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Lecture Notes
Chapter 10: Groups and Leaders
Outline and Key Terms
I. What Is a Group?
The differences between a group and a random collection of people depend on a number of
specific characteristics and also on the way in which a collection of random people comes to be
formed as a group.
A. Defining a Group
1. A group requires at least three people.
a. A collection of people is not necessarily a group.
b. The number of people does matter.
c. Groups interact because of the types of communication that occurs
between specific people involved.
2. Groups are transacted through communication and relationships.
3. A group comes into being once people recognize and identify themselves and others as
members of the same group.
a. A group must have a common purpose.
b. People in groups are collected together to achieve a particular goal.
B. Types of Groups
1. There are many types of groups commonly classified by their purposes and
features.
2. Groups are differentiated through their communication and the ways in which
members treat one another relationally.
3. Communication and relationships are transacting groups.
(a) Formal groups are task oriented, have general management oversight, and are
outcome focused; they are formally structured and have restricted membership, a
clear power structure, a chair or leader, an agenda, and formal rules for speaking
and voting.
(b) Advisory groups are task specific, usually restricted to gathering evidence or
evaluating something with the intention of producing an outcome or a report
about a specific problem. Membership is specific and restricted; there may be a
chair and structure or an agenda, but discussion is usually open, informal, and
focused on the weighing of evidence.
(c) Creative groups are formed for the purpose of evaluating concepts or creating
new products or ways of approaching complex problems. Membership is usually
invited; there is lack of structure and emphasis on generativity. Individuals are
discouraged from critical comments about ideas generated by other members.
Instructor Resource
Duck/McMahan, Communication in Everyday Life, 3e
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(d) Support groups have the intention of providing aid and comfort, sharing
knowledge, and spreading information or raising consciousness about specific
issues. Membership is loosely defined, and members come and go as they need.
(e) Networking groups are specifically for the purpose of obtaining, building, or
sustaining relationships. Membership is not defined, and people come and go as
they desire
II. Characteristics of Groups
A. Cohesiveness
1. Cohesiveness describes people working together and feeling connected.
2. Cohesiveness in groups is performed communicatively, and essentially cohesiveness
comes down to a communicational concept where people coordinate their talk and action
as a result of their relationships to one another.
3. Group effectiveness or success largely depends on members working together
cohesively.
4. Group effectiveness or success also depends on members feeling connected and
cohesive.
a. This can come from existing relationships outside the group and can come from
coordination of communication and actions.
b. It also comes from maintaining morale, civility, and good relationships
between group members.
c. Cohesiveness is a primary output of groups’ social emotional exchanges
in talk and thus is a transactional and relational consequence of
communication.
B. Potential Problem: Groupthink
1. An attempt to be cohesive at the expense of anything else can sometimes get in the
way of a group’s effective functioning.
a. If everyone wants to keep everyone else happy rather than make tough
decisions, this leads to a special kind of conformity.
b. People, at times, would rather preserve good relationships than make good
decisions.
2. When groupthink occurs, members place a higher priority on keeping the process
running smoothly and agreeably than they do on voicing opinions that contradict the
majority opinion.
a. With groupthink, the group prefers the well-being of its members,
morale, and teamwork at the expense of proper critical evaluation of ideas.
b. Groupthink can then result in faulty decision making because a group prefers to
be a happy ship rather than a ship going in the right direction.
C. Interdependence
1. In groups, the division of labor occurs in a way that leads to interdependence. a.
Everyone relies on everyone else to do a specific part of the overall job well.
b. A group cannot function properly if its members do not work
interdependently.
2. Interdependence works as a transacted outcome of the communication between group
members.
Instructor Resource
Duck/McMahan, Communication in Everyday Life, 3e
SAGE, 2018
D. Potential Problems: Recognition and Failed Obligation
1. Especially in cultures in which individual achievement is appreciated, it is sometimes
important that the contributions of individual members to the group are recognized
(Purvanova, 2013).
