Real Communication An Introduction

288 Part 3  Group and Organizational Communication

Social Forces

Social forces are group standards for behavior that influence decision making.

In the Challenger disaster, engineers were unable to persuade their own managers

and higher NASA officials to postpone the launch. They tried to prove that it

was unsafe to launch rather than take the opposite (and possibly more effective)

tactic: showing that no data existed to prove that the launch was safe. Part of the

difficulty may have been some loyalty to or pride in the NASA identity. With so

many years of successes in the space program, many members may have felt that

no project of NASA’s could be unsafe.

The Problem-Solving Process

As the Challenger disaster illustrates, group decision making is complicated and

affected by social forces that can hamper communication—sometimes with

tragic results. How can groups come to better decisions? To make decisions,

groups and their leaders often go through a six-step process (Dewey, 1933).

To illustrate these steps, consider EcoCrew, a group of sixteen environmentally

active students at a West Coast community college who wish to resolve environ-

mental problems in their community.

Identifying the Problem

The EcoCrew group has scheduled its first meeting in the student union lounge.

Susan, the group’s founder, is the designated leader. Deciding to adopt a partici-

pative leadership style, Susan invites each person to give his or her perception of

the problem the group will set out to address before debates or questions occur.

Members pipe up with a number of issues and activities they’d like the group

to address. One suggests the elimination of plastic bags from campus shops;

another wants to address littering on the beaches.

By inviting members to voice their concerns one at a time, Susan is provid-

ing an opportunity for the group to identify and define several problems. Once

all the members have presented their views, Susan encourages the group to

discuss the various proposed definitions of the problem and agree on one that

EcoCrew can productively address. The group decides that litter, both on cam-

pus and on the nearby beach, is the most immediately troubling environmental

issue.

Having defined the problem it wants to address, EcoCrew has gotten off

to an effective start. According to researchers, many groups don’t spend enough

time identifying the problem they want to tackle (Gouran, 2003). Without a

clear, agreed-on problem to address, a group can’t work through the rest of the

decision-making process in a focused way.

Analyzing the Problem

Having decided to tackle litter cleanup as its primary mission, EcoCrew begins to

analyze the problem. Susan suggests that members each carry a diary for a week

and note how much litter they see and where. When the group meets again the

following week, all members agree that the two biggest litter problems in the area

are on the beaches and in the wooded areas surrounding the campus parking lots.

Several members note that the trash cans on the beaches are not being emptied

CONNECT

Brainstorming and cluster-

ing can help you in both

public speaking and small

group settings. When

choosing a topic, both

strategies allow you to

generate ideas based on

your interests, your audi-

ence’s interests, and your

time constraints (Chapter

12). In a group, brainstorm-

ing and clustering allow

you to identify and discuss

solutions from a variety

of perspectives to ensure

that the solution meets the

needs of the group.

How do cognitive, psycho-

logical, and social forces

affect decision making in the

groups in which you’re

currently involved? Have

these forces ever caused

your group to make a poor

decision? If so, how?

AND YOU?