Page 73 - Effective group discussion theory and practice by Adams, Katherine H. Brilhart, John K. Galanes, Gloria J

56 Chapter 3

Odds were against the church board’s success. A splinter group from the
same original congregation had tried to start a new church years before; it had
failed. But this church board, composed of ordinary yet dedicated individuals,
succeeded. We have observed similar outcomes in many contexts: government,
community and voluntary organizations, business, and education. For example,
one group of students turned in, at the last minute, a mediocre final paper
because members had not been able to find a way to handle their interpersonal
conflict. By the end of the semester, none of them ever wanted to see the others
again. Early in the semester, though, we predicted that this group of individual
students would turn in an A paper. In the same class, another group of average
students had “jelled”—members liked each other, wanted to do a good job, and
were willing to put in extra effort toward the task. They turned in a draft of the
paper a week early, so we could give them feedback. They then took those
comments and put the final finishing touches on what was an outstanding
paper. They had a party to celebrate their success. As you can imagine, the
communication among members is the key to where a group ends up.
The systems perspective helps keep us from oversimplifying our understanding of
how a group functions and perhaps missing something important. For example, sys-
Multiple Causation tems theory emphasizes multiple causation, the fact that whatever happens in a system
The principle that is not the result of a single, simple cause, but is produced by complex interrelation-
each change in a ships among multiple forces. For example, several factors contributed to the church
system is caused by board’s successful efforts, including the board’s shared leadership, Bill’s democratic
numerous factors. coordination, the commitment and expertise of the members, the fact that creation of
a new congregation filled a need in the community, and probably some fortuitous
factors, such as the availability of an affordable location.

Recap: A Quick Review
G roups are living systems that operate under the following principles:

1. A system is a set of relationships among interdependent components.
2. Two advantages of the systems perspective for examining small groups: It helps
organize the complexity of small group communication and places communication
at the center of what links all the components together.
3. Groups, as systems, exhibit interdependence—each component affects each other
component.
4. Groups and other systems are nonsummative—as with sports teams, sometimes
systems perform better than expected (positive synergy) and sometimes worse
(negative synergy).
5. Groups exhibit equifinality and multifinality—you cannot predict where a system
ends from where it starts.
6. What happens in a group or other system has multiple causes—you cannot point to
one factor as being the one and only reason why something happens.

gal37018_ch03_051_074.indd 56 3/28/18 12:34 PM