Types of Groups in the Workplace

As a skilled business communicator, learning more about groups, group dynamics, management, and leadership will serve you well. Mergers, forced sales, downsizing, and entering new markets all call on individuals to become members of groups. In the second of the Note 19.1 “Introductory Exercises” for this chapter, you listed the professional groups you interact with. What did your list include? Perhaps you noted your immediate coworkers, your supervisor, other leaders in your organization, members of other departments, and colleagues who are also your personal friends outside work. Groups can be defined by function. They can also be defined developmentally, by the relationships within them. And they can be discussed in terms of their relationship to you and how well they meet your interpersonal needs.

Some groups are assembled at work to solve problems, and once the challenge has been resolved, they dissolve into previous or yet-to-be-determined groups. These functional groups are probably familiar to you. You take a sociology class from a professor of sociology, who is a member of the discipline of sociology. To be a member of a discipline is to be a disciple — to adhere to a common framework for viewing the world. Disciplines involve a standard set of theories that explain the world around us, terms to explain those theories, and advances reflecting human knowledge. Compared to your sociology instructor, your physics instructor may see the world from a completely different perspective. Still, both may be members of divisions or schools, dedicated to teaching or research, and come together under the large group heading we know as the university.

In business, marketing experts who are members of the marketing department may perceive their tasks differently from someone in sales or accounting. You may work in the mailroom, and the mailroom staff is a group in itself — both distinct from and interconnected with the larger organization.

Relationships are part of any group and can be described in terms of status, power, control, role, function, or viewpoint. Within a family, for example, the ties that bind you together may be common experiences, collaborative efforts, and even pain and suffering. The birth process may forge a relationship between mother and daughter, but it also may not. An adoption may transform a family. Relationships form through communication interaction across time and often share a common history, values, and beliefs about the world.

In business, an idea may bring professionals together, and they may even refer to the new product or service as their “baby,” speaking in reverent tones about a project they’ve taken from the drawing board and “birthed” into the real world. Like family communication, work groups or teams may have challenges, rivalries, and even “birthing pains” as a product is developed, adjusted, adapted, and transformed. Struggles are part of relationships, both in families and business, and form a common history of shared challenges overcome through effort and hard work.

Through conversations and a shared sense of belonging, you and your coworkers meet many basic human needs — the need to feel included, the need for affection, and the need for control.^[1] In a work context, “affection” may sound odd, but we all experience it in the form of friendly comments like “good morning,” “have a nice weekend,” and “good job!” Our professional lives also fulfill more than just our basic needs (air, food, water, safety). While your work group may come together with common goals — like delivering the mail on time to the right departments and individuals — your daily interactions often go well beyond this functional perspective.

Similarly, your family may provide a place for you at the table and meet your basic needs, but they also may not meet other needs. If you grow to understand yourself and your place in a way that challenges group norms, you can choose which parts of your life to share and which to withhold in different groups, and decide where to seek acceptance, affection, and control.

Primary and Secondary Groups

There are fundamentally two types of groups observable in many contexts, from church to school, family to work. These are primary and secondary groups. The hierarchy denotes the degree to which the group(s) meet your interpersonal needs. Primary groups meet most, if not all, of your needs. Secondary groups meet some but not all needs and often include work groups where the goal is to complete a task or solve a problem. If you’re a member of the sales department, your purpose is to sell.

When it comes to problem-solving, work groups can accomplish more than individuals. People bring specialized skills, talents, experience, and education together in new combinations with new challenges, finding perspectives they wouldn’t have formulated alone.

Secondary groups may meet your need for professional acceptance and celebrate your success, but they may not meet your need for understanding and personal sharing. Family members may understand you in ways that coworkers can’t, and vice versa.

If Two’s Company and Three’s a Crowd, What Is a Group?

This old cliche refers to the human tendency to form pairs. Pairing is the most basic form of relationship formation; it applies to childhood best friends, college roommates, romantic couples, business partners, and many other dyads (two-person relationships). A group, by definition, includes at least three people. We can categorize groups by their size and complexity.

When we discuss demographic groups as part of a market study, we may focus on large numbers of individuals who share common characteristics. Suppose you’re the producer of an ecologically innovative car like the Smart ForTwo, and you know your customers have an average of four family members. In that case, you might consider developing a new model with additional seats. While the target audience is a group, car customers don’t relate to each other as a unified whole. Even if they form car clubs and have regional gatherings, a newsletter, and competitions at local race tracks each year, they still subdivide the overall community of car owners into smaller groups.

The larger a group grows, the more likely it is to subdivide. Analysis of these smaller, or microgroups, is increasingly a point of study as the Internet allows individuals to join others of similar mind or habit to share virtually anything across time and distance. A microgroup is a small, independent group that has a link, affiliation, or association with a larger group. With each additional group member, the number of possible interactions increases.^{[2] [3]}

Small groups typically contain between three and eight people. One person may involve intrapersonal communication, two may constitute interpersonal communication, and both may be present within a group communication context. You may think to yourself before making a speech or writing your next post, and you may turn to your neighbor or coworker for a side conversation. Still, a group relationship typically involves three to eight people, and the potential for distraction is real.

