Karl Cassel

COMM362 Dr. Cooper

February 18, 2016

Group Dynamics Case Study: Phonathon

Phonathon is an aspect of Wheaton Colleges advancement division within the annual

giving department that is responsible for many aspects of alumni relations, but specifically
contributing to the Wheaton Fund, the financial backbone of the college. This financial
foundation is the driving force behind this crucial group on campus, who contribute to the
success of the Wheaton College on not only an economic level, but also a relational level.

1. Group Description:

This group has clear goals and is the driving force behind reducing tuition costs for all
students at Wheaton college, giving more students the opportunity to attend this college. Not
only does Phonathon raise extraordinary amounts of money to support the school, they also
actively engage with parents of current students and alumni of all ages, drumming up school
spirit, updating alumnis contact information, asking about their Wheaton experience as a
student, as well as asking for ways in which to be praying for them. Phonathon provides an
opportunity for Wheaton alumni to give back to their school and support the mission of the
college.
Phonathon is composed of system of hierarchy with the manager at the lead, followed by
2-3 supervisors depending on the night, then 3 teams which each include a team captain who
leads 6-8 callers. Callers are the starting positions upon acceptance into Phonathon following a
competitive interview process. The callers are the ones that are on the phones, in contact with
alumni, talking about the Wheaton Fund, and acquiring monetary donations. These callers are
lead by a team captain who also calls, but creates and maintains the drive and direction of each
team. The supervisors are the next highest position in the hierarchy and are in charge of
overseeing the production of the night, guiding the team captains, as well as establishing and
maintaining the necessary procedures and norms of the evening in order to meet the created
goals. Lastly, the manager oversees the entire operation and is in a more removed position from
the inner workings of the system, but is there to guide the supervisors.
Phonathon meets Monday through Thursday nights as well as Saturday afternoons in
the Phone Room in the basement of the Billy Graham Center. Each night, shifts last
approximately three hours, with the first 30 minutes of the shift devoted to a meeting consisting
of a variety of tasks and discussion, which is the aspect I will be examining. The layout of the
phone room consists of a circular formation, with the computers at which the calls are made
lining the room and a large square table in the center. This circular formation allows for an
openness and invitation to contribute and disclose among the members. The hierarchy of
positions plays a large role in the fluidity of events and functionality of the shift.

2. Group Strengths:
 Phonathon is extremely strong in the area of clear and accepted goals among all group
members, the most important goal being the positive interaction with alumni in order to acquire
donations for Wheaton College. This is the motivation within every person involved with
Phonathon because they are held to a high standard and therefore, depicts the mission of the
group more clearly.
Phonathon has also created a unique system of response and praise by the ringing of
bells. Whenever something is said or mentioned that is praiseworthy or honorable, it is
recognized by sporadic ringing of bells by those involved in the discussion. This rewarding
noise, however, can begin to contribute to chaos which will be addressed later in regards to
weaknesses as well. Another strength of Phonathon that has the potential to evolve into a
weakness is the norm of assertiveness and an outgoing nature which can be extremely useful
when involved in the activities of shift, however, can quickly and easily become chaotic and
disorganized.
This group is both cooperative as well as competitive as there is a task-oriented
competitiveness among the teams involved on a given night, which also requires a great deal of
cooperation among members of the teams as well as Phonathon as a whole. Decisions are
mainly made by way of Deweys Reflective Thinking Model and works well among members as
it allows for a great deal of understanding of the situation and the best ways to go about change.
Lastly, members of this group hold faithfully to their position of hierarchy, allowing for different
levels of leadership to pass on tasks to the best possible positions to be completed. This
hierarchy, however, is a part of Phonathon that needs to be addressed in regards to its
effectiveness and plausibility.

