201 – 06 GROUP PROCESSES AND GROUP ROLES

Community Learning Development Resource 201-06

 

GROUP PROCESSES AND GROUP ROLES

 

SUMMARY

This resource is about some of the processes, which make up group interaction.  The processes and the ways in which learners behave within the group are of interest to us as we try to provide a learning environment, which stimulates and encourages individuals to learn. We can improve processes, participation and learning by ‘tweaking’ how individuals can participate and how our small groups work.

 

BEHAVIOUR WITHIN GROUPS

Identified below are some of the commonly observed behaviours within groups. How can we best to support our learners’ participation and learning.

1. How do individuals participate and contribute?

  • Do their levels of involvement vary – high and low levels?
  • Do their levels of participation change over time?
  • Are there silent members, and how do others react to them?
  • Is there sub-group action – who talks to whom ?

2. How do individuals behave and influence group activity?

  • Who influences and how – high and low levels influence, and changes in level?
  • Who is leading, is there rivalry?
  • How is influence achieved and what are its effects on individuals and the group?
  • Is anyone the autocrat – imposing, a power play, a threat?
  • Is anyone the peacemaker – smoothing conflict?
  • Is anyone the democrat seeking to include and influence everyone through being open?
  • Is anyone seeking attention through withdrawal or non-involvement?

3. If the group needs to make a decision how is this arrived at?

  • Decisions taken without consultation, contributions ignored?
  • Drifting to agreement or waiting to be told?
  • Mutual support?
  • Apathy or withdrawal of individuals or sub-groups?
  • Consensus seeking?
  • Domination by the powerful?

4. Task functions(getting the job done ) – who are the:

  • questioners?
  • summarisers – giving or asking for facts, ideas, opinions, feedback, etc?
  • chairpersons?

5. Maintenance functions – how is the morale, a good group climate or atmosphere maintained or not?

  • Who is helping and encouraging others to contribute?
  • Who is gate-keeping or cutting others off?
  • How are ideas and opinions received or rejected?

6. Group atmosphere :

  • who is seeking harmony and congeniality – who adds humour?
  • who seeks conflict?
  • how is the overall atmosphere – Work? Play? Interest? Sluggish?

7. Membership trends – are there changes in inclusion?

  • Are sub-groups forming or separating?
  • Are there ‘insiders’ and ‘outsiders’?
  • Is there movement ‘in’ and ‘out’ of the group or sub-groups?
  • Are individuals or sub-groups being excluded or excluding themselves?

8. Feelings – any signs (not always expressed verbally) of :

  • anger, irritation, affection, excitement, boredom, competitiveness, etc?

9. Norms – the ground rules or expected behaviours:

  • are there any topics that are being avoided?
  • any ways of behaving that are being approved or disapproved of?
  • any particular methods of contributing or participating?

Our groups are the context of much of the work we do with learners. For them the experience of participating with others in groups offers learning opportunities for them to develop and improve a wide range of skills and to build their own capacity and the collective capacity of the group. Growth in collective capacity is key in the building of community capacity.

 

GROUP ROLES

Look out for the different roles that individuals have within groups.  You need to manage these and their effects to develop the best learning environments for individual and group learning.

These roles may also be important in enabling or blocking learning. A worker should be helping and encouraging individual learners to develop group roles and skills, which will help them develop their individual capacity and to contribute to building community capacity.

Many soft learning outcomes for adult learners are about their effective participation within groups, their interpersonal skills and their development as confident, effective and empowered learners.

 

TABULATION OF INDIVIDUAL ROLES EVIDENT WITHIN GROUPS.

Initiator-contributor

Information seeker

Opinion seeker

Elaborator

Information giver

Opinion giver

Co-ordinator

Evaluator-critic

Recorder

Energiser

Procedural technician

Encourager

Harmoniser

Standard setter

Gate keeper

Expeditor

Group observer

Follower

Recognition seeker

Self-confessor

Aggressor

Blocker

Playboy

Dominator

Commentator

Help seeker

Special interest pleader

 

IDENTIFYING AND UNDERSTANDING GROUP ROLES

  • Some roles are helpful, some are not and some are strongly developed and others are weak
  • The effectiveness of individuals may be helped or hindered by their the roles and their behaviours within groups – part of the learning agenda for the worker – enabling individuals to build useful capacity and encouraging individuals to lose unhelpful traits.

 

By recognising and understanding the roles and behaviours of our learners in groups, we can support them to recognise and learn from the roles that are positive and to change roles and behaviours, which are unhelpful. We can value positive traits and find ways of reducing unhelpful behaviours. We should be able sensitively encourage each learner to build on their helpful strengths and address areas of weakness. For non-confident and inexperienced learners, participating in supportive groups can be an invaluable learning experience and one that can help them build their own capacity and that of others.