What is a Small Group?
A limited number of people who
communicate face-to-face, sharing a common
understanding of an interdependent goal,
influencing one another, and expressing a
sense of belongingness to the group.
Schultz, 1996
Which of the following
meet the definition of a
small group?
A. Meets definition
B. Does NOT meet
definition
1.People standing in line waiting to
get into a concert?
2.Members of an audience at a play?
3.Students in a study group?
4.A basketball team?
5.A healthcare team?
Video Lectures Cover
Small Groups: You
 What to do before you
start working in groups
 Key Terms:
 Synergy
 Tuckman’s stages
of group
development
 Equifinality
Forming
Storming
Norming
Performing
Small Group: First Meeting
 Common Complaints
about Groupwork
 Superordinate Goals
 Dimensions in decisionmaking groups
 Suggestions on developing
group expectations
 Difference between
Leader and Leadership
Focus:
 When groups are better than
individuals (and when individuals
are better than groups)
 Dimensions in decision-making groups
(and their outputs)
 More detail on Tuckman’s
Stages of Group Development
When do groups perform
better than individuals?
 When the task requires a wide range
and variety of information and skills
 Pooling knowledge
 Group remembering
 When neither the group nor the
individual have expertise
 When the task is especially complicated
better than
and complex
 Sometimes when the group is
reasonably bright
When do individuals perform
better than groups?
 When the group is composed of
uninformed laypersons vs. an
expert
 When groups establish norms of
mediocrity
 When groups become too large
 When the task is a simple one
 When time is a critical factor
better than
Dimensions in Decision-Making Groups
NOTE:
The task and social
dimensions of a group
are interrelated.
The work
performed T
by the group A
and its
S
impact on
K
the group
S O C I A L
the relationships between
members in the group and their
impact on the group as a whole
What is Group Cohesiveness?
 The degree of attraction members feel:
Toward one another
Toward the group
AKA:
The glue that holds
the group together
Remember the
Stages of Group Development?
initial phase where
individuals join
together for some
reason
Forming
Storming
establishing
standards and
rules of conduct
tension phase
Norming
Performing
terminating
group membership
when effort is targeted toward
goal achievement
Adjourning
Tuckman (1965)
Forming: why we join groups
 Interpersonal Attraction
 Similarity
 Complementarity
 Proximity/Contact/Interaction
 Physical Attractiveness
 Group Attraction
 Group Activities
 Group Goals
 Group Membership
 Establishment of meaning and identity
 Fulfillment of unrelated needs
Storming: social tension in groups
 Tension can be positive
 Three types of tension:
 Primary tension - during the initial
meeting (low intensity)
 Secondary tension - later in the group,
often during decision-making stage (can
be very high intensity)
 Tertiary tension - results from status or
power struggles
Norming: regulating the group
 A group will develop standards to
define appropriate behaviors in
specified social situations
 Rules are formal standards,
frequently written down
(explicit)
 Norms are informal standards,
usually not written down (implicit)
Performing: group output
 Performance - actually doing
the work and producing
an end product
 Effective when groups focus on the task
 Effective when group all members
participate
Remember when groups outperform
individuals and vice versa