2. Sometimes group members will not fulfill their obligations to the group.
E. Commitment
1. Group members usually show commitment to each other and to their group’s goals
when a group is working well (Harden Fritz & Omdahl, 2006).
2. One transactive feature that makes a group “a group” is that individual members
share a commitment to the overall group goals.
a. Group members may also show commitment to one another, watching
each other’s backs and looking out for one another.
b. The group shows commitment to individual members through caring for
their welfare, as well as aiming to achieve the goals of the group.
F. Potential Problem: Out-Groups
1. Group members do not always trust each other, share common goals, and want what is
best for everyone.
2. Factions within the group may not agree with the direction of a group or they may just
want to make life difficult for other group members.
3. Out-groups are cells of disgruntled members who feel undervalued,
mistreated, disrespected, not included, or overlooked.
a. These members can be either disruptive or constructive.
b. A good leader can turn their sense of exclusion:
(1) Challenge and question group assumptions
(2) Listen carefully to their concerns
c. Having out-groups can serve a useful purpose by making the majority
members of the group discuss more options, reflect more carefully on their
opinions, answer challenges, and rethink their arguments.
d. Groups then consider their decisions and assumptions more carefully
and to see the out-group cell as a useful part of the larger group rather than
a nuisance.
e. This style helps prevent groupthink.
G. Group Norms
1. Group norms are informal and formal rules and procedures guiding group
behaviors.
a. Some norms are informally understood as proper behavior in a
particular group, such as whether joking is allowed or whether criticism of
other members is acceptable.
b. Group norms are established in face-to-face group settings and are also
evident in computer-mediated and virtual group interactions (Moser &
Axtell, 2013).
2. Established norms generally reflect the values of the group, especially those
concerning communication and relationships.
H. Potential Problem: Violating Norms
1. Sometimes a group member does not want to follow group norms.
Instructor Resource
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2. Most groups have their own group sanctions, or punishments for violating norms.
3. Shunning or excluding people from participation in the group, or not even
acknowledging their presence, is a very powerful social, relational, and
communicative punishment (Nezlek, Wesselmann, Wheeler, & Williams, 2012).
I. Member Roles
1. Group members also take on particular group roles, involving certain positions or
functions within a group.
2. Formal Roles
a. In formal groups, there are formal roles, those to which someone is
assigned and is expected to perform specific functions within that group.
b. Chair, vice-chair, and secretary
c. At times, these roles are about the hierarchy of the group, and they let
you know something about the formal powers that are delegated to each
individual.
3. Informal Roles
a. Both formal and less formal groups may see the enactment of informal
roles, those to which someone is not officially assigned but that serve a
functions with a group.
b. Group members have not been officially assigned to these roles but are
recognized as performing these roles through repeated patterns of
interaction.
4. Task Roles
a. Task roles function to ensure a group achieves its goals and is
productive.
b. A chair is formally responsible for ensuring that a group achieves its
goals.
c. Other group members informally take on task roles.
5. Social Roles
a. Social roles function to encourage group members to develop and
maintain positive communication and relationships among the group
members.
b. Social roles are generally informal.
6. Disruptive Roles
a. Disruptive roles function in opposition to group productivity and
cohesion.
b. Disruptive roles are informal in nature.
J. Group Culture
1. Group culture is shared patterns of interactions both reflecting and guiding beliefs,
values, and attitudes of the group.
a. Group culture is evident in such symbolic activity as how members talk
to one another, the clothes they wear while working as a group, or the
special terms and language or jokes they use.
b. Members of a group may use terms unique to that group, such as
language unique to specific professions.
c. These communicative acts transact the culture of a group.
Instructor Resource
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2. Communicating culturally within a group accomplishes very important things.
a. Reinforces what the group believes and values
b. Enables the group to accomplish its goals
c. Enables group members to establish membership into a group
3. When group members communicate culturally, they are transacting not only group
culture but also group membership.
