COMMUNICATION
THEORY WORKBOOK
SMALL GROUP COMMUNICATION
Decision-Mapping
Explanation
of Theory:
Decision - Mapping
- effective leadership will increase the likelihood of a
group producing a positive outcome.
Theorists:
T. Cartwright Stephens
Date:
1999
Primary Article:
Stephens, T. C. (1999). Recasting Groupthink as a Consequence
of Ineffective Leadership: Is Cohesion the Problem
or the Solution?. Unpublished Paper, The University
of Kentucky, Lexington.
Individual
Interpretations:
With groups being everywhere it is important and vital to
understand how they work. Decision-Mapping offers
an explanation of how to increase the likelihood of positive
outcomes occurring in groups.
Metatheoretical
Assumptions:
Being a Scientific theory the following metatheoretical
assumption should be advanced.
Ontological
Assumptions:
Scientific research suggest that human nature is deterministic.
Humans do
not have control what they do.
Epistemological
Assumptions:
Scientific research suggests that there is one truth, or
big T truth.
Axiological
Assumptions:
Research should not be value laden. Research offers
objective results.
Critique:
Being a Scientific theory it should be critiqued using Chaffee
& Berger's criteria.
Explanatory
Power - Decision - Mapping offers a good explanation
of how a group can map out a decision to increase the likelihood
of a positive outcome.
Predictive
Power - Decision - Mapping lays out a specific tract
that a group can follow to make decisions with positive
outcomes.
Parsimony
- Decision - Mapping is very simple suggesting that effective
leaders and cohesion are determinants of decision outcomes.
Falsifiablity
- Decision - Mapping can be tested as it lays out a specific
model. Groups will either follow the model to positive
outcomes or negative outcomes.
Internal
Consistency - Decision - Mapping goes along with some
research on leadership, but contradicts other research on
defective decision-making. It is brand new and should
be tested.
Heuristic
Provocativeness - Decision - Mapping offers just a start
of how groups can make decisions with positive outcomes.
There are many new hypotheses that can be drawn from this
theory.
Organizing
Power - Decision - Mapping organizes the research well
pulling from leadership, decision-making, and cohesion.
It does a good job of suggesting a new way to look at all
of them together.
Ideas
and Implications:
This is important to understand because of the implications
of groups. Groups make decisions that differ and it
is important to understand why this is the case.
With Groupthink being the force to be reckoned with as the
explanation of why groups fail, this offers another explanation
that should be considered.
Location
in Eight (8) Primary Communication Theory Textbooks:
Anderson, R., & Ross, V.
(1998). Questions of communication: A practical introduction
to theory (2nd ed.). New York: St. Martin's Press.
N/A
Cragan, J. F., & Shields, D.C. (1998). Understanding
communication theory: The communicative forces for human
action. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon. N/A
Griffin, E. (2000). A first look at communication theory
(4th ed.). Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill. N/A
Griffin, E. (1997). A first look at communication theory
(3rd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill. 231-
Infante, D. A., Rancer, A. S., & Womack, D. F. (1997).
Building communication theory (3rd ed.). Prospect
Heights, IL: Waveland Press. N/A
Littlejohn, S. W. (1999). Theories of human communication
(6th ed). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. N/A
West, R., & Turner, L. H. (2000). Introducing communication
theory: Analysis and application. Mountain View, CA:
Mayfield. N/A
Wood, J. T. (1997). Communication theories in action:
An introduction. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. N/A
|