CHAPTER 11: MEMBERS AND LEADERS

For today, we would talk on members and leaders in a small group communication.

            In a small group communication, there would be a leader and its members. Each of them, the leader and his or her members has their own roles.  There are certain roles that are frequently served by members and leaders serve those rules too. So, what are those roles? First, GROUP TASK ROLES are those who help the group to focus more specifically on achieving goals. Those who perform this role work together as a group rather than an individual. There are 12 types of group task roles.

Initiator-contributor Presents new ideas or perspectives.

Information seeker Seeks for clarification of a matter by asking for facts and opinions.

Opinion seeker Tries to discover the values that underlie their group tasks.

Information giver The one that gives facts and opinions.

Opinion giver Gives values and opinions.

Elaborator Build up on what others had clarified by giving examples and trying to work out possible solutions.

Coordinator Helps in coordinating the activities of different members.

Orienter Summarize the things said and addresses the direction the group is taking.

Evaluator-critic Evaluates the decisions made before providing the group with positive and negative feedback.

Energizer Stimulates the group to be more active.

Procedural technician They focus on mechanical duties such as distributing group materials.

Recorder The one who jots down the activities done by the group.

Relationships must be nourished for a group to function effectively, at the same time members would feel satisfied and are productive. But, what if the group needs are not met? Members of the group would frequently engage in conflict. Thus, they might find the group process unsatisfying. However, fear not as we could use the 7 specific roles of GROUP BUILDING AND MAINTENANCE ROLES.

First, we have the encourager who supplies members with positive reinforcement in the form of social approval or praise. For example, praising your member for a job well done or approve their proposed ideas. Secondly, there is the harmonizer who mediates the differences among group members. Some use compromise as a way to resolve conflict between group member ideas and these kind of people are known as compromiser. Besides that, some play the role of a gatekeeper-expenditure by reinforcing the efforts of others to keep the channel of communication open. A standard should be set for the functioning of the group as well as for its solutions so, someone should play the role of a standard setter. There is also a role of group observer and commentator whereby they would remember to keep a record of the group proceedings to be used in the group’s evaluation of itself. Lastly, a follower would get along with every group members and passively accepts the ideas of other group members. There are an audience rather than an active member.

            Apart from group task roles and group building and maintenance roles, INDIVIDUAL ROLES are present too. This is a counterproductive role as they would hinder their group’s productivity and members satisfaction. There are 8 type of individual roles.

1.      Aggressor

2.      Blocker

3.      Recognition seeker

4.      Self-confessor

5.      Playboy, playgirl

6.      Dominator

7.      Help seeker

8.      Special interest pleader

Now, how can we that ensure a group has a good or an effective interaction and contribute efficiently? We can perform this by using several ways. First, the interaction process analysis. This is an alternative way to look at the contributions of group members.

Next, member participation is vital. Always emphasize on teamwork. Furthermore, avoid attacking others personally, be open-minded to criticism and allow time for better understanding. Groupthink should be discouraged too which means to not fall into situations where things are agreed, done or disagreed for the sake of convenience.

As mentioned earlier, a group should consist of members and a leader. In most small groups, one person would serve as the leader but in certain groups, leadership would be shared among several people.  A person who is the leader of the group should possess leadership qualities. All of us have potential leadership in ourselves as “leaders are not born, they are made”.  

Source:http://www.exceld.com.au/home/

There are 4 approaches to leadership. First, traits approach to leadership states that a leader should possess certain qualities in order to perform their duties well. Next, functional approach to leadership tells us that a leader should know what action to take when facing with a given situation. Besides that, there is transformational approach to leadership whereby a leader would elevate the group members. Lastly, situational approach to leadership focuses on two main responsibilities of a leader that are accomplishing the task given and making sure that the members are satisfied.

The functions and skills of leadership are essentially significant in a small group. Hence, a leader should always be ready to play their role. It is also their job to activate the group agenda and as well as promote group interaction.  Leadership also helps to empower group members by raising their self-esteem, sharing leadership skills with the group members, being constructively critical and encourage growth and development. Apart from that, an individual with leadership abilities could help to keep member s on track of their work. This could be done by asking questions, summarizing the group’s accomplishment, setting an agenda and focus on current assignments. Next, member satisfaction could be ensured and ongoing evaluation could be encouraged too. Besides that, small group conflict could be managed more easily and lastly a leader with leadership qualities would follow up on their members working process.

