The people constituting a group communicate with one another, often face-to-face, over a span of time. A group may be formal or informal. Therefore, a small group refers to a few individuals interacting regularly and interdependently, acting together with shared norms and values to achieve a common goal.
Understand Small Groups and Communication of Small Groups.
What is a Small Group?
A small group is two or more individuals interacting and interdependent who come together to achieve particular objectives. A small group is two or more freely interacting people with shared norms and goals and a common identity.
Communication is an essential process within a small group. Communication creates a group, shapes each group uniquely, and maintains a group.
Theories of Small Group Development
Why do individuals form groups? Experts try to explain the reasons in the form of some theories. These theories are explained below:
Propinquity Theory
Propinquity means that individuals affiliate with one another because of spatial or geographical proximity. People sitting close to one another in the office are more likely to form groups than those who are geographically dispersed.
Balanced Theory
It tells that groups are formed due to the similarity of attitudes of people toward commonly relevant objects and goals.
Such people come together and form a relationship. If for any reason this relationship is disturbed, an attempt is made to maintain a symmetrical balance between the attraction and the common attitudes. If equilibrium is not restored, the group dissolves.
Exchange Theory
It treats every interaction as a transaction, an exchange wherein gratification of some needs by interacting with a person is considered a reward while anxiety, frustration, embarrassment, fatigue, and so on are its costs.
So, this theory is based on reward-cost outcomes of interaction. For attraction or affiliation to take place, a minimum positive level of an outcome must exist. When this equation is disturbed, interactions are likely to reduce, and ultimately, the group may dissolve if a negative level of outcome persists.
Interaction Theory
The theory explains that activities in the organization necessitate interactions among people who gradually elaborate their behaviors beyond the prescribed ones, develop likes and dislikes, or positive and negative sentiments toward each other.
The positive sentiments act as a cementing force. Even negative sentiments, if interactions between two individuals cannot be avoided, ultimately turn into positive ones, highlighting the strengths and ignoring the weaknesses. These sentiments gradually get expressed through the formation of groups.
If any disturbance is caused to any of the three elements—activities, interactions, and sentiments, it is likely to disturb all others. Members of the group interact to solve problems, attain goals, facilitate coordination, reduce tension, and achieve balance. These people tend to form into powerful groups.
Why Do People Join Groups?
There are some obvious reasons for which people join groups. Robbins (1996:296) has put forward the following reasons:
Security
By joining a group, individuals can reduce the insecurity of standing alone. People feel stronger, have fewer self-doubts, and are more resistant to threats when they are part of a group.
Status
Inclusion in a group that is viewed as important by others provides recognition and status for its members.
Self-Esteem
Groups can provide people with feelings of self-worth. In addition to conveying status to those outside the group, members can also give increased feelings of worth to the group members themselves.
Affiliation
Groups can fulfill social needs. People enjoy the regular interaction that comes with group membership. For many people, these on-the-job interactions are their primary source for fulfilling their needs for affiliation.
Power
What cannot be achieved individually often becomes possible through group action. There is power in numbers.
Goal Achievement
There are times when it takes more than one person to accomplish a particular task; there is a need to pool talents, knowledge, or power in order to get a job completed. In such instances, management will rely on the use of a formal group.
Types of Small Group
Small groups are broadly classified into formal and informal groups. Formal groups may be command groups and task groups. Informal groups may be interest groups and friendship groups.
A formal Group is a designated work group defined by the organization’s structure.
- The command group is composed of subordinates who report directly to a given manager.
- Task groups, such as marketing, production, or project groups, represent those working together to complete a job task.
An informal Group is a group that is neither formally structured nor organizationally determined; it appears in response to the need for social contact.
- An interest group is composed of those who work together to attain a specific objective with which each is concerned.
- Friendship groups are those groups who bring themselves together because they share one or more common characteristics.
What is Small Group Communication?
The process of exchanging messages within a group to arrive at mutual understanding so that concerted efforts can be executed is known as small group communication. Small group communication is the interaction of a small group of people to achieve an interdependent goal.
The various elements of this definition imply several things:
- “Small” implies that each member of the group is aware of the other members of the group and reacts to each as an individual. Thus, “small” refers to members’ mutual awareness of each other as individuals, not to absolute size.
- Members of a small group interact in such a way that each can influence and be influenced by the others. This interaction occurs through communication, which is usually face-to-face, but other channels of communication, such as over a computer network, also qualify. The substance that creates a group and the glue that holds it together are the verbal and non-verbal communication that occurs among members.
- “Interdependence” implies that one member cannot achieve the group’s goal without the other members also achieving it. For example, it is impossible for one basketball player on a team to win a game while the other members lose. They all win or lose together. The success of one member is dependent on the success of all the members.
Therefore, small group communication involves sending verbal and nonverbal signals that are perceived, interpreted and responded to by other people so that the group’s purpose can be achieved.
Difference Between Small Group Communication and Dyadic or Public Communication
Small group communication differs from dyadic or interpersonal and public communication in several important ways. Pearson and Nelson (1997:161) have pointed out the understated differences between these two types of communication:
Complexity
Communication among small group members is more complex than dyadic communication. It is challenging for one person to tune in to the communicative signals of just one other person, and this process becomes tremendously complicated with the addition of even one more person.
For example, in a dyad, only one interpersonal relationship is possible.
However, in a three-person group, nine unique relationships are possible. In a five-person group, there are twenty-five such relationships.
Purpose for Communication
Humans communicate for various reasons, including self-expression, persuasion, and information-sharing. In dyadic encounters, much communication occurs for the purpose of self-expression. Persuasion and information sharing are essential purposes for public communication. Small group communication encompasses all of these purposes along with the accomplishment of tasks.
