The Handbook for Working with Difficult Groups

WE'VE ALL EXPERIENCED the challenges associated with working with groups, but The Handbook for Working with Difficult Groups turns the idea of "difficult groups" on its head. Rather than view groups as inherently difficult, it looks at the factors that make working with groups difficult. Individual chapters focus on challenges such as involving dissenters, building external perspectives, reducing complaining, adapting to cultural differences, incorporating diversity, facilitating inclusion, working virtually, resolving identity-based conflict, transforming unproductive behavior patterns, preventing workplace harassment, and strengthening accountability. The book first provides a framework for thinking systemically about the many and varied ways in which working with a group can be difficult. Building on that framework, the contributors each address three basic issues: How the group is difficult—a description of a real group and the observable phenomena that reflect the group's difficulty. Why the group is difficult—an exploration of the underlying causes of the difficulty. What you can do about it—what you can do as a group facilitator, leader, or member to help the group.

Preface xi Sandor Schuman About the Contributors xv Introduction Working with Difficult Groups: A Conceptual Framework xxix Make sense out of what makes working with groups difficult. Sandor Schuman and John Rohrbaugh One Keeping Difficult Situations from Becoming Difficult Groups 1 Dissenters need support, or the group risks going off track. Marvin Weisbord and Sandra Janoff Two Building an External Focus: Avoiding the Difficulties on an In-grown Team 17 The critical importance of an external perspective. Deborah Ancona and David F. Caldwell Three The Downside of Communication: Complaining Cycles in Group Discussions 33 Help teams get out of the ‘‘complaining loop’’ and turn to solution-oriented interaction instead. Nale Lehmann-Willenbrock and Simone Kauffeld Four Facilitating Multicultural Groups 55 Customize structures and processes to match groups’ cultural preferences. Donna Rae Scheffert and Mary Laeger-Hagemeister Five Interpersonally Hostile Work Groups: Precipitating Factors and Solutions 77 A group perspective on workplace harassment and bullying is essential to understanding and preventing it. Jana L. Raver and Ingrid C. Chadwick Six Diversity by Design: Creating Cognitive Conflict to Enhance Group Performance 95 Ill defined, diversity might undermine a group’s purpose. Michael Cassidy Seven Facilitating Inclusion: Study Circles on Diversity and Student Achievement 113 Bridging differences in culture and ethnicity can foster academic achievement Mark A. Clark and John Landesman Eight Overcoming Sources of Irrationality That Complicate Working in Decision-Making Groups 137 Six factors make working with this group difficult in many different ways. Dennis S. Gouran Nine Working Without Rules: A Team in Need of a Different Picture 153 Affirmative language encourages new views of a team’s past and future. Ann Lukens Ten Interaction Archetypes: Keys to Group Difficulty and Productivity 169 Identify the repetitive behavioral sequences that reduce a group’s ability to produce results. Steven Ober Eleven Virtual Teams: Difficult in All Dimensions 189 Group members working virtually and interdependently face enormous challenges. Thomas A. O’Neill and Theresa J. B. Kline Twelve Politics of the Arts: Challenges in Working with Nonprofit Boards 207 A ‘‘confessional tale’’—lessons learned while facilitating an arts board in transition. Richard W. Sline and Anna C. Boulton Thirteen Competitive Group Interactions: Why They Exist and How to Overcome Them 223 Groups are less cooperative than individuals—learn how you can reduce intergroup conflict. Taya R. Cohen, Brian P. Meier, Verlin B. Hinsz, and Chester A. Insko Fourteen Active Facilitation: How to Help Groups Break Through ‘‘Mutual Stalemate’’ 237 Groups may abdicate their responsibilities waiting until another group makes the first move. Celia Kirwan and Wes Siegal Fifteen Mediating History, Making Peace: Dealing with the ‘‘Messy’’ Stuff in the Conciliation Process 251 Identity-based conflicts will not achieve long-term solutions through resource-based settlements. Dagmar Kusa, Adam Saltsman, and Philip Gamaghelyan Sixteen Deep Democracy: Multidimensional Process-Oriented Leadership 275 Learn to track the shifting roles of group members. Stanford Siver Seventeen Authentic Relationships and Collective Psychological Capital 293 How leader behavior can undermine group success. Füsun Bulutlar Eighteen How Leaders Can Make Diverse Groups Less Difficult: The Role of Attitudes and Perceptions of Diversity 311 Perceptions that lead to subgrouping can override the positive effects of diversity. Astrid C. Homan and Karen A. Jehn Nineteen The Hero’s Journey: Helping Inflexible Groups—and Inflexible Facilitators—Get Unstuck 323 Use the Hero’s Journey as an analytical and facilitation tool to help groups and facilitators get out of difficulties. Carol Sherriff and Simon Wilson Twenty Difficult Groups or Difficult Facilitators? Three Steps Facilitators Can Take to Make Sure They Are Not the Problem 339 Facilitators can unknowingly contribute to the difficulties their group’s experience. Glyn Thomas Key Terms 353 References 367 Name Index 401 Subject Index 409