COMM001: Principles of Human Communication
Group Formation- Video
Leadership and effective collaboration.
Leadership and Group Group Dynamics - Answer Key
Leadership and Group Group Dynamics - Hand Out
Leadership Styles
Management Principles v. 1.0
Organizational Behavior, an OpenStax resource
PRDV213: Group Communication
Small Group Communication
The Leadership Process
What is the Best Kind of Leadership Style ? -Video
What_make_leader_hand_out._WakN5eP
Group Leadership and Power Negotiation (Republish)
Overview
Republish the First Draft of Group Leadership and Power Negotiation project for Small Group Communications
Introduction
This series of modules will explore the behaviors and attributes that make for effective leadership and discuss the role of power negotiation and conflict in the context of leadership. Leadership skills have profound impacts on our work, school, and day-to-day life. Before we can go into what makes a good leader, we need to define what a leader is. Oxford Learner's Dictionaries define a Leader one way as "a person who leads a group of people, especially the head of a country, an organization, etc."
Given that premise, one must ask several questions to find what constitutes "good" leadership. What are the traits and behaviors that a good leader exhibits? Are these traits constant and never changing, or are they situational, where a good leader in one circumstance would not be a good leader in another? What styles of leadership have been identified, and what utility do they provide to a group?
These questions are complicated and intersectional and thus must be approached from many different standpoints. For this series, we will focus on those aspects of leadership that pertain to small groups.
This module will go over the different leadership styles and dissect them to figure out which leadership styles would fit the situation best and how to make a good leader for those situations.
What Makes a Good Leader?
What makes a good leader is the question I will be presenting today, and we will be going over how we might be able to apply the answer in our work, school, day to day life, etc. But before we can go into what makes a good leader, we need to define what a leader is. Oxford Learner's Dictionaries define Leader one way as "a person who leads a group of people, especially the head of a country, an organization, etc."
Now that we understand and agree on the premise of a leader, we can continue with this discussion about what makes a good leader in an educational and cohesive manner. Our goal is to find what makes a good leader but let us break that down a bit. Are we trying to find what makes a good leader in any and all situations, or are we trying to identify what makes a good leader for different situations?
If the case is the former than we would be hard pressed to come up with or even find an answer. Because different people react and prosper or fail to different leadership styles depending on the current situation they find themselves in.
Let us now go over the different leadership styles and dissect them to figure out which leadership styles would fit the situation best, how what would make a good leader for those situations. I am going to break down the different styles here in a little bit, but before I do I want you all to take a look at this video before we continue.
Leadership Styles
"Leadership Styles (Full Version)" by Organizational Communication Channel is licensed under CC BY
Welcome back, so the three main styles of leaders are as follows, Autocratic or Authoritarian, Democratic, and lastly Laissez-faire also known as the Hands-Off approach. Now let’s do the break down.
- Autocratic: The Autocratic style is best used in short term situations or with follows who need a more hands-on approach with lots of micromanaging. Now while I said it is best used in the short term, you’ll probable recognize this style in long term situations, like a job. And you would probably also know if you were in this situation that you don’t like your boss. The Autocratic is best used for quick decisions in the short term and some jobs require a lot of quick short-term decisions, like a general in the army or a manager in a fast-food restaurant.
- So, what would make a good Autocratic leader is someone who can recognize the fasted paced and necessary decisions for short term situations and act accordingly.
- Democratic: The Democratic style is best used for long term and some short-term situations with followers you trust. Now the biggest point to note is this works with people you trust when dealing with some short-term situations. It can work in long term with people you don’t trust, but this will delay and poses a greater risk of failure or disharmony when working with people you don’t trust, whether that be the leader or the follower. Democratic leadership is often used in government to keep a more harmonic following but gets slowed down and de-harmonized when mistrust is in play, as we saw in the 2020 election which saw both sides not trusting the other and thinking the other side cheated.
- So, what would make a good Democratic leader is someone who can listen and socialize with their following to make decision that harmonize the whole team.
