| Acceptance of Solutions | There are three different types of solutions for problems: (1) high quality, low acceptance; (2) high acceptance, high quality; and (3) high acceptance, low quality.
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| Affection | Affection refers to the friendship and closeness between people.
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| Analyzing Group Process | This is a method for group members to report their views of the group's process.
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| Appropriateness | Appropriateness includes several factors that help determine the timing and extent of self-disclosure.
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| Ascribed Status | Ascribed status is the prestige that goes to a person by virtue of his or her birth.
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| Attained Status | Attained status is the prestige that goes to a person on the merits of his or her own individual accomplishments.
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| Attitudes | An attitude is a mental state that exerts influence over an individual's behaviors. Attitudes have three components: (1) a cognitive component, which refers to a concept; (2) an affective component, which is emotion; and (3) a behavioral component, which is the readiness to act.
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| Brainstorming | A technique used to generate ideas. It emphasizes brain activity. It can be applied as part of the problemsolving process.
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| Bypassing | Bypassing is a misunderstanding that occurs when "the sender . . . and receiver . . . miss each other with their meaning."
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| Casual and Social Groups | Casual and social groups include neighborhood groups, fraternities, and even classmates. The impact of these relationships on behavior is often quite profound.
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| Coercive Power | Coercive power is the power an individual has to give or withhold punishment.
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| Communication Networks | Communication networks are the five patterns of communicating between group members.
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| Conflict of Feelings | When people's ideas come into conflict, the participants often begin to have negative feelings toward one another. These conflicts of feelings can damage the group's functioning.
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| Conflict Grid | A model of conflict management developed by Robert Blake and Jane Srygley Mouton. It is a framework for developing conflict management skills.
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| Conflict of Ideas | Many ideas are generated in group discussions. Sometimes different people's ideas may conflict. It is important to remember that a variety and diversity of ideas is usually desirable in the process of problem solving.
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| Conflict Management | The ability to manage conflict so that there is a healthy conflict of ideas without the unhealthy conflict of feelings.
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| Consistency Theories | Consistency theories all are based on the assumption that human beings have a strong psychological need for consistency. This is often referred to as a need to maintain cognitive balance.
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| Content and Process | Content of a group discussion includes comments about the topic of the discussion. Process is the manner in which the discussion is conducted.
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| Control | Control is our need to influence, lead, and develop power over others or to be influenced, be led, or have others exert power over us.
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| Convergent Thinking | A form of thinking in which ideas come together to form a solution.
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| Cycles | A cycle is characterized by the results of group interaction being fed back to the group and becoming input for future interactions. For example, a team's success adds strength to the group's cohesion in future activities.
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| Defensive | Defensive communication occurs when a psychological barrier is created, known as a defense mechanism. This barrier acts to reduce effective communication. Supportive communication minimizes these types of problems.
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| Differentiation | Differentiation is the specialization that occurs among people in small group communication.
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| Divergent Thinking | A form of thinking in which many different aspects of an idea are explored. Brainstorming is one technique of divergent thinking.
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| Dynamic Equilibrium | Dynamic equilibrium is reached at a point at which the forces to change and the forces to resist change are equal.
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| Educational Groups | Educational groups are groups that interact for the sole purpose of study or instruction.
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| Emotional Intelligence | Personal and interpersonal skills that enable one to induce desired responses in others.
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| Empowerment | Empowerment is a leadership style that enables group members to utilize their talents, abilities, and knowledge more effectively.
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| Equifinality | Equifinality is the potential for adaptation that groups possess. This allows for various possible approaches to achieve a goal.
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| Expert Power | Expert power is our acceptance of influence from those whose expertise we respect.
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| Feedback | Feedback is information groups receive and use to modify themselves.
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| Fishbone Technique | A method of examining cause and effect using a fishbone diagram.
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| Forum Discussion | A group presentation in which audience members have an opportunity to ask questions and comment on panel members' presentations.
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| Followership Styles | Followership styles are behavioral tendencies people have toward authority figures (e.g., obedient versus rebellious).
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| Functional Task Roles of Discussants | This is a method of recording which group members made comments that were taskoriented.
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| Group-Building and Maintenance Roles | Group-building and maintenance roles help the interpersonal functioning of the group and alter the way of working by strengthening, regulating, and perpetuating the group.
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| Group Task Roles | Group task roles are identifiable behaviors that are directed toward accomplishing the group's objective.
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| Groupthink | Groupthink refers to the tendency of group members to share common assumptions, which frequently leads to mistakes.
