Small group Processes

This study explores an emerging work arrangement, the partially distributed work group, in which one member is separated from the "core" group but linked via communication and computer support. Partially distributed groups may well interact differently from those that are either fully co-located or fully distributed. In light of that possibility, the study examined the effects of providing various types of media support in addition to computer support over four sessions. Results indicate that media perceptions do not differ between remote and colocated members. Perceptions of remote and co-located members improve over time. Perceptions of remote members dropped, though not significantly,-relative to those of co-located members-at the midpoint of the exercise. Our data suggest that future studies could find remote participants to be hypersensitive to media deficiencies. Although performance did not depend on type of media used, groups using richer media felt their medium was more effective.

Although medical curricula are now better structured for integration of biomedical sciences and clinical training, most teaching and learning activities still follow the older teacher-centric discipline-specific formats. A newer pedagogical approach, known as Collaborative Learning Cases (CLCs), was adopted in the medical school to facilitate integration and collaborative learning. Before incorporating CLCs into the curriculum of year 1 students, two pilot runs using the action research method was carried out to improve the design of CLCs. Methods: We employed the four-phase Kemmis and McTaggart's action research spiral in two cycles to improve the design of CLCs. A class of 300 first-year medical students (for both cycles), 11 tutors (first cycle), and 16 tutors (second cycle) were involved in this research. Data was collected using the 5-points Likert scale survey, open-ended questionnaire, and observation. Results: From the data collected, we learned that more effort was required to train the tutors to understand the principles of CLCs and their role in the CLCs sessions. Although action research enables the faculty to improve the design of CLCs, finding the right technology tools to support collaboration and enhance learning during the CLCs remains a challenge. Conclusion: The two cycles of action research was effective in helping us design a better learning environment during the CLCs by clarifying tutors' roles, improving group and time management, and meaningful use of technology.

This article examines the nature of intergroup conflicts and some of the psychological and communication processes that can facilitate their resolution. It focuses specifically on conflicts between individual members of different social identity groups and elaborates on the differences between interpersonal and intergroup conflict resolution. It continues with a presentation of the prevailing psychological conditions that exist prior to attempts to resolve intergroup conflict along with a series of psychological and communication processes that can be employed in small group settings to improve the climate for intergroup conflict resolution. It ends by discussing how people can be trained to recognize and take advantage of the beneficial effects of these psychological and communication processes in small group settings.

This study examines how group member beliefs regarding cognitive differences influence ability to create knowledge. Specifically, this study explores whether the impact of openness to cognitive diversity on knowledge creation is a result of associated collaborative behaviors. To investigate this theory, it is assessed whether the behaviors of debate and decision comprehensiveness mediate the relationship between openness to cognitive diversity and knowledge creation. The results of a survey of 98 workplace teams support the hypotheses that the impact of openness is consequent to the emergence of behavioral patterns that facilitate open and rigorous discussion and contribute to the understanding of the psychosocial and behavioral variables underpinning knowledge creation.

Large congregations are commonly criticized as eliciting less involvement from adherents than smaller congregations. Small groups have been heralded as a remedy to drawbacks of increasing congregation size. This study tests the relevance of small groups to individuals' commitment and participation, particularly in large congregations. Analysis features the 2001 U.S. Congregational Life Survey and a survey of congregants at one Central Texas Megachurch. Persons involved in small groups devoted to prayer, discussion, or Bible study report a greater sense of belonging, more frequent attendance, and higher rates of giving. The effect of small group involvement does not differ by congregation size, however. From worshippers in one Texas megachurch, we find that the extent of small group involvement positively relates to commitment and participation. Small groups may not completely resolve problems associated with increasing size, but we believe they do represent a potent source of vitality in congregations big and small.

The objective of this study was to test a theoretical model posited by the author in 1995 that explains the relationships among self-construals (independent and interdependent self-image), communication processes (participation, cooperation, and respect), and outcomes (satisfaction, performance, and withholding effort) in homogeneous and heterogeneous groups. Students (N = 189) completed three tasks in a group that varied in composition from homogeneous to heterogeneous in regards to age, gender, and ethnicity. Results from structural equation modeling revealed that (a) self-construals of group members better explained the communication processes used by a small group than did composition, (b) situational interdependent self-construals were associated positively with participation and cooperation, (c) equal participation and respect were related negatively to the degree to which members withhold effort in a group, (d) equal participation and respect were related positively with the level of satisfaction in a group, and (e) cooperation, equal participation, and respect were not related to performance. Cultural diversity in small groups is a salient and important concern because of demographic changes around the world. For example, minorities (e.g., immigrants and minority group members) and women will account for 75% of the total U.S. workforce new entrants in the next decade (Judy & D'Amico, 1997). As a result of 19 AUTHOR'S NOTE: I would like to thank Everett Rogers and two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments on earlier drafts of this article and

