“Group climate is roughly analogous to geographical climate.”

“A variety of factors interact to create a group feeling or atmosphere:  How group members communicate, to whom they communicate, and how often they communicate influence their satisfaction as well as productivity.”

Focus of the chapter is to examine how people communicate in ways that help the group establish a positive climate.

What would you do if your friends did to you what they did in the Case Study?
     What made it a defensive climate?  strategy, control, and evaluation.

   I.     Defensive Communication
     A. Strategy
     B. Control
     C. Evaluation

  II.     Defensive and Supportive Climates (JACK GIBB, 1961)

    A. Evaluation versus Description   
    B. Control versus Problem Orientation
    C. Strategy versus Spontaneity
    D. Neutrality versus Empathy
    E. Superiority versus Equality
    F. Certainty versus Provisionalism

III.     Interpersonal Confirmation and Disconfirmation

    A. Disconfirming responses - those that cause people to value themselves less.    (criticism)
          1. Impervious Response
          2. Interrupting Response
          3. Irrelevant Response
          4. Tangential Response
          5. Impersonal Response
          6. Incoherent Response
          7. Incongruous Response
          
   B. Confirming responses - those that cause people to value themselves more. (praise)
          1. Direct Acknowledgment
          2. Agreement about Content
          3. Supportive Response
          4. Clarifying Response
          5. Expression of Positive Feeling    

Our self-esteem is affected by how others respond to us!

IV.     Listening  - good listening skills are an important component of effective group leadership.
    A. Types of Listening         
          1. Hearing
          2. Analyzing
          3. Empathizing
   B. Barriers to Effective Listening         
          1. Prejudging the Communicator or the Communication
          2. Rehearsing a Response
   C. A Guide to Active Listening         
          1. Stop
          2. Look
          3. Listen
          4. Ask Questions
          5. Paraphrase Content
          6. Paraphrase Feelings

V.     Verbal Dynamics in the Small Group
    A. Words as Barriers to Communication
          1. Bypassing - when two people assign different meanings to the same word
          2. Allness - simple but untrue generalizations
          3. Fact-Inference Confusion - responding as though something was actually 
              observed when conclusions are actually drawn

VI.    Group Cohesiveness
   A. Cohesiveness - the degree of attraction members feel toward one another and the group. 
   B. Composition and Cohesiveness:  Building a Team
          1. The Right Players in the Right Positions with Good Coaching!
          2. Cohesiveness develops around both the task and the relationship
              dimensions of small group communication.
    C. Individual Benefits and Cohesiveness
    D. Task Effectiveness and Cohesiveness
    E. Communication and Cohesiveness

VII.   Communication Networks  -the pattern of interaction within a group, or who talks to whom.

VIII. Group Size -the principle of "least group size" 
                              (small enough to encourage maximum partiticipation, yet large enough 
                               to generate the maximum number of ideas).

IX.    Group Climate and Productivity
          Building a group climate in which cohesiveness can grow results not only in greater 
          individual satisfaction but in greater group productivity as well.

X.      Putting Principles into Practice

     Effectiveness is the successful accomplishment of valued goals, objectives, or rewards relative to costs.
     Appropriateness means that the valued rules, norms, and expectancies of the relationship are not 
     violated significantly.

    A. Supportive communication fosters a positive group climate in which poeple are free to 
         focus their attention the the group and its task.

    B. Developing a sensitivity to your personal confirming behaviors allows you to contribute
         to a more positive group climate.

    C. Effective listening is crucial to maintaining a positive group climate.

    D. Cohesiveness is the result of the interaction of a number of variables, including the 
         group's composition, individual benefits derived from the group, and task effectiveness 
         and communication.

    E. If you are forming a group, include just enough people to ensure the presence of all of 
         the relevant skills for problem solving--and no more.    

    F. A positive group climate is essential if you are to reach your maximum potential as a working group.