Chapter 1-5 Study Guide PDF

Peyton Wood Andrea Oloya Ariana Koehn...

Peyton Wood Andrea Oloya Ariana Koehn Eryn White Areli Gutierrez Chapter 1-5 Study Guide CHAPTER 1 The First Group you Encounter: ​ The first group most people encounter is their family. It shapes early communication patterns, influences behavior, and lays the foundation for how individuals interact in future groups. ​ Primary groups (family, close friends) exist to meet basic human needs (inclusion, affection, and openness). Why Groups Are Better than Individuals: ​ Groups make better decisions than individuals because they provide a variety of perspectives, collective input, and the opportunity to solve problems with more expertise and creativity. ​ Groups leverage shared knowledge, diverse experiences, and varied skill sets to make more effective decisions. ​ Groups make better decisions than individuals because they provide a variety of perspectives, collective input, and the opportunity to solve problems with more expertise and creativity. ​ Groups leverage shared knowledge, diverse experiences, and varied skill sets to make more effective decisions. Group Hate: ​ Grouphate refers to the negative feelings or aversion some individuals have towards group work. This can stem from poor group dynamics, uncooperative members, or unproductive interactions, making group work feel frustrating or unpleasant. Human Needs in Group Membership: ​ Inclusion: The need to belong and feel connected to others. ​ Openness: The need to share personal information and feel understood. ​ Control: The need to influence others and make decisions. Groups help individuals fulfill these emotional and social needs, providing support and community. Ethical Standards for Effective Group Problem Solving: ​ Truthfulness: Communicating accurately and honestly. ​ Freedom of Expression: Tolerating diverse perspectives and dissent. ​ Respect for Others: Striving to understand and respect others’ viewpoints before evaluating or responding.  ​ Fairness: Encouraging equitable participation and not belittling any member’s contribution. ​ Responsibility: Taking responsibility for your communication and the consequences of your actions. ​ Privacy and Confidentiality: Respecting the confidentiality of group members and their information. ​ Responsibility: Accept responsibility for your communication and its consequences. KEY TERMS & DEFINITIONS: ​ Committee: A small group formed to perform a specific task or assignment within a larger organization. These groups are temporary, disbanding after completing their goals. Common examples include task forces and advisory committees. ​ Ethics: The moral principles that guide behavior. In communication, ethics involves adhering to truthfulness, fairness, respect, and responsibility, and it ensures that communication is conducted with integrity. ​ Grouphate: A strong dislike or aversion to group work, often due to negative past experiences like poor communication, uncooperative members, or unproductive tasks. ​ Learning Groups: Groups formed to enhance knowledge or skills. These groups, such as study groups, facilitate learning through collaboration and sharing of ideas and information. ​ Organizational Groups: Groups within a larger organization designed to achieve specific tasks, solve problems, or make decisions. These include work teams, task forces, and committees. ​ Participant-Observer: A person who is both a member of the group and actively observes and analyzes the group’s dynamics. The participant-observer role helps to monitor and improve group communication and effectiveness. ​ Primary Groups: Groups that fulfill basic human needs for affection, inclusion, and companionship. Families and close friendships are classic examples, where the main focus is emotional support and social bonding. ​ Secondary Groups: Groups formed primarily to accomplish a specific task or goal. These are usually goal-oriented groups like work teams, committees, and project groups. ​ Self-Managed Work Teams: A team of peers who manage their own tasks, schedules, and decision-making processes within a defined framework. Members are cross-trained to perform multiple roles and can adapt to various challenges, leading to increased productivity and autonomy. ​ Small Group Communication: The interaction between a small number of people to achieve a common goal. This includes exchanging ideas, providing feedback, and making decisions together. ​ Support Groups: Groups designed to provide emotional or psychological support for individuals facing similar challenges, such as grief, addiction recovery, or health issues. Members offer mutual understanding and encouragement. CHAPTER 2 Some factors that influence what words and actions mean to us are culture, gender, age, sexual orientation, learning style, and personalities. The way that phrases are expressed or said can also affect the way that others interpret what is being said. ​ Listening is a four-step process that begins with perceiving a message, interpreting it, deciding what it means, and finally responding to it. It is an active process in which you have to pay attention and interpret what is heard. ​ Hearing is the physical process of receiving sound waves. There are four different listening styles: ​ people-oriented listeners focus on how their listening behaviors affect relationships, people that have this listening style often are gravitated to when looking for someone who will listen and are attentive and nonjudgmental. Often use we instead of I when being talked to. A con to having this listening style is that they can attend too much to people's moods and get distracted from the task. ​ Action-oriented listeners focus on the job given. They help the group stay on task by paying attention to the details and giving feedback about the goal and how they can achieve it as a group. They enjoy listening to material if it is presented in an organized fashion. They may sometimes appear overly critical at times and tune out when the conversation seems aimless, and can or will interrupt if the discussion gets off track. ​ Content-oriented listeners appreciate highly credible sources and enjoys analyzing what they hear. These listeners dissect information and can show a group many sides to an issue. They may seem overly critical and intimidating. They also might slow down the group's problem solving because they spend a lot of time analyzing information from unknown sources. ​ Time-oriented listeners value time, set meeting times, remind members of their time constraints, and frowns on wordy discussions. They may discourage discussions as the time nears for the meeting to end and grow impatient with the more creative, spontaneous activities in groups. And as much as there are good listening habits, there are also bad ones and they are as follows: ​ Pseudolistening is pretending to listen while thinking about something else.  