III. Group Development and Decision Making
A. Scholars studying group communication frequently focus on group development and
decision making.
B. Tuckman’s Five Stages of Group Development
1. Forming: The group comes into existence and seeks direction from a leader about the
nature of its tasks and procedures.
2. Storming: The group determines leadership and roles of its members.
3. Norming: The group establishes its procedures to move more formally toward a
solution.
4. Performing: Having established how it will perform its task, the group now does so.
5. Adjourning: The group reflects on its achievements, underlines its
performative accomplishments, and closes itself down.
C. Fisher’s Model of Group Progression
1. Orientation: Group members get to know one another and come to grips with the
problems they have convened to deal with.
2. Conflict: The group argues about possible ways of approaching the problem and
begins to seek solutions.
3. Emergence: This occurs when some daylight of consensus begins to dawn. The group
sees the emergence of possible agreement.
4. Reinforcement: The group explicitly consolidates consensus to complete the task, or
the leader may do it for them by thanking everyone.
D. There are other models of group development and decision making, but the two presented
here are indicative of these models for the most part (see Smith, 2001).
1. In these models, development and decision making are a linear process.
2. Communication is frequently taken for granted or thought to be similar in all group
experiences.
3. Relationships tend to be absent altogether.
IV. Group Decision Making Is About Relationships
A. Relationships are generally absent when considering group decision making.
B. Groups are made up of people.
1. Members have relationships with one another outside as well as inside their
meetings.
2. After formal discussion, members go on with the rest of their lives, which can mean
chatting to other group members in places outside the group.
3. Real-life groups exist continuously both as groups and as relators whose lives may be
connected outside the group.
Instructor Resource
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C. Formal group decision making can be seen theoretically as if it were a rational type of
interaction, where groups sit around and work through decisions smartly and thoughtfully.
D. Relationships influence what happens within the group.
E. At times, people vote for a proposal not because it is compelling but because they like the
person who proposed it or dislike the person who opposed it.
F. Group interaction and decision making are about emotions, feelings, and relationships.
1. Not a battle of ideas
2. A battle between people who have ideas and persisting relationships with one another
V. Leadership
A. We often think of leadership as a formal position in which a specific person has power
over the others in the group.
1. Such people are required to communicate authoritatively, to run the agenda, and to
move the group forward in particular ways that others should follow.
2. There are problems with the notions that leadership involves a formal position and that
leadership activities include the same or similar activities.
a. There are different types of groups, and these groups do not share the
same level of formality.
b. Leadership is not the same across all possible domains.
c. Within a single organization, as people are rising through the system,
they pass through leadership roles of different sorts and scopes.
B. Leadership Styles
1. Task leaders focus on the performance of tasks to ensure the achievement of group
goals.
a. Stress the activity of the group
b. Keep members on topic
c. Follow the agenda
d. Make sure decisions get made
e. Are responsible for defining the group’s intended accomplishment
f. Are charged with directing what happens to fulfill the set tasks of the
group
g. Make sure the group reaches a conclusion at the end of its allotted
meeting time
h. Summarize what got done in a meeting
i. Set the agenda for the next meeting
2. Socioemotional leaders focus on group member satisfaction and well-being.
a. Pay attention to how everyone feels in the group
b. Ensure that members feel comfortable with the decision-making
process
c. Allow everyone to get a turn in the discussion
d. Make members happy with the outcome
e. Keep the personal relationships between group members on an even
keel
f. Manage people’s “face” and handle their feelings
3. Things to consider with task and socioemotional leaders:
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a. At times, a group requires more task leadership.
b. Other times, a group requires more socioemotional leadership.
c. Different types of groups will require different types of leadership.
d. Gender and cultural differences and stereotypes may influence
expectations and success of each type of leadership (Carli & Eagly, 2011;
Chhokar, Brodbeck, & House, 2012).
e. A person may be good at one type of leadership but poor at the other
type.
f. Task leadership and socioemotional leadership may come from different
people in a group.
