Effective Group Discussion: Theory and Practice

Written for the small group communication course, Effective Group Discussion combines the most recent research findings relevant to understanding small groups with the practical tools students need to become productive group members. This text's implementation of research and theory in the systems approach framework provide students with a unique understanding of the scholarship in this field. This leading text is about secondary groups of all kinds: work groups, committees, task forces, self-directed work teams, and other small groups whose objectives include finding solutions to problems, producing goods, and creating policies. Gloria Galanes has become the lead author and brings a vast knowledge of computer-mediated group communication and culture that is reflected in this edition.

John K. Brilhart has written numerous academic and mass market articles, is the author of several texts and is Professor Emeritus of the University of Nebraska.

Gloria J. Galanes is Associate Professor of Communication and Mass Media at Southwest Missouri St. University and has received the University’s Faculty Excellence in Teaching and the Outstanding Graduate Faculty Member awards.

Katherine L. Adams is Professor of Speech Communication at California State University, Fresno, where she received a Meritorious Promise and Performance award in 1989. She has served as their Graduate Coordinator since 1989. She received her Ph.D. in Communication from the University of Utah under the direction of B. Aubrey Fisher. She has authored four instructor’s manuals in interpersonal and small group communication and most recently, this group communication book with Gloria Galanes. She has published articles in the areas of conversational analysis and interpersonal communication. Currently she is an associate editor for Communication Reports and The Western Journal of Communication. She participates, at all levels, in the Western States Communication Association and Speech Communication Association and teaches in the areas of interpersonal communication, communication theory, small group communication, and research methods.