group & organization

group communication have you ever had the experience of worrying that a group was getting off track when someone made a joke or members talked about sports instead of getting right to work? if so, you were struggling with balancing relationship building and task effort – a tension common to all groups

involved this fact illustrates an aspect of group communication; everything you say in a group helps to make the group what it is and helps to shape the work that the group is doing

questions how often do you ask a question in a group? how does this compare to the number of times you share an opinion? research has shown that giving opinions far exceeds asking questions in most groups

responding what may be even more important is not so much the kinds of things that individuals say but how they respond to one another if one person asks a question, to what extent do others: - answer it; - use it as an opportunity to launch a new topic; - ignore question entirely; - remain silent each of these kinds of responses creates a different relationship among members

many overlapping groups groups really cannot be examined in isolation; they are always part of a larger system group members come and go, people belong to several overlapping groups, the environment changes and groups must adapt to these developments your affiliations with other groups affect what you do and say, and roles change as members leave or new members come into a group

structure & roles groups do have form, and you can see this form in the interactional patterns over time something gets created through interaction within the group, including roles and norms, but also relationships and task accomplishments power structures are also formed within these interactional patterns; when old members leave and new ones arrive, these structures can change, even dramatically

effectiveness because we spend much time in groups, it is natural to question their effectiveness Is it better to do things by yourself or work with a group?... depends on how well the group works together, how focused it is, how much creative and critical thinking the group allows

effectiveness (contin.) how well does the group assess information? how effectively does it create opinions? how critically does the group evaluate ideas?

workshop ‘group decision making is a process in which group members attempt to achieve convergence on a final decision and in so doing structure their social system’ could you reflect on examples from your own experience?

organizational communication we cannot think of any form of society that does not require organization whenever we collaborate to achieve collective action, organization emerges individuals connect to others in some kind of structure, which provide organizational form but form is more than lines of connection on some organizational chart

control organizational form also implies directions of influence within a complex system certain individuals groups exert influence over others certain groups exert influence over other groups certain systems exert forces that control or manage other systems

culture organizations do consist of human beings, after all, and every organization has a certain feel to it what do you feel free to do within an organization? what are you constrained from doing? how do people communicate? is there a sense of formality or informality?

workshop design an ideal organization from scratch. Be creative and visionary. After you explain this organization go back and explain your choices in terms of the concepts from this chapter

source Littlejohn, S. W. & Foss, K. A. (2008) Theories of Human Communication (9th edition).

thank you very much for your attention