Handbook for Working with Difficult Groups

Sandy Schuman has been helping organizations work more effectively to solve complex problems and make critical decisions for more than thirty years. He is a group facilitator, collaborative process advocate, and storyteller. He helps groups create shared meaning, make critical choices, and build collaborative relationships. He facilitates problem-solving and decision-making processes for a wide variety of public management and policy issues and provides training in group facilitation, decision making, systems thinking, conflict management systems, and organizational communication. He is the editor of the International Association of Facilitators handbook series: The IAF Handbook of Group Facilitation, Creating a Culture of Collaboration, and Working with Difficult Groups.

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