Group Climate and Verbal and Non Verbal Dynamics

Todays Discussion

Define Climate
Climate is determined by how people act and communicate(Amway Meeting) Defensive or Supportive

Defensive Communication breeds a defensive climate

Because it attacks the self image of those in the group
Evaluation - You dont ever make the bed Control-I am really more important than you, manipulation Neutral responses-Uncaring I vs. We language

Defensive communications are characterized by disconfirming responses

How people respond in groups determines the climate in the group Confirming responses make people value themselves Confirming responses promote group safety Disconfirming responses make people value themselves less and feel less safe

Disconfirming responses
Incongruous Incoherent Tangential Irrelevant Impersonal Impervious Interrupting

Defensive Communication
Defensive Communication

Fostered by

Disconfirming Responses

Leads to

Leads to more

Defensive climate

Protect yourself Emphasis on individual goals I vs We

Reinforcing Feedback Loop

Supportive Communication

Supportive Communi cations

Resul ts fr om

Emphasis on Communi ty We insetad of the Individual I

Confir ming Responses

Emphasis on Gr oup Goals

Main Idea

Builds Self Imag e

Self Balancing Feedback Loop

Demonstrate

Why do people use disconfirming responses?

People are basically mean and want to make everyone around them miserable People dont know how to listen

Listening is a complex activity that is learned

Listening on Three Levels

Hearing
Involves receiving, translating and understanding the message Involves translating non verbal cues to comprehend the message as intended

Analyzing
Hearing is included Inferring the intent of the speaker-what did he really mean? Confirming responses and asking questions helps with this

Empathizing
Includes hearing and analyzing Gets at the emotional content of the message
Seeing the world through the eyes of the other person Emotional Relationships breed trust

Barriers to Effective Listening

Anything at all that distracts Prejudging - I know what hes going to say-mind goes on vacation Rehearsing - As soon as he stops talking this is what Ill say.

Active Listening Involves

Stop what you are doing Look for the non verbal cues that identify feelings Match verbal and non verbal cues to decipher content and emotion Ask confirming questions Paraphrase content to insure you understand Paraphrase feelings to understand what is being felt

Language and Words

One of the things that make us human Tools by which people make sense of their world Act as boundaries to group communications - double filters
Affecting group climate Make people defensive

Group Cohesiveness
The degree of attraction members feel towards one another
Loyalty -esprit de corps

Develops around both task and relationship dimensions

Friends make cohesive groups that may not get stuff done Culturally diverse groups bring broad perspective but challenge ability to minimize misunderstandings

The single most effective generator of group cohesiveness is the quality and amount of communication that occurs within the group

Select a Topic
You will be given 30 minutes to determine the topic you wish to research and discuss. Please remember that the topic you select should be: (1) Researchable, (2) Timely enough that current policies are already being used to try and solve the problem, (3) Serious enough that visible harms of the problem can be found, and (4) Extensive enough that several possible solutions could possibly be implemented to help solve the problem.

Brainstorm ideas. You may then narrow your choices down until your group reaches one final decision. Come up with a topic with which everyone is satisfied. Your topic will be worded as follows: WHAT SHOULD BE DONE ABOUT

Non Verbal Communication

Body Postures, movements, eye contact, facial expressions Vocal tone e.g. pitch, volume,rate, intonation, use of silence

Frequency of Non Verbal Communication

7% of the emotional meaning of a message is verbal People use non-verbal communication far more than verbal

Behavior as Communication
Postures, Movement and Gestures Eye Contact Facial Expressions Vocal Cue Territoriality and Personal Space Personal Appearance Environment Time

Culture and the use of Non Verbal Communication

Context
Emphasis placed on verbal communications

Contact
Comfort with close proximity

High Context
Emphasis placed on nonverbal communication Information drawn from the environment Skilled at interpreting non verbal communications fewer words used

Low Context
Greater emphasis on verbal communication More likely to miss non verbal cues Americans tend to be low context communicators

Impact in Small Groups

Low context people can verbally dominate the conversation and not read the non verbal cues from high context people in the group. High context people can be so busy sending and receiving non verbal communications that they forget to be verbally heard by low context people.

How do you use Nonverbal Communications

Carefully - Practice on your friends first before your boss or your spouse Interpret cues in context Look for clusters of cues Consider Culture Consider gender differences Perception checking - Interpret then ask.