Abstract This study follows the idea that the key to understanding team meeting effectiveness lies in uncovering the microlevel interaction processes throughout the meeting. Ninety-two regular team meetings were videotaped. Interaction data were coded and evaluated with the act4teams coding scheme and INTERACT software. Team and organizational success variables were gathered via questionnaires and telephone interviews. The results support the central function of interaction processes as posited in ...

“As we know, well-led groups provide many member benefits: feelings of universality, a sense of hope, altruism, acquisition of knowledge and skills, and mutual support...This text is affordable, easy to use, and very suitable for providing group work material in BSW or MSW practice courses.”

— Greg Tully, West Chester University



AN EXPERIENTIAL APPROACH TO GROUP WORK
Second Edition

Rich Furman, University of Washington, Tacoma
Kimberly Bender, University of Denver
Diana Rowan, University of North Carolina, Charlotte

An Experiential Approach to Group Work is not your typical group work text! Using dozens of exercises that build practice-tested skills, the authors' approach is in perfect step with CSWE's competence-based education requirements. The book is organized into three sections—the first addresses stages of group practice, the second looks at major types of groups, and the final section looks at examples of group work practice with special populations.

Features of the Second Edition

    Expanded! Discussion of the theory of group process and dynamics
    New! Content regarding Canadian, British, and Australian group work practices
    New! Chapters on anti-oppressive practice, group work with immigrants, and macro-practice group work
    New! Content on the use and development of technology to aid group work
    Contains customized exercises for each group work topic, designed to build the student and practitioner’s skills for use in group work sessions
    Special emphasis on how to bring individual sessions or groups to closure
    Provides examples of group work in specialized settings: conflict resolution groups within elementary schools, pregnant teens, Latinos, and HIV/AIDS clients

This study employs interaction analysis to explore micro-level conflict processes and macro-level phasic structures of conflict management in two jury deliberations. Results indicate that the deliberations have fundamentally different conflict management processes. Differences in the tasks posed by the two deliberations and in the norms enacted in them, as well as microinteractional patterns, are posited to account for the divergent interaction processes.

This study (a) examined the multidimensionality of both group cohesion and group performance, (b) investigated the relationship between group level task and social cohesion (Carron, Widmeyer, Brawley,1985) and group effectiveness , and (c) examined the longitudinal changes in cohesion and performance and the direction of effect between cohesion and performance. Firstly, we hypothesized that both task and social cohesion would predict positively all dimensions of group performance. Secondly, that a stronger relationship would be observed between task cohesion and task effectiveness, and social cohesion and system viability. Thirdly, that all dimensions of cohesion and performance would increase over time. Finally, that cohesion would be both the antecedent and the consequence of performance, but that the performance-cohesion relationship would be stronger than the cohesion-performance relationship. Results supported the hypothesized one to one relationship between specific dimensions of group cohesion and group performance. Task cohesion was the sole predictor of self-rated performance at both Time 1 and Time 2, whereas social cohesion was the only predictor of system viability at Time 1 and the stronger predictor at Time 2. Social cohesion at Time 2 predicted performance on group task. However, no longitudinal changes were found in cohesion or performance. Finally, group cohesion was found to be the antecedent, but not the consequence, of group performance.

High group cohesion is considered to be beneficial and lead to better performance. This qualitative case study describes a case in which high social cohesion led to a deterioration in a team's performance. The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationships between performance in a team sport and social psychological group phenomena such as cohesion, conformity, groupthink, and group polarization. The participants were members of a junior-league ice-hockey team, consisting of three adult coaches and 22 players aged 15 to 16 years. The data were derived from an interview with the main coach, continuous observation by the principal researcher, and a diary based on observations during one ice-hockey season. The group environment Questionnaire was used to assess group cohesion quantitatively. The qualitative data were analyzed by identifying themes that illuminated the research problem. In this study, the team did not perform as expected, and their performance deteriorated during the autumn. Social cohesion was high. In addition, the need to evaluate performance declined because of increased pressure to conform. Pressure to conform, groupthink, and group polarization increased owing to the high level of social cohesion which in turn was associated with the deterioration in the group's performance. Based on the findings it appears that high group cohesion may not

