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Beebe/Beebe/Ivy Communication: Principles for a Lifetime 6e
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CHAPTER 10:
Enhancing Group and Team Performance
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After studying this chapter, students will be able to:
1. Identify six functions that effective group members perform.
2. List and describe the five steps of group problem solving (reflective thinking).
3. Compare and contrast the trait, functional, styles, situational, and
transformational approaches to understanding leadership.
4. Develop and use strategies to structure meetings appropriately, keep
meetings on track, and promote appropriate dialogue and interaction.
TEACHING OUTLINE
I. What Effective Group and Team Members Do
A. Identify a Clear, Elevating Goal
B. Develop a Results-Driven Structure
C. Gather and Share Appropriate Information
D. Develop Options
1. Develop a Question
2. Clarify the Problem
B. Step 2: Analyze the Problem
1. Establish Criteria
2. Analyze Problem Elements
C. Step 3: Generate Creative Solutions
1. Problems with Brainstorming
2. Better Brainstorming
D. Step 4: Select the Best Solution
1. Develop Consensus
2. Avoid Groupthink
E. Step 5: Take Action
III. Enhancing Group and Team Leadership
A. Trait Approach
B. Functional Approach
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1. Step One: Determine Your Meeting Goals
2. Step Two: Identify What Needs to Be Discussed to Achieve the Goal
3. Step Three: Organize the Agenda
B. Manage Meeting Interaction
1. Use Gatekeeping Skills
2. Use Metadiscussion
3. Monitor Time
4. Use Structure to Manage Interaction
CLASS DISCUSSION QUESTION SETS
What does an effective group do that an ineffective group does not?
• Let’s see if we can’t identify some specific behaviors. Think about some
groups with which you have been involved in the past that didn’t work.
What problems did you encounter? (List answers on the board.)
What does it mean to establish an elevating goal?
• Don’t goals have to be realistic?
• The book suggests that a professional football team could set the goal of
reaching the Super Bowl, but what about the team that finished in last
How should a group gather information?
• In a corporate environment, you can’t really go to Time or Newsweek, so
how do you do this?
• Let this lead into a discussion of the role of surveys, interviews, and
measuring systems.
• Your book talks about vigilant thinkers. What do you make of this?
• What’s the difference between a vigilant thinker and a blocker?
• What happens when a group reacts negatively to the vigilant thinker?
• How many and who should be the vigilant thinker in the group? (All.)
The book suggests that a group should identify many solutions to a
problem. Do you agree?
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• What if you already know how to solve a particular problem? Should you
volunteer for that particular group? Why not? May become a special
interest pleader.
Your text suggests that groups evaluate ideas. Is this the same as voting?
• Why not?
• So does that mean that voting should be completely eliminated in a small
group process? Why not?
• How do you avoid personal bias when you are evaluating ideas? (This
skips ahead to criteria, but it may be helpful to get students to think of the
ideas first.)
Why should group members be sensitive to others?
• Doesn’t this just take additional time that could be better spent on
analyzing the
problem?
• Can a group become too supportive? How so?
• How do you find a happy balance?
What is the reflective thinking process?
What is a question of policy?
• How does a question of policy differ from a question of fact or value?
• Why is it important to make a question of policy action-oriented?
• How do you tighten it? (The inability to read and write above a sixth-grade
level)
• Are there other ways to define the topic?
• For the question of policy, “How can adult illiteracy best be reduced in the
United States,” what other terms would need to be defined?
• How do you define adult?
• Why would you need to define the United States?
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How should a group analyze a problem?
• The text suggests that the group look at the current situation, causes,
harms, and criteria of the problem. Is it appropriate to simply assign one
person to investigate each of those areas and then meet as a group?
Why not?
Now don’t tell me what kind of car you want, just tell me one thing the car
would have to have before you bought it. (Poll all students and keep the
suggestions consistent so that in the end you have criteria for a single car.
If students get stuck, ask for a color, number of doors, mileage, etc.)
