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Accounting professionals and the
Accounting Education Change Commission agree that
communication skills are an essential ingredient
for successful accounting careers. Communication
skills take many forms, including writing skills
and the ability to express ideas clearly and
persuasively in one-on-one situations. This
semester, however, we shall be focusing on two
important aspects of communication skills: the
ability to operate effectively as part of a team,
and formal presentations.
Working on class activities in
groups should ultimately lead to better solutions
being produced (many heads being better than
one), to larger problems and issues being tackled
than individuals alone could be expected to
address given class time constraints (assuming an
appropriate division of labor), and to
opportunities to play to the strengths of
individuals rather than their weaknesses (the
hallmark of effective executives). These benefits
obviously emulate those anticipated from teamwork
in the workplace. In addition, however, working
in groups has been found to be an effective
learning vehicle. We will therefore work in
groups in order to gain the learning advantages;
additionally, we will actively study the
processes of working in groups, in order to learn
to become better team players.
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GROUPS
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Group activities are a central
feature of human social and work behavior.
Membership in groups, temporary and permanent,
large and small, is characteristic of most of
lifes experiences. In recent times, group
processes and the development of skills to manage
and participate in them have assumed new
importance. There are many different kinds of
groups. Meetings and committees are examples of
short-lived information-exchanging groups. In the
workplace, groups large and small exist to
perform tasks. In smaller work teams, work
satisfaction may be high, and participation in
the group may be attractive to members. One
problem with such groups is that they may be
resistant to changes in work practices. In
management, research and learning environments,
problem-solving and creative groups may be used.
At work and elsewhere, informal groupings may be
created. We are primarily interested in
problem-solving groups.
A group may be said to exist as
more than a mere collection of people when it
possesses:
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collective perception
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needs
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shared aims
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interdependence
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social organization
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interaction
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cohesiveness
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membership.
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Groups need to regulate their
boundaries; i.e., to manage their relationships
with other groups. They need to maintain and
develop their required inputs (e.g., information,
new members) and outputs (e.g., products,
services, solutions to problems). They also need
to control their activities and to integrate
them. In successful problem-solving groups we
expect to find a high degree of integration of
activities in conjunction with permissive,
non-directive, control.
Research into group behavior suggests that the
following group properties may be of interest:
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background
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participation pattern
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communication
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cohesion
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atmosphere
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norms
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sociometric pattern
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structure and organization
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procedures
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goals.
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GROUP DEVELOPMENT
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In the work situation, as in the
classroom environment, groups are not normally
created on the basis of personal choice or
democracy. Many factors including task
requirements, skills, time constraints, economic
and political forces, influence the formation of
problem-solving groups. The individuals assigned
to work in a group face the challenge of learning
to work successfully together as a team. Many
researchers have studied the different phases of
group development. One such analysis (Tuckman and
Jensen 1977) suggests that groups pass through
the following five stages, which help shape
subsequent group character:
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FORMING |
characterized
by silences, anxiety, dependence on a leader,
concern for structure, task requirements and
methods
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STORMING |
noisy,
searching and comparing ideas, emotional
resistance to task demands, more self-oriented
independent behaviors, possible rebellion against
the initial leader, creation of sub-groups,
information generation, opinion seeking, and
development of early pairings and relationships
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NORMING |
re-emergence
of task demands, more open exchange of ideas and
views, more listening and co-operation, rules of
conduct, group identity, group cohesion,
individual roles and decision-making processes
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PERFORMING
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settled
interdependence and problem solving, energy
directed at task requirements
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ADJOURNING
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when the
task is completed.
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GROUP PROCESSES
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Researchers have argued that the
higher the quality of interdependence required
(i.e, in groups such as problem-solving groups
with permissive controls and high integration),
the more necessary it is for groups to spend time
in the "storming" and
"norming" phases, and indeed to revisit
them when "performing" becomes
sub-standard. Groups often rush into task
performance as a way of avoiding the anxiety
associated with the newness of their group or the
diversity of individual opinions. Teams are more
likely to succeed, however, if they put aside
some group time to examine, discuss and develop
their group processes. This can be done in many
ways, e.g.:
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ask individual members to say
what their feelings are towards the group and its
task
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ask individuals to say what they
would like the group to do more of and less of
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ask another group to watch the
group function and provide feedback.
