Group Communication ThenThe first study that was published on group communication in the New School era of communication study was credited to Edwin Black in 1955. He studied the breakdowns in group interactions by looking at communication sequences in groups. However, it wasn’t until the 1960s and 70s that a large number of studies in group communication began to appear. Between 1970 and 1978 114 articles were published on group communication and 89 more were published by 1990 (Stacks & Salwen, 2014). Studying group communication is still important over a decade later as more and more organizations focus on group work for achieving their goals. Show
You may be asking yourself, what about teams? We have focused primarily on groups, but it’s critical to remember the importance of team communication characteristics as well as group communication characteristics. Check out this article (Richards, 2017) that breaks down team characteristics and skills that ensure team success (we bet you’ll find similarities to the group characteristics that we have just explained). Types of GroupsNot all groups are the same or brought together for the same reasons. Brilhart and Galanes (1998) categorize groups “on the basis of the reason they were formed and the human needs they serve”. Let’s take a look!
Click here For a Complete List of Registered Student Organizations
After looking at the various types of groups, it’s probably easy for you to recognize just how much of your daily interaction occurs within the contexts of groups. The reality is, we spend a great deal of time in groups, and understanding the types of groups you’re in, as well as their purpose, goes a long way toward helping you function as a productive member. Importance of Studying Communication in Groups and TeamsOne of the reasons communication scholars study groups and teams is because of the overwhelming amount of time we spend interacting in groups in professional contexts. More and more professional organizations are turning to groups and teams as an essential way of conducting business and getting things done. Even professions that are seemingly independent, such as being a college professor, are heavily laden with group work. The process of writing this book was a group effort as the authors and their students worked in groups to bring the book to you. Each of us had specific roles and tasks to perform. Another vital area of group communication concerns the study of social change or social movement organizations. Groups such as People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and the National Organization for Women (NOW) are all groups bound together by a shared social and political commitment — to promote the rights of nonhuman animals, African-Americans, and women respectively. While individuals can be committed to these ideas, the social, political, and legal rights afforded to groups like these would not have been possible through individual action alone. It was when groups of like-minded people came together with shared commitments and goals, pooling their skills and resources, that change occurred. Just about any Interest Group, you can think of has a presence in Washington D.C. and spends money to maintain that presence. This site has a summary of the kinds of Interest Groups that operate in Washington, DC and how they operate (USHistory.org, 2017). The study of social movements reveals the importance of groups for accomplishing goals. Bowers, Ochs, Jensen, and Schulz (2010), in The Rhetoric of Agitation and Control, explain seven progressive and cumulative strategies through which movements progress as they move toward success. Three of the seven strategies focus explicitly on group communication—-promulgation, solidification, and polarization. Promulgation refers to “a strategy where agitators publicly proclaim their goals and it includes tactics designed to win public support.” Without a sufficient group, the actions of individual protesters are likely to be dismissed. The strategy of solidification “occurs mainly inside the agitating group” and is “primarily used to unite followers.” The point is to unite group members and provide sufficient motivation and support. The communication that occurs through the collective action of singing songs or chanting slogans serves to unite group members. Because the success of social movements depends in part on the ability to attract a large number of followers, most employ the strategy of polarization, which is designed to persuade neutral individuals or “fence sitters” to join a group. The essence of this strategy is captured in the quote from Eldridge Cleaver, “You are either part of the problem or part of the solution.” Taken together, these three strategies stress that the key to group success is the sustained effort of group members working together through communication. Case In Point: The Historic Number of Women in the 113th CongressThis Congress has 102 female members, including 20 female Senators, the most ever in the history of America. This was also a historic election for women of color. More than half of Asian Americans elected to the 113th Congress are women– including Mazie Hirono (D-HI), who is only the second woman of color and the only Asian American woman ever elected to the Senate. In the House, Grace Meng (D) will become New York’s first Asian American member of Congress, and Iraq War veteran Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) the first American Samoan elected as a voting member of Congress. They will both join Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), a Thai-born, double amputee war hero. Among Latinas, Congresswoman-elect Michele Lujan Grisham became the first Hispanic woman elected representative from New Mexico. The Women’s Caucus The Congressional Caucus for Women’s Issues (CCWI) is a Congressional Member Organization (CMO) registered with the House Administration Committee; its membership includes the women members of the House of Representatives. CCWI is not formally affiliated with Women’s Policy, Inc. (WPI); however, the two organizations share similar goals. This relates to our collectivistic culture in organizational groups. WPI is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization whose sole focus is to help ensure that the most informed decisions on key women’s issues are made by policymakers at the federal, state, and local levels. Audiences include elected officials, regulators, women’s groups, labor groups, academia, the business community, the media, and the general public. WPI achieves and shares its rare quality of insight into relevant issues by researching and producing the best available information in the form of compelling and unbiased legislative analyses, issue summaries, impact assessments, and educational briefings. This ensures that policy decisions affecting women and their families have the benefit of input from the most objective sources possible. Not only do Communication scholars focus on work and social movements, we are also interested in the role that one’s cultural identity and membership plays in our communicative choices, and how we interpret the communication of others. This focus sheds interesting insights when we examine membership and communication in groups and teams. One reason for this is that different cultures emphasize the role of individuals while other cultures emphasize the importance of the group. Thus, whether we view group work as favorable or unfavorable may stem from our cultural background. The U.S. is considered an individualistic culture in that we value the work and accomplishments of the individual through ideas such as being able to “pull yourself up by the bootstraps” and create success for yourself. Who define group as two or more individuals interacting and interdependent who have come together to achieve particular objectives?1. Definition of Group Stephen P. Robins: “two or more individuals, interacting and interdependent, who have come together to achieve particular objectives.” G. C.
Is defined as two or more freely interacting individuals who share?A group is defined as two or more freely interacting individuals who share collective norms, share collective goals, and have a common identity.
What is the definition of a command group?A Command Group is a group in which there is a formalized structure with superiors and subordinates. Superiors issue commands or orders that are to be followed by the subordinates. A Task Group is not characterized by a hierarchical structure.
What is groups in organizational behavior?A group can be defined as two or more interacting and interdependent individuals who come together to achieve particular objectives. A group behavior can be stated as a course of action a group takes as a family.
|