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