Formality
Small group communication is more spontaneous and casual than public speaking, which is typically more formal and planned. It shares this informality with dyadic communication. Small group communication is not meticulously planned, and it is impossible to predict exactly how other group members will respond.
Interchange of Speaker or Listener Roles
In public communication, the roles of the speaker and the audience members are relatively fixed: the speaker speaks, and the listener listens. Even if the audience interrupts or asks questions after the speech, the speaker generally controls the flow of the discussion.
In small group communication, the roles of the primary sender and primary receiver alternate frequently. The roles of sender/receiver shift quickly among group members.
Immediacy of Feedback
In small groups, feedback is immediate, whereas in public speaking situations, feedback is often delayed. A public speaker receives nonverbal feedback from an audience and may sense approval or disagreements, but usually does not know specific reactions and the reasons behind them.
Creation of Output
In a public speaking situation, the speaker is largely responsible for creating the speech and determining its outcome.
In a small group, group members themselves are mutually and equally responsible for creating the group’s outcomes. Dyadic communication also involves all members being equally responsible for what happens.
How Should We Communicate in Small Groups
We are all responsible for the outcomes of the groups to which we belong as members. Our efforts are aimed at achieving productive outcomes. Thus, the ability to speak fluently and with polish is not essential, but the ability to speak clearly is.
You will help your fellow group members understand you better by organizing your comments during small group discussions. How? Observe the following:
Relate your statements to preceding remarks
Small group members have the opportunity to respond to remarks by others. Your statement should not appear to come out of the blue. Make it clear that your remark is relevant to the topic under discussion by linking it to the immediately preceding remark.
Use conventional word arrangement
When you speak, you should use conventional sentences so people can understand you better. You have more latitude in written English, where punctuation helps readers follow the thought, and readers have time to think about what you have written.
Speak concisely
Don’t be long-winded. During a speech, the audience expects the speaker to monopolize the floor. However, during a small group discussion, every member wants and deserves a turn.
State one point at a time
It is better to state one idea at a time to make it easier for the group to discuss a topic effectively and for other members to respond directly to each topic.
Behaviors or Factors for Effective Small Group Interpersonal Communication
Small group communication can be made effective with certain well-defined characteristics. Roger (1961: 39-58) articulated six essential behaviors for making interpersonal/small group communication effective. They are discussed below:
Honesty
Honesty, the quality of being honest, when applied to an interpersonal communication event, implies freedom from deceit or fraud. The event is characterized by truthfulness, sincerity, and frankness. To be honest is to behave in a way that is genuine.
We can achieve the goal of honesty in communication events if we understand that it, as well as the other characteristics of effective interpersonal communication, includes both attitude and behavior.
It requires enormous wisdom and courage. Because we are not fully honest with each other due to our society’s lack of an attitude of being honest.
Openness
Openness is an essential requirement of small group communication. It means being open and disclosing oneself to others.
Self-disclosure is defined as revealing one’s thinking, feelings, and beliefs to another. There is a good deal of literature supporting the idea that self-disclosure is essential for interpersonal growth and intimacy and that self-disclosure and trust are reciprocal.
Hence, trust is a necessary precondition for self-disclosure, and self-disclosure is a necessary precondition for trust.
Empathy
Empathy refers to supportive behavior characterized by identification with the experiences, feelings, and problems of others and with the affirmation of the other’s self-worth.
Thus, empathy is a reaction to someone who reflects recognition and identity with a similar emotional state.
When empathic people talk with each other, they make an effort to experience each other’s point of view, and they look for opportunities to confirm each other.
Stiff et al. (1988:198-213) pointed out three separate dimensions of empathy. One dimension of empathy is perspective-taking – the ability to take on or adopt the view of another person.
A second dimension of empathy is Emotional Contagion – experiencing an emotional response like the other person’s as a result of observing or anticipating the other person’s emotion.
A third dimension is Empathic Concern for the other person or caring about what happens to them.
Thus, empathy is both an attitude and a skill. The attitude is genuinely caring about the other person. The skill is in letting the other person know that you care through both your verbal and nonverbal messages.
Empathy implies other-directedness and careful listening. To be empathic, you have to direct your energies away from yourself and toward other people. You have to focus on them. You have to listen actively.
Positiveness
Positiveness refers to behavior that is sure and constructive, rather than behavior that is skeptical and doubtful. Positiveness emphasizes the hopeful side of things by looking for the good in people and events. It affirms and builds; it does not attack or tear down.
Positiveness is both an attitude and a skill. The attitude is that other people are basically OK just the way they are. The skill is in learning to reflect that attitude with verbal and nonverbal messages.
Learning to be positive also implies learning how to ask for what you want in a positive manner. It implies learning how to be nurturing. It implies learning how to make constructive suggestions instead of destructive criticisms.
Supportiveness
Supportiveness refers to behavior characterized by description rather than evaluation, problem orientation rather than control, spontaneity rather than strategy, empathy as opposed to neutrality, equality as opposed to superiority, and provisional rather than certainty.
Supportiveness aims to sustain a person, back him up, and reinforce him. Supportiveness is behavior that maintains a relationship rather than damages it.
Supportiveness is both an attitude and a skill. It is an attitude in the sense that you think in other-directed and supportive ways. It is a skill because the behavioral choices do not seem to come naturally. We have to develop the habit of supportiveness.
Equality
Equality refers to showing respect for another person and minimizing differences in ability, status, power, and intellectual ability. It is based on the idea that people are equally meritorious in their essential humanity.
You may be bigger or smaller, older or younger, richer or poorer, but these things do not make you more or less human. You have equal humanity, and you are entitled as a right of birth to your dignity as a human being.