What is brainstorming?
Does a problem have one or many solutions? Structured vs. unstructured
problems.
• Once you have fifty suggestions to solve a problem, how do you choose
one to implement?
• Suppose you have the perfect solution, but it violates one of your criteria.
Do you accept it?
• Go back to the car idea—the dealer found one car that met all our criteria,
but was red instead of blue. Do you accept the car? There are other car
dealers.
When you test a solution, how much of a problem do you have to solve?
• Would a ten percent reduction in adult illiteracy be enough to warrant
implementing a solution on a nationwide scale?
• Why do you want to test in the first place?
• How many of you would take a vaccine for HIV that hadn’t been tested?
• Obviously, the standard agenda can be applied to group problem solving,
can you think of other areas of your life it might be used?
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How do you define leadership?
• How do we identify leaders?
• Can anyone be a leader?
• Does leadership apply to status or power? Could it be both?
Are leaders born or made?
How does the functional approach to leadership differ?
• So which of the task roles are leadership roles?
• Which of the social roles equate to leadership?
• If all the roles have a potential leadership quality, who is the leader of a
group?
• If everyone is a leader at various times, does that also mean that at
different times, no-one is a leader?
• Does that mean that good leaders occasionally follow?
How does the functional approach to leadership differ from the styles
approach?
• What is autocratic leadership?
• What if you disagree with the leader?
• Is autocratic leadership always malevolent?
• Can you think of a situation where you might actually want the autocrat?
So, if your house is burning down, and I’m the fire captain on the scene,
should I call my colleagues together to best determine how to save your
house?
• Does crisis management require a more controlled leadership style?
• What is democratic leadership?
• We’re socialized to believe the decisions made in a democratic fashion
• What is laissez faire management? Why in the world would you want
that?
• Imagine that I was throwing a barbecue, invited all of you, and gave each
of you a guest card that told you how long and with whom each of you
could talk. Would you like this?
• In a creative circumstance, should I force people to participate?
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What is situational leadership?
• Should you micro-manage highly experienced employees who have a
great deal of expertise on their projects? Why not?
• Should a person develop one management style or many?
• What happens if you aren’t overly comfortable with, say, the coaching
style?
We’ve already touched on this, but what is an agenda?
• How does a general meeting agenda differ from the standard agenda?
• How should you prioritize an agenda?
• What responsibilities does a meeting planner have?
• If something doesn’t get done, who takes responsibility?
How does a manager ensure proper interaction?
• What is metacommunication?
• Let’s look at individual roles. Suppose a person suddenly says, “That’s
the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.” First of all, when someone says,
“That’s stupid,” are they saying the idea is without merit, the person is
without merit, or a little of both? (Listen for someone to ask why. When
students build on parental conflict, escalate it as well to show how the two
build against each other on a relational level.)
JOURNAL QUESTIONS
1. Look at the list of things a vigilant thinker does and how group members
inspire group communication. Evaluate each of these against your abilities as
2. Apply the reflective thinking process to a personal problem you might be
facing. Some examples might include choosing or changing your major,
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creating an effective monthly budget, or creating a system to better manage
your time. Take the problem through each step. Which elements of the
agenda gave you the greatest problem? Which of the steps seemed to be
easiest to work through? Did you come up with a realistic solution to your
problem? If so, perform a force-field analysis to see if it would be realistic to
implement.
3. What leadership qualities do you possess? Look at each of the leadership
theories and analyze your leadership strengths and weaknesses. Do you feel
your personality is leadership-oriented or do you have to force yourself to take
the lead? What task and social roles are you comfortable performing? Are
there certain roles you prefer not performing? Which leadership style makes
you feel most comfortable? Which makes you feel most threatened? Relate
this to situations in which you prefer to find yourself. Do you prefer that your
supervisor delegates, participates, sells, or tells? Which makes you feel least
comfortable? How do you feel about transformational leadership? Relate all
these to your leadership style and assess where your strengths and
weaknesses lie.
