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The Members and Their Roles 113

FIGURE 5.1
Boy, this
I don’t Passive “yessers” do
He gets believe it! No should really Terrific, not express genuine
paid for way! He can’t mess things another agreement
these ideas? be serious! up! flop!

Nonassertive Behavior
Nonassertive
behavior or
passiveness, that
allows one’s own
rights and beliefs to
be ignored or
“Aye.” “Aye.” “Aye.” “All those in “Aye.” “Aye.” “Aye.” dominated, often to
favor say ‘Aye.’” avoid conflict; impairs
good decision
making.
Regardless of where CA originates, group members must be willing to speak up,
an important ethical principle described in Chapter 1. People who do not talk actually Passive-Aggressive
harm the group by sucking the energy out of it and taking up space that a contributing Behavior
member might have occupied. How successful would the ad team be, for instance, if Behavior that
Marija decided not to share information about which television show or magazine appears on the
best matched the target market for a particular ad campaign? High CAs communicate surface to be
in a nonassertive, or passive, way, which frustrates other members. They go along with cooperative but
subtly sabotages
the majority, even when they disagree, as depicted in Figure 5.1. Some passive mem- group work, such as
bers exhibit passive-aggressive behavior that appears to be cooperative but sabotages when members
the group. Instead of confronting or disagreeing openly, passive-aggressive members “forget” to carry out
will openly agree with the group but will sabotage by “forgetting” to do an assignment, assignment.
being late with a crucial report, or failing to attend a meeting.
Just as bad for group productivity is aggressive communication behavior. Aggres- Aggressiveness
sive people try to force their ideas and practices on others. They are conversational Behavior designed to
bullies who name-call, demand, insult, threaten, shout, and frequently drown out oth- win or dominate that
ers who are trying to speak. Rather than challenging ideas, information, or reasoning, fails to respect the
they attack other people. Aggressiveness can come from cultural practices, psychopa- rights or beliefs of
thology, inability to handle frustration, or just a lack of verbal skills for dealing with others.
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conflict. No matter what the cause, aggressive behavior destroys productive discus-
sion and teamwork. It violates the ethical principles we presented in Chapter 1. Assertiveness
Ideally, group members should speak in an effective, assertive way. Assertiveness Behavior that shows
refers to communication behavior that reflects respect for yourself as well as for other respect both for your
group members. Assertiveness lies on a continuum, illustrated in Figure 5.2. Assertive own and others’
rights, in contrast to
members communicate to others as equals; they are both clear and direct, and also passive and
sensitive to others. In contrast to aggressors and passive members, assertive members aggressive behavior.
disagree openly and explain why. Even more important, they try hard to understand

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