In Table 19.1 “Possible Interaction in Groups,” you can quickly see how the number of possible interactions grows according to group size. At some point, we all find the possible and actual interactions overwhelming and subdivide into smaller groups. For example, you may have hundreds of friends on Instagram or Facebook, but how many do you regularly communicate with? You might be tempted to say more than eight, but if you exclude the “all to one” messages — like a general tweet to everyone but no one person in particular — you’ll find group norms appear.

Group norms are customs, standards, and behavioral expectations that emerge as a group forms. If you post an update every day on your Facebook page and your friends stop by to post on your wall and comment, not posting for a week will violate a group norm. They’ll wonder if you’re sick or in the hospital with no computer access. But if you only post once a week, the group will come to expect your customary post naturally. Norms involve expectations that are self- and group-imposed and often arise as groups form and develop.

If there are more than eight members, having equal participation — where everyone has a chance to speak, listen, and respond — becomes a challenge. Some will dominate, others will recede, and smaller groups will form. Finding a natural balance within a group can also be a challenge. Small groups need enough members to generate a rich and stimulating exchange of ideas, information, and interaction, but not so many that what each person brings can’t be shared.^[4]

Group Life Cycle Patterns

Several steps characterize your life cycle, and while it doesn’t follow a prescribed path, there are universal stages we can all recognize. You were born. You didn’t choose your birth, your parents, your language, or your culture, but you came to know them through communication. You came to know yourself, learned skills, discovered talents, and met other people. You understood, worked, lived, and loved, and as you aged, minor injuries took longer to heal. You competed in ever-increasing age groups in your favorite sport, and while your time for each performance may have increased as you aged, your experience allowed you to excel in other ways. Where you were once a novice, you’ve now learned something to share. You lived to see some of your friends pass before you, and the moment will arrive when you, too, must confront death.

Groups experience similar steps and stages and take on many characteristics we associate with life.^[5] They grow, overcome illness and dysfunction, and transform across time. No group, just like no individual, lives forever.

Your first day on the job may be comparable to the first day you went to school. At home, you may have learned some basics, like how to write with a pencil, but knowing that skill and applying it are two different things. In school, people spoke and acted differently from how they did at home. Gradually, you came to understand the meaning of recess, the importance of raising your hand to get the teacher’s attention, and how to follow school rules. At work, you may have academic training for your profession, but that knowledge only serves as your foundation, much as your socialization at home guided you at school. On the job, they use jargon terms, have schedules that may include coffee breaks (recess), have a supervisor (teacher), and have explicit rules and understood norms. On the first day, it was all new, even if many elements were familiar.

To better understand group development and its life cycle, many researchers have described the universal stages and phases of groups. While there are modern interpretations of these stages, most draw from the model proposed by Bruce Tuckman.^[6] This model, shown in Table 19.2 “Tuckman’s Linear Model of Group Development,” specifies the usual order of the phases of group development and lets us predict several stages when we join a new group.^[7]

Tuckman begins with the forming stage as the initiation of group formation. This stage is also called the orientation stage because individual group members come to know each other. Group members who are new to each other and can’t predict each other’s behavior will likely experience the stress of uncertainty. Uncertainty theory states that we choose to know more about others with whom we have interactions to reduce or resolve the anxiety associated with the unknown.^{[8] [9][10]} The more we know about others and become accustomed to how they communicate, the better we can predict how they’ll interact with us in future contexts. If you learn that Monday mornings are never a good time for your supervisor, you quickly learn to schedule meetings later in the week. Individuals are initially tentative and cautious as they begin to learn about the group and its members.

If you don’t know someone very well, it’s easy to offend. Each group member brings a set of experiences, combined with education and a self-concept. You won’t be able to read this information on a nametag — you’ll only come to know it through time and interaction. Since overlapping and competing viewpoints and perspectives can exist, the group will experience a storming stage, a time of struggles, as the members themselves sort out their differences. There may be more than one way to solve the problem or task at hand, and some group members may prefer one strategy over another. Some members of the group may be more senior to the organization than you, and members may treat them differently. Some group members may be as new as you are and just as uncertain about everyone’s talents, skills, roles, and self-perceptions. A wise business communicator will anticipate the storming stage and help facilitate opportunities for members to resolve uncertainty before work begins. There may be challenges to leadership and conflicting viewpoints. The sociology professor sees the world differently from the physics professor. The sales agent sees things differently from someone in accounting. A manager who understands and anticipates this normal challenge in the group’s life cycle can help the group become more productive.

A clear definition of purpose and mission can help members focus their energies. Interaction before the first meeting can reduce uncertainty. Coffee and calories can help bring a group together. Providing the group with what they need and opportunities to know each other before tackling their task can increase efficiency.

Groups that successfully transition from the storming stage will next experience the norming stage, where the group establishes norms — informal rules for behavior and interaction. Who speaks first? Who takes notes? Who is creative, who is visual, and who is detail-oriented? Sometimes our job titles and functions speak for themselves, but human beings are complex. We’re not simply a list of job functions, and you’ll often find that people have talents and skills well beyond their “official” role. Drawing on these strengths can make the group more effective.

The norming stage is marked by less division and more collaboration. The level of anxiety associated with interaction is generally reduced, creating a more positive work climate that promotes listening. When people feel less threatened and their needs are met, they’re more likely to focus their complete attention on the group’s purpose. If they’re still concerned with who does what and whether they’ll speak in error, the interaction framework will stay in the storming stage. Tensions are reduced when normative expectations are known, and the degree to which a manager can describe these at the outset can reduce the time the group remains in uncertainty. Group members generally express more satisfaction with clear expectations and are more inclined to participate.