4. Think of a situation in your life where agendas are rarely used, but for a
particular discussion, might be beneficial. Examples might include a
5. Think of a person you know who embodies one of the individual roles. Write
a script of an encounter where the individual attacks you, but you respond
with appropriate metadiscussion. Write the conflict in full to see what
happens and how the conversation develops. Do you think your writing was
realistic? If you were to face this person and this situation occurred, would it
be a good idea to try to remember your script?
ACTIVITIES
Activity 10.1: Jigsaw Jumble
Preparation: First, you will need to determine the number of groups you have in
class and then find the same number of photographs in a magazine plus one. If
you have 3 groups, you will need 4 pictures, 4 groups, 5 pictures; etc. Poems
work just as well if you have students who are blind.
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Before class, cut one of the photographs into 21 different pieces and place the
pieces in one of the envelopes. Do the same for the remaining envelopes and
you will have one photograph left over. Cut the final photograph up and place an
equal number of its parts into the remaining envelopes so that each envelope will
have 5 to 7 “dummy bits” of information.
Procedure: Hand the envelope to one member of each group. This person is the
dealer. Each group member, including the dealer, is to draw one of the pieces
from the envelope. GROUP MEMBERS MAY NOT SHOW THEIR PIECES TO
ANY OTHER MEMBER. They must talk about their pieces and they may
describe the piece in as much detail as they would like. The group is to
determine what the picture is from the description of other group members.
One thing I have done in the past is to create an additional envelope for a late
coming student. The late student must sit alone and may use all of the puzzle
pieces to create their picture.
Follow-up discussion points can include:
Activity 10.2: Castaways
Preparation: The following assignment is a variation on the bomb shelter, and
either the bomb shelter, meteor striking the Earth, or poison gas scenario can be
substituted for the castaways. Before class you will need to cut up the following
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professions, ages, and character defects into three piles. There will be seven in
each pile for a total of 21 slips of paper. Each member of each group will have to
choose one of each: once students have chosen their profession, they will have
to choose their age and then their “character flaw.”
Doctor 18 Alcoholic
Lawyer 24 Kleptomaniac
Teacher 31 Sex Addict
Musician 39 Prostitute
Students MAY reveal their profession and their age, but they MUST disclose their
character defect. As an additional problem, it is sometimes interesting to tell one
of the female students that she is also pregnant.
Follow-up points:
• Group roles and metadiscussion
• Leadership and the various approaches the groups used
• Role of persuasion in small group communication: too much persuasion
can be a sign of problems
• Cohesiveness in groups
• Group norms and how their discussion may have violated various norms
• Lack of, or inappropriate use of, an agenda
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Activity 10.3: What is it?
Preparation: You will need one unrelated object to give to each group. Objects
can be as simple as a paper clip or a box of paper clips to a vacuum hose or tool.
Generally, the best objects are durable and easily manipulated. Even a giant
“Number 1” glove from a sporting event has wonderful potential.
Procedure: This is an improvisational acting exercise, but it is safe for
communication courses in that no performance is required. Tell the groups to
group together and give them their object. Tell them they have 5 minutes to
come up with as many suggestions as possible as to what the object could be.
They are to record their list of suggestions. They can bend and manipulate their
object, but they can’t break it. Give them 5 minutes, and then lead a discussion
of the following:
• What uses did you find? Go around to each group.
• How did you create your list?
• What interaction pattern did you observe? In this case, all channel or
wheel should emerge.
Activity 10.4: Vigilant Thinking
Preparation: You will need enough copies of the “Vigilant Thinking” form for all
students plus one additional test for each group.
Procedure: Read the scenario to students and then give them the test (“Vigilant
Thinking” form) that follows. Tell students to get in their groups and read the
scenario again, and give each group only one test that they must complete
together. When groups say they are done, read the answers and have students
record their accuracy as individuals and as a group. Group scores should be
significantly better than individual scores. If the group score falls well below the
highest individual score for a group member, this may be a sign that groupthink
occurred. As an example, if a student had an individual score of 8 and the group
score was 6, the group did not gain the benefit of increased accuracy from their
group encounter.
