Group Roles, Status, and Power

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Group Roles, Status, and Power
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Groups and Roles

• Role defined A consistent behavior pattern
  resulting from your expectations of yourself, the
  expectations others have of you, and your actual
  behavior.

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Groups and Roles

• Self-concept Expectations of the self

• Self-image A picture of the self Who am I?
• Self-esteem A judgment of the self To what
  degree do I like/value who I am?

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Groups and Roles

• Altercasting A process whereby members of a
  group exert pressure on another group member to
  meet certain role expectations.

Have you seen/experienced this happening so far
in your group?
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Groups and Roles

• Group Role Assignment
• Beebe Masterson, pp. 83-84

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Group Status

• Definition A person's relative importance or
  social rank in a group.
• Persons of higher status in groups have more
  communication-related privileges.
• See p. 92 in Beebe Masterson
• Do any of these findings seem contrary to what
  you would expect? Which ones? Why?

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Status vs. Power...So Whats the Difference??

• Status is directly related to "power.
• Status is positional.
• Power is utilization and, thus, process rather
  than position.
• Status may be gained through power utilization
  (though it may not).
• Power may be enacted through the utilization of
  status (though it may not).

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Power A Definition

• The utilization of resources to exert control or
  influence over others.

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Power Bases

• Referent Power
• Based on attractiveness and prestige.

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Power Bases

• Legitimate Power
• Based on authority imbedded in formal roles and
  positions.

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Power Bases

• Expert Power
• Based on possession of pertinent knowledge and
  information.

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Power Bases

• Reward Power
• Based on ability to distribute rewards to others
  for desired behavior.

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Power Bases

• Coercive Power
• Based on ability to punish or remove rewards for
  undesirable behavior.

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Power Bases

• Referent
• Legitimate
• Expert
• Reward
• Coercive

What kind of power bases have you noted being
utilized so far in your group?
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Power and Communication

• Power and communicative activity in a group have
  a mutually influential (interdependent)
  relationship...

MORE POWER
More Communication Activity
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Power and Communication
Does this relationship seem to be holding true so
far in your group?
MORE POWER
More Communication Activity
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Power is Relational

• Ultimately, power is not something one person can
  possess it is a dynamic relationship between two
  or more individuals.
• No group member can obtain power without the
  cooperation of other members.
• Power is in the eyes of the beholder.