Guthrie - Groups Part 2

hello this is dr jennifer guthrie

continuing our conversation about

working in small groups and teams

so for this video we're going to talk

about the common stages when a group

comes together and works

and then we'll also talk about the some

of those more problematic issues that

might come up in a group

which could result in someone

experiencing group

hate so to begin there are five stages

of a group performing together those are

forming storming norming

performing and adjourning so in that

first

phase with forming that's basically

where the group

comes together this phase can be a

little awkward especially if you don't

know your other group members so

research suggests that when your group

is first coming together

use icebreakers do something fun if you

can get to know each other a little bit

even if that is just to discuss what you

expect from a group what your goals are

maybe you can even be

candid about how you like to work in

groups be honest

if you're a procrastinator let your

group members know that

and then also let them know you'll try

very hard and

you'll do better and you'll be deadlines

and that sort of thing but basically

in that forming stage being honest and

candid

about what you can bring to a group

maybe what your struggles are

can help the group in the next phase so

that next

phase is called storming which sounds

very

negative because basically in that stage

that's where

inevitable conflict might arise and it

makes sense if you have a group of five

strangers who each have different

working styles

you're gonna hit a place in the group

where maybe there's some conflict

maybe one person likes to have more

control over the project than

other people maybe other folks feel like

they're not being included

maybe other people want to be included

less

maybe someone wishes the group or

actually friends

and other people want it to be a work

group

basically all of these differences and

opinions are normal

and fine and you can still be a

fantastically functioning group

even if you have different needs for

inclusion control

affection that sort of thing the deal is

just

working it out so i hope that normalizes

it a bit that

typically every group goes through that

storming phase

who are we working out our differences

to make sure

that you can work effectively as a group

which brings us to our third stage

which is norming and in that stage once

you've kind of figured out the different

working styles and how to best work

and the norming stage is usually where

groups click

you might just feel like okay now i've

got it down

i see that rob is the one who really

likes to take notes

susie likes to play the critical advisor

anthony's gonna tend to be late

so let's work around that but basically

in the norming phase you

figured everybody out a bit so you might

really come together

and have that synergy the next stage is

performing where you do

the thing now that you've normed you've

come together

maybe you've even done some late night

heroics but you still pulled it off

so in that performing phase is where you

actually do

what your group formed to do in the

first place and then finally

we have the adjourning phase and this is

where your group parts ways

after you've done what you were meant to

do you go

on so maybe your group wants to continue

knowing each other through the rest of

your college careers

that's great maybe not maybe you all

high-five

say great job i'll see you around campus

and that's fine too

basically you might just want to talk

about that adjourning phase

to let everybody know what you expect

from this group as part of your goals

so then moving on into those maybe more

problematic

areas with working in teams and a lot of

these problematic

areas will start to become noticeable

during that storming phase

so one maybe issue that comes up a lot

in groups is you may have

a control freak this can actually be

really positive

if you have someone in the group who

loves to have a lot of control

over the projects so maybe this person

is bound to determine to get an a

and wants to oversee everything talk

about that

if you are that person talk about that

in the forming stage

so that way maybe you can get some group

roles

that meet your needs for control and

then maybe for folks who don't want as

much control

they're happy to give that up to you on

that note if you have

lots of folks who want control that's

all right too

set up a google drive make sure that you

assign roles

the more you explicitly talk about the

process

of how you're going to achieve your

goals the more smoothly that will flow

so if it's like i'm in charge of editing

you're in charge of policying

some polishing someone else is in charge

of putting together the powerpoint

basically set up a schedule with your

group so you know

exactly who is doing what at what

time and by when and who is talking to

whom and

all of that the smoother it will go so

be sure to have a lot of communication

about your processes how you're going to

do things

when why who you'll report to all of

that be very clear

doing that can help alleviate even a

control freak

becoming a problem if that way you're

clear about

who wants that control and how another

common problem

is a social loafer and that's someone

who's basically the slacker

in a group and here's the deal if you do

have someone who's not pulling their

weight

the typical response is to form a

coalition where the whole group

gangs up on the person makes them feel

ostracized whatever

basically that ends up backfiring if you

have your whole group breathing down the

neck of another person

because they're not pulling their weight

they might actually

isolate even more not feel identified

with the group

and do some even do less than what

they're doing already

so how to deal with the social loafer is

usually by that old

uh phrase like you catch more flies with

sugar so

give give that person a special task

ask that person how you can help set up

a

phone call set up a text message meeting

go get coffee

basically if you reach out to the social

loafer and try to get them more

involved a lot of times that'll do the

trick

not always so find a way to keep each

other accountable in case social loafing

does happen

but reach out to that person if you get

them more involved

more often times than not they will be

more involved

another problematic character is the

player that's someone who jokes around

plays around during group and while some

humor

can make group projects more fun it can

create identity

too much can be distracting so basically

check yourself are you bringing humor to

relieve tension

and to make this group project fun or

are you being a distraction

so make sure you avoid that

and then finally that last aspect of

problematic group work is forming

coalitions which we've already discussed

so if you do have problematic instances

and you need to talk it out with someone

in the group

fine that's okay but make sure that you

don't

gang up on group members make sure that

you have

open clear communication with everyone

if you form a coalition someone might

feel isolated

and become a social loafer so basically

clear communication talk about structure

and processes as much as possible and

then also make sure you have relational

messages

check in with folks try to make the

group work as fun as possible

while you're working best of luck i know

you all will do fantastically