Comprehensive Study Guide to Group Communication, Leadership, and Problem Solving
Chapter 9: Communicating in Groups
Foundations of Group Communication
Margaret Mead's Quote on Group Impact: "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."
Historical Evolution of Group Communication Study:
Participating in informal groups (families, peer groups, teams) is an ancient human behavior, but formal research into group communication did not emerge until the 20th century.
During the first half of the 20th century, the vast majority of research on group dynamics was conducted by analysts working within business and industrial settings rather than academic institutions.
By approximately 1950, the formal academic study of groups and group communication established a permanent home in colleges and universities across the United States.
In the modern era, emerging technological media have driven renewed academic and professional interest in group communication across both face-to-face and virtual environments.
Core Definitions:
Group: A collection of about 3 to 20 people who interact and attempt to influence each other in order to accomplish a common purpose, feeling a mutual sense of belonging and shared objective.
Group Communication: All the verbal and nonverbal messages shared among group members that shape the dynamic and dictate whether participation is a positive or negative experience.
Workplace Priority: Surveys conducted by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) consistently list "the ability to work well in groups" among the top 10 skills sought in college graduates. However, very few students graduate with formal instruction in effective group communication.
Types of Groups and Communication Roles
Families:
Definition: A group comprised of intimates who, through their ongoing communication, generate a sense of home, group identity, history, and future.
Family Structures:
Nuclear Family: Consists of two parents living together with their biological or adopted children.
Single-Parent Family: Consists of one adult living with his or her children.
Extended Family: Consists of a parent or parents and children living alongside grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles, or other relatives.
Blended Family: Consists of committed or married adults living with children from previous marriages or relationships, alongside any children of their present union.
Non-related Family: Groups of individuals unrelated by blood or marriage who generate a sense of home and shared identity.
Four Family Communication Patterns:
Protective Families: Issues are not open for group discussion and are decided exclusively by the primary family authority figure (e.g., the Von Trapp family dynamic portrayed in The Sound of Music prior to Maria's arrival).
Consensual Families: All members are encouraged to discuss issues, but a family authority figure reserves the right to make the final decision (e.g., traditional 1950s/1960s sitcom families such as Father Knows Best, Leave It to Beaver, and The Brady Bunch).
Pluralistic Families: All members openly discuss issues and every member actively participates in the decision-making process, often through formal family meetings (e.g., the household portrayed in the 1980s sitcom Full House).
Laissez-faire Families: Members may discuss issues, but each individual member makes their own decision and bears sole responsibility for its consequences (e.g., the cartoon family portrayed in The Simpsons).
Healthy Family Communication: Establishes self-concept and self-esteem through three core message types:
Praise: Explicit positive reinforcement (e.g., "Awesome job on that painting!").
Acceptance: Unconditional support of choices (e.g., "Whether you decide to go to college or get a full-time job, just know that we support you.").
Love: Reassurance of deep affection (e.g., "I love you no matter what.").
Social Groups:
Definition: Composed of friends who have a genuine concern about each other's welfare and enjoy spending time together, fulfilling the fundamental psychological need to belong.
Communication Guidelines for Social Groups:
Encourage quieter members to participate in conversations (e.g., "Hey, Jules, you haven't had a chance to catch us up on how your Dad is doing.").
Protect individual members from playful harassment or teasing (e.g., "Hey Jenna, cool it, you've been picking on Pam all evening.").
Provide opportunities for friends to disclose personal problems and receive emotional support (e.g., "Hey, Zach, I heard your sister was in a bad accident. How's she doing?").
Support Groups:
Definition: Composed of people who come together to provide encouragement, honest feedback, and a safe environment for expressing deeply personal feelings about a problem common to all members.
Examples: Addiction recovery groups (such as Alcoholics Anonymous / AA), grief counseling support groups, caregiver support groups, and abuse recovery support groups.
Communication Guidelines: Members must maintain safety and confidentiality by adhering to supportive communication strategies (clarifying supportive intentions, buffering face threats, using other-centered language, framing issues, and selectively offering advice).
Interest Groups:
Definition: Composed of individuals who come together because they share a common concern, hobby, or activity.
Formats: Formal (e.g., 4-H clubs, community theater troupes) or informal (e.g., neighborhood book or gardening clubs).
Orientation:
Externally Focused: Aimed at achieving external political or social change by adopting specific advocacy agendas (e.g., Mothers Against Drunk Driving / MADD).
