Page 41 - Effective group discussion theory and practice by Adams, Katherine H. Brilhart, John K. Galanes, Gloria J

24 Chapter 2

TABLE 2.1 Situational constraints on small group communication

Contextual Factor Impact on Small Group Communication

Number of Interactants As group size increases, so does the complexity of coordinating
member messages and behavior.
Feedback Face-to-face groups enjoy immediate feedback, but this is
complicated because it comes from member to member and
member to group.
Roles Groups require more defined roles or behavioral expectations in
order to coordinate actions from multiple individuals.
Goals and Purpose The challenge of the sheer number of individuals in a group
requires that groups must clearly define their goals and manage
the tension between group goals and individual ones.

power, leadership, and status evolve. We explore these issues in later chapters, but for
now, we remind you to be prepared for the consequences of membership change.
Fourth, member identification with a larger social unit (the group) was probably
the single most important distinction between the interpersonal and small group con-
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texts. The fact that members in a group need each other to accomplish group goals is
enough to produce stress among group members. Students report several sources of
stress, such as lack of teamwork, problem coordinating the task, dissension among
members, and power struggles. Stress in turn impacts group communication because
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it can undermine a group member’s sense of control—when under stress, we tend to act
to regain control. This is what Tamika and Kelli were trying to do in our student group.
We do not mean to imply that the nature of communication found in small
groups is so unique that you will not find it anywhere else. “The basic process of com-
munication operates in every context in fundamentally the same way, even though
each context requires slightly different skills or special applications of general com-
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municative principles.” As you read about small group interaction, you should con-
sider how the situational constraints of the small group affect how generally accepted
principles of communication work.

Small Group Communication

Communication Many definitions of the term communication exist. We define communication as the
A transactional transactional process by which people simultaneously create, interpret, and negotiate
process by which shared meaning through their interaction. They do this by creating and sending verbal
people and nonverbal messages that are received, interpreted, and responded to by other
simultaneously people. In the small group, meaning must be shared sufficiently for the members to
create, interpret, and accomplish the group task, but is never completely shared between two people, let
negotiate shared alone among the four or five who typically constitute a small group. However, for
meaning through group members to achieve their interdependent goal, at least some shared meaning
their interaction.
must occur.

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