Functional Roles of Group Members.

Benne, Kenneth D.; Sheats, Paul

Training in group membership roles requires the identification and analysis of various member roles actually enacted in group processes. It involves further the analysis of group situations in terms of roles required in relation both to a schema of group production and to a conception of group growth and development. A group's self-observation and self-evaluation of its own processes provides useful content and practice opportunity in member training. Practice in enacting a wider range of required roles and in role flexibility can come out of member commitment to such practice with help from the group in evaluating and improving the required skills. Member training is typically re-training and resistances to re-training can be reduced by creating a non-blaming and objective atmosphere in group self-evaluation and by using role-playing of group processes for diagnosis and practice. The training objective of developing skill in the diagnosis of group role requirements and developing role flexibility among members also indicate important research areas for a science of group training.

SELF-evaluation; GROUP process; INTERPERSONAL relations; ROLE playing; SOCIAL groups; SOCIAL psychology

Journal of Social Issues, 1948, Vol 4, Issue 2, p41

0022-4537

Academic Journal

10.1111/j.1540-4560.1948.tb01783.x