- Laissez-faire: The Laissez-faire style is best used in high trust situations with highly skilled followers that are highly motivated. Another case where this is useful is in schooling, it’s typically used in home schooling or unschooling as they like to call it. But this is best used in High skill situations with more of a team of people. In this situation the leader provides more guidance and insight to their team and gives feedback based on the team’s progression.
- So, what would make a good Laissez-faire leader is someone who can listen to their team to understand their situations and provide feedback and guidance as needed. They are also someone who can recognize skill in other to create a highly skilled team.
Now let’s move onto the interaction section where will go over how you can use this in your daily life and some activities to try on your own or with others. Also take a look at the videos in this section for more information on a general leading which Sadhguru talks about in this
"What is the Best Kind of Leadership Style ? | Sadhguru" by Sadhguru is licensed under CC BY
For a fun little animation examples of leadership watch this:
"Leadership and effective collaboration." by JOSE DIEZ is licensed under CC BY.
References:
" BUS401: Management Leadership" by Saylor Academy is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
"Small Group Communication" by Kerry Osborne , College of the Canyons, is licensed under CC BY 4.0 / A derivative from the original work unless otherwise attributed or noted.
What Makes a Good Leader? - Interactive
Alright, you made it, now let us get into the activities. We'll start by having you answer some questions, but I want to go over why we're asking these questions before we do that. Answering these questions gives you a greater insight into your leadership style and makes you aware of your strengths and weaknesses when leading others and how you can learn from leaders to improve yourself.
- Reflect on your leadership style and how it relates to the other leadership qualities
Your answer here:
- Describe when you had a 'bad' and 'good' leader and what made them so.
Your answer here:
- Describe the power dynamics of different groups you have interacted with in the past
Your answer here:
- Share your experience with all students the group
Your answer here:
- Using examples from the module, point out where other students used ideas correctly in either leadership and group dynamics.
Your answer here:
“Train the Trainer 101 Discussion Forum” by Cindy Zhou is licensed by Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial.
Leadership
"Connecting Young Leaders - Career Development: Networking, relationships, leadership and career planning - October 2" by US Embassy New Zealand is marked with CC PDM 1.0
Leadership is the ability to motivate people and mobilize resources to accomplish a common goal. Leaders hold both status and power within a group through either their selection or the group's development. They may be formally or informally recognized inside and outside a group, and these be separated into two roles:
- Designated leaders are those that are recognized for their leadership ability and are officially appointed or elected.
- Emergent leaders gain status and respect through interactions with group members and their tasks. They are turned to by others when leadership is needed.
Leaders are sometimes selected by a group based upon their characteristics, such as physical appearance, communication ability, intelligence, and personality.
Leaders also emerge based on their communication skills, as specific message actions create leadership conditions. In this way, leadership can be seen as a set of communication behaviors that are learnable and adaptable rather than traits or situational factors, which are often beyond our control.
The context of the situation a group finds themselves in also affects how leaders emerge. Differencing styles and abilities are needed based on a group's structure, how interactions play out, whether a leadership struggle occurs, and its goals.
"Small Group Structures" by Mason Carpenter, Talya Bauer, Berrin Erdogan, Saylor Academy is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0
Leaders can adopt different styles to fulfill their needs and the group's task or goals. Some leadership styles are a better fit for a leadership style than others.
- Directive leaders provide structure to their group members by clearly communicating expectations, keeping a schedule and a plan, providing precise guidance in tasking, and taking the lead on setting up and communicating group rules and procedures.
- Participative leaders include group members within the decision-making process by soliciting and considering their opinions, suggestions, and recommendations.
- Supportive leaders have concern for their followers' wants and feelings.
- Achievement-oriented leaders demand excellence, set challenging goals, seek continuous improvement, and believe that group members can meet high expectations.
"The Leadership Process" by Copyright Rice University, OpenStax is licensed under CC BY 4.0
Power is how leaders move their groups toward success and complete their assigned tasks and goals, and they do so by tapping into various types of powers inherent within themselves and the group.