Collaborating with others takes intriguing and complex forms. We collaborate with others in a wide variety of activities: from team sports to shared labour, from committee work to mass demonstrations, from dancing to reminiscing together about old times. Recently, philosophy of mind and cognitive science has turned to theorizing and studying socio-cognitive interactions of these kinds, asking what kinds of adaptive and shared intelligence are involved in collaborative activities in small groups. Theorists focus on complex and intricate cognitive and affective processes that spread beyond a single individual’s brain – distributed across the body and/or the environment, coopting objects and driving interactions with other individuals. We explore embodied practices of collaboration in sporting and other performance contexts, drawing on rich literatures from cognitive psychology, sports psychology, organisational psychology and social ontology.  Our interest in both sport and embodied minds centres on cases in which people are not working or moving alone, but in which individual participants’ unique skills and capacities are coordinated with those of others in service of shared goals. We identify a range of levels of socio-cognitive processes that interact to drive and sustain embodied collaboration in a variety of contexts. By appreciating how such processes interact, we can begin to understand how human collaboration is achieved and maintained.

There exists a wealth of research examining the effects of democratic and autocratic leadership on group productivity and member satisfaction: however, past reviews of this literature have not systematically integrated the results of available quantitative studies. This essay use a meta-analysis to provide such an integration. Analysis reveals no correlation between democratic/autocratic leadership style and productivity, except when taking into consideration the influence of study setting and task complexity. Results also suggest that democratic leadership has a moderate positive correlation with member satisfaction, but this relationship may be moderated by task complexity. The conclusion discusses the limits of experimentally manipulating democratic leadership and the need for conceptual refinement.

An analysis is made of the proposition that scapegoat role emerge in small groups to unconsciously allow other members to distance themselves from the anxiety and threat aroused by the intrapsychic and interpesonal conflict displaced onto the scapegoat. The analysis concentrates on describing the scapegoating process is small groups, the underlying dynamics, and the consequences for a group. Researchable propositions derivable from the dynamics of the scapegoating process are presented.

У навчально-методичному комплексі спецкурсу представлено практичні методи оптимізації соціально-психологічного клімату в малих групах освітнього середовища. Комплекс розроблено з урахуванням сучасних теоретичних знань та практичних здобутків соціальної психології. Особливу увагу приділено проблемам групової взаємодії, групових конфліктів, ціннісно-рольових феноменів, розвитку групи та особистості в групі. Серед завдань спецкурсу – оволодіння технологіями та практичними навичками роботи з групами: методами дії, арт-терапевтичними методами, рольовими іграми, методами роботи з груповою динамікою тощо. Запропоновані в спецкурсі завдання, зокрема практичні вправи, сприятимуть підвищенню соціально-психологічної компетентності практиків у роботі з групами.
Призначений для практичних психологів системи освіти, педагогів і керівників системи освіти та всіх, хто цікавиться проблемами малих груп і соціально-психологічного клімату.

This research investigated the effects of guided team self-correction using an empirically derived expert model of teamwork as the organizing framework. First, the authors describe the process used to define this model. Second, they report findings from two studies in which the expert model was used to structure the process of guided team self-correction. Participants were U.S. Navy command and control teams (25 in Study 1, 13 in Study 2). Results indicated that teams debriefed using the expert model-driven guided team self-correction approach developed more accurate mental models of teamwork (Study 1) and demonstrated greater teamwork processes and more effective outcomes (Study 2) than did teams debriefed using a less participative and chronologically organized approach that is more typical for these teams.

The aim of this study was to investigate how individuals;who had been victims of school bullying;perceived their bullying experiences and how these had affected them;and to generate a grounded theory of being a victim of bullying at school. Twenty-one individuals;who all had prior experiences of being bullied in school for more than one year;were interviewed. Qualitative analysis of data was performed by methods from grounded theory. The research identified a basic process of victimising in school bullying;which consisted of four phases: (a) initial attacks;(b) double victimising;(c) bullying exit and (d) after-effects of bullying. Double victimising refers to a process in which there was an interplay between external victimising and internal victimising. Acts of harassment were repeatedly directed at the victims from their social environment at school – a social process that constructed and repeatedly confirmed their victim role in the class or the group. This external victimising affected the victims and initiated an internal victimising;which meant that they internalised the socially constructed victim-image and acted upon this image;which in turn often supported the bullies’ agenda and confirmed the socially constructed victim-image. The findings also indicate the possible positive effect of changing the social environment.