Ultimately, a work group’s purpose is performance, and the preceding stages lead us to the performing stage, where the group accomplishes its mandate, fulfills its purpose, and reaches its goals. Group members can’t skip getting to know each other or establishing roles and norms, but they can try to focus on performance with clear expectations from the moment the group is formed. Productivity is often how we measure success in business and industry, and the group has to produce. Outcome assessments may have been built into the system from the beginning as benchmarks for success. Wise managers know how to celebrate success — it brings more success, social cohesion, group participation, and job satisfaction. Incremental gains toward a benchmark may also be cause for celebration, and failure to reach a goal should be regarded as an opportunity for clarification.

It’s generally wiser to focus on the group’s performance rather than individual contributions. Managers and group members will want to offer assistance to underperformers and congratulate members for their contributions. If the goal is to create a community where competition pushes each member to perform, individual highlights may serve your needs. But if you want a group to solve a problem or address a challenge, you have to promote group cohesion. Members need to feel a sense of belonging, and praise (or the lack of it) can be a sword with two edges: one stimulates and motivates, while the other demoralizes and divides.

Groups should be designed to produce and perform at levels that individuals can’t achieve alone — otherwise, you should consider compartmentalizing the tasks. The performing stage is where productivity occurs, and making sure the group has what it needs to perform is critical. Missing pieces, parts, or information can stall the group and reset the cycle to storming all over again. Loss of performance is inefficiency, which carries a cost. Managers will be measured by the group’s productivity and performance. Make sure the performing stage is productive and healthy for its members.

Imagine you’re the manager of a group that has produced an award-winning design for an ecologically innovative four-seat car. Their success is your success. Their celebrations are yours, even if the spotlight isn’t on you. A manager manages the process while group members perform. If you were a member of the group that helped design the belt line, you made a fundamental contribution to the car’s style. Individual consumers may never consider the line from the front fender, across the doors, to the rear taillight as they make a purchase decision, but they’ll recognize beauty. You’ll know that you couldn’t have achieved that fundamental part of car design without help from the engineers in the group. If the number-crunching accountants hadn’t seen the efficiency of the production process, it may never have survived the transition from prototype to production. The group came together and accomplished its goals with excellent results.

Now, as typically happens, all groups will eventually have to move on to new assignments. In the adjourning stage, members leave the group. The group may cease to exist, or it may be transformed with new members and new goals. Your contributions in the past may have caught management’s attention, and you may be assigned to redesign the flagship vehicle, the halo car of your brand. It’s quite a professional honor, and it’s yours because of your successful work in a group. Others will be reassigned to tasks that require their talents and skills, and you may or may not collaborate with them in the future.

You may miss the interactions with the members, even the more cantankerous ones, and will experience both relief and a sense of loss. Like life, the group process is normal, and mixed emotions are to be expected. A wise manager anticipates this stage and facilitates the separation with skill and ease. We often close this process with a ritual marking its passing, though the ritual may be as formal as an award or as informal as a “thank you” or verbal acknowledgment of a job well done over coffee and calories.

On a more sober note, don’t forget that groups can reach the adjourning stage without having achieved success. Some businesses go bankrupt, some departments are closed, and some individuals lose their positions after a group fails to perform. Adjournment can come suddenly and unexpectedly, or gradually and piece by piece. Either way, a skilled business communicator will be prepared and recognize it as part of the classic group life cycle.

Life Cycle of Member Roles

Just as groups go through a life cycle when they form and eventually adjourn, group members fulfill different roles during this life cycle. These roles, proposed by Richard Moreland and John Levine, are summarized in Table 19.3 “Life Cycle of Member Roles.”^[11]

Suppose you’re about to graduate from school and you’re in the midst of a job search. You’ve gathered extensive information on a couple of local businesses and know they’ll be participating in the university job fair. You’ve explored their websites, talked to people currently employed at each company, and learned what you can from public information. At this stage, you’re a potential member. You may have an electrical, chemical, or mechanical engineering degree soon, but you’re not a member of an engineering team.

You show up at the job fair in professional attire and thoroughly prepared. The representatives of each company are respectful and cordial, and give you contact information. One of them even calls a member of the organization on the spot and arranges an interview for you next week. You’re excited about the prospect and want to learn more. You’re still a potential member.

The interview goes well the following week. The day after the meeting, you receive a call for a follow-up interview that leads to a committee interview. A few weeks later, the company calls you with a job offer. However, in the meantime, you’ve also been interviewing with other potential employers, and you’re waiting to hear back from two of them. You’re still a potential member.

After careful consideration, you decide to take the job offer and start the following week. The projects look interesting, you’ll be gaining valuable experience, and the commute to work is reasonable. Your first day on the job is positive, and they’ve assigned you a mentor. The conversations are positive, but you feel lost at times, as if they’re speaking a language you can’t quite grasp. As a new group member, your level of acceptance will increase as you begin learning the group’s rules, both spoken and unspoken.^[12] You’ll gradually move from the potential member role to the role of new group member as you learn to fit in.

