Tina snow

NVCC Fall 2021

Introduction to Communication

Jennifer Harris(she/her)

December 10, 2021

Role Reflection Essay

There are two different types of communication roles found in small groups. One of them is

called task roles. Task roles deal with helping small groups accomplish tasks and work together.

The second type, maintenance roles, involves developing and maintaining relationships within

groups. A small group is defined as "a collection of three or more individuals who interact about

some common problem or interdependent goal and can exert mutual influence over one another.

The forming–storming–norming–performing model of group development was first proposed by

Bruce Tuckman in 1965, who said that these phases are all necessary and inevitable in order for

the team to grow, face up to challenges, tackle problems, find solutions, plan work, and deliver

results. Tuckman's theory focuses on how a team tackles a task from the initial formation of the

team to the completion of the project.

My task was to find solutions to ending and maintaining childhood obesity, and I also was

tasked to cite sources used for our project. I demonstrated the initiator/Contributor role when I
proposed at our first meeting that we brainstorm ideas for our group presentation just to get

started and also to help us find a perspective on where to get excellent and credible sources.

Furthermore, in the end, it helped tie the whole project together. The Initiator/Contributor role

Proposes original ideas or approaches to group problems or goals. The project took me out of my

comfort zone. In the way I do group assignments, I tend to choose people I already feel more

comfortable with, but as for this assignment, we were picked at random. I am so used to the

people I know. This helped me get over my issue with new people. Furthermore, I made new

friends through this project.

Maintenance roles are essential in an online class setting. It can be easy to feel unmotivated

and unengaged during uncertain times like this when working on a group assignment.

Maintenance roles, however, help groups stay focused on collaborating as a group while also

making sure to perform the task on hand. They are also equally as crucial in a face-to-face class

setting. Students can still feel unmotivated and unengaged when collaborating with others for an

assignment, whether online or in a face-to-face class setting. Cassandra and Kenyahn took on the

MAINTENANCE ROLES. She helped tie the whole project together. As a group, we worked

together and gathered good info to support our issue with childhood obesity. Task and

maintenance roles are both important when working together in small groups. Without one,

members of a group may lose motivation to collaborate or lose the ability to work on the task at

hand effectively. It positively impacted our group presentation because we were able to come up

with good ideas and topics that would be helpful to our presentation. Without this step, we would

not have had a good presentation because our entire presentation would have been out of order

with no flow since we would not have brainstormed for suitable topics and ideas that flowed well
with each other. When our group performed the initiating and opinion giving part of the task

roles, it positively impacted our presentation because we could share our knowledge on the topic.

It helped our group stay on track to complete the presentation. Overall, the task and maintenance

roles that our group carried out positively impacted our presentation and helped us improve it.

Tasks and maintenance roles help small groups effectively and efficiently work together on

assignments.

Cited

Department of Communication, Indiana State University. “Introduction to Public

Communication.” 8.2: Defining Small Groups and Teams | Introduction to Public

Communication, Indiana State University, 18 Aug. 2016, http://kell.indstate.edu/public-comm-

intro/chapter/8-2-defining-small-groups-and-teams/.

Admin, and Admin. “Tuckman's Stages of Group Development.” NS4B, 15 Oct. 2018,

https://ns4business.com.br/tuckmans-stages-of-group-development/.