Saturday, February 6, 2010
Types of Group Roles
In the Small Group discussion book there is a section on Types of Group Roles. After reading this it gave me a much better perception on how to delegate the work load properly so everyone contributes equally. A few examples of task roles are Information giver, Information seeker, Elaborator, Initiator, and Administrator. Each one of these roles is important in finishing the project efficiently and on time. There is also another type of roles that can be delegated and they are known as Personal roles which deal with the relationships of the group members. They are called socioemotional because they are not directly related to the work load but more there to make sure everyone is getting along and keeping the group working like a well oiled machine. The names of these jobs are the Harmonizer, Gatekeeper, and Sensor. Now these people are there to keep the peace when there is tension among group members as well as keeping the communication flowing and the ideas running around the heads of all members. This section I believe will come in handy when we all have to come together and work on these group projects. Keeping tension low and spirits high is a great environment to do a group project in.
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Your definition of how a small group works is very detailed. I liked how you named all the titles of people in the group. Having job titles for everybody in the group definitely makes everyone feel more involved in the group and things get done more efficiently in my experience. Also having specific people manage and settle disputes is very important.
ReplyDeleteYour description of group roles is very similar to a company. For tasks assignments your may have accountants, sales persons, engineers, etc. Then for the settling disputes you have people in human resources who take complaints from employees about their co-workers. Learning to work well in small groups is very important, because we all at some point will be working for a company with co-workers.
I actually had a class last semester, where during group work, we were spit up the group so that everyone had one of the positions you mentioned. It definitely made handling and completing tasks easier and more efficiently. I agree that after reading the chapter, everyone in the class will be better off going into our group work.
ReplyDeleteAs for the socioemotional roles, I like to put those in my own group of friends. I have a close group, and we all feed off of each other's emotions, and without really stating it out there, each one of us has a role in keeping the group together. It will be nice to explore these group divisions with classmates.