If you are like me, your behaviors vary based upon who you are around.
If I’m around my mother, I dutifully play the daughter role.
When I’m working with a client, I use different behaviors.
In essence, I’m a chameleon, adapting my behavior to the various groups with which
I’m involved.
This lecture applies that same concept to roles in small groups, discussing the very
basics of the Dimensions in decision-making groups, the definition of “roles,” types
of roles, and some key terms related to roles in groups.
If you understand the dimensions in decision-making groups, it will make the discussion of roles
a lot easier to understand.
All decision-making groups operate on two dimensions: task and social.
The Task dimension refers to the work performed by the group, and the impact of that work
on the group.
When a group focuses on the task dimension, productivity results.
The Social dimension, sometimes called the socio-emotional dimension, deals with the
relationships between the group members, and the impact of those relationships on the group.
It is focused on group identity and the social climate.
A group that scores high on this dimension—when members feel connected to the group and each
other—is cohesive.
If you are familiar with systems theory, you’ll understand that each dimension impacts the
other—they are interrelated.
When the group is being productive, group members tend to enjoy working in the group
and with each other, so the success on the task dimension often produces positive results
on the social dimension.
And when the group members feel good about the group and working with each other—cohesiveness—they
tend to get things done, meaning that a positive social environment tends to produce a more
effective product.
Exclusive emphasis on task creates a group that is constantly under stress and dealing
with lots of conflict.
On the other hand, too much emphasis on the social dimension results in a good time, but
not much work getting done.
Now let’s get back to roles and define what a role is.
The simplest definition is the part you play in a group.
I can give you a longer and more accurate definition, but let me distill it down to,
hopefully, a shorter but still understandable definition:
A role consists of the patterns of behaviors you exhibit when you are in a group, that
you either customarily perform or that others in the group expect you to perform.
Now while we all have certain personality traits that come out regardless of the situation,
we do adapt our behavior to different groups—and they may vary depending on the particular
group.
The roles you play will be a function of your personality, your expectations as well as
the expectations of the other group members, and any formal titles or instructions you
have been given regarding that group.
We can start with a broad classification of the types of roles as formal or informal.
Formal roles are those connected to your position or title, often independent from the person
who may be filling that role, such as the president, chairman, editor, or secretary—the
roles may even be written into the organization’s bylaws.
Along with the formal role will come specific responsibilities.
If you are a secretary, you are expected to write and distribute the minutes; as a chairman,
you are expected to prepare the agendas and run the meetings.
Informal roles, on the other hand, are based upon people’s personality traits, habits,
and behaviors in the group.
These roles emphasize functions, not positions.
Even if people hold the same title or position, like secretary, for example, they behave in
ways that reflect their unique personalities.
Over time, and through trial and error, every member of a group begins to specialize in
certain behaviors.
Someone who tells a lot of jokes could become the tension reliever.
So that, whenever there is tension, the other group members look to that person to relieve
it.
Other examples of informal roles are leader, opinion giver, and Devil’s Advocate.
Note that, with the possible exception of “leader,” no single informal role is found
in all or even most groups.
Thus, not every group will have a tension reliever—they may not need one.
Informal role-playing is more spontaneous, it’s not scripted.
While the group does not plan to tell an individual how to play a particular role, through approval
or disapproval, they guide the individual’s behavior.
As informal roles emphasize functions, not positions, we can further classify the informal
roles into three sub-categories: Task, maintenance, and Individualistic.
Task roles are those that help the group get the job done—these roles help with productivity,
while Maintenance roles, sometimes called socio-emotional roles, are those that help
the group maintain positive relationships and contribute to cohesiveness.
They help create the group’s identity and the connections amongst all the members in
the group.
Remember the dimensions in small groups?
It’s easy to see where the task and social dimensions are impacted by the first two types
of informal roles.
However, there is a third set of informal roles: Individualistic, also called self-centered
or disruptive roles.
These roles are intended to divert attention away from the group to, instead, draw attention
to an individual group member—rather than helping the group, these self-oriented roles
make it difficult for the group to be productive or cohesive.
So individualistic roles negatively impact both the group’s task and the social dimension.
Just as, in a play where the actors playing their parts move on and off the stage as the
play progresses, so do the roles members play in a small group.
Now let’s get to the model.
Consider a meeting progressing from beginning to end, with the solution likely to be achieved
near the end of the meeting.
In the early stages, most group members would focus on the task at hand, playing one or
more task roles, spending less of their energy playing a maintenance role, meaning that they
would be HIGH on the task role.
