Help Needed
Interpersonal Process Group Instructions: Group 5
Session Theme: Your Place in the Group and Transition Stage of Development
1. Summarize Last Week’s Group (10 Minutes)
Have someone SUMMARIZE what was covered in last week’s session.
What unfinished business from previous sessions do we need to address?
2. Your Conflict Strategies (25 minutes)
The purpose of the Conflict Management Styles Assessment is to identify your preferred conflict styles. The results are for discussion purposes only.
· For this exercise, complete the assessment and score your answers on the second page of the document. Keep in mind that you will be sharing your results with the group.
· Note that this assessment identifies five conflict styles. The group should become familiar with the styles by reading them out loud.
After everyone has completed the exercise, group members will go around the group and share their results. Members should talk about whether they agree or disagree with the results. Be sure to explain your answer.
Once all members have shared, process aloud:
How would your conflict style influence how you lead a group?
How do our personal beliefs about conflict influence the way that we would handle it in
the group?
Is conflict in a group healthy or unhealthy? Why or why not?
When conflict occurs, how should leaders deal with it (hint: consider what you have read in
your text)?
3. Key Elements of the Transition Stage (15 minutes)
· There are no arbitrary dividing lines between group stages especially from transition to working stage. This week we will explore the working stage of group development. It is important to recognize that if a group does not move into a working stage, it can be expected that earlier themes of trust, conflict, and reluctance to participate will resurface. Some members may be very willing to engage in intense emotional exploration and this will have the effect of drawing out more hesitant members to participate. The following are important questions to consider. Read the follow questions and all members answer aloud:
What are the key elements of the working stage of a group?
What does trust and conflict look like in this stage?
What do member interactions (i.e., process) look like at the working stage of a group?
What has conflict looked like in our interpersonal group? Explain.
How does your group deal with conflict?
4. Session Process Questions: All members will answer aloud (10 Minutes)
· If your group was one of the animals shown on the Conflict Management Styles Assessment, which one would most accurately describe it? Why?
· How might the group’s description of an animal relate to your stage of group development?
How do our personal conflict strategies impact our experience of group process?
How do our personal conflict strategies help or hinder achieving our personal goal for the group?
In what stage of group development is your group? Why?