Lecture A systems approach to small group interaction (8/e): Chapter 1 - Stewart L. Tubbs

Chapter 1 - What is small group interaction? This chapter lays the groundwork for the rest of the book. It begins with a definition of small group interaction. It includes a section that explains why studying small groups is useful and a section on empowerment. Chapter 1 also introduces systems theory along with a general systems model.

CCHH AAPP TT EE RR What is Small Group Interaction? Stewart L Tubbs McGraw­Hill © 2004 The McGraw­Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Slide What is Small Group Interaction? • • • • • • McGraw­Hill McGraw­Hill Glossary Case Study A Definition Empowerment A Conceptual Orientation for Small Groups The Systems Approach © 2004 The McGraw­Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved © 2004 The McGraw­Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Slide Glossary • Cycles—characterized by the results of group interaction  being fed back to the group and becoming input for future  interactions. For example, a team’s success adds strength to  the group’s cohesion in future activities • Differentiation—the specialization that occurs among  people in small group communication • Dynamic Equilibrium—reached at a point at which  the forces to change and the forces to resist change are  equal • Empowerment—a leadership style that enables group  members to utilize their talents, abilities, and knowledge  more effectively McGrawưHill McGrawưHill â2004TheMcGrawưHillCompanies,Inc.Allrightsreserved â2004TheMcGrawưHillCompanies,Inc.Allrightsreserved Slide Glossary ã Equifinalitythepotentialforadaptationthatgroups possess. This allows for various possible approaches to  achieve a goal • Feedback—information groups receive and use to  modify themselves • Input—the raw material of small group interaction. It  includes the six relevant background factors: personality,  gender, age, health, attitudes, and values. It also includes  information the group receives from outside the group • Integration—in small group communication, integration  is synonymous with organization. It is the coordination of  the various parts of the group McGraw­Hill McGraw­Hill © 2004 The McGraw­Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved © 2004 The McGraw­Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Slide Glossary • Negative Entropy—entropy is characterized by all  systems moving toward disorganization or death. Negative  entropies are the forces that maintain the organization of a  system • Output—includes solutions, interpersonal relations,  improved information flow, risk taking, intrapersonal  growth,andorganizationchange.Itissometimescalledthe endresultofgroupinteraction ã Throughputreferstoalltheactualverbaland nonverbalbehaviorsthatoccurinthecourseofagroup discussion McGrawưHill McGrawưHill â2004TheMcGrawưHillCompanies,Inc.Allrightsreserved â2004TheMcGrawưHillCompanies,Inc.Allrightsreserved Slide Glossary • Virtual Teams—teams in which members  communicate with each other through computers and may  or may not be located near one another McGraw­Hill McGraw­Hill © 2004 The McGraw­Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved © 2004 The McGraw­Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Slide Case Study “Let’s Roll” 1. What does this case study tell you about the potential  influence that groups can have on individual behavior? 2. Identify and discuss as many examples as you can that  you have observed of group influence on college  students’ behaviors 3. From your own experience, how do you think that  groups can be used to have positive influences on  college students? What about people in other age  groups? 4. What would you most like to learn from this course? 5. What expectations or concerns do you have? McGraw­Hill McGrawưHill â2004TheMcGrawưHillCompanies,Inc.Allrightsreserved â2004TheMcGrawưHillCompanies,Inc.Allrightsreserved Slide A Definition ã Smallgroupinteraction – 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, 1992, p. 9) McGraw­Hill McGraw­Hill © 2004 The McGraw­Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved © 2004 The McGraw­Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Slide A Definition • Why Study Small Groups? – Modern organizations are undergoing a radical  transformation designed to better utilize human  potential, primarily through the increased use of  small groups • Small groups can help you in college • Learningtoworkeffectivelyinsmallgroupscan saveyoutimeandmoney ã Fewleadersintodayscomplexsocietycansucceed ontheirownwithoutthehelpofcompetentand committedteammembers McGrawưHill McGrawưHill â2004TheMcGrawưHillCompanies,Inc.Allrightsreserved â2004TheMcGrawưHillCompanies,Inc.Allrightsreserved Slide 10 Empowerment • Modern organizations are basing  multibillion­dollar decisions, in part, on the  use of teams – 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 or her  available time to work on more strategic activities McGraw­Hill McGraw­Hill © 2004 The McGraw­Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved © 2004 The McGraw­Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Slide 14 Empowerment—Practical Tips Ten of the most common . . . (continued)   6. Failing to hold teams accountable for their  accomplishments   7. Treating team building as a program rather than as a  process   8. Relying on training alone to develop effective teams   9. Not getting the ground rules straight at the beginning 10. Having an outside facilitator/consultant lead the team  (Huszczo, 1996, pp. 50­58) McGraw­Hill McGraw­Hill © 2004 The McGraw­Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved © 2004 The McGraw­Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Slide 15 A Conceptual Orientation for Small Groups • Small group interaction is very complicated  and involves a large number of factors that  act and interact simultaneously – These factors are in continual state of flux McGraw­Hill McGraw­Hill © 2004 The McGraw­Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved © 2004 The McGraw­Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Slide 16 A Conceptual Orientation for Small Groups McGraw­Hill McGraw­Hill © 2004 The McGraw­Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved © 2004 The