Effective leaders do not need to possess all the power types. Instead, they know how to draw on other group members who may be better able to exercise a type of power in a given situation.
Basis of Power | Guidelines for Use |
Referent power |
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Expert power |
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Legitimate power |
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Reward power |
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Coercive power |
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References:
"Organizational Behavior" by OpenStax is licensed under CC BY 4.0
"Small Group Communication" by Kerry Osborne , College of the Canyons, is licensed under CC BY 4.0 / A derivative from the original work unless otherwise attributed or noted.
"Small Group Structures" by Mason Carpenter, Talya Bauer, Berrin Erdogan, Saylor Academy is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0
Group Dynamics
In 1965 Bruce Tuckman presented a model for group formation that is still widely used today. His group behavior observations in various settings allowed him to propose a four-stage map of group evolution, known as the Forming-Storming-Norming-Performing Model(Tuckman, B.,1965 Developmental sequence in small groups. Psychological Bulletin,63, 384–399). Later he expanded the model to include a fifth and final stage, Adjourning.
"Stages of the Group Development Model" by Mason Carpenter, Talya Bauer, Berrin Erdogan is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0
- Forming
In the forming stage, the group comes together for the first time. The members may already know each other or total strangers. There is a level of formality, anxiety, and a degree of guardedness as group members are unsure what will happen next. Because of the large amount of uncertainty, members tend to be polite, conflict-avoidant, and observant. Group members are trying to achieve goals at this stage, although this may not consciously. They are trying to get to know one another by finding common ground. Boundaries are determined to what is considered acceptable behavior with the group. Members are discovering how the group will work: what needs to be done and who will be responsible for each task. This stage often has discussions about issues to be addressed by the group. This phase is usually short, perhaps a meeting or two.
- Storming
Once group members feel sufficiently safe and included, they enter the storming phase. Participants focus less on keeping their guard up and becoming more authentic and more argumentative. Members begin to explore their power and influence, stake out their territory, differentiating themselves from other members. Discussions can become heated as conflicting views and values are expressed or disagreements over how goals should be accomplished and assigned what tasks. It is not unusual for group members to become defensive, competitive, or jealous. Members may take sides or form cliques. Questioning or resisting the leader quite common. Although little seems to get accomplished at this stage, it serves an essential purpose: group members become more authentic. It takes skill to move the group from Storming to Norming. Many groups get stuck in the Storming phase. Once the group can be genuine with each other that the group is capable of handling differences without dissolving, they are ready to enter the next stage,
- Norming
Group members are much more committed to each other and the group's goal. Finding themselves more cohesive and cooperative, participants find it easy to establish their own rules (or norms) and define their operating procedures and plans. The group tends to make big decisions, while subgroups or individuals handle the smaller decisions. At this point, members are more open and respectful toward each other and willing to ask one another for help and feedback. They may even form friendships and share personal information.At this point, the leaders become more of a facilitator. Stepping back and letting the group assume more responsibility for its goal. This is an ideal time to host a social or team-building event.
- Performing
At this stage, participants are not only getting work done but how they are doing it. Members are more interdependent, individuality and differences respected. They ask such questions about policies, procedures, and efficiencies. By now, the group has become more competent, autonomous, and insightful. Leaders move into coaching roles and help members grow in skill and leadership. These leadership shifts are essential. A leader who heads multiple teams may find they need to shift leadership styles not only over time but between groups at different stages.
- Adjourning
Just as groups form, so do, they end. For example, many groups or teams formed are project-oriented and are temporary. Alternatively, a working group may dissolve because of restructuring. As with graduating from school or leaving home for the first time, these endings can be bittersweet. Members feel a combination of victory, grief, and insecurity about what is coming next. This transition can be particularly challenging for those who bond closely with fellow group members. Leaders and members should be sensitive to handling endings respectfully and empathetically. An ideal way to close a group is to set aside time to debrief, acknowledge one another's efforts, and celebrate a job well done.
