Introduction
The formation of an effective group calls for careful examination of the individual members with special emphasis on the individual characteristics. There are different kinds of groups with different kinds of members. Groups are employed extensively in the works and sports domain. These groups work as teams have teams and quite often, some rarely achieve their intended goals while others easily achieve them. In a campaign team, for instance, all departments involved must work together while each one plays its specific role. This can be enhanced through good communication and interdepartmental relationship. When all these are incorporated, the advertisement campaign is very likely to achieve its main objectives. This paper will focus on an advertising campaign to show the requirements of an effective group. The requirements are Interdependence, good communication, trust, and practicability of roles that must be properly intertwined within its daily operations.
Interdependence
Interdependence is one of the characteristics of an effective group. It denotes the dynamism of being mutually responsible to and sharing a common set of principles with others. A successful advertisement campaign incorporates interdependence among its various members. The team may comprise copywriters, graphic artists, and project managers. The various members carry out specific duties assigned to them and pass over their output to the relevant person once they get finished with what they were doing. An advertisement campaign is a working team that strives to achieve the laid down strategies. Therefore, members must perform their duty for the team to be successful (Bradford, 1974, p. 56). For this to happen there must be communication.
Communication
Communication is another aspect of a successful working team. Communication is fundamental to the success of any group. It refers to verbal-written and spoken words and nonverbal expressions such as tone variations, body postures, and gestures. Effective communication is deemed to have taken place if both the sender and receiver acknowledge the transmission of the message and is critical to the success of a group. just like in advertising, the sporting world makes extensive use of communication both verbal and non-verbal. A great percentage of the activities that take place in the stadiums is facilitated by communication. This assists them to achieve desired results and intentions of the participants. The success of a sports team relies heavily on effective communications among the team members hence it shows effective group/team members (Goodman, 1986, p. 98). Good communication among members of a team leads to trust.
Trust
Trust is one of the catalysts of effective team behavior. Trust between members comes from believing in the same things. They are those things that are relevant to the group in question. Since an advertisement campaign group comprises several members charged with dissimilar responsibilities, the effectiveness of such a group depends heavily on the trust among the different members. For instance, the advertisement team’s decision to sacrifice their time to beat the deadline calls for trust among the key players of the advertisement campaign. The individual members believe that the value of meeting the stipulated deadlines and responsibility is non-negotiable. It is evident that in the event of unavoidable delays then the advertisement campaign group will have to rely heavily on the member’s trust in sacrificing their time in trying to achieve their goals within the stipulated time. The sacrifice will go a long way in promoting the effectiveness of the advertisement group (Hall, 1990, p. 11). This is made possible by the practicability of roles.
Practicability of roles
The practicability of roles leads to the effective operation of a group. Roles are classified into two categories namely task roles and maintenance roles. Task roles are those, which functions that facilitate the performance of a given task within the group. On the other hand, maintenance roles are those that enable the group to stay together and continue with its activities. Task roles encompass several activities. It involves initiating activity and seeking information for clarification of information. It further involves disseminating information, giving opinions, coordinating the group’s activities, and summarizing the information. In the advertisement campaign group, these tasks are used to ensure that the group activities are coordinated and executed. The members are continually involved in clarifying the information at different levels to ensure that members have access to the right information at the right time. Therefore, there must be the maintenance of roles. This is because if it lacked some members would not probably complete their roles in time thus affecting the other team members in the completion of their tasks. This would greatly undermine the effectiveness of the group.
Maintenance roles
Maintenance roles involve encouraging the group members, expressing group feelings, harmonizing the group activities, compromising, gatekeeping, and setting standards. Gatekeeping is an attempt to keep the available communication channels open to all the members of the group. Attainable targets are set by members to achieve their goals. The advertisement team in its bid to attain the laid down targets ensures the active participation of the key players by creating an open forum where the members are free to express their opinions and corrections regarding the subject at hand. The different aspects of maintenance roles are enshrined in different members of the advertisement campaign team. By observing the different elements of maintenance roles in a group, the free flow of information and participation of the different members tends to motivate them hence contributing to the effectiveness of the group (Bradford, 1974, p. 24). This effectiveness comes about if the group is formed in the right manner at its initial stage through familiarization as explained below.
Familiarization
Familiarization is important during group formation. The formation of a group of work implies that the members take time to get accustomed to each other. It is also during this time that they bond. There are several stages that the group goes through and it is characterized by several hiccups. Forming is the first stage and it is characterized by self-disclosure and sharing. The second stage known as the storming stage is characterized by counter dependency and flight. Trust and structure, cohesion, and openness are witnessed during the third stage. The fourth stage is known as differentiation is characterized by mature and productive group processes and individual expression and finally, the last stage involves termination whether of individual members or the group as a whole. The advertisement team is formed from scratch and the metamorphosis of the advertisement group will provide an avenue for learning and strengthening of the individual members through practical experiences. The final group that is formed comprises members who are closely knit together and as such have a clear understanding of the individual capabilities and weaknesses. This will help in concealing all the weaknesses of individual members.
Conclusion
Finally, the advertisement team relies on several factors to be successful just like any other group. Given the different departments that contribute to its success, interdependence, good communication, trust, and practicability of roles must be intertwined within its operations to ensure success. As the group forges relationships among its different members, they rely on each other to perform some of the tasks. Trust is another aspect that determines the effectiveness of a group because it allows each member to believe in his colleague’s abilities. These should be incorporated with specific task roles and maintenance roles to ensure the efficiency and development of the group. Without an emphasis on these factors, the advertising campaign might never achieve its principal objective of persuasion. In turn, the advertising team would not achieve its target because the group would not be effective. Thus, it is important to observe the factors that make a group successful through effectiveness.
Reference
Bradford, P. (1974).Group development. La Jolla, California: University Associates,Inc.
Goodman, P. (1986).Designing effective groups. San Francisco, CA; Jossey-Bass publishing company.
Hall, D. (1990).Dynamics of group action: voluntary action leadership. 6(3), pp 10-12