As the meeting progresses, the emphasis on task fades and the members start playing their
maintenance roles, so we would plot them higher on maintenance role performance and lower
on task role performance.
Then they start emphasizing task behaviors again (after all, there is work to be done…)
and the maintenance roles fade.
The rationale is that, when a group is attempting to complete a task (people are playing their
task roles), tension begins to build due to conflict between competing ideas, values,
attitudes.
And, as that tension increases, group cohesion may start to decline.
To continue operating successfully as a group, then, something must be done to decrease tension,
so group members assume their maintenance roles.
Thus, maintenance roles help the group better perform the task.
As this model indicates, role-playing is a fluid process and during a single meeting,
an individual can play several roles.
We’ll go into these roles in more detail in the next video lecture.
Let’s end this discussion with some key terms related to roles:
First, remember the definition of a role from the beginning of this lecture.
It will come into play in a bit.
Let’s turn to the concept of role emergence, which deals with how the roles are determined
in a group.
There are two ways roles emerge.
The first is that you may actively seek, or audition, for a particular role.
It may be a role that you find exciting and enjoyable, or a role that you have played
successfully in past groups.
For example, I tend to be a good note taker, so if there is a need for someone to take
notes, I’ll usually volunteer to do it.
Or you may be good at cracking a joke when the situation gets tense—so you “try out”
for the role of tension reliever.
This method connects to the “that you customarily perform” portion of the definition of a
role.
But look now at the second part of that definition: “that others expect you to perform.”
In this case, the group’s expectations create the individual’s role.
Let’s say when I introduced myself to the group, I mentioned that I’m a manager at
work.
My group might think that I have leadership experience and that I would be good to lead
the group.
I may not want to do it, but either overtly or covertly, the group could force this role
upon me, or at least let me know that they want me to perform that role.
This relates to the next key term: Group endorsement.
You don’t really “get” the role until the group allows you to play it, or endorses
you for the role.
The group will reinforce, verbally and nonverbally, the bid of the group member they perceive
to be the best for that particular role—assuming that role is needed.
For example, if two of us “try out” or make a bid for the leader role and the group
thinks you would do a better job, they would endorse you and … well, I wouldn’t be
the leader.
I would then look for another role that I could play.
On the other hand, if I make a bid for the tension reliever role and the group thinks
either the situation doesn’t call for a tension reliever or that my bid is really
weak—I don’t do a good job at relieving the tension—then the group won’t endorse
my bid.
This endorsement process proceeds by trial and error.
Remember that role playing is a fluid process.
You may play multiple roles in a group.
That leads us to: Role specialization (also called Role Profile).
While you do play multiple roles, you will usually “specialize” in just one type.
If you tend to seek information, provide information, and offer opinions based on information more
often than you relieve tension or provide support, you would be an “information specialist.”
If you take role specialization too far, however, it may turn into Role fixation, which is when
you play a specific role regardless of the situation.
Say you like to put together agendas and, regardless of the type of group, you will
create an agenda—even if one is not necessary.
You are “fixating” on a role.
You might also be forced into role fixation.
Recall when women were considered to be secretaries and, through group endorsement, were essentially
forced accepting the role of recorder.
Then, regardless of the group, if you were a woman, you would very likely be the recorder.
What does all this mean to you as you play roles in various groups?
First, try to demonstrate flexibility by playing a variety of roles that you think are needed
for the group to be successful.
There’s no need to fight for prestigious roles, like leader.
There are plenty of other roles that you can play that will help the group be productive
and cohesive.
Experiment and learn!
Try out for some roles you don’t normally play and, if the group looks to you to perform
a role that is out of your current repertoire, consider giving it a try.
You can then improve your expertise in other areas.
To use a baseball analogy, you can become the true utility player.
Avoid drawing attention away from the group and the group’s purpose by putting yourself
in the spotlight.
We’ve all seen people trying to upstage one another and the group suffers.
They are self-centered, rather than group-centered.
This doesn’t mean that you should fade into the background but that the group should be
the primary focus and the reason you are there.
And, now that you know the importance of the task and social dimensions, be willing to
play multiple roles—wear a variety of hats.
Play roles that contribute to both the task and social dimension so you can help your
group be both productive and cohesive.
Quiz Time!
What is the difference between the task and social dimensions in small groups?
How do the task and social dimensions relate to the roles we play in groups?
How might you enhance the effectiveness of the groups you are involved in?
To paraphrase Henry Ford, the founder of Ford Motor Company, while coming together is a
beginning and keeping together is progress, it is only through working together that we
achieve success.