Silent arguing mentally rehearsing objections to the speaker's idea without first understanding what the speaker means. ​ Assuming meaning interpreting the speaker's behaviors by using the cultural rules appropriate for the listener. ​ Focusing on irrelevancies is when the listener is distracted from a speaker's message by unimportant details such as dress, accent, physical appearance, or things in the environment. ​ Sidetracking is changing the topic because they weren't paying attention to the speaker, not connecting remarks to statements of the previous speaker. ​ Defensive responding is failing to listen or failing to try to understand what a speaker is saying because they feel psychologically threatened by something the speaker said or did. CHAPTER 3 Understanding System Theory - 1. Definition: System theory is an interdisciplinary study that looks at the complex interactions within and between systems. It emphasizes the relationships and interdependencies among the different components of a system. 2. Key Components of System Theory- A. Input- Description: Inputs are the resources, information, or elements that enter a system for processing. - Examples: Data, materials, energy. B. Throughput -Description: Throughput refers to the processes that occur within the system, transforming inputs into outputs. -Examples: Processing, analyzing, or manipulating data. C. Output - Description: Outputs are the results or products that come out of a system after processing the inputs. - Examples: Finished products, reports, or feedback to users. D. Feedback- Description: Feedback is information returned to the system about its outputs, which can be used to make adjustments or improvements. - Examples: Customer reviews, performance metrics. E. Environment - Description: The environment includes external conditions, factors, or influences that affect the system. - Examples: Market trends, regulations, competitor actions. 3. Open Systems vs. Closed Systems Open System - Definition: An open system interacts with its environment and exchanges information and resources with external factors. Characteristics: - Receives inputs from the environment. - Processes inputs and outputs are influenced by external feedback. - Adaptable to changes in the environment. Closed System - Definition: A closed system operates independently of its environment and does not exchange information or resources with external factors.  Characteristics- Limited or no input from the environment. - Processes within the system do not change based on external feedback. - More rigid and less adaptable to change. Understanding system theory helps you analyze how different components of a system interact, the importance of feedback, and the role of the environment. Differentiating between open and closed systems provides insight into how systems adapt and respond to changes. CHAPTER 4 ​ Message: what the person speaking is presenting to the rest of the group Ex: presenting the groups main goal to work together and what each will contribute ​ Interactions via technology is (CMC) computer mediated communication Ex: Zoom, emails ​ Bypassing: when you believe to understand each person's point and don't clarify to each other and allow the conversation to move on Ex: believe to understand the assignment but not realize thinking two separate ideas and just believe to both get it the same ​ Emotive: is using language to convey a message clearly and ensure everyone is understanding the point given ​ Difference of emotive and bypassign is one communicates everything clearly while the other just gives information with not much room for clarification ​ Nonverbal characteristics being what someone shows and acts. Ex: showing up on time or procrastinating, body language ​ Consequence of eye contact is create a connections between all team members and help feel like everyone is being listened to CHAPTER 5 ​ Antecedent Stage - The stage in Group socialization during which members bring previous group experiences, attitudes, beliefs, motives, and communication traits to the process. ​ Anticipatory Stage - The stage in group socialization describing individual and group initial expectations of each other. ​ Assimilation Stage - The stage in group socialization in which group members show full integration. ​ Cohesiveness - Attachment group members feel towards each other, the group, and the task - the bonds that hold the group together. ​ Deviants - Group members who consistently violate important group norms and tend to make other group members uncomfortable. ​ Encounter Stage - Stage in group socialization in which expectations meet with reality as members adjust and fit with each other. ​ Exit Stage - Stage in group socialization in which individuals leave a group or the group disbands. ​ Group Climate - The atmosphere or environment within the group. ​ Group Socialization - The process by which new and/or established members learn to fit together through communication. ​ Groupthink - The tendency of highly cohesive groups not to evaluate thoroughly and critically all aspects of a decision or problem. ​ Hidden Agenda - An unstated private goal a member wants to achieve through a group. ​ Individual Roles - Roles that encompass self-centered behaviors that place the individuals' needs ahead of the group's needs. ​ Maintenance Roles - Roles that encompass behaviors that help a group maintain harmonious relationships and contribute to a cohesive interpersonal climate. ​ Norms - Informal, implicit standards of behavior and procedures by which members operate. ​ Primary Tension - Anxiety arising early in a group formation, as members work out their relationships and roles. ​ Role - The part a member plays in a group. ​ Rules - Formal, explicit standards of behavior and procedures by which a group operates. ​ Secondary Tension - Task related tension that stems from differing opinions about the substantive work of the group. ​ Structuration - The idea that group communication creates, maintains, and continuously recreates a group's norms and the way it operates. ​ Task Roles - Roles that encompass behaviors that contribute directly to accomplishment of a group's task. ​ Tertiary Tension - tension that stems from power and status struggles in a group. ​ Trust - The general belief that members can rely on each other.