Messages: An Introduction to Communication by Arthur Asa Berger

Author:Arthur Asa Berger [Berger, Arthur Asa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Communication Studies, Computers, Language Arts & Disciplines, Media Studies, Non-Fiction, Social Media, Social Science, Web
ISBN: 9781315424729
Google: yr9mDAAAQBAJ
Amazon: 1611329000
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2016-06-15T23:00:00+00:00

Organizational Structure of Small Groups

Communication scholars make distinctions between high context and low context cultures and the groups that form under each kind of culture. This distinction between groups was first formulated by anthropologist Edward T. Hall, who suggested that in high context cultures, it is the cultural norms and shared beliefs that shape conversation, while in low context cultures, people have to be very clear and explicit in verbal messages about what they believe. Cohesion is an important aspect of some small groups which often develop certain norms. These norms vary from culture to culture. Thus, in the United States being punctual is considered important, while in other countries being “late” is the norm and people don’t expect others to be punctual.

In some groups, the interaction patterns are centralized and communication is controlled by the group leader or leaders, while in other groups, there are no leaders and group communication is decentralized. Groups also vary in their formats. In my short story group, we all sit around in a circle in a “roundtable” format and there’s no pattern about who speaks and when they speak. But some groups are much more formal and may have panels of members who sit in front of the other members of the group and have a set pattern that shapes when they speak.

Groups also vary in terms of the kinds of communication found in them. Thus, some communication involves scheduling and procedures, while other communication focuses on goals of the group or tasks they have to discuss. It is not unusual for there to be what can be called “chit-chat” in which people chat about things of interest. This kind of communication establishes harmony among the members of the group and builds a positive sense of the value of the group—contributing to group cohesion.

Groups can have three kinds of organization. There can be a hierarchical leaders and followers group organization, there can be revolving or circulating leadership groups (with rules for who leads for how long, how leaders are chosen, and when), and there can be leaderless groups with nobody in charge—but maintained by procedural technicians. Nobody in the short story reading group has the power to make anyone do anything; everything is done by voluntary consent, so we are a leaderless group. That is possible—though not easy—in small groups but not practical in larger ones, and impossible in groups larger than 150 members, as Malcolm Gladwell explains.

Small groups are important because they help us counter the stresses created by alienating mass societies, where we are relatively anonymous. In groups, we find friends (and sometimes enemies), we find things to do, we learn things, we accomplish things, and we often have long term face-to-face relationships that help us establish our identities and that enhance our sense of self. I recall asking my students, a number of years ago, about the groups in their high schools and discovering that there were more than a dozen groups in typical California high schools, such as “preppies,” “cheerleaders,” “jocks,” “skaters,” “white punks on dope,” and so on.

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