However, culture would influence a group’s membership and leadership. First, individualism and collectivism has a great influence towards a membership and leadership. In both context,  a truly capable leader must be able to lead. What differs them is the importance of the members in the group. Individualist culture leaders care less about their members but collectivist cultures they think that a group is a significant entity. Cultural beliefs is also a part of this influence. In Asian cultures, the role of the leader is a very coveted and highly regarded position. Thus, a leader would be well respected. Despite of that, it is not easy to achieve the role of a leader in the Asian culture.

To wrap it all up, both the leader and the members of a small group is equally important in achieving success. Without teamwork, all would fall apart. Henry Ford once said:

“Coming together is a beginning, keeping together is progress, working together is success”

VIDEO PRESENTATION DAY!

     Well, there is class today. It is not a big deal but it is on a SATURDAY! Do you GET ME!! So, it is a big deal after all! Never mind about that, the classroom had just a handful of students. And, yes it is our video presentation day. We were the second group to present our video. We had no experience in video-making before and this was our first..Hopefully this would be the last. It was a tedious process in completing our video. It was a good thing that the video played smoothly or else all our hard work would be *Poof* disappeared just like that.

     Before the video presentation, we continued with our mini presentation for chapter 11,12 & 13. We had done our part for this,so basically we just sat there and look at the remaining groups to present their part. 
     
     How glad we were when class ended. We headed home right away to continue our day off for the week.. So, that is all from us today! Check out the next post which would updated soon!

Source: http://www.teachforthebroadestreach.org/of-interest-to-parents.html

QUIZ DAY!!

Well, well, well....we had Quiz 2 today. (>.<)
Honestly, the questions were not that tough..

AND

that was the good part :)
maybe it is because we were only tested on 2 chapters- 8&9
Glad that it is over~Whee
Oh..we almost  almost forgotten
Presentation today!!
Being the second group was really nerve-racking..
*Giggle*
But, to say the truth, our presentation did went smoothly.
Woah!!Wait a second.
Did we just praised ourself?
Never mind, sometimes it is good to take good credit of a job well done.
Actually this activity is quite good .
It was a great experience for us as we learned how to put important points in our slide and give examples for our points that were not stated in the slide.
Besides that, through this activity we gain some skills on effective presentation.
So, that is all from us today..
Do stay tune for more updates!

PRESENTATION ANYONE?

     Well, for the following three chapters -11,12 &13 we were told by Mr. Anwari that each group would be given a subtopic from any of those main topics. We were asked to create a slideshow and present it during class hours on Thursday.      
     We also had to submit our slides by 5.00 PM the following day. Our group got the topic group building and maintenance roles from chapter 11. Our subtopic was considered short compared with other groups. THANK GOD and of course thank you sir! We are just so lucky. 
Apart from the presentations, the anxious moment was the announcement of our mid-term results. With heavy steps, each of us went out and took our exam paper, peek at the results and the outcome was...

"There were groans, frustrating faces and smiles."

     So,for those who did well, keep up with your good work! For others, just bear in mind that there is always room for improvement :D Once a failure is not always a failure.

CHAPTER 10: SMALL GROUP COMMUNICATION

Small Groups and Teams

A small group is a collection of individuals who are connected to one another by some common purpose, are interdependent, have degree of organizations among them and view themselves as a group. The members of a small group normally are 3-12 people. All the people in small group are as senders and receivers. All of the individuals in the group must have a same aim if not they would not be considered as a group. All the members in the group are interdependent, meaning to say the action of one member has impact for other members. Besides, the members of small group must be connected by some organizing rules which are rigid. The self-perception as a group is important among the members. They must view themselves as a part of the group to increase the productivity.

For your information, a team is a kind of small group too. The team is defined as a small group constructed for a specific purpose whose members have clearly defined roles, whose members are committed to pursue the same goal and that is content focused. A team is usually constructed for a particular task. After the task is completed, they might be assigned to other teams or go their separate ways. Each member's role is clearly defined in the team, each of them has an unique function and is an authority in a specific area. Furthermore, the members in a team know exactly what they goal is and they are committed to achieve the same target. Teams are also more content focused and their communication proceeds largely through exchange of content messages.