Over time and projects, you gradually increase your responsibilities. You’re no longer seen as the new person, and you can follow almost every conversation. You can’t quite say, “I remember when” because your tenure hasn’t been that long, but you’re a known quantity and know your way around. You’re a full member of the group. Full members enjoy knowing the rules and customs and can even create new ones. New group members look to full members for leadership and guidance. Full group members can control the agenda and have considerable influence on the group’s activities.

Full members of a group, however, can and do come into conflict. When you were a new member, you may have stayed silent when you felt you had something to say, but now you state your case. There’s more than one way to get the job done. You may suggest new ways that emphasize efficiency over existing methods. Coworkers who have been in the department for several years may resist, creating tension. Expressing different views can cause conflict and may even interfere with communication.

When this type of tension arises, divergent group members pull back, contribute less, and start to see themselves as separate from the group. Divergent group members have less eye contact, seek out each other’s opinions less frequently, and listen defensively. At the beginning of the process, you felt a sense of belonging, but now you don’t. Marginal group members start to look outside the group for their interpersonal needs.

After several months of trying to cope with these adjustments, you decide that you never really investigated the other two companies thoroughly — that your job search process was incomplete. Perhaps you should take a second look at your options. You’ll report to work on Monday, but will start the process of becoming an ex-member, one who no longer belongs. You may experience a sense of relief upon making this decision, given that you haven’t felt like you belonged to the group for a while. When you line up your next job and submit your resignation, you make it official.

This process has no set timetable. Some people overcome differences and stay in the group for years; others get promoted and leave the group only when they get transferred to regional headquarters. As a skilled business communicator, you’ll recognize the signs of divergence, just as you’ve anticipated the storming stage, and do your best to facilitate success.

Positive and Negative Member Roles

If someone in your group always makes everyone laugh, that can be a distinct asset when the news is less than positive. At times when you have to get work done, however, the class clown may become a distraction. Notions of positive and negative will often depend on the context when discussing groups. Table 19.4 “Positive Roles” and Table 19.5 “Negative Roles” list both positive and negative roles people sometimes play in a group setting.^[13]

Now that we’ve examined a classical view of positive and negative group member roles, let’s look at another perspective. While some personality traits and behaviors may negatively influence groups, some are positive or negative depending on the context.

Just as the class clown can lift spirits or distract members, a dominator may be exactly what’s needed for quick action. An emergency physician doesn’t have time to ask all the group members in the emergency unit how they feel about a course of action; instead, a self-directed approach based on training and experience may be necessary. In contrast, a church pastor may have ample opportunity to ask congregation members their opinions about a change in the format of Sunday services; here, the role of coordinator or elaborator is more appropriate than dominator.

The group exists because they have a purpose or goal, and normally they can accomplish more than any one individual member could alone — so hindering progress is inefficient. But a blocker, who cuts off collaboration, does just that. If a group member interrupts another and presents a viewpoint or information suggesting a different course of action, the point may be well taken and serve the collaborative process. But if that same group member repeatedly engages in blocking behavior, then it becomes a problem. A skilled business communicator will learn to recognize the difference, even when positive and negative aren’t completely clear.

Define the Problem

If you don’t know what the problem is, how can you solve it? Defining the problem allows the group to set boundaries around what the problem is and what it isn’t, and to begin formalizing a description or definition of the scope, size, or extent of the challenge. A problem defined too broadly can overwhelm the group. If defined too narrowly, important information will be missed or ignored.

In the following example, we have a Web-based company called Favorites that needs to increase its customer base and ultimately sales. A problem-solving group has been formed, and they start by formulating a working definition of the problem.

Too broad: “Sales are off, our numbers are down, and we need more customers.”

More precise: “Sales have been slipping incrementally for six of the past nine months and are significantly lower than a seasonally adjusted comparison to last year. Overall, this loss represents a 4.5 percent reduction in sales from the same time last year. However, when we break it down by product category, sales of our non-edible products have seen a modest but steady increase, while sales of edibles account for the drop off, and we need to halt the decline.”

Analyze the Problem

Now the group analyzes the problem, trying to gather information and learn more. The problem is complex and requires more than one area of expertise. Why do non-edible products continue to sell well? What’s turning customers off about the edibles? Let’s meet our problem solvers at Favorites.

Kevin handles customer resource management. He’s involved with the customer from the point of initial contact through purchase and delivery. Most of the interface is automated in the form of an online “basket model,” where photographs and product descriptions are accompanied by “buy it now” buttons. He’s available during normal business hours for live chat and voice chat if needed, and customers are invited to request additional information. Most Favorites customers don’t access this service, but Kevin is kept quite busy, as he also handles returns and complaints. Because Kevin believes that superior service retains customers while attracting new ones, he’s always interested in better ways to serve the customer. Looking at edibles and non-edibles, he’ll study the cycle of customer service and see if there are any common points — from the main web page, through the catalog, to the purchase process, and to returns — where customers abandon the sale. He has existing customer feedback loops with end-of-sale surveys, but most customers decline the survey, and there’s currently no incentive to participate.

Mariah handles products and purchasing. She wants to offer the best products at the lowest price, and to offer new products that are unusual, rare, or exotic. She regularly adds new products to the Favorites catalog and culls underperformers. Right now, she has the data on every product and its sales history, but representing it is a challenge. She’ll analyze current sales data and produce a report that identifies explicitly how each product — edible and non-edible — is performing. She wants to highlight “winners” and “losers” but also recognizes that today’s “losers” may be tomorrow’s hits. It’s hard to predict constantly changing tastes and preferences, but that’s part of her job. It’s not all science, and it’s not all art. She has to have an eye for what will catch on tomorrow while continuing to provide what’s hot today.

