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Other roles include a time keeper so members don’t dominate the conversation and
everyone gets a chance to speak, someone may also have the responsibility to take spoken notes
or act as a secretary. Roles can be defined as a tendency to behave, contribute and interrelate with
others in a particular way and sometimes can be identified with initiative or a person’s type or
temperament.
Role differentiation is the degree to which different group members have specialized
functions. A group with a high level of role differentiation would be categorized as having many
different roles that are specialized and narrowly defined. (Forsyth, 2009) A key role in a group is
the leader, but there are other important roles as well, including task roles, relationship roles, and
individual roles. (Forsyth, 2009) Functional (task) roles are generally defined in relation to the
tasks the team is expected to perform. Individuals engaged in task roles focus on the goals of the
group and on enabling the work that members do; examples of task roles include coordinator,
recorder, critic, or technician. (Forsyth, 2009) A group member engaged in a relationship role (or
socioemotional role) is focused on maintaining the interpersonal and emotional needs of the
groups' members; examples of relationship role include encourager, harmonizer, or compromiser.
(Forsyth, 2009)
Norms are the informal rules that groups adopt to regulate members' behavior. Norms refer
to what should be done and represent value judgments about appropriate behavior in social
situations. Although they are infrequently written down or even discussed, norms have powerful
influence on group behavior. (Hahn, 2010) They are a fundamental aspect of group structure as
they provide direction and motivation and organize the social interactions of members. (Forsyth,
2009)
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