Internally Focused: Aimed at increasing the internal knowledge or skill set of members (e.g., Toastmasters, focused on public speaking).
Digital Platforms: Web platforms such as Meetup.com enable individuals to find local interest groups.
Communication Guidelines: Encourage members to share success stories, and facilitate members highlighting their knowledge without demeaning others' opinions.
Service Groups:
Definition: Composed of individuals who come together to perform hands-on charitable works or raise money to support organizations that perform charitable work.
Types: Local affiliates of larger secular or religious organizations (e.g., Lions Club International, the Red Cross, the Salvation Army, Habitat for Humanity) or independent local groups (e.g., local soup kitchens, community beautification committees).
Communication Guidelines: Maintain explicit clarity regarding individual tasks and roles, praise member accomplishments, and maintain polite, considerate interactions.
Work Groups and Teams:
Work Group: A collection of 3 or more people formed to work together to solve a problem or complete a specific task.
Work Group Team: A specialized subset of a work group whose members also hold themselves mutually accountable for outcomes.
Group Size Dynamics:
The general ideal size for a work group team is to members.
The structural golden rule is to use the smallest number of people capable of effectively achieving the designated goal.
As group size increases, overall discussion time inflates; smaller groups arrive at decisions more rapidly, but larger groups possess broader knowledge required for complex issues.
Group Composition:
Heterogeneous Group: Composed of individuals with diverse knowledge, perspectives, values, and interests. They evaluate complex problems more thoroughly and make more comprehensive decisions (e.g., a medical team consisting of doctors, nurses, nutritionists, and physical therapists).
Homogeneous Group: Composed of individuals who share highly similar knowledge, perspectives, values, and interests. They risk taking shortcuts or overlooking critical details due to uniform viewpoints (e.g., a medical group consisting solely of seven nurses).
Four Criteria for Effective Work Group Team Goals:
Specific: Clear and explicit objectives (e.g., reducing fast-food waste to cut food costs by over a quarter).
Serve a Common Purpose: Achieving one group objective must not conflict with or hinder another.
Challenging: Requires significant team effort and hard work to achieve.
Shared: Formulated with member participation, driving high internal motivation and commitment.
Communication Guidelines: Provide regular status updates, credit individual contributions, maintain strict focus on the assigned task, and actively seek collaborative problem solving.
Virtual Groups:
Definition: Composed of members who are separated geographically but interact through electronic media (e.g., email, teleconferences, videoconferences, and social platforms like LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter).
Temporal and Spatial Dimensions:
Real-time (Synchronous): Interaction occurs simultaneously across locations (e.g., videoconferences, teleconferences).
Asynchronous: Interaction occurs across different times and locations (e.g., email, threaded discussion boards, blogs).
Advantages: Overcomes geographic boundaries, allows participation across flexible timeframes, and eliminates travel, lodging, and meal expenses.
Five Guidelines for Effective Virtual Groups:
Use the richest available technology (preferring videoconferences over text media to capture nonverbal social cues).
Ensure all members are fully equipped and trained on the technology.
Create dedicated opportunities for members to socialize, build trust, and maintain social bonds.
Establish explicit ground rules, known as netiquette (rules for communicating respectfully and effectively online, such as avoiding multitasking during meetings, using emoticons purposefully, and exercising patience).
Schedule regular evaluations of technology performance and usage.
Characteristics of Healthy Groups
Healthy Group Definition: A group formed based on a constructive purpose and characterized by ethical goals, interdependence, cohesiveness, productive norms, accountability, and synergy.
Ethical Goals: The group's objectives are honest, upright, and honorable. Fulfilling them does not require members to engage in illegal, harmful, or unethical behaviors.
Interdependence: Group members rely on each other's distinct skills and knowledge to achieve the ultimate goal. For example, in a symphony orchestra, violins, violas, cellos, and double basses play entirely different musical notes and parts; if one section fails or attempts to play all parts alone, the overall harmony is ruined.
Cohesiveness: The force that pulls group members closer together, fostering mutual respect and cooperative effort toward common goals.
Team-Building Activities: Structured exercises designed to build rapport and trust among newly formed group members.
Five Factors Fostering Cohesiveness:
Members are genuinely attracted to the group's core purpose.
Group membership is voluntary rather than forced.