Organizations need flexible and adaptable structures to thrive in an increasingly turbulent business environment. Self-managing team (SMT) structures have evolved as an optimal approach to increase flexibility and performance as evidenced by their documented proliferation in organizations. However, even with their broad organizational adoption, research shows inconsistencies concerning SMT's potential to enhance performance. This review integrates prior empirical research on input factors that influence the successful implementation of high-performing SMTs. Using a prior team effectiveness framework as a lens, we conducted a systematic analysis of the literature to shed light into the variables at the individual, team, and organizational level that affect performance and successful implementation of SMT. The sample of studies resulted from an exhaustive search that included quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods research. Last, we present gaps in the literature and propose future directions for research on SMTs.

Innovative behavior is increasingly important for organizations' survival. Transformational leadership, in contrast to transactional leadership, has been argued to be particularly effective in engendering follower innovative behavior. However, empirical evidence for this relationship is scarce and inconsistent. Addressing this issue, we propose that follower psychological empowerment moderates the relationship of transformational and transactional leadership with follower innovative behavior. In a field study with 230 employees of a government agency in the Netherlands combining multisource ratings, we show that transformational leadership is positively related to innovative behavior only when psychological empowerment is high, whereas transactional leadership has a negative relationship with innovative behavior only under these conditions. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

ObjectiveLeadership in organizations is important in shaping workers’ perceptions, responses to organizational change, and acceptance of innovations, such as evidence-based practices. Transformational leadership inspires and motivates followers, whereas transactional leadership is based more on reinforcement and exchanges. Studies have shown that in youth and family service organizations, mental health providers’ attitudes toward adopting an evidence-based practice are associated with organizational context and individual provider differences. The purpose of this study was to expand these findings by examining the association between leadership and mental health providers’ attitudes toward adopting evidence-based practice.MethodsParticipants were 303 public-sector mental health service clinicians and case managers from 49 programs who were providing mental health services to children, adolescents, and their families. Data were gathered on providers’ characteristics, attitudes toward evidence-based practices, and perceptions of their supervisors’ leadership behaviors. Zero-order correlations and multilevel regression analyses were conducted that controlled for effects of service providers’ characteristics.ResultsBoth transformational and transactional leadership were positively associated with providers’ having more positive attitudes toward adoption of evidence-based practice, and transformational leadership was negatively associated with providers’ perception of difference between the providers’ current practice and evidence-based practice.ConclusionsMental health service organizations may benefit from improving transformational and transactional supervisory leadership skills in preparation for implementing evidence-based practices.

After a brief review of team effectiveness models is presented, Stohl and Schell's concept of farrago-a confusing group member who becomes the relational focus of a dysfunctional group-is reconfigured into primary and secondary provokers. It was hypothesized that a group's dysfunction is caused by the primary provoker's confusing behavior. Behaving at one anchor of a behavioral dimension and then at the other, the primary provoker pulls other group members into a web of confusing communication, causing them to become secondary provokers. The dysfunction that results replaces the task focus of the team. This assumption was tested in two studies of organizational work groups. Results indicate that confusion on only one dimension-the friendly-unfriendly-distinguishes dysfunctional from effective groups.

The full conference program of the Human Behavior and Evolution Society began on a sunny humid Thursday morning in June in the year 2000 on the Amherst College campus and it didn’t wind down until the following Sunday afternoon. I was privileged to attend presentations by such well-known scholars as Steven Pinker (How the Mind Works), Robert Wright (The Moral Animal), and Richard Dawkins (The Selfish Gene). As impressive as these well-known scholars were (and there were many lesser-known though just-as-able scholars at the conference) I’d come specifically to attend the panel discussion on the use of evolutionary biology in understanding religion. Dan Kriegman was listed as the organizer and its focus would be Kevin MacDonald’s trilogy on the evolutionary strategy of Judaism...
That was the year 2000. In 2020, Charles Murray, in 'Human Diversity, the Biology of Gender, Race and Class'  explains: "why there is so little about evolutionary psychology in human diversity."
At the end of the introduction to the book, he writes:

"Hundreds of millions of years of evolution did more than shape human physiology. It shaped the human brain as well. A comparatively new discipline, evolutionary psychology, seeks to understand the links between evolutionary pressures and the way humans have turned out. Accordingly, evolutionary psychology is at the heart of explanations for the differences that distinguish men from women and human populations from each other. Ordinarily, it would be a central part of my narrative. But the orthodoxy has been depressingly successful in demonizing evolutionary psychology as just-so stories. I decided that incorporating its insights would make it too easy for critics to attack the explanation and ignore the empirical reality. I discuss some evolutionary material in my accounts of the peopling of the Earth and the source of greater male variance.  That's it, however, ignoring the rest of the fascinating story."

