I have observed many groups for the past 20 years but the most outstanding one that the paper highlights is about my family. My family is large and extends all over the USA. In particular, to me, a family goes beyond blood ties: It is a close friend or someone that has been there in a time of need as well as blood family members. Therefore, my family is made up of my friends who are conversant with my life story and father’s buddies, mother’s close allies as well as blood family members.
It was extremely motivating to observe the patterns of communication and coordination within the group. Every member communicated openly with a lot of honesty. Opinions were communicated with honesty. Members used both verbal and non verbal communication techniques to make sure that their opinions were understood. Also, there was open and balanced flow of conversation with the facilitator every time checking out the participant’s involvement.
The group demonstrated social influence. The major pattern of influence was informational influence. Before accepting an opinion, the members of the group were to a greater extent persuaded by content of what they have heard or read. They were not persuaded by the knowledge of the majority of group members but purely on the content of what they have heard and read.
Roles were both task and social oriented. To help complete the group task, the group had an initiator-contributor who asked for new ideas, information seeker whose role was to ask for task information, opinion seeker who asked for input from the group as concerns its, and information giver who offered facts to the group. Other task roles included opinion giver role, an elaborator, coordinator, evaluator and recorder and so forth. The group also had members whose roles were social in nature. For instance, there was the encourager, harmonizer whose role was to mediate group differences, compromiser, standard setter and gate keeper.
The group was majorly led by the facilitator. She listened, maintained open and balanced flow of conversation, protected members from personal attacks. Besides, she majorly focused on discussion topics, participant involvement as well facilitation of the group interaction. The facilitator was as well charged with the responsibility of deferring (Bacal & Associates, 2012).
Both task and social dimensions were demonstrated in the group. Social dimensions created trust, openness, and honesty, open and honest communication of opinions and encouragement of members’ creativity. Task dimensions nevertheless made the group members remain focused to group’s goals as well as their tasks. Both were effectively balanced since the group gave room for listening, maintained balanced and open conversational flow while focusing on the topic of discussion.
The group was very effective. A group is effective when it has shared goals, (Earley, 2001). The group had shared goal, developed climate of openness and trust, honest and open communication. There was consensus decision making, participative leadership, and gave members the ability to self correct.
The conflict was viewed as very useful and necessary. Every member of the group avoided the phenomenon of ‘group think’ where members agree to things simply to avoid conflicts even when they believe it is a bad idea. When a conflict arises, a six step resolution of a conflict was followed. Group members had to listen carefully to one another. They would then comprehend different opinions as regards topic of discussion. Also, members would value respect and demonstrate good relationship maintenance interest despite their opinions. They would then establish a common ground and then come up with amicable solutions to the situation. They would then arrive at a fair agreement which benefited everyone.
In conclusion, the group demonstrated a well defined communication pattern which is greatly influenced by the person spoken to. It derives its social influence from the family. Also, the roles and relationships are clearly defined. It has perfect balance of individual, social and group tasks. This makes the group very effective. Each member sees conflict as a problem and thus conflicts are effectively handled at personal levels.
Bacal & Associates. (2012). Understanding What Facilitators Really DO! Retrieved 25 May, 2012 from http://work911.com/articles/facil.htm
Van Vugt, M. and Schaller, M. (2008). Evolutionary approaches to group dynamics: An introduction. Journal of Group Dynamics: Theory, Research, and Practice 12: 1.