Members feel safe expressing thoughts and constructive disagreements.
Members actively encourage, support, and provide positive feedback to one another.
Members perceive that the group is making tangible progress toward its goals and celebrate milestones.
Productive Norms:
Norms: Expectations for the way group members are to behave.
Ground Rules: Formally prescribed behaviors designed to help the group meet its goals and conduct conversations (e.g., sticking to the agenda, refraining from interruptions, keeping comments brief, ensuring universal participation, focusing on issues rather than personalities).
Informal Norms: Behavioral standards that evolve implicitly through nonverbal reactions, peer modeling, and group reinforcement.
Changing Counterproductive Norms: Members can alter harmful norms by:
Observing the counterproductive norm and its negative outcome.
Describing these observations and consequences directly to the group.
Soliciting feedback and alternative opinions from all group members.
Accountability: All group members are held responsible for adhering to group norms and working diligently toward the group's goals.
Sanctions: Groups apply social sanctions to members who violate norms. Sanction severity depends on the norm's centrality to performance, the severity of the violation, and the member's status (newcomers and high-status members often receive more lenient sanctions initially).
Synergy: The multiplying force of a group working together that results in a combined effort greater than the sum of its individual parts (). Synergy creates collective intelligence and dynamic energy that enables underdog teams to overcome individually superior opponents.
Stages of Group Formation and Development
Tuckman's Model of Group Development:
Forming Stage:
Characteristics: Orientation, testing, and dependence. Members attempt to understand group goals, evaluate personal roles, and assess peer talents.
Communication Dynamics: Interaction is polite, cautious, and tentative. Members strive to present themselves as flexible and agreeable.
Effective Behaviors: Maintain a positive attitude, avoid disagreeable or abrasive comments, share appropriate benign information, and display genuine open-mindedness.
Storming Stage:
Characteristics: Conflict and power struggles. Members voice honest opinions, compete for influence, and assert their positions within the group's power hierarchy.
Risks: Polite exchanges may deteriorate into aggressive confrontation, factionalism, and coalition building. Severe storming threatens group survival.
Groupthink: A dangerous deterioration of mental efficiency, reality testing, and moral judgment resulting from in-group pressure to conform without critical debate.
Prevention of Groupthink: Encourage constructive disagreement, eliminate name-calling or inflammatory rhetoric, and apply active listening with paraphrasing and honest questioning.
Norming Stage:
Characteristics: Increased cohesion, collaboration, trust, and goal motivation. Differences are resolved, individual roles are settled, and group identity solidifies.
Communication Dynamics: Members accept established norms, appreciate individual differences, express ideas freely, and provide constructive feedback.
Performing Stage:
Characteristics: Harmony, high productivity, complex problem solving, and shared leadership.
Execution: Members combine their unique skills, knowledge, and abilities to overcome operational obstacles and achieve goals effectively.
Adjourning and Transforming Stages:
Adjourning Stage: Members celebrate goal achievement, acknowledge individual contributions, reflect on lessons learned, and disengage or disband.
Transforming Stage: Occurs when an established group remains together to pursue an entirely new goal. While revisiting earlier development stages is necessary, existing trust and cohesion allow rapid progression back to performing.
Managing Conflict in Groups
Pseudo-Conflict:
Definition: Occurs when group members actually agree on an issue but perceive that they disagree due to poor communication or misinterpretation.
Management: Apply active listening, perception checking, and paraphrasing to uncover the underlying agreement.
Issue-Related Group Conflict:
Definition: Occurs when two or more group members hold incompatible goals, ideas, or opinions regarding a specific task or topic.
Management: Clarify positions through perception checking; express views assertively using verifiable facts rather than personal feelings; invite broader group discussion; and postpone final decisions to allow time for research and cooling off.
Personality-Related Group Conflict:
Definition: Occurs when members become defensive due to feeling personally attacked, typically rooted in power struggles or mismanaged issue conflict.
Management: Reframe the conflict into an objective issue-related problem; enforce ground rules supporting diverse viewpoints; use descriptive "I" language rather than evaluative statements; apply perception checking; and agree to disagree on non-essential matters.
Cultural Variations in Conflict:
Individualistic Cultures: Rely predominantly on direct verbal methods to confront and manage conflict.
Collectivist Cultures: Rely predominantly on indirect nonverbal methods and subtle communication to manage conflict and preserve relationship harmony.
