Collaboration

Group Member Roles

Maggie Convey and Sarah Malo

Group members assume, or are given, roles that influence the group. Group roles are related to both the functioning and the relationships within the group, and may be positive or negative (Arnold, 2020).
Task Functions: Behaviors Relevant to the Attainment of Group Goals• Initiating: Identifies tasks or goals; defines group problem; suggests relevant strategies for solving problem• Seeking information or opinion: Requests facts from other members; asks other members for opinions; seeks suggestions or ideas for task accomplishment• Giving information or opinion: Offers facts to other members; provides useful information about group concerns• Clarifying, elaborating: Interprets ideas or suggestions placed before group; paraphrases key ideas; defines terms; adds information• Summarizing: Pulls related ideas together; restates key ideas; offers a group solution or suggestion for other members to accept or reject• Consensus taking: Checks to see whether group has reached a conclusion; asks group to test a possible decision.
Maintenance Functions: Behaviors That Help the Group Maintain Harmonious Working Relationships

• Harmonizing: Attempts to reconcile disagreements; helps members reduce conflict and explore differences in a constructive manner

• Gatekeeping: Helps keep communication channels open; points out commonalties in remarks; suggests approaches that permit greater sharing

• Encouraging: Indicates by words and body language unconditional acceptance of others; agrees with contributions of other group members; is warm, friendly, and responsive to other group members

• Compromising: Admits mistakes; offers a concession when appropriate; modifies position in the interest of group cohesion

• Setting standards: Calls for the group to reassess or confirm implicit and explicit group norms when appropriate

Note: Every group needs both types of functions and needs to work out a satisfactory balance of task and maintenance activity.

Non-Functional Self Roles (Benne & Sheats, 1948, as cited by Arnold, 2020)

Task Functions: Behaviors Relevant to the Attainment of Group Goals
  • • Initiating: Identifies tasks or goals; defines group problem; suggests relevant strategies for solving problem
  • • Seeking information or opinion: Requests facts from other members; asks other members for opinions; seeks suggestions or ideas for task accomplishment
  • • Giving information or opinion: Offers facts to other members; provides useful information about group concerns
  • • Clarifying, elaborating: Interprets ideas or suggestions placed before group; paraphrases key ideas; defines terms; adds information
  • • Summarizing: Pulls related ideas together; restates key ideas; offers a group solution or suggestion for other members to accept or reject
  • • Consensus taking: Checks to see whether group has reached a conclusion; asks group to test a possible decision.
Maintenance Functions: Behaviors That Help the Group Maintain Harmonious Working Relationships
  • • Harmonizing: Attempts to reconcile disagreements; helps members reduce conflict and explore differences in a constructive manner
  • • Gatekeeping: Helps keep communication channels open; points out commonalities in remarks; suggests approaches that permit greater sharing
  • • Encouraging: Indicates by words and body language unconditional acceptance of others; agrees with contributions of other group members; is warm, friendly, and responsive to other group members
  • • Compromising: Admits mistakes; offers a concession when appropriate; modifies position in the interest of group cohesion
  • • Setting standards: Calls for the group to reassess or confirm implicit and explicit group norms when appropriate
Note: Every group needs both types of functions and needs to work out a satisfactory balance of task and maintenance activity.
Non-Functional Self Roles are those roles that take away from the group’s work and limit the likelihood of achieving the goal by creating discontent and discord among the group.
These include:
  • Aggressor: Criticizes and blames others; personally attacks members; communicates with hostility and/or sarcasm
  • Blocker: Rejects ideas or argues an idea, uses irrelevant or tangential ideas and opinions to obstruct decision making
  • Joker: Disrupts the group by joking and not taking the group work seriously
  • Avoider: Does not stay on task or engage in the process. Whispers or talks to others, daydreams, scrolls on their phones, acts indifferent.
  • Self-confessor: Uses the group to express and discuss their own personal life.
  • Recognition: Seeks to be the centre of attention in the group by gaining the attention of others or expressing extreme or peculiar ideas

Reference

Arnold, E. (2020). Communicating in groups. In E. Arnold & K. Boggs (Eds.), Interpersonal relationships: Professional communication skills for nurses (8th ed., pp. 130-152). Elsevier.

About the authors

name: Maggie Convey

name: Sarah Malo

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Group Member Roles Copyright © 2021 by Maggie Convey and Sarah Malo is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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