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Perhaps the most important thing
is for group members to be aware of the operation
of group processes as group discussions progress,
and to review the effectiveness of group
processes regularly. Particular attention should
be paid to:
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how ideas are generated and
evaluated
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how tasks are apportioned and
delegated
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how decisions are reached
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how conflicts are identified and
resolved.
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Although successful completion
of tasks is important, attention should also be
paid to morale and the feelings of individual
members towards the group, its tasks, and other
members.
Cohesive, interdependent, high
morale groups have their own potential
weaknesses, sometimes referred to as "group
think". These include:
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the illusion of invulnerability
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shared stereotypes
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rationalization
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the illusion of morality
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self-censorship
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direct pressure on individuals
to conform or agree
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the illusion of unanimity based
on silent consent
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filtering out or eliminating
threatening information.
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Group processes may be examined
through such questions as:
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How does the group determine its
tasks or agenda?
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How does it make decisions?
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How does it discover and make
use of the resources of its members?
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How does it co-ordinate its
various members, sub-groups and activities?
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How does it evaluate its work?
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Participation in group processes
may be classified into:
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group-building and maintenance
roles
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group task roles.
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Participation is examined in
more detail in the section below.
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GROUP PARTICIPATION
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Individual members may
participate in group discussions in a number of
positive ways:
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seeking ideas through open
questions
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seeking clarification of a prior
contribution
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seeking reactions to a proposal
or suggestion
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suggesting ideas in the form of
a question
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seeking other information
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proposing ideas in the form of a
statement
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building on ideas already tabled
by further proposing, suggesting or integrating
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consensus testing
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supporting previous
contributions and being encouraging
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standard setting to help the
group achieve goals
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stating difficulties
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disagreeing or criticizing
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summarizing, clarifying,
explaining or repeating
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interrupting, cutting in or
speaking over someone else
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gatekeeping by seeing that
everyone has the opportunity to speak
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expressing group feelings
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releasing tension.
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Of course, there are negative
forms of participation, too, including:
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dominating
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manipulating
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blocking
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belittling
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distracting
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splitting
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excluding.
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It is often helpful to have
someone actively monitor group discussions for a
period of time and provide feedback on the extent
to which each group member is engaging in these
various participative behaviors.
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EVALUATING GROUP ACTIVITIES
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At the conclusion of each group
session, it may be helpful to consider whether:
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members of the group have agreed
upon and understood the specific goals for the
group
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members of the group have agreed
upon and understood the ground rules for the
group activity
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the group has responded to the
feelings or moods expressed by its members
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the group has listened to and
responded to members ideas and comments and
expressed recognition of contributions
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all members of the group have
been involved and have participated in the
discussion
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the atmosphere of the group has
been friendly and open, encouraging members to
express criticisms or ask questions that expose
themselves
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the group has confronted any
members who were hindering the group in achieving
its tasks
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the group has been able to
discuss areas of differences between members such
that it has neither avoided conflict nor allowed
the discussion to become destructive
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the group has evaluated its
progress toward its goals during and at the close
of the session
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at the end of the session the
group has decided on its specific task and work
required to be done for the next session
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the group leader (if there has
been one) encouraged discussion before presenting
ideas
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the group leader has synthesized
related ideas and summarized concepts that the
group has been discussing
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the group leader has determined
whether all group members have reached agreement
about a particular point or are ready to move
onto something else
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the group leader did not
dominate nor did the group defer unduly to the
leaders recognition of contributions.
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GRADING OF GROUP ACTIVITES
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Group activities will be graded
by the instructor, based on the work product of
the group, taking into account peer evaluations
by group members of the performance of all member
of the group. Peer evaluations will address:
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attendance
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participation in discussions
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attitude towards the group and
its tasks
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contribution towards the
groups workload and task performance
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compliance with the groups
own code of conduct.
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