Suri handles data management at Favorites. She gathers, analyzes, and presents information collected from the supply chain, sales, and marketing. She works with vendors to make sure products are available when needed, makes sales predictions based on past sales history, and assesses the effectiveness of marketing campaigns.

The problem-solving group members already have certain information on hand. They know that customer retention is one contributing factor. Attracting new customers is a constant goal, but they’re aware of the well-known principle that it takes more effort to attract new customers than to keep existing ones. It’s important to ensure a quality customer service experience for existing customers and encourage them to refer friends. The group needs to figure out how to promote this favorable customer behavior.

Another contributing factor seems to be that customers often abandon the shopping cart before completing a purchase, especially when purchasing edibles. The group members need to learn more about why this is happening.

Establish Criteria

Establishing the criteria for a solution is the next step. At this point, information is coming in from diverse perspectives, and each group member has contributed information from their perspective, even though there may be several points of overlap.

Kevin: Customers who complete the postsale survey indicate that they want to know (1) what the estimated delivery time is, (2) why a specific item wasn’t in stock and when it will be available, and (3) why their order sometimes arrives incomplete, with some items back-ordered, without prior notification.

He notes that a very small percentage of customers complete the postsale survey, and the results are far from scientific. He also notes that the interface apparently can’t cross-check inventory to provide immediate information concerning back orders, so the customer “buys it” only to learn several days later that it wasn’t in stock. This seems especially problematic for edible products, because people often order them for special occasions like birthdays and anniversaries. But we don’t really know this for sure because of the low participation in the postsale survey.

Mariah: Four edible products frequently sell out. So far, we haven’t been able to boost the appeal of other edibles so that people would order them as a second choice when these sales leaders aren’t available. We also have several rare, exotic products that are slow movers. They have potential, but are currently underperformers.

Suri: We know from a zip code analysis that most of our customers are from a few specific geographic areas associated with above-average incomes. We have very few credit cards declined, and the average sale is over $100. Shipping costs represent, on average, 8 percent of the total sales cost. We don’t have enough information to produce a customer profile. There’s no specific point in the purchase process where basket abandonment tends to happen; it happens fairly uniformly at all steps.

Consider Possible Solutions to the Problem

The group has listened to each other and now starts brainstorming ways to address the challenges they’ve identified while focusing resources on solutions that are more likely to produce results.

Kevin: Is it possible for our programmers to create a cross-index feature, linking the product desired with a report of how many are in stock? I’d like the customer to know right away whether it’s in stock, or how long they may have to wait. As another idea, is it possible to add incentives to the purchase cycle that won’t negatively impact our overall profit? I’m thinking a small volume discount on multiple items, or perhaps free shipping over a specific dollar amount.

Mariah: I recommend we hold a focus group where customers can sample our edible products and tell us what they like best and why. When the best sellers are sold out, could we offer a discount on related products to provide an instant alternative? We might also cull the underperforming products with a liquidation sale to generate interest.

Suri: If we want to know more about our customers, we need to give them an incentive to complete the postsale survey. How about a 5% off coupon code for the next purchase to get them to return and to help us better identify our customer base? We may also want to build in a customer referral rewards program, but it all takes better data in to get results out. We should also explore the supply side by getting a more reliable supply of the leading products and trying to get better discounts from our suppliers, especially in the edible category.

Decide on a Solution

Kevin, Mariah, and Suri may want to implement all the solution strategies, but they don’t have the resources for everything. They’ll complete a cost-benefit analysis, which ranks each solution according to its probable impact. The analysis is shown in Table 19.6 “Cost-Benefit Analysis.”

Now that the options have been presented with their costs and benefits, it’s easier for the group to decide which courses of action are likely to yield the best outcomes. The analysis helps the group members see beyond the immediate cost of implementing a given solution. For example, Kevin’s suggestion of offering free shipping won’t cost Favorites much money, but it also may not pay off in customer goodwill. And even though Mariah’s focus group suggestion might sound like a good idea, it will be expensive and its benefits are questionable.

A careful reading of the analysis indicates that Kevin’s best suggestion is to integrate the cross-index feature in the ordering process so that customers can know immediately whether an item is in stock or on back order. Mariah’s suggestion about searching for alternative products is probably the most likely to benefit Favorites, while Suri’s two supply-side suggestions are likely to produce positive outcomes.

Implement the Solution

Kevin faces the challenge of designing the computer interface without incurring unacceptable costs. He strongly believes that the interface will pay for itself within the first year — or, to put it more bluntly, that Favorites’ declining sales will worsen if the website doesn’t have this feature soon. He asks to meet with top management to get budget approval and secures their agreement, on one condition: he must negotiate a compensation schedule with the Information Technology consultants that includes delayed compensation in the form of bonuses after the feature has been up and running successfully for six months.

Mariah knows that searching for alternative products is a never-ending process, but it takes time, and the company needs results. She decides to invest time evaluating products that competing companies currently offer, especially in the edible category, on the theory that customers who find their desired items sold out on the Favorites website may have been buying alternative products elsewhere instead of choosing an alternative from Favorites’s product lines.

