CHAPTER 19 GROUP COMMUNICATION

MGT 3213 – ORG. COMMUNICATION

Mississippi State UniversityCollege of Business

Benefits of Teams

Creates flat organizational structures Increases efficiency

Allows for synergy Achieve more collectively than individually “Two heads are better than one”

Improves decision-making Improves employee motivation Improves employee acceptance of

change

Characteristics of Effective Teams Members share a common goal Size

Want lots of interaction? Go small Want broad input? Go large 5-7 members best for decision-making Should be an odd number to break ties

Directed by strong leadership Members play a variety of roles

Negative Group Roles Dominator Free rider Detractor Digresser Airhead Socializer

Positive Group Roles Facilitator Harmonizer Record keeper Reporter Leader

Life Cycle of Member Roles

Still an outsider

Knows the “rules” And looked to for leadership

Focuses on differences

No longerinvolved

No longerconsidereda member

Stages of Team Development

Team Behaviors atthe Performing Stage Commitment Cooperation Communication Contribution

Barriers to EffectiveGroup Decision-Making Oversampling

Tendency to focus on shared knowledge of group members

Using discussion to avoid making decisions

Polarization Responses of groups tend to be more

extreme than individual members’ responses Limited interpersonal skills

Examples of Interpersonal Barriers to Decision-Making Poor communication skills Egocentric behavior Nonparticipation Sidetracked Interruptions Negative leader behavior Attitudes and emotions

Groupthink Occurs when:

Group members dominate the discussion Group members are intimidated by others Group members care more about social

acceptability than reaching the best solution

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYIh4MkcfJA&feature=related

Avoiding Groupthink Encourage voicing objections and critical

thinking Try to avoid ego and emotions to

improve objective thinking Divide into separate groups Get outsider’s feedback Appoint a devil’s advocate Hold a “second chance” meeting

Types of Conflict Personal conflict Task conflict Process conflict

Personal Conflict Dislike of other group members Dissimilar personalities lead to more

dislike and conflict Why more diverse groups tend to have

more conflict

Task Conflict Conflicts about the group goal or

purpose of their work Disagreements about issues that are

relevant to the group’s goals and outcomes

Positive conflict Why groups are used to complete tasks Can turn into personal conflict

Process Conflict Conflict about how the work gets done

(the process) Can be minimized by adopting workplace

procedures and rules But that can hinder creativity and flexibility

Other Sources of Conflict Personality

Competitors vs. cooperators Norm of reciprocity Free riding

Occurs most frequently when individual’s contributions are combined into a single product

Conflict Resolution Styles Competition Collaboration Compromise Avoidance Accommodation

Ineffective CommunicationDuring a Conflict Mind-reading

In a conflict, we often think we know more than we really do about why the other person did something.

You tell them why they did something , or what they were thinking, rather than asking them.

Self-summarizing When you keep repeating what you’ve already

said in the fight. It ignores the response of the other party.

Ineffective CommunicationDuring a Conflict Cross-complaining

Both parties share complaints and fail to listen to the other side.

“You’ve been late to all our meetings this week.” “And you’ve failed to post the minutes to the website.”

Kitchen-sinking The parties bring up more and more past

issues. Escalates the conflict.

Meeting Management Face-to-face vs. electronic When should you schedule face-to-face

meetings? When you need the richest nonverbal cues When the issue is sensitive When the participants don’t know each other When you need to establish group rapport When no other channel or medium of

communication will suffice

Meeting Management Advantages of electronic

Convenient for geographically dispersed teams

Speed up follow-up activities May limit dominator group types

Drawbacks of electronic Don’t effectively build group rapport Make it harder to reach consensus

Tips for Effective Meetings What are two reasons why you should

distribute an agenda in advance?

How does using agendas and minutes minimize the effect of free-riders?