Contents of Issue 3: Special Issue on Group Development

Editorial

• A Superlative Task - Sandor Schuman
• Introduction to the Special Issue on Group Development - Sandor Schuman

 

Theory and Research

• Group Newcomers:From Disruption to Innovation Marie A. Cini
  

  One of the ways that groups change over time is through the introduction of newcomers. Until recently, group research has primarily focused on the attempts of the existing group to socialize the newcomer, whereas the effect of the newcomer on the group has been relatively less explored. However, research on newcomer influence suggests that newcomers can influence the group under certain conditions. Research on the power of the (numerical) minority in groups has also uncovered some intriguing findings regarding the positive effects a newcomer can have on a group. For groups seeking to be more innovative and effective, newcomers may be an overlooked source of innovation. Group facilitators can prepare the group and the newcomer to maximize the potential of newcomer contributions.

  Keywords Innovation; Majority Influence; Minority Influence; Newcomer Influence

  Marie A. Cini is the Director of Academic Affairs at the James MacGregor Burns Academy of Leadership at the University of Maryland. She has published work on leadership development, on teaching leadership online, and on the psychological factors that draw individuals to groups and organizations. Her work has been published in The Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, The Journal of Public Management and Social Policy, and The Journal of Leadership Studies. Dr. Cini earned her Ph.D. in social psychology from the University of Pittsburgh in 1994, with emphases in group processes and research methodology. Contact at: James MacGregor Burns Academy of Leadership, 1111 Taliaferro Hall University of Maryland, College Park MD 20742-7715; Phone: 412-396-5839; mcini@academy.umd.edu

Associate Editor: Sandor Schuman

• Group Development: A Review of the Literature and a Commentary on Future Research Directions George Smith
  

  The use of groups, and more specifically teams, in organizations has been on the rise during the past decade. While many benefits have been attributed to these organizational arrangements, few researchers and practitioners have stepped back to look at the history and research underlying many of the models that are used to understand and anticipate group/team development. This paper takes a step in that direction as it reviews many of the developmental models, their roots and patterns.

  Keywords: Groups, Teams, Group Development, Models, Theories

  George Smith is a doctoral student at the University at Albany’s (SUNY) Rockefeller College of Public Affairs. His current research interests focus on understanding the implications of individual mental models of group development for group/team development. Contact at: Rockefeller College of Public Affairs, University at Albany, State University of New York, 493 Kenwood Avenue, Delmar NY 12054; GES3@mail3.cs.state.ny.us Associate

  Editor: James Spee
  

• A Critical View of Facilitating Labor-Management Collaboration  Grant T. Savage & Chadwick B. Hilton

Labor-management group facilitation is a complex but increasingly necessary skill. Facilitators need both clear practice guidelines and an understanding of why those guidelines are legitimate. To meet these needs, this paper first provides a descriptive (structural-functional) framework for understanding the facilitator’s role and the communicative practices on which it is based. A critique of this framework is then proposed using Habermas’ theory of communicative action. From this theoretical critique, group decision making is viewed as both a negotiative and a dialogical process, entailing an expanded appreciation of the facilitator’s role. In congruence with this theoretical stance, a set of directives for facilitating consensual decision making is proposed. A combined case and discourse analysis of two labor-management groups’ decision-making processes illustrates the utility and implications of these directives.

 Key words Consensual Decision Making, Critical Theory, Facilitation

Grant T. Savage is the Richard Scrushy/ HealthSouth Chair and Professor in Healthcare Management. Professor Savage has written extensively on conflict, healthcare, and stakeholder management issues in journals such as the Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Executive, Health Care Management Review, and Hospital & Health Services Administration. He has co-authored five award winning papers, and published over 80 articles, chapters, and proceedings. He is a member of the Academy of Management, the International Association for Conflict Management, and the International Association for Business and Society. He has taught or conducted research on conflict, healthcare, and stakeholder management in Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. Grant received his B.A. from the University of Connecticut and an M.A. & Ph.D. from Ohio State University. Contact at: University of Alabama, College of Commerce and Business Administration, Management and Marketing Department, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0225; Phone: 205-348-2926; Fax: 205-348-6695; E-mail: gsavage@cba.ua.edu

