A PRIMER ON GROUP DYNAMICS

1. Dr. Wendy C. Newstetter Fall 2014 A PRIMER ON GROUP DYNAMICS

2. Group experiences • Think about the best team/group experience you have had? • What criteria did you use to identify that team? Describe that group/team. • Now think of a negative experience. • What are the characteristics of that team?

3. Group dynamic • “The combined configuration of mental, emotional and physical energy in a group”(Heron, 1989: p. 27) • A configuration that can change and go through stages • A configuration that can be experienced as positive or negative or in-between Think back to the first group ORGT meetings, how did you feel? Heron, J. (1989) The facilitator’s handbook. New York, Nichols Publishing.

4. Stages of group dynamics Stage one: Defensiveness No trust, high anxiety, dynamic contracted/ locked • Psychological defensiveness • Acceptance anxiety • Orientation anxiety • Performance anxiety • Cultural oppression • Competitiveness • Emotional/physical closure & isolation • Power struggles • Gender/race bias • Rigid contribution hierarchies • Compulsive task-orientation • Educational alienation--single-stranded learning objective winter

5. Stages of group dynamics Stage two: Working thru defensiveness Trust is building, anxiety is reducing, a fresh culture is being created • Growing psychological openness • Decreased sense of threat or anxiety • Openness to multi-stranded educational objectives • Intellectual/skills • Emotional/affect • Group Cultural construction • Personal values and norms transformed spring

6. Stages of group dynamics Stage three: Authentic behavior Trust is high, anxiety spurs growth & change, openness to self/others • Leadership is shared • Good balance of autonomy, co-operation and hierarchy • Risk-taking • Process-oriented & task-oriented • Expressive/ interactive • Confronting • Multi-stranded learning objectives Summer

7. Stages of group dynamics Stage four: Closure • Preparing to leave, distress at parting, dealing with unfinished business, celebrating the group • Separation anxiety might occur • Bidding farewell to group and individuals • Transferring learning experience to outside world Autumn

8. “Bad Apples in team dynamics” • Jerk • Slacker • Depressive • ruining-it-for-the-rest-of-us

9. Post problem self/peer assessment • Reflect on and assess personal behavior • Excavate and discuss team behaviors • Clear the pallet • Anticipate and plan for problem III

10. Actively helps group develop team skills Willingly foregoes personal goals for group goals Always avoids contributing excessive or irrelevant information Consistently gives emotional support to others Readily volunteers for accepts responsibilities Appropriately expresses disappointment or disagreement directly Clearly demonstrates enthusiasm and involvement Monitors group progress and facilitates interaction with other members Always completes tasks on time Team skills-”A” behaviors

11. Goes along with the group, but does not lead Avoids confrontation even whenangry or frustrated Gives little or no emotional support to others on team Leads but resists following Hogs the floor making it difficult for others to contribute (speaking 40% of time) Engages in limited interaction with other members Occasionally comes unprepared with no explanation Contributes excessive or sometimes irrelevant information Team skills- “C” behaviors

12. Learning and problem-solving styles:How they impact groups

13. LEARNING PREFERENCES AND STRATEGIES • Characteristic strengths and preferences in the ways you take in and process information • Spectrum not a dichotomy • No right or wrong set of strategies • All styles have value depending on the context, so your goal is to expand learning styles repertoire • Potential source of group conflicts

14. SEQUENTIAL VS. GLOBALLEARNERS • Sequential learners (Serialists) • gain understanding in linear steps, each following logically from the previous one. • follow logical stepwise paths in finding solutions • Global learners (Holists) • learn in large jumps, absorbing material almost randomly without seeing connections, and then suddenly "getting it.” • may be able to solve complex problems quickly or put things together in novel ways once they have grasped the big picture, but may have difficulty explaining how they did it.

15. ACTIVE VS REFLECTIVE LEARNERS • Active learners -"Let's try it out and see how it works" • Retain/understand best by doing something active--discussing or applying information or explaining it to others • Like group work. • Reflective learners"Let's think it through first" • Prefer thinking quietly first before action. • Prefer working alone

16. SENSING VS. INTUITIVE LEARNERS • Sensors like • learning facts, solving problems by well-established methods; dislike complications and surprises • resent being tested on material not explicitly covered in class • patient with details and good at memorizing facts and doing hands-on (laboratory) work; practical and careful • Intuitors like • discovering possibilities and relationships and innovating • dislike repetition • good at grasping new concepts • often more comfortable with abstractions and mathematical formulations • tend to work fast and to be innovative.

17. VISUAL,VERBAL,TACTILE LEARNERS • Visual learners • Get more out of pictures, diagrams, flow charts, time lines, films, and demonstrations • Auditory learners • learn through listening... • Verbal learners • Get more out of written and spoken explanations • Tactile/kinesthetic • learn through moving, doing and touching...

18. MYERS BRIGGS PERSONALITY INDICATORS • Based on Carl Jung's theory of psychological types • Theory and test address 4 questions • Where do you direct your energy? • How do you process information? • How do you prefer to make decisions? • How do you prefer to organize your life? • http://www.personalitypathways.com/type_inventory.html - Inventory

19. WHERE DO YOU DIRECT/GET YOUR ENERGY? • E----------I • Extraverts- try things out, focus on the outer world of people, socially-oriented, energy derived from outside • Introverts -think things through, focus on the inner world of ideas, isolation creates a sense of balance, energy focused inward

20. HOW DO YOU GATHER/PROCESS INFORMATION? • S-----------I • Sensors- practical, detail-oriented, focus on facts and procedures, communicate in direct ways, focus on present, on reality missing possibilities for future • Intuitors- imaginative, concept-oriented, focus on meanings and possibilities; focus on possibilities while losing touch with current realities

21. HOW DO YOU PREFER TO MAKE DECISIONS? • T----------F • Thinkers --analyzers, skeptical, tend to make decisions based on logic and rules, critical onlooker, decides on principles • Feelers--appreciative participant, tend to make decisions based on personal and humanistic considerations, sympathetic, decides on values

22. HOW DO YOU PREFER TO ORGANIZE YOUR LIFE? • J---------P • Judgers ---structured, organized, closed, sets and follows agendas, seeks closure even with incomplete data • Perceivers----flexible, spontaneous, opened to new ideas, experiencing new things, adapts to changing circumstances, resists closure to obtain more data.

23. MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES • Howard Gardner. 1983. Frames of Mind New York, NY: Basic Books. • Verbal/Linguistic • Logical Mathematical • Bodily/kinesthetic • Visual/spatial • Musical/rhythmic • Interpersonal • Intrapersonal • http://www.ldrc.ca/projects/miinventory/miinventory.php