The Three Concepts Of Small Group Communication

Superior Essays
Communication can be traced all the way back to when cavemen lived in caves, but along the way, people stopped paying much attention to it. Groups, weather they are business professionals or student learning groups, tend to believe communication is unimportant when working on projects. However, as technology begins to advance, communication has become more difficult to understand and perform. The three concepts of small group communication include, competent communication, primary dimensions of groups, and norming--all which can improve how an individual interacts and why a person communicates. Practicing these concepts will not only guide students or business partners to be open and understanding, but also gain the title of being a competent …show more content…
This practice can be categorized into two primary dimensions of a group-- task dimension and social dimension. Task dimension is the work carried out by the group. When a group has performed their task, their output or result is called productivity—accomplish a task by using their time wisely and having a successful plan. Therefore, if a group is studying for a test (task dimension) and they finish understanding the study guide better, the output of their work and time would be productive because they were able to accomplish a task. Whereas, social dimension is the bonding of member relations and how it can impact the group all together. Thus, the output of social dimensions is called cohesiveness—when members feel loyal and happy and acknowledged in the group, to each other, and the task. Although, these dimensions are crucial for business professionals and student learning group, they can affect each other negatively if there is too much or not enough of both dimensions-- causing the group to break their relationships and reduce work performance. However, if these dimensions are balanced, the groups will be able achieve. For example, if there are four students who often create synergy (social dimension), there will be cohesiveness in the …show more content…
Explicit norm are rules that are stated, usually on paper or verbally as acceptable behavior. An explicit norm in our group is to warn team members and give them notices of when tasks are due. Thus, this rule has encouraged our group to stay on task and build a level of motivation towards each other. However, implicit norms are rules that are not stated, but members should already know these rules such as, don’t interrupt someone when they are talking. An implicit norm we have for each member in our group is allow personal space. Therefore, this helps our group set boundaries for each other and allows each member to be comfortable and safe. Evaluating our group’s performance has made me believe my group is still working on all of these concepts because we have just started learning about them. There are some parts we can still improve, such as social dimension. Overall, our group is doing an effective job of keeping up with our assignments and also keeping our service learning site paper alive. Most importantly, we are working on adapting these concepts to our everyday interaction with each other—eventually to become competent

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