Chadwick B. Hilton is the Director of International Business Programs and Associate Professor of Management in the College of Commerce and Business Administration. He has published extensively on reader-response to advertising copy, stylistics, and English language training in Japanese corporations in journals such as The Journal of Advertising Research, The International Journal of Advertising,The Journal of Business Ethics, the Journal of Business Communication, and The Journal of Business and Technical Communication. His degrees include an A.B., UNC Chapel Hill; an M.A., N.C. State University; and a Ph.D., University of Tennessee. Contact at: University of Alabama, College of Commerce and Business Administration, Management and Marketing Department, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0225; Phone: 205-348- 9432; Fax: 205-348-6695; Email: chilton@cba.ua.edu Associate

Editor: Jean Watts

 

Application and Practice

• Facilitating Team Development: A View from the Field John E. Jones & William L. Bearley

The purposes of this paper are to describe a guidance model for assisting groups of people to generate the conditions of teamwork and to describe the types of interventions that we have made in facilitating team development in a wide array of groups internationally. We will lay out the groundwork by commenting on differences between teams and groups and the appropriateness of team building. Group Facilitation: A Research and Applications Journal Volume 3 Spring 2001 Abstracts

Keywords: Collaboration, Conflict, Group Development, Synergy, Team Building, Trust, Work Group

John E. Jones is President of Organizational Universe Systems. John co-edited numerous experience- based training and consulting handbooks and annuals. As an experienced trainer, presenter, counselor, professor, entrepreneur, and consultant, he effectively bridges the theoretical and the practical. He consults widely, with such clients as Air Canada, ARC International (U.S.A. & Japan), AT&T Bell Laboratories, AT&T Consumer Products, Coca-Cola, Coors Brewing Company, General Motors, Holiday Inns, Kaiser-Permanente, McKesson, Network Management, Inc., Psychological Associates, Public Service Electric & Gas, Rockwell Telecommunications, SAP Americas, Shearson- Lehman Mortgage, Tonka, Turner Construction, Unisys, Wallace Computer Services, Xerox, and numerous not-for-profit organizations in education, government, and health care. Dr. Jones taught at the University of Iowa for eight years, in Counselor Education. He has lectured widely on a wide range of topics in education, training, organization behavior, and leadership. His special interests in development are training design and delivery, executive team building, intergroup problem solving, organizational survey feedback, and management development. He has collaborated with Dr. William L. Bearley on state-of-the-art management-training models and instruments. Contact at: Organizational Universe Systems, 5412 Barkla Street, San Diego CA 92122-4002; Phone: 858- 452-0844; Fax: 858-452-0544; jjones2@san.rr.com;http://ous.iex.net

William L. Bearley is Vice President of Organizational Universe Systems. Bill has a variety of experiences as a teacher, professor, trainer, consultant and business person. He is unique in that he in thoroughly educated in both computer science and behavioral science. Thus, he brings considerable breadth of perspective to the practice of developing and improving management systems. He has pioneered the fusion of organization development with the introduction of management information systems in organizations. Bill consults with numerous clients, such as AT&T Communications, AT&T Bell Laboratories, Honeywell, Xerox, L’oreal, McKesson, Kaiser-Permanente, Equifax, and many educational and health-care organizations. Dr. Bearley is a graduate of the UA laboratory-education intern program and currently serves as a professor in the Doctoral Program in Educational Management at the University of La Verne. Contact at: Organizational Universe Systems, P.O. Box 38, Valley Center CA 92082; Phone: 760-749-0737; Fax: 760-749-8041; wbearley@ix.netcom.com; http://ous.iex.net

Associate Editor: Edward Ruete

• Classics for Group Facilitators Developmental Sequence in Small Groups Bruce W. Tuckman

*Copyright 1965 by the American Psychological Association. Reprinted with permission.

