Think about your recent group projects. Identify two ways as strategies to improve group communication. Did you do these in your last group? Was your group effective or ineffective as a result? What group role did you take? Would you change it? How?

Answer:

(Answers to group role questions will vary.) First, cultivate an interdependent or collectivist attitude, a "we" orientation instead of a "me" orientation, and work toward collaborative communication, whether working face to face or online (Lewis et al., 2010). This means that you must sacrifice some of your personal ambition, needs, and wants in favor of the group's needs and work to ensure buy-in from all group members. People who are extremely individualistic may find this difficult. Yet those with a more collectivist attitude can influence group processes toward more effective communication, more participation, and more satisfaction of all members. In addition to cultivating an interdependent attitude, striving for cohesion also is important in successful small group relationships and task accomplishment. Cohesion occurs when team members trust each other. Further, group success depends on the participation of each member, but members are unlikely to give their best to the group if they can't trust other members to do the same. Trust is particularly important in virtual teams, where members have less face-to-face interaction that might otherwise provide important cues to the intent or attitude of fellow group members.