Page 400 - Effective group discussion theory and practice by Adams, Katherine H. Brilhart, John K. Galanes, Gloria J
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Glossary               383

                     Content- oriented listener: A listener who enjoys analyzing   Disjunctive task: A type of group task in which members
                       information, dissecting others’ arguments; can be seen   work on parts of the group problem independently,
                       as overly critical.                           with little or no coordination of effort through discus-
                     Context: The situation or environment that influences the   sion needed.
                       dynamics of communication.                 Distributed leadership: The concept that group leader-
                     Contingency approach: The study of leadership that assu-  ship is the responsibility of the group as a whole, not
                       mes the appropriate leadership style in a given situation   just the designated leader; assumes that all members
                       depends on factors such as members’ skills and knowl-  can and should provide needed leadership services
                       edge, time available, the type of task, and so forth.  to the group.
                     Cooperative requirements: The degree to which members’   E
                       efforts need to be coordinated for a group to complete
                       its task successfully (see also Conjunctive task).  Electronic brainstorming: Brainstorming on computers
                                                                     linked to a large screen that display all responses, but
                     Criteria: Standards for judging among alternatives; may
                       be absolute (must) or relative.               no one knows who contributed which items.
                                                                  Emergent leader: Member of an initially leaderless group
                     Critical thinking: The systematic examination of informa-
                       tion and ideas on the basis of evidence and logic rather   who,  by  virtue  of  information  and  communication
                       than intuition, hunch, or prejudgment.        competencies, rises from within the group to enact
                     Critique: Analysis and criticism of something, such as   leadership functions and is viewed as the leader by all
                                                                     or most members.
                       identification of strengths and weaknesses in a small
                       group’s process and interaction.           Emoticon: Typographical symbols used in computer-
                                                                     mediated communication to convey emotions in reg-
                     Culture: The patterns of values, beliefs, symbols, norms,   ular text, such as the smiley face :-).
                       procedures, and behaviors that have been historically
                       transmitted to and are shared by a given group of   Environment:  The  context  or  setting  in  which  a  small
                       persons.                                      group system exists; the larger systems of which a
                                                                     small group is a component.
                     D                                            Equifinality:  The  principle  that  different  systems  can
                     Decision making: Choosing from among a set of alternatives.  reach the same outcome even if they have different
                     Deep  diversity: Member  differences not  due to visible   starting places.
                       characteristics such as sex and race but to factors that   Ethics: The rules or standards that a person or group uses
                       can affect a group more directly, such as how people   to determine whether conduct or behavior is right and
                       approach work and solve problems.             appropriate.
                     Democratic leader: An egalitarian leader who coordinates   Ethnocentric: The belief that one’s own culture is inher-
                       and facilitates discussion in a small group, encourag-  ently superior to all others; tendency to view other
                       ing participation of all members.             cultures through the viewpoint of one’s own culture.
                     Designated leader: A person appointed or elected to a   Extraversion- Introversion  Dimension: The Myers-Briggs
                                                                               ®
                       position as leader of a small group.          Type Indicator  dimension concerned with whether
                     Deviate: A group member who differs in some important   one’s focus is the external worlds (extraversion) or
                       way, such as degree of participation, values, or opin-  one’s internal, subjective landscape (introversion).
                       ions, from the rest of the group members; opinion or   F
                       innovative deviates help groups examine alternatives
                       more thoroughly by expressing opinions different from   Facework:  The  communication  strategies  people  use  to
                       those held by the majority, thus forcing the group to   preserve their own and others’ self- esteem (face).
                       take a closer look.                        Fact: A verifiable observed event; a descriptive statement
                     Dialect: A regional variation in the pronunciation, vocab-  that is true.
                       ulary, and/or grammar of a language.       Fallacy: A reasoning error.









          gal37018_gloss_381_390.indd   383                                                             3/28/18   12:39 PM
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