This article appeared in Psychological Bulletin, Volume 63, Number 6, Pages 384-99. Editor’s Note As group facilitators we are often concerned about the development of the groups with which we work. Frequently we make reference to “the stages of group development” and the stages most frequently cited are forming, storming, norming and performing. These stages were proposed by Bruce Tuckman in 1965 based on his examination of empirical research studies. In this classic article, Developmental Sequence in Small Groups, we find a rich description of these stages under a variety of settings as well as their applicability to both group structure and task activity. In a subsequent 1977 article, Stages of Small-Group Development Revisited, Tuckman and coauthor Mary Ann Jensen noted that subsequent empirical studies suggested a termination stage which they named adjourning. While Table 1 below summarizes the stages with a description of their associated group structures and task activities, the original article provides a much more complete understanding of their context, meaning, and limitations. Although other articles in this special issue suggest the limitations of “stage models” such as this, the memorability and popularity of Group Facilitation: A Research and Applications Journal Volume 3 Spring 2001 Abstracts Tuckman’s model make this article required reading for every group facilitator.

Bruce Tuckman is Professor of Education at the Ohio State University College of Education. His current research focuses on motivation and educational achievement. He has served on the education faculties at Rutgers University, the City University of New York, and Florida State University. His major books include Conducting Educational Research, Theories and Applications of Educational Psychology, and Evaluating Instructional Programs. Professor Tuckman was kind enough to provide us with his personal comments about this oft-cited article nearly thirty-five years since its original publication.

Sandor P. Schuman, Editor

Book Reviews

• The Dance of Change: The Challenges to Sustaining Momentum in Learning Organizations
  by Peter Senge, Art Kleiner, Charlotte Roberts, Richard Ross, George Roth & Bryan Smith - Patricia R. Tuecke

 

• The Logic of Failure: Why Things Go Wrong and What We Can Do To Make Them Right
  by Dietrich Dorner - Nancy S. Hewison

 

• Success with Soul
  by Doris Pozzi and Stephen Williams - Judy Robb

Editorials
A Superlative Task - Sandor Schuman

One can hardly contemplate the passing scene of civilized society without a sense that the need of balanced minds is real and that a superlative task is how socially to make mind more effective.
- - - Chester Barnard, The Functions of the Executive*

While some might say that group facilitation is just an ordinary task, I believe that group facilitators tend to think of it as an important task, or even an extraordinary task. But who among us has the chutzpah - the self-righteousness - to assert that group facilitation is a superlative task? Better to turn to a venerated and impartial authority who can issue this bold proclamation!

Chester Barnard is such a person, a preeminent mid-twentieth-century corporate executive often called the "father of organization theory." His classic The Functions of the Executive was required management school reading for many decades following its 1938 publication. Though still in print, Barnard's occasionally impenetrable prose has limited the use of his book to only the more rigorous graduate programs, replaced elsewhere by more recent and easily-read authors. Nonetheless, Barnard still challenges us with pertinent ideas that have retained, if not increased, their relevance. In the concluding paragraph of this renowned book, Barnard highlights four very salient points.

Society is increasingly complex and organizations are more elaborate.

Even more true than in 1938, the idea that society is increasingly complex now is accepted axiomatically. Organizations are greater in number, size and geographical scope. We are more dependent than ever before on elaborate technologies and the equally elaborate organizations that create and rely on them. We are interconnected and interdependent; yet distinct and diverse.

The increasing specialization necessitated by such a society brings with it a diversity of methods and purposes that may be inconsistent and foster misunderstandings.

To manage our complex, technological world people must be specialized - in roles, expertise and skills. This makes effective communication, sharing of knowledge, and interpersonal understanding more difficult. This difficulty occurs not only at the level of substantive issues but also at the underlying levels of method (how people think about issues) and purpose (why they think about them). Misunderstandings occur between individuals, of course, and even more crucially between large groups of people.

What is needed are balanced minds that integrate feeling with reasoning, sense the net balance, and perceive the parts as well as the whole.

The difficulties brought on by the effects of complexity and specialization can be addressed. How? By incorporating the views of multiple stakeholders with diverse interests and perspectives; perceiving the specific parts of the system, as well as the system as a whole; and clarifying the expected results and desired ends. We need to integrate analysis and intuition, facts and values, objective and subjective, thinking and feeling.

Meeting these challenges-which will help groups to be more effective cognitively and socially-is a superlative task.

