University of Southern California Competent Communicator Discussion

What elements make an individual a competent communicator? How does each of these elements help in regards to communication with others?

By Steven Beebe and John Masterson
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Communication in Small Groups:
Principles and Practices 11/e
Chapter 1
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Communication is about:
▪Making sense – interpreting what we see, hear,
touch, smell, and taste.
▪ We look for patterns/structure
▪Sharing sense – verbal and non-verbal
▪Creating meaning – created meaning based on
our exper., backgrounds and culture.
▪Verbal and nonverbal messages
▪ Symbols – is something that represents a thought,
concept, object, or experience (gestures, clothing, tone,
etc…).
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Channel
Sender
Receiver
 Message Sender
 Channel (Encode)
 Encoding
 Decoding
 Noise
 Shared Meaning


Receiver
(Decode)
Feedback
4
 Is transactional
▪ We send and receive messages
simultaneously
▪ As you talk to someone:
▪ You respond to verbal and nonverbal messages
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 A Transactional View
▪ Communication as a uniquely human process
Figure 1.2 Page 11
 Source
 Receiver
 Channel
 Mediated settings
▪ Phone
▪ Fiber-optic cable
▪ Wireless signal
▪ The Internet
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 Is essential for effective group outcomes
▪ Does the communication affect group
accomplishments?
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A small group of people meeting
with a common purpose, feeling a
sense of belonging and exerting
influence on one another.
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Minimum of three people
Two people is a dyad – Interpersonal
Communication
Maximum 12 people, anymore would take
away from the group
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 Meets with a purpose –
goals/objectives/outcomes
 Feels a sense of belonging – identity
 Exerts influence – “influencing others
defines leadership” (p.5)
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 Team – is a coordinated group of
individuals organized to work together
to achieve a specific, common goal.
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 Develop clear, well-defined goals
▪ What needs to be accomplished?
 Establish clearly defined roles
▪ Team leader, problem solver, etc….
 Create clearly defined rules
▪ Possible hierarchy, mediator, referee
 Coordinate a collaborative work ethic
▪ How everything fits together
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1.
Clear, elevating goal – should be enticing
2.
Results driven structure – clearly defined roles
3.
Competent team members – training/skills
4.
Unified commitment
5.
Collaborative climate
6.
Standards of excellence
7.
External support and recognition
8.
Principled leadership – among all members
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 Don’t trust other team members
 Fear conflict
 Don’t commit to the team
 Avoid accountability
 Don’t focus on achieving results
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 Experience
 Problem-solving ability
 Openness
 Supportiveness
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 Action oriented
 Positive personal style
 Positive overall team perceptions
▪ Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
 Team learning and adapting
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 Offer more resources – “two brains are
better than one”
▪ exper., cultures, etc…
 Stimulate creativity
 Support learning and comprehension
 Foster commitment and satisfaction with
decisions
 Enhance feedback and self-understanding
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 Pressure to conform
▪ Groupthink – when groups agree primarily in order to
avoid conflict.
 Dominant group members
 Reliance on others
▪ Social Loafing – members hold back on their
contributions (loaf), assuming others will do the work.
 Involves more time
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 When there are time constraints
 When an expert already has the answer
 When information is readily available
 When conflict and contention become
unmanageable
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Individualistic
Culture
Collectivist Culture
I, me and my
We, us and
them
United States,
Britain, and
Australia
Japan, China,
and Taiwan
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Primary Group
–
Is a group whose main purpose is to
give people a way to fulfill their
needs to associate with others.
▪ Fulfill basic needs

Family
▪ Not structured and informal form of
communication

Friends/Social
▪ Meet to fulfill the primary need of human
interaction (social communication)
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Secondary Group
– Accomplish task or achieve goal
▪ Usually work or school
▪ Mainly join a group to get something
done/accomplished
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 Problem-Solving Groups – exist to overcome
some unsatisfactory situation or obstacles to
achieving a goal.
 Decision-Making groups – make choices
among alternatives
 Study Groups
 Therapy Groups
 Committees- people are appointed/elected for
a specific task
▪ Standing Committee
▪ Ad hoc Committee
 Focus groups
Virtual Small Group Communication – three or more
people who collaborate from different physical locations,
perform interdependent tasks, shared responsibility for the
outcome of the work, and rely on some form of technology
to communicate.
Channels
Telephone conferences
Text
Video conferences
Electronic meeting systems
▪ Web pages
▪ Webinars
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 Time
▪ Asynchronous – time delay, not seen/hear at the
same time
▪ Synchronous – instant and simultaneous
▪ Social Presence – is the feeling we have when we
act and think as if we’re involved in an unmediated,
fact to face conversation.
 Varying degrees of anonymity
 Potential for deception
 Non-verbal messages
 Written messages
 Distance
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 Cues-Filtered-Out Theory – suggests
that emotional expression is severely
restricted when we communicate using
only text messages
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 Media Richness Theory – suggests that
richness of a communication channel is based
on 4 criteria:
▪ The amount of feedback that the communicators can
receive
▪ The number of cures that the channel can convey and
that can be interpreted by a receiver
▪ The variety of language that communicators use
▪ The potential for expression emotions and feeling.
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Created by Tntdj for Wikipedia
 Social Information-Processing Theory
– suggests that we can communicate
relational and emotional messages via the
Internet, but it just may take longer to
express messages that are typically
communicated using facial expression
and tone of voice.
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Competent Group Communicator – is a person
who is able to interact appropriately and
effectively with others in small groups and teams
Motivation
Knowledge
Skill
Practices
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 Problem-oriented
▪ Define problem
▪ Analyze problem
 Solution-oriented
▪ Identify criteria
▪ Generate solutions
▪ Evaluate solutions
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 Discussion- management
▪ Maintain task focus
▪ Manage interaction
 Relational
▪ Manage conflict
▪ Maintain climate
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