Group Communication Pitfalls: Overcoming Barriers to an Effective Group Experience

"They have done this with a rich, provocative, and creative conceptual vocabulary that will resonate for readers who practice, supervise others′ practice, teach about or do research in group life and group work."
―Paul H. Ephross, MSW, PhD, Professor, University of Maryland School of Social Work

 Group Communication Pitfalls: Overcoming Barriers to an Effective Group Experience treats groups and the work involved in grouping as useful tools humans have developed for responding to pressures or demands faced by group members. This book assumes an orientation that expects and detects group pitfalls as they arise, providing students with the foundation for overcoming barriers to effective group experiences. By assuming this orientation, authors John O. Burtis and Paul D. Turman offer readers a map of the group pitfall terrain and demonstrate how people working well together can use the struggle against such pitfalls to improve their groups.

Key Features

• Provides students with a unifying theoretical framework and pedagogical orientation, which organizes a very broad range of research findings into tight and useful classifications
• Takes a comprehensive approach that frames current small group communication literature through a theoretical lens provided by Breakdown-Conducive Group Theory
• Reviews research findings from a variety of methodological perspectives and directly describes applications of the concepts discussed across each chapter
• Offers extensive skills enhancing material to help students apply the theoretically based concepts discussed in the book

While other texts cover cursory material on group pitfalls and miscommunication, it is the primary focus of this text and gives students practical recommendations to correct those pitfalls. Group Communication Pitfalls is an excellent textbook for advanced undergraduate and graduate courses on small group communication such as Advanced Group Communication, Group Dynamics, and Group Processes. It can also be used as a supplemental text in courses that focus on group interaction.

John O. Burtis (Ph.D., University of Minnesota) is a Professor in the Communication Studies Department at the University of Northern Iowa. He has taught courses in leadership, management, group communication, argumentation, persuasion, and communication theory at the undergraduate and graduate levels. He has been a consultant, trainer, and speaker on related subjects in both the private and public sectors. He has been the director of the Concordia Leadership Center and of the West Central Minnesota Leadership Program and the head of the Communication Studies department at the University of Northern Iowa. He has been the Director of Forensics at Kansas State University and Concordia College, where students in the programs won numerous individual and team championships in speech or debate including more than twenty national championships.

Paul D. Turman (PhD, University of Nebraska) is the Vice President for Research & Economic Development for the South Dakota Board of Regents. His scholarly research focuses on the role of communication in the coach-athlete and parent-child relationship within a sport context. Prior to his time with the Board of Regents, he taught courses in communication and sport at the University of Northern Iowa. His scholarly work has been published in journals such as Communication Education, the Journal of Applied Communication Research, the Journal of Family Communication, and Communication Studies.