Explain the purpose of structure and interaction within a group

What will be an ideal response

Structure is the organization of a group, accomplished by having and organizing a well-developed agenda that keeps the group on task. The agenda also outlines your meeting goals and identifies what needs to be discussed to achieve the goals. Whatever structure the group uses must be balanced with interaction.

Interaction is the give-and-take discussion with participation from the group members and with attention to relationships. In an interactive group, there are fewer long utterances, more people contribute, and more people take turns talking. People listen and thoughtfully respond to one another.

The key is to achieve a balance between structure and interaction, although the exact percentage of each will vary with the situation. If there is too much structure, the group loses the freedom to listen and respond with sensitivity to what others are saying. If there is too much interaction, the group experiences the chaos of unbridled talk, and it may never move forward toward the group goal.