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Group Definition

Decent Essays

1. What is the class text definition of a group? There are a number of interesting characteristics of triads that make them different from dyads and also from small 'working team' groups. A collection or division of people or things sharing a common characteristic, attribute, quality, or influential interpersonal processes that take place in groups. The tendency to join with others in groups is the most important single characteristic and leave an indelible imprint on members and society, our belief make us understand people, and understand groups. 2. Identify one group that interests you. How does this group meet the definition that you provided above? My first inclination when considering BGIedu's request was to say that triads would be …show more content…

If you are having an informal dinner for seven, sometimes the conversation will include the entire table. However while people are eating the conversation will typically devolve into smaller groups: four people at one end of the table will being having one conversation, while the remaining three will be talking at the end other. Sometimes one person will be left out of any conversation, but studies show that with small groups this is less likely to happen. We have a natural tendency not to want to exclude or reject individuals unjustly, so such a singleton will usually find a place in one conversation or another. Working teams also have this natural tendency to devolve when confronted with external challenges (of which noise is one of the simpler ones) or internal challenges (such as differences of opinion), only reuniting when those challenges are resolved. A team of six can devolve gracefully a number of different ways: a three and a three; a four and a two; or three groups of two. Teams of five can devolve into teams of two and three. A team of four can devolve into two teams of two. In all of these cases, the devolution does not exclude any individual's …show more content…

This was caused by a shift in power: one partner might ask me a question about marketing rather than asking his partner (who knew marketing), and then it would become our opinion against the remaining partners. Conversely, I found the marketing partner asking me to side with him on development questions. I found this quite troubling; a more manipulative person could have controlled or broken that relationship by always breaking the ties in their own favor. In our case, we never shipped the product line and went our separate ways. I couldn't help but think it might have been because my unofficial "vote" was causing problems in their partnership. When getting a result is the purpose of a team, a triad is better than a dyad as it allows for this voting to take place. As I mentioned to BGIedu, a triad can have a two-to-one vote, allowing a better chance at task accomplishment. Task accomplishment is also achieved because triads stay on topic better than dyads due of this voting ratio: if one member of a dyad decides to go off topic, it is easy for the other to follow his or her lead. In a triad two out of the three members would need to 'agree' to follow an unrelated discussion. Elemental

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