COM 223 Group 3 April 10, 2014 Reflection 3 While all members in our group were given a formal

role such as treasurer, recorder, web master, etc. there were a few members that also took on informal roles. As defined in The Fundamentals of Small Group Communication by Scott A. Myer and Carolyn M. Anderson, an informal role is a role that is not formally assigned to anyone. Instead, they emerge through group interaction (often by the third meeting). The determining factor of who will take on which role is how that member views themselves and feedback from other group members. The types of formal role are task leader, social-emotional leader, information provider, central negative, and tension releaser. The task leader is one that leads the other team member on certain tasks presented by the semester project. The social-emotional role is given to those that are concerned with building and maintaining relationships with other members. Information providers keep the group updated with vital information such as any changes in plan, facts, etc. The central negative is one that challenges the group, getting them to think in different ways. The last informal role is a tension releaser. This member relieves tension that may arise due to conflict or awkward moments. This can be done with humor or a statement to get the group back on task. Informal roles were apparent from two of our group members Jon and Kyle. Jon, who was the liaison, also provided us with other information. Not only did he provide us with information from the Boys and Girls contact, Jenny, he also took questions the group had about the organization and relayed them to her. He kept us updated with the arrival of the computers, the operating licenses and anything that was needed to be done. Most of our meeting start with Kyle greeting everyone and then looking to Jon to kick off the meeting with all of the new information from the Boys and Girls Club. Also while we were volunteering, Jon showed us around the organization and informed us where everything went. Jon gained a lot of useful knowledge and insight after visiting the Boys and Girls Club before the rest of the group. This allowed the group to more accurately create a list of needed materials and tasks to be completed in order to create a computer laboratory in the basement of the Boys and Girls Club. These tasks then lead to the creation of an accurate Gantt chart giving the group a more clear view of what needed to be done. Kyle played two informal roles. He was the formally appointed treasurer, but also he was the tension releaser and the task leader. Whenever there was an awkward moment among the group, Kyle would use humor to break the silence and this would

help us get back on task and making progress on the project. After breaking the silent moments, he would start a discussion about what tasks that have been done or need to be done as well what should be expected for the next meeting. This was a great example of how one team member could play multiple formal and informal roles within the group. Another example of Kyle playing the tension releaser was the act of greeting everyone at the beginning of every meeting. This broke the awkward silence at the beginning of meetings when everyone was sitting quietly waiting for the meeting to start. Kyle took on both roles early in the groups forming stage. During the first team meeting Kyle started and guided introductions of all the team members using humor to liven the mood during what can be a very stressful period of group development. The social-emotional leader was less apparent in the group, yet could be seen in the actions of Xavia. When conflict was present, Xavia would ensure that other members feeling where not jeopardized by the tension caused by conflict. This ensured mutual respect between group members. She also offered support for other group members ideas, along with being an empathic listener, maintaining the feeling of self worth. She further demonstrated this informal role by elaborating or rephrasing ideas that helped them become more understandable and appealing to the group during meetings. The social-emotional leader is commonly linked to the level of satisfaction experienced by people in a group. Xavias mutual support for all the people in the I.Ts greatly raised the satisfaction felt by everyone in the group. The role of the central negative was played by many of the team members of the I.Ts. Although many people took part in this role, many positives spawned from it . Joe, Keith, and Kyle all shared the role of central negative during meeting, ensuring that no team member would be seen as the bad guy. When ideas were presented to the group Keith would often have input on possible issues with trying to successfully accomplish the goal, keeping the group focused on what would actually be possible to complete within a semester project. Joe would often share this informal role, giving the team unforeseen problems that other group members had not given any thought. Although the central negative role can often block the progress of the group, the I.Ts were already in a norming stage when the role was forced to emerge. This meant that the criticisms given were viewed in a more positive light, rather than being negative or unproductive. Week after week in the beginning of the project this role became increasingly important. Early in the project the group had little direction of which task to take on during the project. This meant that ideas presented got overly ambitious and far from the scope that the group could manage. The informal roles that emerged in our group ultimately became more important to the functionality of our group than the formal roles. According to Dr. Denise Vrchota of the Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication at Iowa State University, informal roles impact the group or team more than the formal roles. I agree with Dr.

Vrchota because our group meetings wouldve been a lot harder to run if formal roles were the only roles that we used. Running a meeting with just treasurers and webmasters is more difficult than running one with task leaders and tension releasers. The group experience as a whole was made a lot less painless and more efficient due to group members taking on informal roles as well as their formal roles.

Works Cited

Myers, Scott A., and Carolyn M. Anderson. The Fundamentals of Small Group Communication. N.p.: Sage Publications, 2008. Print.

Vrchota, Denise, Dr. "Communication Skills: The Ways Informal Roles Influence Groups and Teams." (n.d.): n. pag. Web. 10 Apr. 2014. <http://ftcsc.ag.iastate.edu/media/ways.pdf>.