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| Inclusion | Inclusion is our need for belonging, feeling a part of and being together with others.
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| Incrementalism | The process of making decisions that result in change.
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| Individual Roles | Individual roles are roles that are designed to satisfy an individual's needs rather than to contribute to satisfying the needs of the group.
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| Inference Making | Inference making refers to going beyond observations and what we know. Inferences have only a low probability of coming true.
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| Input | Input is the raw material of small group interaction. It includes the six relevant background factors: personality, gender, age, health, attitudes, and values. It also includes information the group receives from outside the group.
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| Integration | Integration in small group communication is synonymous with organization. It is the coordination of the various parts of the group.
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| Intentional | Intentional communication occurs when we communicate what we mean to. Unintentional communication occurs when we communicate something different from what we intend, as when we accidentally offend someone.
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| Interaction Diagram | An interaction diagram is a graphic method for showing who talks to whom in a group discussion.
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| Kepner-Tregoe Approach | A variation of the reflective thinking sequence. Its most important contribution is the way in which a group works through the criteria phase, differentiating between the musts and the wants of a solution.
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| Legitimate Power | Legitimate power is the influence we allow others, such as our bosses, to have over us on the basis of their positions.
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| Mixed Scanning | A decision-making strategy that combines examining a problem comprehensively (the rational approach) and part by part (the incremental approach).
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| Negative Entropy | Entropy is characterized by all systems moving toward disorganization or death. Negative entropies are the forces that maintain the organization of a system.
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| Output | Output includes solutions, interpersonal relations, improved information flow, risk taking, interpersonal growth, and organizational change. It is sometimes called the end result of group interaction.
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| Participant Rating Scale Form | This is a method for group participants to rate their group on a number of different dimensions.
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| Polarizing | Polarizing is the exaggeration that occurs when people attempt to make a point.
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| Postmeeting Reaction Form | This is a method for allowing participants to assess their view of the group's effectiveness after a meeting.
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| Primary Groups | Primary groups are groups that usually include one's family and closest friends.
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| Problem-Solving Groups | Problem-solving groups are groups that form to solve one or more problems.
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| Progress Report on Group Interaction | This is a method for measuring each group member's perceptions of a group meeting.
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| Quality of Solutions | Groups have the potential to make better-quality decisions than the same individuals in those groups would make if working alone.
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| Referent Power | Referent power is based on identification with the source of power, for example, having admiration for someone.
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| Reflective Thinking Process | A pattern for small group problem solving that includes six components: (1) What is the problem? (2) What are its causes and limits? (3) What are the criteria for an acceptable solution? (4) What are the available solutions? (5) What is the best solution? (6) How can it be implemented?
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| Reward Power | Reward power is the power an individual has to give or withhold rewards.
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| Seating Patterns | Seating patterns often affect the type and volume of interaction in a group.
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| Self-Centered Roles of Discussants | This is a method of recording which group members made comments that were more selfpromoting than group promoting.
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| Signal Reactions | Signal reactions are learned responses to certain stimuli, such as emotional reactions to offensive swear words or racial slurs.
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| Socio-Emotional Roles of Discussants | This is a method of recording which group members made comments that were more socially oriented. These comments often build the group members' feelings.
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| Symposium Discussion | A group presentation where individual speakers give presentations in front of an audience. It is more structured than a panel discussion and may also be followed by a forum discussion.
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| Tacit Bargaining | Bargaining in which communication is incomplete or impossible.
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| Team Diagnostic Questionnaire | This is a method of determining a group's strengths and weaknesses from the point of view of the group members.
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| Territoriality | The word territoriality was coined by Edward Hall and defined as "the tendency for humans and other animals to lay claim to and defend a particular area or territory."
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| The Collaborative Team Leader | This is a method for team leaders to assess their own group leadership effectiveness.
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| The Collaborative Team Leader | This is a method for team members to assess their group leader's effectiveness.
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| Throughput | Throughput refers to all the actual verbal and nonverbal behaviors that occur in the course of a group discussion.
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| Values | Values are fewer in number than attitudes and serve as important predictors of behavior. They appear to be more stable and long-lasting than attitudes.
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| Verbal | Verbal communication is the use of words to get across a message. Nonverbal communication is the use of physical actions, such as facial expression or tone of voice, to get across a message.
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| Virtual Teams | A virtual team is one in which members communicate with each other through computers and may or may not be located near one another.
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| Work Groups | Work groups are the formations of people on the job.
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