These stages all feed into the concept of cohesion.
Cohesion is the degree of commitment a group member has towards its purpose, activities, and tasking. Cohesion refers to the degree of trust, and ability members have towards other members and their leaders. Group cohesion comes in two forms task and social and must be balanced for the group to be successful.
The fundamental factors affecting group cohesion include the following:
- Similarity. The more similar group members are in terms of age, sex, education, skills, attitudes, values, and beliefs, the more likely the group will bond.
- Stability. The longer a group stays together, the more cohesive it becomes.
- Size. Smaller groups tend to have higher levels of cohesion.
- Support. When group members receive coaching and are encouraged to support their fellow team members, group identity strengthens.
- Satisfaction. Cohesion is correlated with how pleased group members are with one another's performance, behavior, and conformity to group norms.
Groups can get along and be close socially but not perform well if they do not have an appropriate unity level to approach a task.
Groups that are too focused upon a task experience more interpersonal conflict or a lack of motivation if the feeling of interrelationship is missing.
Climate refers to the relative tone and quality of the interactions experienced by group members within the group.
Socialization of a group refers to the process of how a group indoctrinates new members and themselves by teaching group norms, rules, and expectations associated with a group through interactions, demonstrations, and reinforcement with technical and social information.
Groups with high levels of task and social cohesion are more likely to buy into the group's norms. Socialization continues after a member has joined, as members are officially or unofficially rewarded or punished for adhering to or deviating from the group's standards.
Conformity is a vital force to group socialization. Internal pressures of the group, such as the inner drive to be seen and felt to be part of the group or avoid feelings of shame or guilt for deviating from the group. Equally, external pressures such as the potential for reward or punishment also play into group dynamics.
However, the pressures towards conformity can manifest themselves in the dangerous phenomenon of groupthink.
Groupthink lacks critical evaluation of proposed ideas, a high level of agreement, and fear of an argument both within the group itself and with the group leader.
" Group Formation" by Ryan Guy, Saylor Academy is licensed under CC BY 3.0
References:
"Small Group Communication" by Kerry Osborne , College of the Canyons, is licensed under CC BY 4.0 / A derivative from the original work unless otherwise attributed or noted.
"Stages of the Group Development Model" by Mason Carpenter, Talya Bauer, Berrin Erdogan is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0
Leadership and Group Group Dynamics Crossword Puzzle - Interactive
Using the concepts presented in Leadership and Group Dynamics section complete the crossword puzzle, perferably as a group.
Hint: Pay attention to the indents and high lights.
Leadership and Group Group Dynamics
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"Crossword Labs" by Matt Johnson is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
Conflict
If we are to try to understand the roots of conflict, we need to know what type of conflict is present. Openstax identifies 4 distinct types of conflicts:
- Goal conflict. Goal conflict can occur when one person or group desires a different outcome than others do. This is simply a clash over whose goals are going to be pursued.
- Cognitive conflict. Cognitive conflict can result when one person or group holds ideas or opinions that are inconsistent with those of others. This type of conflict is evident in political debates.
- Affective conflict. This type of conflict emerges when one person’s or group’s feelings or emotions (attitudes) are incompatible with those of others. Affective conflict is seen in situations where two individuals simply don’t get along with each other.
- Behavioral conflict. Behavioral conflict exists when one person or group does something (i.e., behaves in a certain way) that is unacceptable to others. Dressing for work in a way that “offends” others and using profane language are examples of behavioral conflict.
It's crucial for a leader to be able to identify the types of conflict when giving direction and making decisions. Without understanding where the conflict originates, a leader will be unable to identify effective approaches to resolving it.
Levels of Conflict
In addition to different types of conflict, there exist several different levels of conflict. The level of the conflict refers to the number of people involved in it. Openstax identifies and discusses four key levels of conflict.
- Intrapersonal conflict.
- Interpersonal conflict.
- Intergroup conflict.
- Interorganizational conflict.
Of these identified levels of conflict, only the first two are of particular relevance to small group communication: Intrapersonal and Interpersonal.
