Analysis of Communication and Group Dynamics in Community Care

This report analyzes the communication and group dynamics within a Community Care meeting, identifying key issues that hinder its effectiveness. The analysis highlights problems such as lack of information, poor listening skills, and negative attitudes among members, which lead to ineffective leadership and poor meeting outcomes. The report then proposes solutions based on best meeting practices, including proper planning, agenda development, and establishing ground rules. It emphasizes the importance of facilitator roles, encouraging participation, and maintaining positive communication flow. The report also suggests structuring the group with defined roles and implementing strategies like developing ground rules and establishing proper leadership. Finally, it identifies the group as being in the storming stage, where members compete for acceptance and status. The report concludes with recommendations for improved communication and group dynamics to achieve more productive meetings.

Running head: COMMUNICATION AND GROUP DYNAMICS 1
Community Care Application: Communication and Group Dynamics
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliations

COMMUNICATION AND GROUP DYNAMICS 2
Communication and Group Dynamics
It is important to note that the key to getting work correctly done in any group is through
convening a meeting, however, without proper communication, leadership, and structure nothing
can be attained or realized in any organization. Leading an effective group meeting necessitates a
greater deal of preparation and planning as well as having able leadership (Kuo et al., 2017).
There are three major events which occurred in the Community Care meeting which makes or
renders it ineffective. Firstly, the group members lacked the information necessary for decision
making. It is crystal clear that the likes of Sally did not have any contribution towards the agenda
thus diverged to singing a happy birthday song to Teresa during the meeting. Secondly, the
meeting was faced with poor listening skills, for example, Walt slithered into the meeting and
spent the entire time browsing Facebook without uttering a beneficial word to the group. Thirdly,
the group faces negative attitude or lack of comfort among the members. This is typically seen in
the case of Lucia who feels unease or anxious with the presence of John. Overall, the meeting
faced poor leadership, lack of preparation or planning, and ego as well as poor communication
skills.
To create a more effective meeting, the members must employ best meeting practices
including proper meeting planning and preparation, developing the agenda, establishing ground
rules for the meeting among many others. Prior to the meeting, the aforementioned must be done
to ensure the meeting is effective (Serrat, 2017). Similarly, at the beginning of the meeting, the
facilitator should welcome everyone to the meeting and read the previous minutes as well as the
meeting’s agendas. This did not happen in the community care scenario. There was no
facilitation of the meeting thus members just popped with statements which had no value to the
discussion. On the other hand, during the meeting, it is important to focus on the agenda and the

COMMUNICATION AND GROUP DYNAMICS 3
facilitator should encourage participation, for example, through asking a question which
everybody can answer and seek ideas or solution from each member. The group members should
not show any form of negativity towards other members or the agenda and should participate
fully and avoid distractions such as phones. Most importantly, the meeting’s minutes must be
taken for record keeping and each member should take notes during the meeting too (Bens,
2017). Lastly, the facilitator should help the group reach a consensus or rather prioritization
option.
In the same vein, at the end of the meeting, the members should agree on an action plan
and the meeting should end in time with everyone intact. The director should also read and
clarify the minutes to make everyone at pace with the meeting’s decisions. It is vital to note that
the communication processes which can improve the groups’ dynamics as well as meeting
effectiveness include respect for members, etiquette, abilities of participants’ communications,
and positive flow of communication amidst the members (Katzenbach & Smith, 2015). The
community care group can be structured to create a chairperson and secretary and outline their
roles in a meeting. Some of the strategies which can be implemented to enhance the group’s
dynamics include developing ground rules, establishing proper leadership to facilitate the
meeting, and advising the members on the importance of attending and participating in a
meeting. In the community care scenario, the group can be said to be in the storming stage, since
the members compete with one another for acceptance and status of their notions. The members
still function independently and have not come up with ways of solving problems.

COMMUNICATION AND GROUP DYNAMICS 4
References
Bens, I. (2017). Facilitating with Ease!: core skills for facilitators, team leaders and members,
managers, consultants, and trainers. John Wiley & Sons.
Katzenbach, J. R., & Smith, D. K. (2015). The wisdom of teams: Creating the high-performance
organization. Harvard Business Review Press.
Kuo, A., Wilson, E., Kawahara, S., Horning, D., Belger, S., & Lucey, C. (2017). Meeting
Optimization Program: a “workshop in a box” to create meetings that are
transformational tools for institutional change. MedEdPORTAL, (13).
Serrat, O. (2017). Conducting effective meetings. In Knowledge Solutions (pp. 315-319).
Springer, Singapore.