Small Group Facilitation: Improving Process and Performance in Groups and Teams

Group Inputs

Any aspect of the organizational or external environment, as well as characteristics of individual members, can influence groups. In developing Figure 2-1, I focused on the variables that most often have been identified as crucial factors affecting groups and, from those, the ones that are relevant for the variety of types of groups that involve the services of facilitators. Five components of inputs are covered here: organizational commitment, culture, and norms; task context and clarity; member characteristics, competencies, and commitment; time constraints; and access to resources and information. Support for these components have been reported by a number of researchers (Hackman, 1990; Hirokawa & Keyton, 1995; Kolb, 1996b; Kolb ...