Managing Conflict in Virtual Groups:
Virtual platforms strip away nonverbal social and emotional cues, making conflict resolution more difficult and allowing frustrations to go unnoticed.
Members must make a deliberate effort to state explicitly both what they think and how they feel using direct verbal framing, supplemented by careful use of emoticons and acronyms.
Chapter 9 Applications, Ethics, and Diversity
Case Study: "The Dark Side of Online Social Groups"
Pro-Ana Virtual Groups: Online communities promoting anorexia nervosa as a "lifestyle choice" rather than an eating disorder. Case examples include Imogen D'Arcy (who committed suicide at age 13 due to online-reinforced body dysmorphia) and Laura Dunnegan (who developed anorexia at age 7 and views it as a lifestyle at age 23).
Sociological Insights: C.J. Pascoe and David Giles (2006) note that the Internet allows marginalized individuals to form subcultural communities outside traditional health institutions.
Positive Online Counterparts: The It Gets Better project, founded in 2010 by Dan Savage in response to LGBT youth suicides, hosts over supportive user-submitted videos.
Diverse Voices: "Managing Competing Group Norms" (Dr. Mina Tsay)
Dr. Mina Tsay emigrated from Taiwan to Boston at age 2.
Experienced tension between domestic Mandarin language norms (reinforced by attending Saturday Chinese school starting in 3rd grade) and public school English norms.
Faced identity friction when visiting Taiwan (relatives noted she acted "American") and during university studies at the University of Michigan and Penn State (international students noted she was "Westernized"), requiring deliberate negotiation to integrate both cultural skill sets.
Ethical Dilemma: Fundraiser Selection (Students in Communication)
Committee members (Mark, Glenna, Reed, Angelo, Leticia, Pablo, Heather) met to pick a charity for their talent show fundraiser.
Glenna suggested the Boardman Center because her aunt works there. Angelo noted public news reports alleging questionable use of funds at the center and urged further inquiry.
Mark abruptly called a vote to end the meeting quickly, bypassing unethical due diligence to save personal time.
Chapter 10: Group Leadership and Problem Solving
Group Leadership and Roles
Leadership Definition: A process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal (Northouse, 2012).
Theoretical Frameworks of Leadership:
Trait Theory ("The Great Man Theory of Leadership"): An early perspective asserting that leaders are born with inherent physical or psychological traits that naturally fit them for command.
Style/Situational Theories: Asserted that specific leadership styles (e.g., autocratic, democratic, laissez-faire) vary in effectiveness depending on the task and situation.
Functional/Shared Leadership Model: The modern paradigm viewing leadership not as a property of a single person, but as a dynamic set of communication functions performed by any group member based on expertise and situational requirements.
Leadership Designations:
Formal Leader: A person designated or elected to oversee the group process.
Informal Emergent Leaders: Members who spontaneously step forward to perform specific leadership functions as needs arise.
Shared Leadership Roles:
Task Leadership Roles: Help the group acquire, process, or apply information to complete goals.
Information and Opinion Givers: Provide well-informed facts, experience, and content ideas.
Information and Opinion Seekers: Probe peers for additional data, views, and clarification.
Information and Opinion Analyzers: Scrutinize reasoning, test assumptions, and evaluate evidence.
Maintenance Leadership Roles: Build and preserve group cohesion, commitment, and positive relationships.
Supporters: Encourage peers through positive verbal and nonverbal feedback.
Interpreters: Leverage cultural awareness to facilitate mutual understanding among diverse members.
Harmonizers: Calm interpersonal friction and reduce emotional temperature.
Mediators: Maintain neutrality and guide conflicting parties toward win-win compromises.
Tension Relievers: Use timely, appropriate humor to relieve stress and re-energize the group.
Procedural Leadership Roles: Provide logistical organization and record group achievements.
Logistics Coordinators: Manage physical meeting spaces, media technology, supplies, and seating.
Expediters: Track agenda progress and gently steer off-topic discussions back on track.
Gatekeepers: Regulate flow of talk, inviting quiet members to speak and curbing dominant speakers.
Recorders: Document group deliberations, decisions, and formal written minutes (public records of activities).
Five Shared Leadership Responsibilities of All Members:
Be Committed to the Group Goal: Align individual expertise with the collective objective and support decisions once made.
Keep Discussions on Track: Insist on task relevance and discourage derailment.