Small groups and teams use a variety of channels. Nowadays, small groups and teams interaction take place online besides face-to-face interaction. Virtual groups not only serving the relationship purpose but also serving business task purposes as well. Examples of virtual groups are Twitter and Facebook.

There are 5 small group stages. First is the opening stage. It is usually a getting acquainted time in which members introduce themselves. Next, we move on to the feedforward stages. The members attempt to identify what needs to be done, who will do it. Third is the business stage. This is the stage where the actual work begins. After that is the feedback stage. The group may reflect on what it has done and their performances will be evaluated as well. The last stage is closing. The group members may focus on individuality again.

Small groups serve their functions in a variety of formats like the round table, the panel, the symposium and the symposium-forum. In the round table format, group members are arranged in a circular or semicircular pattern. They share information or solve problem without any set of rules of who speaks when. The group interaction is informal. In the panel, group members are expert but participate informally and without any set pattern of who speaks when,as in a round table. The difference is that there is an audience whose members may inject comment or ask questions. A variation is two-panel format , with an expert panel and a lay panel. The lay panel discuss the topic and may turn to expert panel when in need of technical information. In symposium, each member delivers a prepared presentation. All speeches are addressed to different aspects of a single topic. While the symposium-forum consists of 2 parts, a symposium ( prepared speech ) and a forum, with questions from the audience and responses by speaker.

Small groups also develop their own culture. The cultural dimension of small group are small group norms and high or low context. Group norms are rules or standards of behavior identifying which behaviors are appropriate and which are inappropriate. Sometimes, the rules is explicit ; they are clearly stated in a company contract or policy. Some are implicit, which is common sense and understand by all the members. The small group norms are differ from one society to another. For example, in US, men and women are expected to interact together for making decision or socialization-purpose. Whereas in Muslim and Buddhist societies, religious restrictions prevent mixed-gender group.

Norms that regulate a particular group member's behavior, called role expectations, identify what each person in an organization is expected to do. You are more likely to accept the norms when your group is cohesive. Cohesiveness means you and other members are closely connected and depend on one other in order to meet your needs. A high-context culture is a culture in which much of the information in communication is in the context or in the person rather than explicitly coded in verbal messages. In high-context culture, people have lots of information in common, so it does not have to be made explicit. A low-context culture is a culture which most of the information in communication is explicitly stated in verbal messages. In low-context culture, people do not assume they share certain information so all the crucial details are made explicitly.

Power enables one person to control behaviors of others. There are six major types of power, legitimate, referent, reward, coercive, expert and information power. You have legitimate power when a person believes you have a right by virtue of your position. For example, parents have legitimate power to control their children. You have referent power when that person wishes to be like you or identified with you. Your referent power increases when you are well-respected. You have reward power if you are able to give the person rewards either in material or social form. Then, you have coercive power if you have the ability to remove rewards or administer punishments. You own expert power if group members regard you as having expertise or knowledge. Lastly, you have information power if you are seen as someone who can communicate logically and persuasively.

There are 4 types of group.

IDEA-GENERATION GROUPS

Idea-generation groups are small groups that exist solely to generate ideas and often follow a pattern called brainstorming. Brainstorming is a technique for bombarding a problem by generating as many ideas as possible. It involves two stages, brainstorming period proper and evaluation period. Each person has to contribute as many as ideas after the problem is stated. 4 general rules are followed during the idea-generating session. Firstly, don't criticize and all the evaluations should be suspended during brainstorming session. Second, strive for quantity. Come out as more ideas as you can. Third, combine and extend ideas. Lastly, develop the wildest idea. After this, all the ideas that are generated will be evaluated one by one.

 PERSONAL GROWTH GROUPS

Personal growth groups sometimes are referred as support groups, aim to help members handle their particular difficulties. There are 3 types of personal growth groups. Firstly, the encounter group. It is known as sensitivity groups or Training groups. These groups try to facilitate members' personal growth and foster their ability to deal effectively with other people. Second, the assertiveness training group. It aims to increase the willingness of members to stand up for their rights and act more assertively in various kind of situations. Distinctions between being assertive, non-assertive and aggressive are made too. Third, the consciousness-raising group. This group helps people cope with the problems society confronts them with. The members of this group all have something in common and this commonality leads the members join together to help one another.

