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The Small Group as a System 71

initiative. “Voice of the Customer” included discovering how satisfied their cus-
35
tomers were with their service, which services they felt were the most important,
and how PG&E might improve its services. The company restructured its service
delivery process based on complaints about things such as long wait times and
unpredictable service appointments. PG&E went on to use this successful
approach with their business and commercial customers. Any task group should
heed Ancona and Caldwell’s call for consistent and extensive communication
across group boundaries.
The usefulness of the systems perspective should now be clearer to you than
when we started this chapter. We can use a systems framework to identify and describe
the components of groups, recognizing that each component functions in relation to
all the other parts of the system and its environment. The interdependence between
group members, the group as a whole, and the group’s environment interconnect
every person involved to every other person. We are thus obligated to pay attention to
our choices and regularly evaluate their consequences if we are to be effective small
group communicators.

QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW

This chapter used the case study of the church board to environment) operating in the church board? What
illustrate many of the concepts discussed in the chapter. effects did these exchanges seem to have?
Reread the case study and refer to the recap boxes, if 3. In what ways did board members serve as boundary
necessary, to discuss the following questions: spanners? What boundary-spanning functions and
strategies did members employ, and what were the
1. In what ways did the church board demonstrate
the system principles of interdependence, effects on the board and the congregation?
synergy, equifinality, multifinality, and multiple 4. In many ways, this board demonstrated the input,
causation? throughput, output, and environmental factors that
2. The board demonstrated considerable interaction are considered to be ideal. What examples of the
with its environment, particularly with the congre- board’s inputs, throughputs, outputs, and environ-
gation it represented. How do you see the two main mental factors were particularly striking to you?
principles of the bona fide group perspective Were any of these factors less than ideal? If so, what
(permeable boundaries and interchange with the effects did this have on the board?

KEY TERMS

Test your knowledge of these key terms in this chapter. Definitions can be found in the Glossary.
Bona fide group perspective Feedback Outputs
Boundary spanner Inputs Synergy
Closed system Interdependence System
Collaborating group Multifinality Throughput process
Environment Multiple causation
Equifinality Open system

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