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The Members and Their Roles 123

preferences of the members in a particular group. They are not specified in advance
but emerge from the interaction among members. To understand how informal roles
form, we need to distinguish between a behavior and a behavioral function. A behavior Behavior
is any verbal or nonverbal act by a group member; a behavioral function is the effect Any observable
that behavior has on the whole group. For example, the joke Yukiko tells in her group action by a group
is the behavior. But Yukiko’s joke can serve a variety of functions, depending on what member.
else has been going on in the group. If her joke relieves tension during an argument, it
has a positive function; but if Yukiko’s jokes are constantly getting the group off track Behavioral Function
and members are tired of it, the function is negative. Some behavioral functions are The effect or function
common to all groups and widely shared by members, such as providing information a member’s behavior
or offering opinions. Others may become the exclusive domain of one member, such has on the group as
as mediating conflicts between members or telling jokes. a whole.
Even though formal roles are specified and informal ones are not, members bring
their own personalities, preferences, and attitudes to the formal roles they fill. Think
about a group you belong to that has a formal designated leader (such as a chair or
president). If you have experienced several individuals filling that role, you know that
each one brings in his or her special “flavor” to the position. For example, the Curric-
ulum Committee in one of our departments has rotated the chair position for several
years. One chair was serious and highly task oriented; his meetings were particularly
efficient. Another with a great sense of humor liked to joke around; his meetings took
longer but were more fun. A third, who was well connected with other groups in the
university, constantly brought in information about the curricular changes occurring
in other departments; her focus was, “How do our changes fit in the university’s big-
ger picture?” You can see that, even if a role is formal, each person in that role will
enact it somewhat differently.

Role Emergence
The informal role a particular member holds in a small group is worked out in concert
with the other members, primarily through trial and error. In a review of how roles
develop, Anderson, Riddle, and Martin concluded that members negotiate their roles by
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observing others and particularly observing how others respond to their behaviors.
For example, Ty-isha may have a clear idea of how the group can accomplish its tasks;
she will make attempts to structure the group’s work: “I suggest we first make a list of all
the things we need to do to finish our project.” If no one else competes to supply that
structuring function, and if the other members see that structuring behavior as helpful
to the group, they will reinforce and reward Ty-isha’s statements and actions: “Okay,
Ty-isha, that sounds like a good idea.” This reinforcement, in turn, is likely to elicit more
of those structuring behaviors from Ty-isha. On the other hand, if several members are
also competent to structure the group’s work, the group members collectively will rein-
force the actions of the member they perceive to be the most skilled in this performance
area. If Ty-isha is not reinforced as the group’s “structurer,” she will search for some
other way to be valuable to, and valued by, the group. For instance, she may help clarify
the proposals of the other members (“In other words, are you saying that . . . ?”) or
become the group’s critical evaluator (“I think there are two major flaws with that pro-
posal.”). Every member needs a role that makes a meaningful contribution to the group.

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