Thanks to the COM352 students for contributing a bunch of new pages! I'll be moving these pages into the main area of the wiki soon.

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What to Observe in a Group

Edgar H. Schein is a professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management, and wrote an article titled "What to Observe in a Group." In his article, he explains how groups function through an analysis of their dynamics. He makes a distinction between the "content" of the group, and it's "process." He notes what kind of communication to observe when analyzing a group. Three types of behavior are defined, and he elaborates on their functions. Finally, Schein discusses what kind of emotional issues can slow group progress.

Content and Process

Schein first suggests that when analyzing a group, it is helpful to make a distinction between its process and its content. The content is the topic of the discourse within the group. He writes that when analyzing the group's process, think about how that group communicates and functions. Schein notes that the content of communication can be an indicator of a problem occurring in that group's communication process.

Decision Making Procedures

Although many groups are not aware of it, decisions are being made all of the time. According to Edgar Schein, some methods used by groups to make decisions are as follows.

The Plop: This is group decision by omission, for example, if one group member suggests that the group introduce themselves, but no one within the group answers.

The Self Authorized Agenda: This is a decision being made my one person within the group.

The Handclasp: This is a decision being made within the group by two members.

Does Anyone Object or We all agree: This is decision by minority, one or more”

Majority-Minority Voting This is group decision being made by the majority.

Polling This is a decision by census.

Task Behavior

Schein writes that one group member makes an action, that action has some function. Commonly, this action is communication. If this action is directly working towards the completion of the group's objective, Schein classifies this action as a "Task" behavior. For example, a member who makes a suggestion as to how to accomplish the objective would be performing a "Task." Schein lists several actions he classifies as "Task" behavior:

Initiating - This typically takes the form of a proposal or suggestion, relevant to the objective.

Seeking Information or Opinions - When a group member requests information from others.

Giving Information of Opinions - When a member provides information.

Clarifying and Elaborating - When a group member develops concepts addressed in the group.

Summarizing - When a group member recollects the ideas thus far, possibly offering a solution.

Consensus Testing - Here a group member would seek information from each deciding group member in an attempt to reach a decision.

Communication

Although we engage in communication every day, we may not realize exactly what we are doing. As Schein says, communication can include "who talks, for how long, how often," and who they make eye contact with. Other aspects include physical gestures, tone, interruptions, and other cues. By paying attention to these aspects, we are able to discern important information about our peers, ourselves, and our interactions.

Our class experience with Schein

In Communications 352 taught by Steph we were asked to analyze ourselves using Scheins breakdown. Here is some of what we did.

-We were asked to identify the most important aspects of Schein's article. Here is our response

-After a discussion on how to make a distinction between "content" and "process," we explained

-We were divided into teams which would analyze their designated category. Here are the original teams:

-We were also divided into "process" and "content" teams.

-The Schein Teams were reconfigured:

-Under this new configuration, the Schein Teams made several reports of evidence of our progress here

Click here for information about our class process