Real Reference: A Study Tool

• A group is a collection of more than two people who have a shared identity, have common goals, and are interdependent (p. 244).
• Primary groups are long-standing and meaningful groups, such as family groups (p. 245).
• Specific-function groups include support groups, social groups, problem-solving groups, and study groups (p. 245).
• A team is a task-oriented group, and a self-directed work team is a group with responsibility for producing high-quality finished work on its own (p. 245).
• Groups often develop through five specific stages: forming, storming, norming (norms are recurring patterns of thought or behavior), performing, and adjourning (pp. 248–249). A termination ritual takes place in the adjourning stage of group development where the group chooses to celebrate its achievements with a final celebration (p. 249).
• Some groups show patterns of punctuated equilibrium, in which procrastination and inactivity are followed by bursts of inactivity and change (p. 249).

• The bigger the group, the more interaction becomes formal, less intimate, more time-consuming, and complex and the less opportunity members have to contribute (pp. 251–252).
• Cliques (coalitions)—small subgroups—may emerge within larger groups, making communication more challenging. Members of cliques often engage in social ostracism, when particular group members are ignored or excluded from participating in the group. A countercoalition—a subgroup positioned against another subgroup—may leave unaffiliated members in an awkward position (p. 253).
• Group members are often prone to social loafing, giving less effort and making other group members pick up their slack (pp. 254–255).
• Networks are patterns of interaction governing who speaks with whom in a group. The member who sends and receives the most messages has the highest degree of centrality; at the other end of the spectrum is isolation (p. 255).
• In a chain network, information is passed from one member to the next rather than shared among members (pp. 256–257).
• In an all-channel network, all members are equidistant and all interact with each other (p. 257).
• In a wheel network, one individual is the touchstone for the others (pp. 257–258).

• Task roles involve accomplishment of goals and include information giver, information seeker, elaborator, initiator, and administrator (p. 258).
• Social roles evolve based on personality traits and members’ interests and include harmonizer, gatekeeper, and sensor (pp. 258–259).
• Antigroup roles put individual needs above group needs and include blocker, avoider, recognition seeker, distractor, and troll (pp. 259–260).
• Role conflict arises when expectations for behavior are incompatible (p. 260).
• Group members with higher status have more power and influence within the group (pp. 260–261).

• Cohesion, how tightly group members have bonded, helps hold the group together in the face of adversity and helps to create a positive climate (pp. 262).
• Norms direct the behavior of the group, sometimes negatively, requiring modification (pp. 264–265).
• Goals should be specific, arrived at by group decision, clearly defined, supported with the necessary resources, and able to be monitored (pp. 265–266).
• Individual differences can create communication challenges in groups—including cultural factors and varying levels of communication apprehension, or nervousness about speaking up. Group members also vary in their assertiveness—their tendency to use communication openly to accomplish their goals, and their argumentativeness—a trait characterized by advocacy for or defense of positions along with the refutation of the positions that other people take (pp. 266–269).