INFORMATION SHARING GROUPS

The purpose of information sharing groups is to enable members acquire new information or skills through a sharing of knowledge. All members have something to learn and teach in this group. The example will be education or learning groups and focus group. In education or learning groups, the members pool their knowledge to the benefit of all, as in the popular law and medical student learning groups. Members may follow a variety of discussion pattern. In focus group, a small group assembled for a kind of in-depth interview. The aim is to discover what people think about an issue or product. A leader also tries to discover the beliefs, attitudes, thoughts and feelings that members have to help the organization make decision in the focus group.

PROBLEM-SOLVING GROUPS

A problem-solving group is a collection of individuals who meet to solve problem or to reach a decision. It requires not only knowledge of a small group communication techniques but also a thorough knowledge of the particular problem. It usually demands faithful adherence to a somewhat rigid set of rules. The problem-solving sequences is the technique that used most often. There are six steps of the sequence to ensure the problem solving more efficient and effective. Define and analyze the problem, establish criteria, identify possible solutions, evaluate solutions, select the best solutions and test the selected solutions.

There are 3 groups approaches which are largely rely on problem-solving techniques. Firstly, the nominal group technique. It is a method of problem solving which uses limited discussion and confidential voting to obtain a group decision. It's helpful for those members who are reluctant to voice their opinions. In the Delphi method, a group of experts is established but there is no interaction among them, they communicate by repeatedly responding to questionnaires instead. This method is useful when you want to involve people who are geographically distant from one another, when you need all members to become part of the solution and to uphold it or when you want to minimize the consequences of dominant members or even the peer pressure. A quality circle is a group of workers ( usually 6-12 ) whose task it is to investigate and make recommendations for improving the quality of some organizational function. The basic assumption is that people who work on similar tasks will be best able to improve their departments or jobs by pooling their insights and working through problems they share. Quality circle members use any methods that they think is helpful to investigate problems.

In problem-solving groups, there are six critical thinking hats.

Hat	Focus
The Fact Hat (White)	Focus on the data (facts and figures) that causes the problem.
The Feeling Hat (Red)	Mainly focuses on feelings, emotions and intuition regarding the problem.
The Negative Argument Hat (Black)	In proposed solution, the focus is on the possible negative aspects of the proposed solutions.
The Positive Argument Hat (Yellow)	In proposed solution, the focus is on the possible positive aspects of the solutions.
The Creative New Idea Hat (Green)	New ways to look at a problem and can be easily integrated with the techniques of brainstorming are the focus.
The Control of Thinking Hat (Blue)	Focuses mainly on the thinking processes that are going into finding a solution.

Source:http://www.storyboardthat.com/articles/business/brain-storming/six-thinking-hats

CHAPTER 9: FRIENDS, LOVERS AND FAMILIES -Part 3

~FAMILIES~

What does family means to you? For some, the word FAMILY is not in the dictionary of their life. Little do they know, family is the tree of their life. So, what is family? Families normally follow a certain set of rules or criteria such as defined roles, recognition of responsibilities shared history and future, and a shared living space. There are many types of families and each family has their own uniqueness and characteristics.

Traditional couples

This is a conventional form of family. They share the basic values, beliefs, tolerance for one another and philosophy of life. Besides that, they believe in mutual sharing and seldom do things separately.

Independent couples

Individuality is stressed as the main theme in the family. Individuals spend more time with outside friends. Conflict in the family is engaged openly.

Separate couples

Individuals in this family stay together for a common benefit such as paying the rent and bills. Living together is just for convenience not because of closeness or mutual love. Each person would see himself or herself as a separate individual. There is no “we” in their vocabulary.

Source:http://ckuw.ca/programs/detail/family-matters/

In a family, there are certain principles of communication. There are for general communication patterns in a family.