To meet these challenges we must be address the intellectual, analytical and cognitive demands of the situation. This is necessary but not sufficient. At the same time, we must help groups engage interpersonally, politically, emotionally and spiritually. As group facilitators we must, in Barnard's words, strive "socially to make mind more effective." Toward this accomplishment we devote ourselves as group facilitators and dedicate Group Facilitation: A Research & Applications Journal. Working together, we aim to strengthen our understanding - in organizations, communities and societies - of group facilitation, a superlative task.

* Barnard, Chester (1938). The Functions of the Executive Thirtieth Anniversary Edition (1968). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. The full quote:

"One can hardly contemplate the passing scene of civilized society without a sense that the need of balanced minds is real and that a superlative task is how socially to make mind more effective. That the increasing complexity of society and the elaboration of technique and organization now necessary will more and more require capacity for rigorous reasoning seems evident; but it is a super-structure necessitating a better use of the non-logical mind to support it. "Brains" without "minds" seem a futile unbalance. The inconsistencies of method and purpose and the misunderstandings between large groups which increasing specialization engenders need the corrective of the feeling mind that senses the end result, the net balance, the interest of all, and of the spirit that perceiving the concrete parts encompasses also the intangibles of the whole. "

Group development is a recurring topic of discussion among group facilitators. It has been the subject of research since the 1940s and continues to be an active area of inquiry. What have we learned about group development in the past 60 years? How can we apply that knowledge in our work as group facilitators? What questions remain unanswered? The articles in this Special Issue on Group Development help to answer these questions.

Were we to conduct a survey to assess the present state of knowledge regarding group development I suspect that the response we would receive most often would include something about forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning. We owe this memorable characterization of stages of group development to Bruce Tuckman who introduced this oft-cited naming scheme in 1965. With his permission, and that of the American Psychological Association, we are pleased to reprint his hallmark article, Developmental Sequence in Small Groups in our Classics for Group Facilitators section.

The development of a group is often viewed as occurring in a step-by-step progression that takes a group from one stage to the next. Alternatively, group development can be viewed as shifting back and forth from one phase to another and back again, or in a repeating cycle of development and redevelopment. Yet another view is that a group's development does not occur in any particular pattern, but is contingent at any point in time on contextual factors. In Group Development: A Review of the Literature and a Commentary on Future Research Directions George Smith reviews the literature on group development, highlighting the similarities and differences between various perspectives, summarizing the current status of thinking, and pointing to needs for future research.

Complicating any view of group development is that group membership can change. How do changes in membership affect group development? Focusing specifically on new members, Marie Cini applies the accumulated research and provides interesting insights and specific suggestions for group facilitators in Group Newcomers: From Disruption to Innovation.

In Facilitating Team Development: A View from the Field John E. Jones and William L. Bearley show how they have come to terms with various views of group development and present their own framework. They provide numerous examples to illustrate how they facilitate team development. A Critical View of Facilitating Labor-Management Collaboration, by Grant T. Savage and Chadwick B. Hilton, calls our attention to external processes -- what happens between meetings and relations with parties outside the group -- as well as internal group processes. The authors' place the role of the facilitator in the context of Habermas' theory of communicative action and provide examples of facilitator interventions in labor-management collaboration.

We hope you find these articles informative and helpful in your own practice, teaching, and research. The Editorial Board and staff are themselves experiencing some "group development." On their behalf I extend appreciation and thanks to five individuals who were instrumental in founding the journal and gave years of dedicated service during its long gestation period and early years of publication: Mark Fuller, Editor-in-Chief; Peggy Runchey, Managing Editor; Beret Griffith, Book Review Editor; Vicki Wharton, Design Editor; and Jean Watts, Associate Editor. As they move on to other priorities we acknowledge that our current success is a tribute to their early and prolonged efforts. We thank Eileen Ruete, Copy Editor, and wish her a complete and lasting recovery. Lynda Lieberman Baker, whose service as Associate Editor is much appreciated, will assume the post of Book Review Editor. To Michael Sabiers, who recently joined us as an Associate Editor, we extend our welcome and look forward to working with you.

- Sandor Schuman, Editor