Intrapersonal conflict is conflict within one person. We often hear about someone who has an approach-avoidance conflict; that is, she is both attracted to and repelled by the same object. Similarly, a person can be attracted to two equally appealing alternatives, such as two good job offers (approach-approach conflict) or repelled by two equally unpleasant alternatives, such as the threat of being fired if one fails to identify a coworker guilty of breaking plant rules (avoidance-avoidance conflict). In any case, the conflict is within the individual.
Conflict can also take form in an interpersonal conflict, where two individuals disagree on some matter. For example, you can have an argument with a coworker over an issue of mutual concern. Such conflicts often tend to get highly personal because only two parties are involved and each person embodies the opposing position in the conflict. Hence, it is sometimes difficult to distinguish between the opponent’s position and her person.
People often assume that all conflict is necessarily bad and should be eliminated. On the contrary, there are some circumstances in which a moderate amount of conflict can be helpful. For instance, conflict can lead to the search for new ideas and new mechanisms as solutions to organizational problems. Conflict can stimulate innovation and change. It can also facilitate employee motivation in cases where employees feel a need to excel and, as a result, push themselves in order to meet performance objectives.
Conflict, which aims at a resolution of tension between antagonists, is likely to have stabilizing and integrative functions for the relationship. Conflict can, on the other hand, have negative consequences for both individuals and organizations when people divert energies away from performance and goal attainment and direct them toward resolving the conflict. Thus, conflict can be either functional or dysfunctional in work situations depending upon the nature of the conflict, its intensity, and its duration. Indeed, both too much and too little conflict can lead to a variety of negative outcomes, as discussed above.
Just as the root types of conflict very, so do the root causes. While some causes of conflict may well be rooted in only one type of conflict, others can have multiple types of conflict in play depending on the personalities of the individuals in question or the situation at hand. Kerry Osborne identifies several common examples of causes of conflict:
· Competing interests: Conflict can arise when people have mutually incompatible desires or needs. For example, two team members with similar skills may both want a certain assignment, leaving the one who doesn’t receive it resentful.
· Different behavioral styles or preferences: Individuals may clash over their respective work habits, attention to detail, communication practices, or tone of expression. While these can affect coordination of interdependent tasks, they can especially inhibit direct collaboration.
· Competition over resources: Members may fight over the limited resources available to accomplish the team’s tasks. For example, if two people both rely on the action of a third person to meet identical deadlines, disagreements might arise over whose work should receive that person’s attention first.
· Failure to follow team norms: A team member creates conflict when she displays attitudes or behaviors that go against the team’s agreement about how it will function. If a group norm calls for prompt arrival at meetings and prohibits the use of mobile devices during discussions, ignoring these practices can engender conflict.
· Performance deficiencies: When some team members are either not contributing their share of effort or not performing at the expected level of quality, the impositions that result can create friction, which may be heightened when critical or highly visible tasks are involved.
· Poor communication: When team members do not share relevant information with each other, people may make decisions or take actions that others consider inappropriate or even harmful. Blame and questions about motives can result, creating discord among the team.
· Ambiguity about means and ends: Lack of clarity about tasks, strategies, and/or goals can lead people to make assumptions that others do not share or agree with, which can result in conflict
Learning objectives:
- Identify the four types of conflict
- Identify the levels of conflict, and discuss in detail the nature of intrapersonal and interpersonal conflict
- Distinguish between types of conflict and causes of conflict, and identify in a conflict its ultimate cause
[The remaining learning objectives for this module are Work-In-Progress at time of drafting]
Glossary: Conflict
Goal conflict
Cognitive conflict
Affective conflict
Behavioral conflict
Intrapersonal conflict
Interpersonal conflict
[Remaining glossary terms WIP for this module at time of drafting]
[Conflict Interactives WIP as they involve a section that remains under development]
References:
"Small Group Communication" by Kerry Osborne, College of the Canyons is licensed under CC BY 4.0 .
