Page 221 - Effective group discussion theory and practice by Adams, Katherine H. Brilhart, John K. Galanes, Gloria J

204 Chapter 8

shows a formal set of minutes from the church board, described in Chapter 3, which
was legally required to keep minutes. This particular format makes it easy to see what
items were discussed and what actions were taken without combing through a lot of
narrative. Table 8.2 shows an informal set of minutes of a student group organizing a
project; its main purpose was to remind members of their assignments and the next
meeting. Midway between these two in formality are the minutes in Table 8.3, from

TABLE 8.2
Example of typical Thursday, April 5
informal minutes Assignments for project (by April 11)
from a student Shawna: Research library theft on Internet
group Tyson and Marie: Interview head librarian
Nate: Reserve a room and computer for PowerPoint presentation on May 3
Next meeting: Friday, April 13, 7 pm, Nate’s house

TABLE 8.3 Much more detailed than the previous example, this student group wants to ensure that
nothing falls through the cracks

Report of Third Meeting of Polarization Instruction Group
Date of Meeting: Tuesday, March 20, 2018
Time and Place: 7:30–9:00 pm in Room 8, Craig Hall
Attendance: Bev Halliday, Inez Salinas, Terrell Washington, Bill Miklas, Judy Hartlieb
Report of Second Meeting
Judy distributed copies of the report of the second meeting to all members. It was approved. It was
decided that Judy would be responsible for recording and distributing reports of each group meeting.
Goals
A suggested outline for problem solving presented by Terrell was followed. This led to a discussion of
group polarization and to determining the actions to be taken involving the group’s “problem.”
The group goals were identified as 1) understanding group polarization, 2) conducting a presentation with
a class exercise on polarization for the class, and 3) each member being able to write a personal essay
about the group experience.
Exercise Portion of Presentation
After some discussion of the type of exercise to be used in the presentation, it was decided that Inez would
be responsible for trying to locate a book with sample exercises that could be considered by the group at the
next meeting. Bill will also have primary responsibility for this portion of the presentation and will see that copies
of the test are produced and ready for the class. The other group members will individually brainstorm for
exercise ideas, and further discussion of these will take place during our class meeting of Tuesday, March 27.
Criteria for class exercises were discussed. It was concluded that the purpose of the exercise would be
to demonstrate the phenomenon of group polarization at work. The exercise would be divided in such a way
that each individual in the class would first take it alone and then with a small group, and see what shifts
occurred.
Leader and Role
The group determined that the leader would be responsible for developing agendas and outlines for
future meetings and should serve as an overall controller and fill-in or backup person for other group
members. Bev was selected by unanimous vote to fill this role as group leader.

gal37018_ch08_197_224.indd 204 3/30/18 11:13 AM