McGraw­Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Slide 17 The Systems Approach • An open system such as a group is defined  as an organized set of interrelated and  interacting parts that attempts to maintain its  own balance amid the influences of its  surrounding environment – The consequences, or outputs, of the group are  fed back into the system through the feedback  loop – Systems analysis has become a particularly  popular way of analyzing human behavior in  organizations McGraw­Hill McGrawưHill â2004TheMcGrawưHillCompanies,Inc.Allrightsreserved â2004TheMcGrawưHillCompanies,Inc.Allrightsreserved Slide 18 The Systems Approach ã Gross (1995, p. 113) identifies four  phenomena characteristic of open systems: 1. Entries and exits, which transform outsiders  into members and members into outsiders 2. Multiple membership, which results in  members’ loyalties to outside groups 3. Resource exchange, which involves the  absorption of inputs in the production process  and in the delivery of output produced 4. Mutual or reciprocal influence on the part of  both members and outsiders McGraw­Hill McGraw­Hill © 2004 The McGraw­Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved © 2004 The McGraw­Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Slide 19 General Systems Concepts • A system that has inputs from outside is  called an open system • Throughput includes the process of creating  and modifying ideas in the course of a  discussion • Groups often have an ongoing life history,  during which outputs, or consequences, are  continually being modified on the basis of  continuing interaction McGraw­Hill McGraw­Hill © 2004 The McGraw­Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved © 2004 The McGraw­Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Slide 20 The Systems Approach • The feedback loop represents the cyclical  and ongoing nature of group processes – The process does not begin and end anew with  each group meeting, but rather builds on all the  past experiences of each group member • All systems eventually move toward  disorganization or death – To combat this, a system must employ negative  entropy McGraw­Hill McGraw­Hill © 2004 The McGraw­Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved © 2004 The McGraw­Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Slide 21 The Systems Approach • All systems must receive feedback to  modify themselves • In groups, we each decide whether or not  membership is worth what we are putting  into it • In groups, different people gravitate toward  certain roles – It is a rare group in which all members’ attitudes  are the same toward any topic McGraw­Hill McGrawưHill â2004TheMcGrawưHillCompanies,Inc.Allrightsreserved â2004TheMcGrawưHillCompanies,Inc.Allrightsreserved Slide 22 The Systems Approach ã As groups and organizations become more  complex and differentiated, the need for  integration and coordination of the various  parts increases – Without integration, the group or organization  becomes chaotic McGraw­Hill McGraw­Hill © 2004 The McGraw­Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved © 2004 The McGraw­Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Slide 23 The Systems Approach Synthesis of Group Models McGraw­Hill McGraw­Hill © 2004 The McGraw­Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved © 2004 The McGraw­Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Slide 24 The Systems Approach: The Tubbs Model • The Tubbs Model of Small Group  Interaction: – Helps students grasp the conceptual overview – Shows the dynamic interactive nature of all the  variables in the model and avoids the cause­  and­effect thinking of earlier models – Explicitly shows how consequences, or outputs,  of one small group experience can become  background factors or inputs for the next group  experience McGraw­Hill McGraw­Hill © 2004 The McGraw­Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved © 2004 The McGraw­Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Slide 25 The Systems Approach: The Tubbs Model • Relevant Background Factors – – – – McGraw­Hill McGraw­Hill Personalities Age Health Values © 2004 The McGraw­Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved © 2004 The McGraw­Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Slide 26 The Systems Approach: The Tubbs Model • Internal Influences – – – – – – – McGraw­Hill McGraw­Hill Physical environment Type of group Status and power Leadership Group norms Decision making Conflict © 2004 The McGraw­Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved © 2004 The McGraw­Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Slide 27 The Systems Approach: The Tubbs Model • Consequences – Solutions to problems – Improvements in interpersonal relations – Improvements in the flow of information  between and among people – Organizational change McGraw­Hill McGraw­Hill © 2004 The McGraw­Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved © 2004 The McGraw­Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Slide 28 The Systems Approach: The Tubbs Model—Practical Tips Peter Senge at the Massachusetts Institute of  Technology offers the following applications of the  systems approach 1. Think in systems 2. See interrelationships, not things, and processes, not  snapshots 3. Move beyond blame 4. Focus on area of high leverage 5. Avoid symptomatic solutions (Senge, in Costin, 1996,  pp. 45­46) McGraw­Hill McGraw­Hill © 2004 The McGraw­Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved © 2004 The McGraw­Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved ... for Small Groups • Small? ?group? ?interaction? ?is very complicated  and involves? ?a? ?large number of factors that  act and interact simultaneously – These factors are in continual state of flux McGraw­Hill... Equifinality—the potential for adaptation that groups  possess. This allows for various possible approaches? ?to? ? achieve? ?a? ?goal • Feedback—information groups receive and use? ?to? ? modify themselves • Input—the raw material of? ?small? ?group? ?interaction.  It ...Slide What is Small Group Interaction? • • • • • • McGraw­Hill McGraw­Hill Glossary Case Study A? ?Definition Empowerment A? ?Conceptual Orientation for? ?Small? ?Groups TheSystemsApproach â2004TheMcGrawưHillCompanies,Inc.Allrightsreserved