Suri decides to approach the vendors of the four frequently sold-out products and ask point-blank, “What would it take to get you to produce these items more reliably in greater quantities?” By opening communication with these vendors, she’s able to motivate them to make modifications that will improve the reliability and quantity. She also approaches the vendors of the less popular products with a request for better discounts in return for their cooperation in developing and test-marketing new products.

Follow Up on the Solution

Kevin: After several beta tests, the cross-index feature was implemented and has been in place for thirty days. Now customers see either “in stock” or “available [mo/da/yr]” in the shopping basket. As expected, Kevin notes a decrease in chat and phone inquiries asking, “Will this item arrive before my wife’s birthday?” However, he notes an increase in inquiries asking, “Why isn’t this item in stock?” It’s hard to tell whether customer satisfaction is higher overall.

Mariah: While exploring merchandise available from competing merchants, she got several ideas for modifying Favorites’ product line to offer more flavors and other variations on popular edibles. Working with vendors, she found that these modifications cost very little. Within the first thirty days of adding these items, sales are up. Mariah believes these additions also enhance the Favorites brand identity, but she has no data to support this.

Suri: So far, the vendors supplying the four top-selling edibles have fulfilled their promise of increasing quantity and reliability. However, three of the four items have still sold out, raising the question of whether Favorites needs to bring in one or more additional vendors to produce these items. Of the vendors with which Favorites asked to negotiate better discounts, some refused, and two of these were “stolen” by a competing merchant so that they no longer sell to Favorites. In addition, one of the vendors that agreed to give a better discount was unexpectedly forced to cease operations for several weeks because of a fire.

This scenario shows us that the problem may have several dimensions as well as solutions, but resources can be limited and not every solution is successful. Even though the problem isn’t immediately resolved, the group problem-solving pattern serves as a helpful guide through the process.

Preparation

A meeting, like a problem-solving group, needs a clear purpose statement. The specific goal for the particular meeting will clearly relate to the overall goal of the group or committee. Determining your purpose is central to an effective meeting, and getting together just to get together is called a party, not a meeting. Don’t schedule a meeting just because you met at the same time last month or because it’s a standing committee. Members will resent the intrusion into their schedules and quickly perceive the lack of purpose.

Similarly, if the need for a meeting arises, don’t rush into it without planning. A poorly planned meeting announced at the last minute is sure to be less than effective. People may be unable to change their schedules, may fail to attend, or may hinder the group’s progress because of their absence. Those who attend may feel hindered because they need more time to prepare and present comprehensive results.

If a meeting is necessary, and a clear purpose can be articulated, then you’ll need to decide how and where to meet. Distance is no longer an obstacle to participation, as we’ll see later in this section when we explore technologies for virtual meetings. However, there are many advantages to meeting in person. People communicate not just with words but also with body language — facial expressions, hand gestures, head nodding or shaking, and posture. These subtleties of communication can be key to determining how group members really feel about an issue. Meeting in real time can be important, too, as all group members receive new information at the same time. For now, we’ll focus on face-to-face meetings taking place in real time.

If you have a purpose statement for the meeting, then you should be able to create an agenda — a list of topics to be discussed. You may need to solicit information from members to formulate an agenda, and this premeeting contact can encourage active participation. The agenda will have a time, date, place, and method of interaction noted, along with a list of participants. It will also have a statement of purpose, a list of points to be considered, and a summary of relevant information that relates to each point. Somewhere on the agenda, the start and end times need to be clearly indicated, and it’s always a good idea to leave time at the end for questions and additional points that individual members may want to share. If the meeting has an emotional point or theme, or if the news is negative, plan extra time for discussion, clarification, and revisiting the topic as the participants process the information.

If you’re planning an intense work session, consider the number of possible interactions among the participants and limit them. Smaller groups are generally more productive. If you’re gathering to present information or motivate the sales staff, a large audience with little expected interaction is appropriate. Each member has a role, and attention to how and why they’re interacting will produce the best results. Review the stages of group formation, remembering that a meeting is a short-term group. You can anticipate a “forming” stage, and if roles aren’t clear, there may be a bit of “storming” before the group establishes norms and becomes productive. Adding participants for no clear reason will only complicate the process and may produce negative results.

Inviting participants via e-mail has become increasingly common across business and industry. Software programs like Microsoft Outlook allow you to initiate a meeting request and receive an “accept” or “decline” response, making the invitation process organized and straightforward. Reliance on a software program, however, may not be enough to ensure participation. A reminder on someone’s computer may go off fifteen minutes prior to the meeting, but if they’re away from their computer or if Outlook isn’t running, the reminder goes unseen. A reminder e-mail on the day of the meeting, often early in the morning, can serve as a personal effort to highlight the day’s activities.

If you’re responsible for the room reservation, confirm it one week before and again the day before the meeting. Redundancy in the confirmation process can help eliminate double-booking, where two sessions are scheduled at the same time. If technology is required — such as a microphone, conference telephone, or laptop and projector — make sure you confirm those reservations at the same time as you confirm the room. Always personally inspect the room and test these systems prior to the meeting. Nothing is more embarrassing than introducing a high-profile speaker, like the company president, and then finding that the PowerPoint projector isn’t working properly.

