  Meaningfulness  Autonomy  Impact

10. 1-10 A CONCEPTUAL ORIENTATION FOR SMALL GROUPS

11. 1-11 THE END