Describes the purposes, membership, tasks, and outcomes of two women's organizations in India as a prelude to discussing the characteristics of group processes and strategies for building and improving women's organizations. (SK)

Consensus is important in the making of a policy decision. If a decision is reached without consensus, morale and unit satisfaction may both suffer. With genuine consensus, a unit tends to willingly support and implement the new policy. After analyzing how observed small groups had actually reached consensus, the following ten techniques were…

The qualities of small group communication and interaction were tested in this study, which specifically measured group consensus and the quality of group decision making. Fifty groups of five members each were used. One member of each group was trained to exhibit either high or low "orientation," knowledge of the procedures the group…

This discussion is concerned with the rationale and method of the Woodard Outreach Group Model. Included is a description of some of the theoretical and strategic matters involved with this method of working with small groups. Examples are presented illustrating ways in which the model has been modified and used with success in a variety of…

Seventy-seven fourth- and fifth-grade students were placed in either a cooperative or a competititve learning structure and the teacher either supported or did not support their decision-making competence. As hypothesized, students whose teacher supported them indicated that they were more confident and committed to making a classroom decision…

Three large, unstructured workshops (500-800 people) demonstrated how large groups of people can participate together and collectively choose ways of action aimed at satisfying all. Particular significance given to participants' shift away from looking for outside sources of answers, values and standards to discovery of strengths and answers…

Participatory decision-making strategies have been suggested as effective in groups with the task of solving unstructured problems or creating innovations. Concerned about evaluating children's affective growth in open classrooms, eight educators in a large metropolitan area agreed to meet regularly after school hours to develop an instrument to…

This resource manual presents guidelines and effective techniques for people who want to acquire group facilitation skills. It is a valuable resource for anyone planning or presenting a workshop; trainers or teachers interested in innovative classroom techniques; and anyone involved in a group as leader, facilitator, or participant. The manual…

"Teachers and students play games quite as much as lovers, diplomats, husbands, and wives. Teachers come to class equipped with 'Threat' cards and students with 'Mischief' and 'Defiance' cards." Exercises in this book can help people, including teachers, students, administrators, and community groups, to overcome their reliance on "game-playing".…