Conducting the Meeting

The world is a stage, and a meeting is a performance, much like an interview or speech presentation. Each member has a part to perform, and they should all be aware of their roles and responsibilities before the meeting starts. Everyone is a member of the group, ranging from new members to full members. If you can reduce or eliminate the storming stage, all the better. A clearly defined agenda can be a productive tool for this effort.

People may know each other by role or title but may not be familiar with each other. Brief introductions can establish identity and credibility, and help the group transition to performance. The purpose of the meeting should be clearly stated, and if some rules or guidelines require a specific protocol, they should be introduced.

Mary Ellen Guffey provides a useful participant checklist that is adapted here for our use:^[17]

• Arrive on time and stay until the meeting adjourns (unless there are prior arrangements)
• Leave the meeting only for established breaks or emergencies
• Be prepared and have everything you need on hand
• Turn off cell phones and personal digital assistants
• Follow the established protocol for turn-taking
• Respect time limits
• Demonstrate professionalism in your verbal and nonverbal interactions
• Communicate interest and stay engaged in the discussion
• Avoid tangents and side discussions
• Respect space and don’t spread your notebook or papers all around you
• Clean up after yourself
• Engage in polite conversation after the conclusion

If you’re the meeting leader, you may need to facilitate the discussion and address any conflicts that arise. The agenda serves as your guide, and you may need to redirect the conversation to the topic, but always demonstrate respect for every member. You may also need to intervene if a point reaches a stalemate (this text offers specific guidelines for managing interpersonal conflict that apply here).

There’s been quite a discussion about the role of seating arrangements in meetings within the field of business communication. Generally, a square, rectangular, or U-shaped table has a fixed point at which attention is directed, often called the head of the table. This space is usually associated with power, status, and hierarchy, and may play an important role in the flow of interactions. If information is to be distributed and presented from administration to managers, for example, a table with a clear focal point for the head or CEO may be indicated. Round tables, or tables arranged in a circular pattern, allow for a more egalitarian model of interaction, reducing hierarchical aspects while reinforcing clear lines of sight among all participants. If a meeting requires intense interaction and collaboration, a round table or circular pattern is generally indicated.

Some meetings don’t call for a table, but rather rows of seats facing toward the speaker; you probably recognize this arrangement from many class lectures. For relatively formal meetings in which information is being delivered to a large number of listeners and little interaction is desired, rows of seating are an efficient use of space.

Transitions are often the most challenging part of any meeting. Facilitating the transition from one topic to the next may require you to create links between each point. You can specifically note the next point on the agenda and verbally introduce the next speaker or person responsible for the content area. Once the meeting has accomplished its goals within the established timeframe, it’s time to facilitate the transition to a conclusion. You may conclude by summarizing what has been discussed or decided, and what actions group members should take as a result. If there’s a clear purpose for holding a subsequent meeting, discuss the time and date, and note specific assignments for next time.

Feedback is essential to any communication interaction. Minutes are a written document that records the interaction and can provide an opportunity for clarification. Minutes often appear as the agenda with notes relating to actions taken during the meeting or specific indications of who is responsible for what before the next meeting. In many organizations, minutes are tentative, like a rough draft, until the group members approve them. Usually, minutes are sent within a week of the meeting if it’s a monthly event, and more quickly if more frequent meetings have been determined. If your organization doesn’t require minutes, you can still benefit by reviewing your notes after the meeting and comparing them with those of others to make sure you understood what was discussed and didn’t miss — or misinterpret — any key information.

Using Technology to Facilitate Meetings

Given the widespread availability and increasingly low cost of electronic communication, technologies that once served to bring people together across continents and time zones are now also serving people in the same geographic area. Today, virtual meetings are the norm in many workplaces. Rather than being a special, cost-saving alternative, platforms like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, or Google Meet are used for daily collaboration. This shift means that professionals must be skilled at communicating effectively in digital spaces, understanding that even in a virtual meeting, nonverbal cues and proper etiquette remain essential. Be aware of the dimensions of nonverbal communication that are lost in a virtual meeting compared to an in-person one. Nevertheless, these technologies are a boon to today’s business organizations, and knowing how to use them is a key skill for all job seekers. We’ll discuss the technologies by category, beginning with audio-only, then audio-visual, and finally social media.

Organizational Communication

Businesses and companies are often described in terms we usually associate with family, from sibling relationships to dominant-subordinate roles between parents and children, and the role of praise and correction. Organizational communication — the study of the communication context, environment, and interaction within an organization — was once the domain of speech communication departments. Modern business schools now view organizational communication as an integral part of the curriculum, noting the interdependent relationships of productivity, climate, and interaction between individuals within the organization (internal) and related to the organization (external), such as suppliers or customers.

Organizations have communication needs and challenges just like a family, a group, or a community. We can examine communication within an organization, noting common interactive practices like performance reviews, newsletters, supervision and direction, and the flow of information throughout the organization. We can also study the organization’s practices as they relate to other organizations and the media, such as public relations, crisis communication plans, and interorganizational interaction. Research into these areas often emphasizes outcomes, in terms of increased productivity and more effective strategic communication systems.^[18] Change management, knowledge management, organizational culture, leadership, and strategic planning often include elements of organizational communication and examine communication from the perspective of efficiency and effectiveness.

