Many of us have tried to describe what goes on in a group meeting. Some of us have tried to review a meeting to determine why it was a success or failure. Various functional roles of group members are presented here in an attempt to provide a tool that will allow for a systematic recording and analysis of member unit act roles in group situations.
It is important to note that we often talk of roles in terms of the personality type of the individual. There is some relationship between the personality structure of the individual and the unit act roles which members can and do learn to perform. However, most persons can learn to perform any of the unit act roles discussed below. The unit act role analyzed here is essentially the minimum recognizable act which fulfills the criteria to be described. So it is quite possible that in expressing one sentence a member may play two or three different roles.
Most of us will not go around with a tape recorder or a chart and attempt to categorize every bit of human interaction we perceive. However, familiarity with the following outline will enable group leaders and members to analyze more or less automatically the unit act roles being played by group members. Many groups and leaders have found the use of this framework has helped them improve their group production. The group member is in a position to play roles needed for group productivity, to encourage others, and to discourage roles that are not contributing to group building or group tasks.
There are two main frames of reference involved in this description.” The first involves the mechanism of groups trying to solve problems through discussion and cooperative thinking. A classification of unit acts can be made according to the functional significance of these acts as a part of the problem solving sequence. Broadly these are called Group task roles. Any group a180 has the problem of managing its individual personalities and the emotional and group-oriented relationships. This gives rise to the other significant systems of roles which are treated under the major headings of Group building and maintenance roles, and Individual roles.
Thus the member roles identified in this analysis are classified into three broad groupings.