Equality	§        Individual in families would often seek an equal terms of respect, love and understanding with one another. §       Conflicts may happen but they are not threatening to the relationship.
Balanced split	§       There is a balanced amount of  responsibilities among the family members. §        For instance, the man goes to work to earn money while the woman stays at home to take care of the children.
Unbalanced split	§       In this case, one is seen to dominate more than half of the expertise areas in communication. §       Example: A mother has to work for money and simultaneously take care of  the home but the father just stay at home unemployed without lending a helping hand at the house work.
Monopoly	§       One person is the authority §       This is a very traditional and conventional family setting. §       Arguments and bitter conflicts happens when authority is challenged.

 A family is greatly influenced by culture, gender and technology.

Family and culture

–     Highly individualist cultures would not have a conductive setting for a healthy family. –     They would often be prepared to accept changes and self-disclosure.

Family and technology

–     research showed that while the participants in the family are more active in conversation, with one another via media such as text message, email and Facebook –     However, the quality and value of those conversations are actually diluted, almost meaningless and lack of sincerity

Source:http://www.ppmapartments.com/blog/new-years-resolutions-you-can-actually-keep/family/

 That is all on FRIENDS, LOVERS AND FAMILIES!

CHAPTER 9: FRIENDS, LOVERS AND FAMILIES -Part 2

ROMANTIC

RELATIONSHIPS

©©©©©©©©©©©©

           Have you ever been involved in a romantic relationship? If yes, do you know you are involved what kind of love? Well, there are actually many types of love. However, above all, there are 6 major types of love. They are eros, ludus, storge, pragma, mania and agape.

Source: http://melissaphillips.wordpress.com/2014/02/13/whats-love-got-to-do-with-it-2/

Now, let us look at a more details for the types of love.

You are an EROS lover if you love you companion due to her beauty or his good-looking, handsome face. At times, the beauty you are looking for is not attainable in reality.

For a LUDUS lover, as they seek for entertainment and excitement in their partner, they may have tendencies towards sexual aggression. It is more like a game-playing or uncommitted love. Those people who pursue ludic love may have many conquests but they remain uncommitted.

STORGE is a slow developing love. It is a gradual process of unfolding their companion’s thoughts and feelings. Change in this relationship is slow and it is difficult to define the stand of their relationship at a stand of time.

Social qualifications are important for those who are into a PRAGMA love. For example, in Asian countries, it is essentially vital for man to own a house, a car and have a sustainable job before he can marry the woman of his dreams. Pragma lovers choose their partner carefully and have realistic romantic expectations.

A MANIA lover is obsessive with his or her partner. They want to be possessed and loved intensely. Most people who are individualists and have a low ambiguity society tend to fall into this category. They frequently think “I am very lonely” or “I need a man/woman to love me”. However, when they do, they will have paranoid thoughts such as “She only loves me because I’m wealthy” or “Will he leave me for another prettier girl?

AGAPE love is usually associated with spiritual love-the love towards our God or the love of a parent to their child. This is the most selfless form of love.

Source:http://www.reliancechurch.org/2012/02/08/agape-the-perfect-love/

Regardless of what type of love you are in right now, love actually enhance all forms of verbal and non-verbal communications. Love also encourages a deeper level of conversation. This is love and communication.

Just like friendships, in Part 1 of chapter 9, love is also influenced by culture, gender and technology. In culture and love, across the universe, depending on culture love is interpreted and practiced differently. Take America as an example, lovers are more intimate and more active in showing their love. They would buy flowers for their loved ones and even express their love to their partner in front of the public. In Asian countries, love is a taboo topic until the individuals have reached a certain age. We could say that love takes a more passive position in Asian countries.

On gender and love, both men and women love differently. Men are known to be a more eros and ludic lovers and women are mostly pragma lovers. Lastly, just like friendships, the meaning of love is weakened by the growth of technology too. WHY? Well, nonverbal cues and verbal cues are deteriorated by the cold and digital texts and messages sent through media such as emails, text messages, Facebook and Twitter. 

That is all about romantic relationships and always remember this:

“Loving someone and having them love you back is the most precious thing in the world.”

-The Rescue by Nicholas Sparks-

CHAPTER 9: FRIENDS, LOVERS AND FAMILIES -Part 1

~FRIENDSHIPS~

Source:http://www.imagesquote.com/quotes/friendship/

In our life, we meet many people whom we regard as our friend. However, most of them are just Hello and Bye friends. True friendship is not easy to find but when you do find one, it is difficult to let them go when the time comes. So, what is friendship? 

