Group RolesHolly Claus

Kirstyn DaviesAndrew Papadopoulos

John PizzedazMariah Strong

Roles will develop as a situation occurs. They will not stay consistent

throughout a situation but will be likely to change based on

communication. Roles can develop more strongly or can become weaker

based on the other members and roles that they play.

WHAT HAT WILL YOU WEAR?

Throughout life people wear different “hats” based on the

situation that they are put into.

Will a person only wear one hat in a given situation?

FUNCTIONAL APPROACH• Social system that has specific goals of making a

decision or solving a problem. • In order to reach goals one must perform the

functions• Demonstrated by the communication behavior

during group meetings.

A repeatable pattern of communicative behaviors that group members come to expect from each other.

WHAT IS THE MEANING OF ROLE?

• Statements that group members make and then send messages to other group members about who they are and what function they serve.

Kenneth Benne & Paul Sheats (1948)

• When group members engage in communication to reduce uncertainty about the work the group is doing, they also evaluate the behaviors of other members.

Steven Beebe & John Masterson (2003)

PROPOSTIONS OF ROLES 1) Roles are learned

behaviors • Assigned• Emerged

2) Self- Concept affects role behavior• Each member

helps to establish an identity

3) Multiple roles are played simultaneously

Group requires members to assume a new role but they feel reluctant to do so.

ROLE DEVELOPMENT Information Seeking • How it is said• Who they say it to• Content of the

information • How to gain the

information

Feedback • Response given by

the speaker• Individual roles• Evaluate role

performance• Motivation

• Negative • Positive

• Ambiguous• Little information is given

• Neither positive nor negative• Not enough clarification

FORMAL ROLES • Specific positions

• Assigned • Appointed• Elected

• Keeping the group on task and moving toward the ultimate goal

• Move group towards goals• Convince the audience that

group has achieved goal• External and internal

influences• Most complex role

• Take the minutes• Record actions of the

group • Group Meetings• Important dates

• Challenges member’s ideas

• Constructive criticism• Think through all the

steps• Positive and negative

solutions

INFORMAL ROLES• Emerges through member interaction• More than 1 member can perform each role• There are 5 types of informal roles

1. Task Leader2. Social- Emotional Leader3. Information Provider4. Central Negative 5. Tension Releaser 6. Follower

• Take charge attitude• Technical skills

• Problem- solving abilities• Puts group members at ease

• Mutual respect for all members• Support ideas

• Building relationships • Maintaining member quality

• Synthesize information• Facts• Stats

• Examples

Central Negative• Challenges group

decisions• Strong criticism• Unhappy with group

work

Tension Releaser• Light humor• Smiles• Eases tensions of the

group

• Goes along with the group• Doesn’t complain

• Physically following the group

DEVIANT ROLES• Destroy groups productivity and success because

the communication focuses on the individual member rather than the group.

• Aggressor- attacks members verbally and group tasks • Dominator- shows superiority

Benne & Sheats (1948)

ROLE FLEXIBILITY • The skills and abilities need to be processed to

engage in a variety of group member roles. • Resist role rigidity • Group goals come before individual goals• Contribute to group task roles

Click icon to add pictureWhen Hiking Goes

Wrong Our journey from day 1!

Day 1• Dr. Webber assigned each group a Leader (Holly)• Based on our self-evaluations we were placed into

groups• Our first meeting day we created a group contract

• Everyone read what they viewed themselves as• Everyone read what they wanted their

experience to be like• Decided to make group decisions by voting• Kirstyn volunteered to take the minutes at our

meetings

Day 2• Brainstorming Day

• Everyone brought ideas of what we wanted to do our project on• We voted to make a video for our presentation• Everyone’s decisions were heard and

evaluated throughout the group• We voted on the top three ideas to do our

video on

Day 3• Planning was put into action

• Holly wrote the script based on personalities she saw in the group and the evaluations that each group member had read. • Mariah had role strain when she saw that she

was going to have to get into an argument with Andrew. • John was the member in the group that was

very task oriented and Holly portrayed that in his character in the film

Filming Day• Leader- Holly & Andrew• Recorder- Kirstyn• Critical Advisor- Andrew & John• Task Leader- Andrew• Social- Emotional Leader- Mariah & Kirstyn• Information Provider- John• Tension releaser- Mariah & Kirstyn • Dominator- Andrew• Aggressor- Kirstyn• Follower- Mariah

References

Myers, S.A., & Anderson, C.M. (2008). The fundamentals of small group communication. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage