SMALL GROUP & ORGANIZATIONAL COMMUNICATION

Question 1

types of small groups

Answer 1

primary groups, secondary groups, activity groups, personal growth groups, learning groups, problem solving groups

Question 2

primary groups

Answer 2

close knit, long term (family, close friends)

Question 3

secondary groups

Answer 3

task orientated, less intimate (work teams, committees)

Question 4

activity groups

Answer 4

shared hobbies or interests (sports teams, book clubs)

Question 5

personal growth groups

Answer 5

self-improvement, emotional support (therapy, AA)

Question 6

learning groups

Answer 6

acquire knowledge or skills (study groups, workshops)

Question 7

problem solving groups

Answer 7

specific issues or goals (project teams, community action groups)

Question 8

Stages in Tuckman’s model of group formation (5)

Answer 8

forming, storming, norming, performing, adjourning

Question 9

characteristics of individual group roles (5)

Answer 9

group leader, compromiser, dominator, devil’s advocate, malcontent

Question 10

assumptions of adaptive structuration theory

Answer 10

• groups and organizations are produced and reproduced through actions and behaviors
• communication rules service as both the medium for, and the outcome of, interactions
• power structures are present in organizations and guide the decision-making process

Question 11

rules

Answer 11

general routines that the group has or follows in accomplishing its goals

Question 12

resources

Answer 12

the power that actors bring to the group

Question 13

allocative resources

Answer 13

tangible assets; control over material or financial resources

Question 14

authoritative resources

Answer 14

intangible assets; influence over people, ideas, and decision-making

Question 15

agency/agent

Answer 15

human activity is the source that creates and recreates the social environment in which we exist

Question 16

reflexivity

Answer 16

a person’s ability to monitor his or her actions or behaviors

Question 17

duality of structure

Answer 17

the concept that people create and maintain structures through their behaviors, but those same structures influence how people act within a group or society

Question 18

social integration

Answer 18

the reciprocity of communication behaviors among persons in interactions and form expectations for future interactions base on previous behavior

Question 19

discursive consciousness

Answer 19

awareness of actions that can be explained or described in words

Question 20

practical consciousness

Answer 20

awareness of actions that you perform automatically without thinking

Question 21

normative influence

Answer 21

occurs when people act or behave in a way due to desire to preserve group harmony and receive positive evaluations from others

Question 22

normative influences are strongest when…

Answer 22

tasks is ambiguous, decisions are public, decisions must be unanimous, the group leader is powerful and directive

Question 23

informative influence

Answer 23

occurs when people have the goal of making high quality decisions or task performance

Question 24

informative influence is strongest when…

Answer 24

decisions are ambiguous, decisions are private, decisions are based on majority rule, there is no powerful leader

Question 25

conversion

Answer 25

submitting or relenting to an alternate opinion because you now believe that alternate opinion to be true

Question 26

conformity

Answer 26

submitting or relenting to an alternate opinion even though you believe that alternate opinion to be false

Question 27

groupthink

Answer 27

a pattern of deliberation that group members use when their desire for unanimity overrides their motivation to assess all available plans of action

Question 28

characteristics of group think

Answer 28

ignore all dissenting opinions, suppress conflict just to get along, fail to consider all solutions

Question 29

antecedent conditions of group think

Answer 29

group cohesiveness, group insulation, lack of impartial leadership, lack of decision making procedures, similarity of group members, internal and external stress

Question 30

symptoms of group think

Answer 30

overestimation of the group, closed-mindedness, pressures toward uniformity

Question 31

four functions of effective decision making

Answer 31

- require oversight & control - embrace whistleblowing - allow for objection - balance consensus & majority rule

Question 32

characteristics of organizations

Answer 32

goal directed behavior, coordinated actions, information sharing, decision making, human relationships

Question 33

three perspectives of organizational communication

Answer 33

functional/traditional, interpretive, critical

Question 34

functional/traditional perspective

Answer 34

understand organizations through the eyes of an effective manager

Question 35

interpretive perspective

Answer 35

understand organizations through the eyes of its members

Question 36

critical perspective

Answer 36

understanding organizations through the eyes of marginalized members

Question 37

characteristics of organizational culture

Answer 37

- Organizational culture is a system of shared meaning and the essence of organizational life - Organizational culture is an intricately designed web of associations - Organizational members must adapt their communication behaviors to fit within the overall organizational culture

Question 38

assumptions of organizational culture theory

Answer 38

- Members create and maintain a shared sense of organizational reality - The use and interpretation of symbols are critical to an organization’s culture - Cultures vary across organizations

Question 39

symbols of organizational culture

Answer 39

physical (logos), behavioral (traditions), verbal (slogans)

Question 40

stories of organizational culture

Answer 40

corporate stories, personal stories, collegial stories (social norms/work dynamics)

Question 41

cultural performances of organizational culture

Answer 41

ritual performance, passion performance, social performance, political performance, enculturation performance

Question 42

three types of organizational networks

Answer 42

centralized, chained, decentralized

Question 43

centralized network pros/cons

Answer 43

- Pros: efficient for simple tasks, takes advantage of competent leader, central person is satisfied - Cons: Non-central members are less satisfied, central person could be overloaded, limits inventiveness

Question 44

chained network pros/cons

Answer 44

- Pros: extends membership inputs to the group, reduces unnecessary participation of specialized members - Cons: potential for miscommunication is high, peripheral members are less committed

Question 45

decentralized network pros/cons

Answer 45

Pros: increased satisfaction, increased inventiveness, better performance on complex tasks Cons: time-consuming

Question 46

Assumptions of the communicative constitution of organizations theory

Answer 46

- Communication is what brings organizations into existence - organizational practices arise from the daily interactions of the organization’s members - constitution: communication that calls organization into being

Question 47

equivocality

Answer 47

the extent to which organizational messages are uncertain, ambiguous, or unpredictable

Question 48

organizational information theory assumptions

Answer 48

- human organizations exist in an informational environment - the information an organization receives differs in terms of equivocality - human organizations engage in information processing to reduce equivocality of information