3. Group Problem:

Phonathon thrives on energy and enthusiasm as one of the goals is to positively interact
with alumni in order to accumulate donations for the college. A problem arises, when this energy
is not focused and centralized around a goal or oriented by a leader. In regards Bales
Interaction Process Analysis I conducted during my observation on February 16th, I was able
develop a few conclusions. The first is the high activity within the shows agreement category
which can be attributed to the frequent use of the bells as a way to show agreement and
approval.
The main problem that was displayed through the results of this test were the high
activities regarding the giving and asking for suggestions categories. With high activity in these
two sections, it is implied that there may be a problem with control in this group. Each member
of Phonathon is highly trained and motivated to further the cause of Wheaton through
interactions on the phones with alumni, however, the direction of their suggestions and visions
were scattered and lacked clarity. I would attribute this observation to the fact that the previous
manager of 8 years of Phonathon has just this year left, resulting in an interim manager to step
in. This manager, though putting forth a great effort, is not nearly the driving force behind this
group as the previous manager was.
Therefore, the bulk of leadership is resting on the supervisors, resulting in a breakdown
and thinning of leadership figures. As people lower in the hierarchy (callers & team captains)
begin to give and ask for suggestions, these suggestions are addressed by multiple supervisors
instead of one manager. Because of the multiple people discerning these suggestions, there is
often a gap in understanding, and information can be lost through translation and the
collaboration between supervisors. An example of this would be during the meeting, one
supervisor is in charge of goal setting, another supervisor manages the game being played,
while another supervisor highlights the accomplishments of specific callers from the previous
week. With this spread of leadership and disconnect between the supervisors and the interim
manager, the energy of the rest of the people in the room is scarcely harnessed towards
positive production and can lead to confusion.
Informal roles also play a part in this problematic equation as I observed that the people
who speak more confidently and enthusiastically are noticed and given more frequent attention
which can cloud other formal leadership roles. This fact plays a part in the previous stated
problem of a vague sense of leadership. Mudrack & Farrell (1995) shed light on this idea of
informal roles decreasing group cohesiveness. They explain that when multiple group members
informally fill the information-giver or opinion-giver roles, there can be a decrease in
cohesiveness as there is distraction from group goals and detraction from leaders influence.
Again, this points back to a breakdown in the hierarchy of leadership starting with the
relationship between the manager and the supervisors who then give and ask for the
suggestions of the group.

4. Group Recommendations:

This problem of disconnect in leadership and harnessing of energy and suggestions to

be channeled up the hierarchy of leadership can be aided with recommendations. To start, what
has been established at Phonathon thus far has been extremely effective and successful over
the years, but the recent transition in leadership has left this group to make a few adjustments.
The potential held in this situation is great, making these recommendations plausible and quite
useful.
A useful recommendation for this group would be to adopt John Gastils (1994)
democratic style of leadership in order to me more productive and structuralize a more effective
form of leadership. Within this style of leadership there is a greater emphasis on participation
and responsibility from group members which improves their skills and abilities. Also, followers
of a leader using the democratic leadership style have a say in the decisions of the group. This
correlates nicely with the high observed numbers of suggestions given and asked because it
allows members to express these suggestions, but do so in a more structured way that can be
overseen by one manager, rather than multiple different supervisors. Another key aspect to this
style of leadership is the strong emphasis on both the tasks of the group as well as its social
dimension. Again, this brings about structure between the members of the group, allowing the
manager in this case oversee the direction of the group.
This could look like the manager at Phonathon moderating a discussion or meeting, still
allowing the supervisors to use their leadership skills, but making sure the group stays oriented
and everyones suggestions or voices are heard. This leadership style would play a key role in
the advancement of new strategies of receiving donations as the manager could poll all
members of the group, allowing for discussion and suggestions, and then compile and discern
that information gathered.
Similarly, Hersey & Blanchard display four leadership styles that pertain to goal
achievement as well as relationship support, one of which being the selling style, which could
greatly benefit Phonathon (Hersey et al. 2001). Looking back to the problem highlighted from
my observations, the selling style, which is considered high task as well as high relationship,
brings clarification to decisions as well as convinces followers to adhere to instruction. The
confusion created between the suggestions of the callers and team captains as they reported to
multiple supervisors who then attempted to relay information to the manager, could be relieved if
the manager took up the selling style of leadership. This would create a more clear vision of the
goals of Phonathon, allowing not only the individual teams of Phonathon to be on the same
page, but the group of Phonathon as a whole.
The encouraging aspect is that on the last day of my observation, the interim manager
stepped down as a newly hired manager stepped in. This new manager seemed to have a
passion for the mission of Phonathon and possessed aspects of a successful leader.
Immediately this new manager made it a priority to get to know each person working within the
group as well as establish her goals and mission for the group. Both the relational and task
oriented visions provided an encouraging outlook for the future of Phonathon.

Works Cited:

Gastil, John. "A Meta-Analytic Review of the Productivity and Satisfaction of Democratic and
Autocratic Leadership." SAGE 25.3 (1994): n. pag. Web. 18 Feb. 2016.

Hersey, Paul, Kenneth H. Blanchard, and Dewey E. Johnson. Management of Organizational

Behavior: Leading Human Resources. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2008. Print.

Mudrack, Peter, and Genevieve Farrell. "An Examination of Functional Role Behavior and Its
Consequences For Individuals in Group Settings." SAGE 26.4 (1995): n. pag. Web. 18 Feb. 2016.