"Organizational Behavior" by OpenStax is licensed under CC BY 4.0 / A derivative from the original work unless otherwise noted
Summary
Learning objectives:
- Identify Leadership styles
- Identify the types of power and discuss in detail the guidelines for proper use.
- Understand and describe each stage of the evolution of a group.
- How are the components of group cohesion, what does it lead to, and how can it be dangerous.
Summary
Leadership is the skill to inspire, guide, and marshall resources and people to accomplish a goal.
Leaders can formally be designated like elected leaders or emergent such and a medical expert during a crisis.
A leader approaches resources and deals with people within four styles: directive, participative, support, and achievement-oriented. Directive cares only about the result with no inputs from staff. Participative engage their team to provide information on decisions. Supportive leaders are concerned about their team members' wants and needs, and Achievement-oriented set high goals and demanding results from their staff.
Regardless of a leader's style, the exchanges and contacts rely on verbal and non-verbal communication.
These interactions and responses to the leader's style and personality all work to form the basis of power within the leader and the group's dynamic.
Power comes in five forms, Referent, Expert, Legitimate, Reward, Coercive power. Leaders leader may possess all forms of power or only a few. However, it is as important how a leader uses their power to what ability they have.
Group Dynamics
As a group comes together to complete and task or objective, they will go through a five-step Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing, and Adjourning process.
Forming is when a group comes together. Storming groups are feeling out what is expected and what roles are. Norming is when group members are committed to goals and each other and have established a routine. Performing is when a group knows each other's strengths and weaknesses and gets work done, tasks accomplished and achieved. Adjourning is then the group's tasking has finished, and the group goes through the process of saying goodbye.
This process leads to the group forming cohesion or the degree of commitment a member feels towards a group.
Cohesion comes in two forms social and task, which have to be balanced for all members to feel valued and contribute to the group's efforts.
If a group is too focused on tasks, it can breed resentment between the leader and team members, too much socialization, and the group can not achieve its goals or purpose. This balance of the tasking and the group's social aspects leads to conformity to group norms and accomplishments.
However, too much conformity can lead to groupthink where there is little to no dissent or checks on the decisions made, leading a group to disaster and fail objectives.
Glossary words
Leadership
Directive
Participative
Support
Achievement-Oriented
Power
Referent
Expert
Legitimate
Reward
Coercive
Forming
Storming
Norming
Performing
Adjourning
Cohesion
Conformity
Groupthink
References:
Leader noun - DEFINITION, PICTURES, pronunciation and usage notes: Oxford ADVANCED
American dictionary at oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com. (n.d.). Retrieved February 21, 2021,
from https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/leader
“Train the Trainer 101 Discussion Forum” by Cindy Zhou is licensed by
Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial.
"Leadership and effective collaboration." by JOSE DIEZ is licensed under CC BY
"Leadership Styles (Full Version)" by Organizational Communication Channel is licensed under
CC BY
"What is the Best Kind of Leadership Style? | Sadhguru" by Sadhguru is licensed under CC BY
"Small Group Communication" by Kerry Osborne, College of the Canyons is licensed under CC BY 4.0 .
"Organizational Behavior" by OpenStax is licensed under CC BY 4.0
"Organizational Behavior" by OpenStax is licensed under CC BY 4.0 / A derivative from the original work unless otherwise noted
"Connecting Young Leaders - Career Development: Networking, relationships, leadership and career planning - October 2" by US Embassy New Zealand is marked with CC PDM 1.0
" BUS401: Management Leadership" by Saylor Academy is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
"Small Group Structures" by Mason Carpenter, Talya Bauer, Berrin Erdogan, Saylor Academy is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0
"Small Group Communication" by Kerry Osborne , College of the Canyons, is licensed under CC BY 4.0 / A derivative from the original work unless otherwise attributed or noted.
"Stages of the Group Development Model" by Mason Carpenter, Talya Bauer, Berrin Erdogan is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0
" Group Formation" by Ryan Guy, Saylor Academy is licensed under CC BY 3.0