As a skilled business writer or communicator, you can see that studying organizational communication can inform you on the lessons learned by other companies, which are often represented in research publications, to improve processes in your organization. For example, crisis management was once a knee-jerk reaction to a situation, one that caused businesses to experience chaos and information management in unanticipated ways, leading to mistakes and damaged reputations. Crisis communication plans are now a common feature in business, outlining roles and responsibilities, central communication coordination, and how to interact with the media. Supervisors and employees then have a guide to serve everyone, much like a common playbook in organized sports like football, where everyone knows everyone else’s position on the field once an emergency occurs.

Teamwork

Teamwork is a compound word, combining team and work. Teams are a form of group typically dedicated to production or problem-solving. That leaves us with work. This is where our previous problem-solving example can serve us well. Each team member has skills, talents, experience, and education. Each is expected to contribute. Work is the activity, and while it may be fun or engaging, it also requires effort and commitment, as there’s a schedule for production with individual and group responsibilities. Each member must fulfill their obligations for the team to succeed, and the team, like a chain, is only as strong as its weakest member. In this context, we don’t measure strength or weakness at the gym, but in terms of productivity.

Teams can often achieve higher performance levels than individuals because of the combined energies and talents of the members. Collaboration can produce motivation and creativity that may not be present in single-contractor projects. Individuals also have a sense of belonging to the group, and the range of views and diversity can energize the process, helping address creative blocks and stalemates. By involving team members in decision-making and calling on each member’s area of contribution, teams can produce positive results.

Teamwork isn’t without challenges, though. The work itself may prove difficult as members juggle competing assignments and personal commitments. The work may also be compromised if team members are expected to conform and pressured to go along with a procedure, plan, or product they didn’t develop. Groupthink — the tendency to accept the group’s ideas and actions despite individual concerns — can also compromise the process and reduce efficiency. Personalities and competition can play a role in a team’s failure to produce.

We can recognize that people want to belong to a successful team, and celebrating incremental gains can focus attention on the project and its goals. Members will be more willing to express thoughts and opinions, and follow through with actions, when they perceive that they’re an important part of the team. By failing to include all team members, valuable insights may be lost in the rush to judgment or production. Making time for planning and giving each member time to study, reflect, and contribute can allow them to gain valuable insights from each other, and may make them more likely to contribute information that challenges the status quo. Unconventional or “devil’s advocate” thinking may prove insightful and serve to challenge the process positively, improving the team’s production. Respect for divergent views can encourage open discussion.

John Thill and Courtland Bovee provide a valuable list to consider when setting up a team, which we’ve adapted here for our discussion:^[19]

• Select team members wisely
• Select a responsible leader
• Promote cooperation
• Clarify goals
• Elicit commitment
• Clarify responsibilities
• Instill prompt action
• Apply technology
• Ensure technological compatibility
• Provide prompt feedback

Group dynamics involve the interactions and processes of a team and influence the degree to which members feel part of the goal and mission. A team with a strong identity can be a powerful force, but it requires time and commitment. A team that exerts too much control over individual members can run the risk of reducing creative interactions and encouraging tunnel vision. A team that exerts too little control, without attention to process and specific areas of responsibility, may not be productive. The balance between motivation and encouragement, and control and influence, is challenging as team members represent diverse viewpoints and approaches to the problem. A skilled business communicator creates a positive team by first selecting members based on their skills and expertise, but attention to their communication style is also warranted. Individuals who typically work alone or tend to be introverted may need additional encouragement to participate. Extroverts may need encouragement to listen to others and not dominate the conversation. Teamwork involves teams and work, and group dynamics play an integral role in their function and production.

Leadership

Whether or not there’s a “natural leader,” born with a combination of talents and traits that enable a person to lead others, has been debated across time. In a modern context, we’ve come to recognize that leadership comes in many forms. It was once thought that someone with presence of mind, innate intelligence, and an engaging personality was destined for leadership, but modern research and experience show us otherwise. Just as a successful heart surgeon has a series of skill sets, so does a dynamic leader. A television producer must both direct and provide space for talent to create, balancing control with confidence and trust. This awareness of various leadership styles serves our discussion as groups and teams often have leaders, and they may not always be the person who holds the title, status, or role.

Leaders take on the role because they’re appointed, elected, or emerge into it. The group members play an essential role in this process. An appointed leader is designated by an authority to serve in that capacity, regardless of the group’s thoughts or wishes. They may serve as leader and accomplish all the designated tasks, but if the group doesn’t accept their role as leader, it can prove challenging. As Bruce Tuckman notes, “storming” occurs as group members come to know each other and communicate more freely, and an appointed leader who lacks the group’s endorsement may experience challenges to their authority.^[20]

A democratic leader is elected or chosen by the group, but may also face serious challenges. If individual group members or constituent groups feel neglected or ignored, they may assert that the democratic leader doesn’t represent their interests. The democratic leader involves the group in the decision-making process and ensures group ownership of the resulting decisions and actions. Open and free discussions are representative of this process, and the democratic leader acknowledges this diversity of opinion.

An emergent leader contrasts with the first two paths to the role by growing into it, often out of necessity. The appointed leader may be unfamiliar with the topic or content, and group members will naturally look to the senior member with the most experience for leadership. If the democratic leader fails to bring the group together or doesn’t represent the whole group, subgroups may form, each with an informal leader serving as spokesperson.