Friendship is actually an interpersonal relationship between two people. It is also mutually productive and once destructiveness enters into it, a friendship will no longer exist. Besides that, friendships are characterized by mutual positive regard whereby we like our friend and our friend likes us. Trust, emotional support and sharing interests are three major characteristics of friends.

Friendships differ from one another and there are 3 types of friendship. First is the friendship of reciprocity. This is the ideal type of friendship as it involves loyalty, self-sacrifice, mutual affection and generosity. It is based on equality-both sides give and receive the same amount of rewards and benefits in their relationship. 

Next, there is friendship of receptivity. In this type of friendship, one is the primary giver while the other is the primary receiver. This causes and imbalance in giving and receiving. Examples of this kind of friendship are between teacher and student or maybe between a doctor and patient.

 Lastly is the friendship of association whereby it is a friendly relationship rather than true friendship. There is no great loyalty, no great trust and no great giving and receiving involved. We usually have this type of friendship with our co-workers, classmates and neighbours.

Source: http://www.quotesdump.com/friends-give-us-security-

friendship-quote/friends-give-us-security-friendship-quote-2/

Now, we know that there are three different types of friendship. But, why do we seek for friendship? What are the qualities we are looking for in someone to create a connection of friendship with him or her? Below are some of the most popular needs served by friendship:

The Needs	Explanation
Utility	©      At times, we need someone who may have special talent, skills or resources that would help us to achieve our specific goals and needs.       ©      Example: Our friend who is good in studies would help us with the subjects that we are weak.
Affirmation	©      We need someone to appreciate and recognize our personal value and attributes.
Ego support	©      We have a need for someone who would act as a supporter, encourager.
Stimulation	©      Friendships help us to satisfy our need for stimulation by introducing us new ideas and showing us a different perspective of the world.
Security	©      We have a need for a friend that does nothing to hurt us.      ©      They do not emphasize or pay attention to or weakness.

Those are the five main reasons on our friendship needs. Next, let us move on to the development stages of friendship. There are three main friendship development stages. The first stage of friendship is CONTACT AND ACQUAINTANCESHIP. In this stage, we form impressions and it is vital to stay open and welcome the presence of our new acquaintance.

CASUAL FRIENDSHIP is the second stage of friendship development. Dyadic consciousness that is a sense of togetherness is involved. We do things together as a unit rather than as separate individuals. For instance, we go to school and have lunch together.

The last stage of friendship development is CLOSE AND INTIMATE FRIENDSHIP. This is the most intimate form of togetherness. We see our friend and ourselves as an exclusive unit. At this point, we know each other well. We would also view this friend as an important one in our life.

 That is how our friendship develops over time. Despite of those development stages, there are times certain factors influences our friendship and the way we view a friendship. First is the culture and friendships. In one way or another, culture brings a different meaning to friendships and relationships. For instance, for collective society they have a mindset that the more friends you have, the better it would be but for individualist society, the think that more friends would only result in a low chance of getting a promotion in their workplace. Besides that, for people with high ambiguity, presence of friends are usually accepted and welcomed while for people with low ambiguity, they would wonder why should they hang out would people whom they do not know.

 Secondly is gender and friendships. Both female and male view friendships and relationships differently. So, how do they view their friendships and relationships? Men are usually keener to develop more acquaintances but not true friends. On the other hand, women are more able to keep and maintain close friends around them. However, women have a higher tendency to get jealous. Apart from that, men would self-disclose themselves less due to their ego.

           

 Lastly, there is technology and friendships. The constant development of technology has led to a great impact on relationships including friendships. Thus, we can say that the improvement and usage of technology in our lives has weakened the true meaning of friendship. In the olden times, we could count the number of friends we have with our fingers. It is considered meaningful if we have 10 friends whom we can keep in touch. Nowadays, we have thousands of friends in social networks like Facebook but we only keep in a touch with a few of them of a regular basis. Take a moment and think for yourself, “Is the kind of friendship that you want?” Remember, quality is always better than quantity. There is no use having so many friends but they would not stand up for you in your time of need.