Complete Individual Assignments on Time: Execute individual responsibilities thoroughly and punctually.
Encourage Input from All Members: Restrain personal dominance (if extroverted) or actively contribute views (if introverted).
Manage Conflict Among Members: Address pseudo, issue, and personality conflicts constructively.
Planning, Executing, and Participating in Effective Meetings
Impact of Meetings: Business managers spend over per week in meetings, but report that to of that time is wasted due to poor facilitation and preparation (Harvard Business School & London School of Economics).
Guidelines for Meeting Leaders/Conveners:
Before the Meeting:
Prepare and Distribute an Agenda: Outline information items and decision items; distribute at least in advance.
Determine Attendance: Select essential participants for face-to-face or virtual platforms.
Manage Logistics: Select appropriate room configurations or virtual setups; cap meeting duration at a maximum of .
Pre-Meeting Alignment: Speak with participants individually to anticipate conflicts and gauge positions.
During the Meeting:
Review and Modify Agenda: Confirm relevance and gain group consensus at the start.
Monitor Interaction: Step in to fulfill missing task, maintenance, or procedural roles.
Monitor Time: Keep discussion aligned with scheduled allocations.
Praise in Public, Reprimand in Private: Protect member self-esteem and group morale.
Gauge Decision Readiness: Transition from discussion to decision rules once arguments saturate.
Implement Decision Rules: Execute consensus, voting, or expert rules accurately.
Summarize Outcomes: Explicitly restate decisions and action assignments.
Schedule Next Meeting: Confirm future meeting dates.
Following Up:
Review Meeting Efficacy: Reflect on goal attainment and interpersonal dynamics.
Distribute Minutes: Publish meeting summary/minutes within to days.
Repair Damaged Relationships: Debrief privately with hurt or angry participants.
Track Progress: Conduct informal check-ins on assigned member tasks.
Guidelines for Meeting Participants:
Before the Meeting:
Study the Agenda: Determine required preparations and report requirements.
Review Prior Minutes: Refresh memory regarding past decisions.
Complete Homework: Read pre-distributed materials thoroughly.
Formulate Questions: Prepare specific inquiries in advance.
Plan Leadership Roles: Target specific maintenance or task roles to execute.
During the Meeting:
Listen Attentively: Focus strictly on member contributions.
Maintain Task Focus: Keep comments relevant to the active agenda item.
Ask Questions: Inquire sincerely to generate deeper insights.
Take Notes: Maintain personal records of decisions and self-assignments.
Play Devil's Advocate: Challenge unexamined assumptions constructively.
Monitor Participation Balance: Avoid dominating or withholding input.
Following Up:
Summarize Personal Notes: Consolidate key takeaways immediately after adjournment.
Self-Evaluate Performance: Identify personal communication strengths and weaknesses.
Review Decisions and Tasks: Execute assigned duties diligently.
Communicate Progress: Inform relevant external stakeholders.
Verify Minutes: Compare official minutes with personal notes and report errors.
Systematic Problem-Solving Process
Origins: Originally developed by philosopher John Dewey in 1933, the Systematic Problem-Solving Process provides an effective framework for group decision-making.
Step 1: Identify and Define the Problem:
Distinguish root causes from surface symptoms (verify by asking: "If we solve this problem, are we confident the negative consequences will not recur?").
Draft a formal Problem Definition stated as a question of fact, value, or policy that contains one central idea and uses precise language.
Question of Fact: Asks what is true or to what extent something is true (e.g., "What percentage of projected expenses can be covered with existing revenue?").
Question of Value: Asks whether something is right, good, or moral (e.g., "What is the most effective way to recruit new members?").
Question of Policy: Asks what course of action or rule should be adopted (e.g., "How can we increase our revenues in order to meet our budget in current economic conditions?").
Step 2: Analyze the Problem:
Gather comprehensive information regarding symptoms, causes, historical attempts, and consequences of failure.
Actively seek out contradictory data or unconventional perspectives to deepen analysis.
Step 3: Determine Criteria for Judging Solutions:
Criteria: Standards used for judging the merits of proposed solutions prior to generating options.
Categorize criteria into Major Criteria (mandatory requirements) and Minor Criteria (desirable features).
Step 4: Generate a Host of Solutions:
Brainstorming: An uncritical, non-evaluative technique for generating ideas by being creative, suspending judgment, and building on peer proposals.