C. Leadership Power
1. Formal power is power that has been formally given or recognized by a system or
group.
a. Just because a person possesses formal power does not mean that this
person will be effective.
b. Another member of the group may be more respected and have more
influence than the chair.
2. Informal power has not been formally granted but has been developed through
the group’s interactions.
a. Informal power is often based on liking, relationships, and
communication competence.
b. Group members generally go along with the wishes and direction of
someone other than the group’s formal leader.
c. If a group does not have a designated leader, someone often rises up
and is able to exert influence on the other members.
d. There may be an informal power base working behind the scenes or in
conjunction with a more formal power arrangement.
e. Power in groups is not always as clear as it seems from group structure.
f. Power is always a transactional concept and related to relationship
dynamics.
g. Power depends on acceptance by followers as well as on its execution
by a leader.
3. More Types of Power
a. Legitimate power is conferred by a person’s office rank or official
status.
b. Expert power is created through special knowledge of a particular
topic.
c. Referent power is created by the allegiance of one group of people to
another person or group.
d. Reward power is created by the power to give benefits to other people
or to manage or withhold them.
e. Coercive power is the power to punish.
f. The exercise of power is more complicated than it may appear at first.
g. Power is derived from many sources.
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h. A single person can often have more than one of these types of power.
D. Leadership Vision
1. Any broad statement about the fact that “a leader needs a vision” (Northouse, 2012)
is clearly going to be wrong.
2. It is, however, very often motivating for a group to believe that its leader has some idea
of where the group will be headed and what they will be doing.
3. People in groups commonly want to be led, and they want to believe that the leader is
taking them somewhere useful.
4. A good leader will be able to create consensus in a group.
E. Leadership Ethics
1. Anyone who writes about ethics in leadership should examine the past 20 years
to see how many cases exist in which politicians, business leaders, and others in
positions of trust have clearly violated their ethical responsibilities and are not paying
attention to what the books on leadership tell them they should be doing.
2. Many political, business, and social leaders do not find ethics too constraining a
burden.
3. The ethics question in leadership is context bound and often dependent on a
range of complexities that interlock.
4. Decisions are rarely independent of one another, and particular actions cannot always
be assessed without reference to other activity.
5. This is particularly true of people’s feelings of obligation to relationships and to
the value of doing favors for people they wish to impress or who have done them favors.
F. Leadership Is Transacted
1. Leadership is not a trait.
a. There are complicated social influences from other people in a group.
b. These influence how a leader behaves—and relationships between
group members are part of that.
c. This really means that leadership is a relational process.
2. Leadership is a communicative relationship between one person and others.
a. When one gives a direction, another gladly carries it out.
b. Leadership has been successfully transacted in the interchange.
c. Leadership is not embedded in a person but in communication and
relationships between people.
3. A leader, manager, director, or department head has real control over resources
that other team members need.
a. These apparent powers can be undermined by the existence and use of
other kinds of relational power.
b. Particular members of decision-making groups can come up with
consistently better ideas than the designated leader.
c. Eventually, people begin to see those members as the true influencers.
d. Sometimes, however, followers simply refuse to obey.
4. The term team has a rhetorical spin that presents interdependence, cooperation,
effective division of labor, common goals, coordination, and mutual respect, so
leadership books emphasize teamwork.
a. A relational communicative term
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b. Relational aspects of an effective team are at least as important as the
group’s task outcomes.
c. Messages in teams place emphasis on making people feel valued as well
as getting the job done (Clampitt, 2005).
5. Effective teams and their leaders are always interdependent.
a. They all attend to personal relationships and carry out the friendly and
respectful communication necessary for truly “personal” relationships.
b. Personal communication transacts a collaborative climate, strong
personal commitment, high regard for other team members, and a unified
commitment to excellence.