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Activity 10.5: How Do We Adapt?
You are a new computer company with employees from around the world. You
need to establish policies for meetings and design a space for meetings. The
goal is to accommodate as many employees as possible.
Group one will design the space. Look at the distinction between high context
and low context cultures. Consider the furnishings you will have in the room and
the general layout. Will you have a round table, a breakaway table, a rectangular
table, etc.? What kind of chairs will you want? What colors will be used on the
walls and floors and how will you decorate the walls? Will you have clocks or
other timepieces in clear visual range? How will the room conform to the
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)?
Group two will establish interaction patterns: What policies would employees
need to know about in regard to use of personal space, eye contact, touch, and
time? What accommodations should the corporation make? What
accommodations should employees make? How will cultural misunderstandings
be dealt with? Who should people talk with when problems occur? How will
ADA complaints be dealt with?
Group three will establish a list of training seminars that all employees, new and
old, would be required to attend. What will be the titles of the training seminars,
and what issues will they cover? How will employees participate in seminars
Follow-up:
• The most obvious follow-up is diversity in communication and the need to
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Activity 10.6: Shared Leadership and Ethical Practice
Have everyone in the class visit and the read the information on the following
website prior to class:
In class, form small groups. Have the groups discuss the concepts of classical
leadership, shared leadership and ethics. The ensuing discussion may include
(and you may have other questions from this article):
• What can we learn from the comparison of classical leadership to shared
leadership?
• How can ethics be applied to group leadership and communication
interaction?
• What are your group’s thoughts on Johnson’s use of the shadow and light
metaphor? Is it an accurate metaphor? Explain.
ASSIGNMENTS
Group assignments are found in Chapters 8 and 9. Many of the objectives deal
with the objectives in Chapter 10. Here are four examples of assignments that
would be appropriate for use in this chapter:
2. The second places students in a problem solving team investigating a
campus issue. Emphasis will be placed on the outcome of the group process
as a final persuasive proposal will be presented to the class. To save time,
instructors may want to link the final persuasive speech with the proposal.
3. The third places students in the role of a business team. Emphasis in this
assignment is placed on the process, and all students will be required to
complete a group analysis paper that will serve as the basis for the grade.
This is the least complicated of the group projects, but it will require 10 to 15
minutes at the beginning of each class. Due to its competitive nature,
sometimes this assignment can be somewhat divisive as group members
develop a sense of ethnocentrism with regard to their group. This is not
necessarily bad and it can be used as a follow-up point.
4. The fourth project places students in the role of an information-sharing group.
Students are asked to investigate a communication issue related to mass
communication or technology. Instructors who choose to incorporate
Appendix B will probably find this assignment to be most appropriate. I have
been quite surprised with the depth of analysis students are able to provide
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on a variety of issues such as privacy on the Internet, copyright issues,
gatekeeping functions of the media, and many others. Like the second
proposal, this assignment is product-oriented as a final group presentation is
required. In keeping with the theme of the assignment, students are asked to
present a PowerPoint™ presentation to include appropriate visual support.
1. The majors in the class. The second assignment becomes a shooting match
if there are not enough business or finance majors.
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Vigilant Thinking Form
1. The person who turned off the outside lights was the owner. T F
(Could be 2 people)
2. The owner was a man. T F
(Doesn’t say)
3. The story is about a robbery. T F
(Could be a deposit)
4. The robber was a man. T F
(Is it a robbery?)
5. The man who demanded money ran away. T F
(Ran or Sped?)
6. The owner gave the man the money in the register. T F
(Contents/money?)
7. The robbery occurred at night. T F
(Closing time?)
8. The story is about three people: The owner, a man who
demanded money, and a police officer. T F
(Could be 4 people)
