Small Group Communication - Definitional

It is through small groups in which we can expand our physical social network with three or more people, we can teach and learn from others, or we can achieve shared goals. Generally, when working in a group there are different levels of influence depending on individual personalities and total number of members. There will always be people with strong leadership and others who hold back. Festinger’s social comparison theory believes individuals will always be comparing with others in order to make a consensus or a majority versus the minority. In “groupthink” a victim may result in conforming to other people’s ideas and not have their voice be heard. Different levels of creativity also exist. Nevertheless, in times of trouble with these concepts group members would learn to compromise.

A group member has his or her own role. Progress can be made if each member participates and recognizes that each of them is equal to each other. Individuals should also be open to other proposals. For the success of the group as a whole, constant interaction should occur (i.e. bouncing off ideas), members should support each other, and domination should be avoided. Cohesiveness is key in keeping a group together until the final product has been made.

There are four phases in group development: 1) Forming, 2), Storming, 3) Norming, and 4) Performing. Basically a group starts when people are recruited at an initial meeting and decisions are still running through people’s minds about whether or not to stay with the group. In storming, the group begins to get oriented with one another and goals are established. Norming allows the group to figure out what types of leadership, work ethics, activities, and deadlines may work with their group while performing is when the group carries all that they had planned out. Performing is also a stage of great productivity. Part of being a group is also utilizing the best type of network, decision-making, and problem solving for it will always be encountered one way or another. All in all, the effectiveness of a group truly relies on the actions of the group.