Stages of Development

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Stages of Development
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3 broad stages

• 1. beginning
• 2. middle, working stage
• 3. ending, closing

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Tuckmans model

• 1. forming
• 2. norming
• 3. storming
• 4. performing
• 5. adjourning

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Garland, Kolodney, Jones

• 1. pre-affiliation
• 2. power and control
• 3. intimacy
• 4. differentiation
• 5. termination/separation

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Characteristics of pre-affiliation

• Ambivalence
• Approach/avoidance
• Trust is low
• company manners
• Superficiality

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Leader role with Pre-affiliation

• Be very warm and engaging
• Be personal, call each by name
• Tip balance to approach vs avoidance
• Provide safe environment
• Provide structure
• Will need to be directive
• Provide ice-breakers

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Power and Control characteristics

• Existential struggle between affiliation and
  autonomy
• Norms and roles being established, some
  maneuvering to figure this out, testing and
  shaping
• Status being established

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Leader role with power and control stage

• Be directive in a facilitative way
• Facilitate and process struggles
• Define power and control struggles as normal
  group development
• Be a good role model on how to handle struggle

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Intimacy stage characteristics

• Working phase, energy not on forming anymore
• Trust high
• Emotional valence more intense and authentic
• Cohesion high
• Group culture is formed for the most part
• Roles and norms are established

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Leaders role in intimacy phase

• Be less directive, stay the heck out of the way
  of process
• Be a facilitator, one of group, less a leader
• Step in for a consultative role or educational
  role
• Just guide group to stay on task

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Characteristics of Differentiation stage

• super intimacy
• Cohesion that allows for differences
• There is a group gestalt that isnt threatened by
  individuals
• Analogy of a family

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Leader role in Differentiation stage

• Less directive
• Much the same as intimacy stage

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Characteristics of termination stage

• Ambivalence
• Positive feelings of accomplishment but feelings
  of sadness and loss
• Awkwardness with endings

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Leaders Role with Termination stage

• Be more directive about processing feelings
• Model acknowledgement of ambivalent feelings
• Summarize accomplishments
• Generalization of accomplishments beyond group,
  integration vs termination
• Separating ritual

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Factors affecting group development

• Open vs closed group membership
• Structure of group
• Voluntary vs involuntary membership
• Type/purpose of group

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Group Dynamics
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Process vs Content

• need to attend to both
• Content is what is being discussed
• Process is all of the how it is being
  discussed, the interpersonal processes the
  meta-communication

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communication

• Verbal and non-verbal
• Received with selective perception
• Be aware of message behind content, the
  meta-communication
• Feedback on communication
• describe communication
• close proximity to occurrence
• expressed tentatively

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Interaction patterns

• Maypole
• Round robin
• Hotseat
• Free floating or interactional

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Influencers of communication and interaction

• Cues and reinforcers
• Eye contact
• Attention,
• Selective attention
• Body positioning
• Emotional bonds
• subgroups

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• Emotional bonds
• Alignments
• coalitions
• Subgroups, not inherently bad, but need to assess
  how it affects group gestalt

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Group size

• Delicate balancing act
• Large group provides more social capital but less
  opportunity
• Big enough to provide dynamic synnergy
• But small enough that all can be an individual
  and get enough time

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Physical space

• Comfortable environment
• In a circle
• If task group, can use table and chair at head
• If educational group, leader may be at head
• Seating habits

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Time issues

• Length of each group meeting
• 1.5-2 is typical
• Frequency
• Affected by purpose and type of group
• Effected by context or setting
• Time of day

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Power and status

• Members develop positions of status based on
  power
• May be related to what they bring to the group
• Who they know in group
• Familiarity with leader

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Group cohesion

• Life blood of group
• All factors centripetal, acting to keep members
  in group
• When cohesion high, working is enhanced
• But down-sides of cohesion can be group-think or
  conformity

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Social integration and influence

• How members are accepted and fit into the group
• Norms
• Roles
• status

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Norms

• Expectations for behavior
• Maybe developed implicitly or explicitly
• Explicit group or leader establishes rule
• Implicit develops by process of feedback and
  reaction from members

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• Norms are powerful and resistant to change
• To change
• Disequilibrium to unfreeze
• Establish new norm and re-establish equilibrium
• re-freeze at new level

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Roles

• Shared expectation based on function to group
• Can be explicit or implicit
• May recapitulate roles from other forms of groups

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status

• Ranking of members position, authority, or
  prestige in group
• Low status members are less conformative
• Medium status members highly conforming
• High status members have latitude to not conform

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Group culture

• Group identity
• Based on shared values, beliefs, customs, and
  traditions
• Rituals and symbols represent
• The more heterogenous the group, the less easy it
  is to form a group culture
• Environmental context affects group

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Dynamics unique to types of groups
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Education group dynamics

• Leader directive
• Less emotional valence
• Less valence for beginning or ending stage
• Difficulty of members at different level of
  education on topic

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Discussion group

• Leader still directive, but allow more
  interaction of members than educational
• Monitor dynamics of talk-hogs
• Tone set at beginning is critical, so all feel
  comfortable, welcome to discuss
• Try to get all engaged in first few minutes

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Growth and experiential groups

• High emotional valence or intensity
• Watch alliances or subgroups
• Heavy monitoring of process
• Definite stages of group development

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Support groups/self help

• Less defined stages in that most support groups
  have open membership
• Watch and monitor talk-hogs
• Facilitate sharing
• make bridges between people based on commonality

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Counseling and therapy groups

• Chance for complex dynamics higher, be on your
  toes as leader
• Due to vulnerability and issues people bring,
  emotionality can be higher and more evidence of
  conflict