Group Roles

When working within a group there are four roles – task roles, social-emotional roles, procedure roles and individual roles. How these roles are fulfilled can affect the group’s ability to successfully achieve their set goal.

Task Roles

When working within a group there are various task roles which can emerge however the most common roles are, task leader, information gatherers, opinion gatherers, devil’s advocate and the energizer. The task leader is the person who takes control of the group and ensures the group remain focused on the task at hand. The task leader will oversee the workings of the group in order to ensure they are on track to successfully achieve their goal. Information gatherers are those who actively seek the information the group requires to complete the task. Opinion gatherers will often seek feedback for any ideas which are being discussed within the group. They are likely to encourage each member to give their opinion on any group decisions made in order to ensure the group agree. The devils advocate is the member of the team who will question every decision which is made by the group. This can be either in a positive or negative way as they may be trying to ensure the group have considered every view point possible or they could just be unwilling to conform to the group’s ideas. The energiser of the group is the member who provides encouragement to all members and can keep the spirits of the groups high and positive.

 

Social-Emotional Roles

Social-Emotional Roles are the roles undertaken by group members which effect the group member to build relationships within the group. The Encourager is the member of the group who can listen to the ideas and suggestions of the other members within the group, therefor encourage the others to take part and offer ideas. Within a group there are often members who will go along with what is being said and decided by others, these members are called Followers. The Tension Releaser is the member of the group who can break any tensions which may arise by their use of comedy or their ability to sense conflict arising and therefor change the topic of discussion. When working within a group there can often be tensions or disagreements, therefor it is important that groups have an effective Compromiser. Compromisers are able to ease any conflict which may arise and encourage others to compromise their individual desires in order to successfully meet the goal of the group as a whole. Their will often be a Social-Emotional Leader who oversees the relationships between group members and try to create a balance between the work and social aspects of their relationships. The leader will also fall under all the above roles.

 

Procedural Roles

When working within a group it is likely that a pattern of norms will emerge. It is up to each individual member to ensure these norms are appropriate and that they remain the same. While working to keep the norms of the group Procedural Roles will emerge. The Facilitator is the member of the group who will ensure the group are kept on task and that they meet deadlines by managing the workflow. Gatekeepers are there to ensure that while the group members are working individually, they are also communication with one an another and keeping each other up to date on work progress. The recorder is the member of the group who keeps a record of the ideas and decisions made by the group. They will often take notes during group meetings in order to ensure nothing which is decided gets forgotten about.

 

Individual Roles

When working within a group it is highly likely that the individuals whoa re put together will have different personalities and their own individual goal, this helps to form the individual roles which are taken up by group members over time. The aggressor is the member of the group who dominates the communication and can intimidate other members, they are often aggressive in their desire to achieve their own individual goal and will steer the group so that this can be achieved. The Blocker is the member of the group who blocks the progress of the group by worrying about small details and processes. They can often hinder the groups progress as they don’t allow the group to progress at the rate, they should due to their complaining and worrying about small issues which are irrelevant. The Self-Confessor is the member of the group who will use the group to talk about their private life and therefor steer the group away from their focus. This member of the group will treat group meetings as a social event and will struggle to stay on track. The playboy/playgirl is the member of the member of the group who takes minimal interest in the group. They will complete as little work as they can get away with but will still receive the same credit as the rest of the group. The joker or clown is the member of the group who uses comedy and humour in inappropriate ways which distract the group from their goals.

 

References

Courses.lumenlearning.com. (2018). Groups Roles | Introduction to Communication. [online] Available at: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-introductiontocommunication/chapter/groups-roles/ [Accessed 3 Nov. 2018].