The public demonizing of evolutionary psychology began at HBES 2000 and has persisted for over two decades.
I wrote a journal of the event, not because I attended as a journalist, but because I was concerned the event would be forgotten.

The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of interpersonal relationship on church development. The study was built on Lewin’s theory of change and Stakeholders theory by Freeman. Descriptive research design was used to determine the effects of variables. The target population was the fellowship, church leaders and members of fellowship groups in AGC churches Anaimoi sub-county, Kericho County, Kenya. Anaimoi is divided into 6 wards with each having an average of 10 AGC churches. The fellowship groups in 18 churches were used as a sample. Strata random sampling was used to select the respondents. Data was collected using structured questionnaires and interviews. The study was analysed through descriptive statistics with the help of SPSS and presented in pie charts, tables and graphs. Interpretation was made based on research objective. A pilot study was carried out by choosing one small group fellowship to determine the reliability and validity of research instruments. Cronbach’s alpha technique was also used to test the reliability of the questionnaires’ items.
Multiple regression models were used to test the relationships between the study variables. Results indicated that there was a positive relationship between Fellowship Groups’ Interpersonal Relationships and Church Development as the reported p value is higher than the critical value. Another aspect that was observed was that the fellowship groups had manageable number of members in the fellowship that blended easily and form trust among them. The working together as a team was greatly enhanced where a member of the fellowship groups was involved in the operations. The fellowship groups act as cornerstones of progressive management for the foreseeable future.

Virtual teams and other online groups can find it challenging to establish norms that allow them to effectively balance task and relational aspects of their discussions. Yet, in our reliance on organizational and team theories, small group scholars have overlooked the potential for learning from examples offered by online communities. Theories of deliberation in small groups offer scholars a way to assess such discussion-centered self-governance in online groups. The study operationalizes the conceptual definition of deliberative discussion offered by to examine the small group discussions that undergird policy-making processes in a well-established online community, Wikipedia. Content analysis shows that these discussions demonstrated a relatively high level of problem analysis and providing of information, but results were mixed in the group's demonstration of respect, consideration, and mutual comprehension. Network visualizations at CORNELL UNIV on February 16, 2012 sgr.sagepub.com Downloaded from 596 Small Group Research 42 reveal structural patterns that can be useful in examining equality, influence, and group member roles. The combination of measures has implications for future research in deliberative discussion and virtual teamwork.

Charismatic leaders are often thought to emerge in times of crisis. This study examined the effects of evaluation stress and situational crisis on task performance and ratings of charismatic behavior, as assessed by outside coders on Conger and Kanungo's C-K Scale. Fiftyfive three-member groups were randomly assigned a leader and asked to complete a projectplanning task. Half of the groups were randomly assigned to a stress condition, and all groups underwent a midsession crisis intervention. Results showed that leaders in the stress condition were perceived as significantly more charismatic than leaders in the no-stress condition, although ratings converged after the crisis manipulation.

The current study was conducted to examine the relationships between group goal setting and the emergence of leadership. Specifically, groups were assigned either group goals, individual goals, or both group and individual goals to determine how the type of goal relates to the frequency of leadership emergence. In addition, other antecedents and the consequences of emergent leadership were tested. A sample of 468 college students performed an interdependent word-building task in groups of four. Results indicated that the nature of the assigned goal did not influence leader emergence. Emergence was, however, related to individual task ability and commitment to the assigned group goal. Groups in which leaders emerged outperformed groups without emergent leaders but perceptions of free riding were not affected. Finally, the emergent leader's personal goal for the group strongly influenced the groups' chosen goal for the group. The implications and limitations of these findings and suggestions for future research are discussed.

The historical development, metatheoretical background, and current state of the social identity perspective in social psychology are described. Although originally an analysis mainly of intergroup relations between large-scale social categories, and more recently an analysis with a strong social cognitive emphasis, this article shows that the social identity perspective is intended to be a general analysis of group membership and group processes. It focuses on the generative relationship between collective self-conception and group phenomena. To demonstrate the relevance of the social identity perspective to small groups, the article describes social identity research in a number of areas: differentiation within groups; leadership; deviance; group decision making; organizations; computer mediated communication; mobilization, collective action, and social loafing; and group culture. These are the areas in which most work has been done and which are therefore best placed for further developments in the near future.