Groups should generate a minimum of to potential solutions (or more).
Step 5: Evaluate Solutions and Decide:
Screen each brainstormed option against established criteria.
Five Decision-Making Methods:
Expert Opinion Method: An acknowledged expert within the group makes the final choice.
Average Group Opinion Method: Member rankings are mathematically averaged to select the top option.
Majority Rule Method: A formal vote is taken; the option receiving a minimum of of votes wins (risk: alienating the minority faction).
Unanimous Decision Method: Deliberation continues until of members agree on the best solution.
Consensus Method: Deliberation continues until all members agree to support and implement a solution, even if it is not every member's first choice.
Step 6: Implement the Agreed-Upon Solution and Assess It:
Define specific implementation tasks, assign duties, set concrete deadlines, and schedule a post-implementation review point to assess effectiveness.
Methods for Communicating Group Solutions
Deliverables: Products of group work provided to external audiences, clients, or supervisors.
Written Formats:
Written Brief: A short to -page document outlining the problem, background, process, decision, and rationale for rapid evaluation.
Comprehensive Report: A detailed document covering the complete problem-solving process. Includes an Executive Summary (a one-page synopsis summarizing problem, background, alternatives, and recommendations).
Oral Formats:
Oral Brief: A short verbal summary delivered in under .
Oral Report: A detailed presentation lasting to .
Panel Discussion: A structured presentation held before an audience where a moderator asks planned questions to expert panelists (typically lasting to ), followed by audience Q&A.
Symposium: A series of prepared speeches delivered sequentially by members from a lectern, coordinated by a moderator, concluding with a formal Q&A session.
Virtual Formats:
Remote Access Report (RAR): A computer-mediated slideshow presentation ( to maximum) using bulleted text, visual data (e.g., pie charts), and optional narrated voice-over audio.
Streaming Video: Compressed video broadcast over the Web (e.g., YouTube) enabling asynchronous delivery of oral briefs, reports, or panels.
Evaluating Group Effectiveness and Dynamics
Group Dynamics: The ongoing communication interactions among members to achieve a common goal.
Evaluation Frameworks:
Group Dynamics Evaluation Forms: Quantitative and qualitative scoring measuring member commitment, task completion, conflict resolution, participation encouragement, and task focus.
Reflective Thinking Process Papers: Essays analyzing individual performance, peer contributions, and personal growth areas.
Group Presentation Evaluations: Dual-component assessments evaluating individual performance (content, structure, delivery) and holistic team performance (cohesion, balance, transitions, visual aids).
Chapter 10 Applications, Ethics, and Diversity
Diverse Voices: "Cultural Diversity in Group Problem Solving" (Lily Herakova)
Lily Herakova moved from Bulgaria to attend university in rural Minnesota.
In Bulgaria, peer paper editing involved blunt, direct feedback ("This sentence doesn't make sense", "It's missing a verb").
Applying these direct norms in a U.S. history class peer-editing group caused a classmate to feel insulted, leading her to demand a new partner and question Herakova's English authority. This highlights how divergent cultural norms can impact peer feedback.
Case Study: "Problem Solving in Cyberspace: Dungeons & Dragons and World of Warcraft"
Dungeons & Dragons (D&D): Co-created by Gary Gygax, who emphasized in 2006 that role-playing is a non-competitive cooperative group experience. Journalist Patrick Enright credited D&D with teaching essential workplace teamwork skills.
World of Warcraft (WoW): MMORPG studied by John Seely Brown and John Hagel (2009) as a prime model for self-organizing teams, rapid performance feedback, and tacit knowledge sharing.
Educational Gaming: Eric Klopfer (MIT Education Arcade) received a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to build MMORPGs for teaching high school math and biology through collaborative scientific inquiry.
Ethical Dilemma 1: Budget Cuts (PRSSA Chapter)
Chapter president Dolores convened Drew, Jeremy, Bethany, and Mina to address a recession-driven budget deficit.
Members arrived completely unprepared, failing to read pre-distributed attachments. Dolores ethically adjourned the meeting rather than forcing uninformed decisions.
Ethical Dilemma 2: Personal Influence vs. Group Process
Sue and Heather discussed McGowan's resolution on dues reform.
Heather urged Sue to use personal dirt and leverage over members to force a vote, contrasting manipulative coercion with legitimate democratic group process.