GROUP COMMUNICATION: CHARACTERISTICS, ELEMENTS, EXAMPLES - PSYCHOLOGY - 2025

The group communication is a process by which a group of people can transmit information, emotions, ideas and thoughts between them. It is one of the most important types of interpersonal communication, since it occurs in many different contexts and has a great impact on our daily lives.

For a group communication process to take place, there must be more than two participants. Depending on the relationships between them, we can speak of several different types, some of the most important being intragroup (between members of the same group) and intergroup (between people who do not belong to the same group).

In a work meeting there is group communication

As in other kinds of communication, within the group we can find explicit and conscious elements, such as deliberate words and gestures. On the other hand, we also find elements of which the interlocutors are not fully aware but that contribute a lot of information to the process.

In this article we will see what exactly group communication consists of, in addition to studying what are the most important processes that compose it and several concrete examples that will help us better understand when we are in front of it.

Definition of group communication

Two or more people

For most authors, group communication is any exchange of information that takes place between two or more people belonging to a community. In this sense, it differs from other similar phenomena such as mass communication, in which more than two individuals also participate but in which this belonging does not exist.

Different shapes

Group communication can occur in many different ways, either with one of the community members addressing the rest exclusively, or more reciprocally in the form of conversation. Furthermore, in some cases it can also occur between members of different groups, which is known as 'intergroup communication'.

Sense of belonging

One of the most important characteristics of this communicative phenomenon is the presence of a certain feeling of belonging to the same community on the part of all those involved.

According to research in this regard, people tend to identify with those with whom we share traits or contexts, with different types of attitudes and group biases arising in our minds.

Elements of group communication

As in the rest of types of communication, group communication is normally studied from the different elements that allow the exchange of information. For most experts these are the sender, the receiver, the message, the channel, the code and the context. Next we will see what each of them consists of.

- Issuer

In a group communication context, the sender is the person who transmits the information that you want to share with the rest. Your message has to be addressed to members of a specific group, be it your own or an external one that you want to talk to for some reason.

- Receiver

In the case of group communication, there must always be more than one recipient, and all of them have to belong to the same community for this context to exist. The recipients are those to whom the communication process is directed, and in this case they share a series of similar traits that have led them to unite in a group.

- Message

In all types of communication, the message is the set of information, ideas, attitudes, thoughts and emotions that the sender transmits to the recipient (s). In the case of group communication, it usually has to do with something related to the community in which it occurs, although this is not always true.

For example, in a meeting of friends, one of the members of the group might want to convey important news to the rest, in such a way that the information would only be related to himself. However, in other cases the message transmitted does affect all members of the community.

- Channel

The channel is the means by which information is transmitted from the sender to the receivers. Traditionally, in traditional group communication the only possible channel was speech, since there was no other way to send a message to more than one person at the same time.

Nowadays, however, new technologies such as social networks, instant messaging services and video calls have made it possible to use channels other than speaking in person that allow the members of a group to communicate en masse without being physically present.

- Code

The code is a set of elements that allow the participants in the communication process to understand each other and to be able to transmit and receive the message correctly. It usually includes factors such as the spoken or written language being used, but in the case of group communication it also incorporates other elements.

Thus, within a group it is perfectly possible that there are communicative elements shared by its members but that would not be understood by anyone outside of it. These elements would also be part of the code.

- Context

Finally, in communication, context is considered to be everything that surrounds the exchange of information. Within this element we find, for example, the nature of the relationship between the sender and the receiver, their personal characteristics, their intention or the culture in which they live.

In the case of group communication, it is essential to study the context in which it occurs in order to correctly understand what is happening. Depending on the relationships that exist between the members of the community, the hierarchy of each of them, their past together and other factors such as their beliefs or their attitudes, the exchange of information will develop in one way or another.

Examples

Group communication occurs in many different contexts of our lives, being in fact one of the most common types. Thus, we can observe this phenomenon in the form of a group of friends talking about what happens in their day to day, but also in a work meeting or at a family dinner.

References

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2. "Group Communication" in: Encyclopedia. Retrieved on: March 08, 2020 from Encyclopedia: encyclopedia.com.
3. "Effective group communication" in: Chron. Retrieved on: March 08, 2020 from Chron: smallbusiness.chron.com.
4. "Defining group communication" in: Coursera. Retrieved on: March 08, 2020 from Coursera: coursera.com.
5. "Group Communication Summary" in: Lumen. Retrieved on: March 08, 2020 from Lumen: courses.lumenlearning.com.