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Theories of Small Group Development

Book cover featuring penguins 5th edition © 2015, ISBN: 978-0-9810500-2-7

This objective of this book is to enhance the understanding of small group behaviour with a view to facilitating leadership intervention and task accomplishment in groups and teams, in the workplace as well as in social, therapeutic and educational settings.

The underlying assumption is that task accomplishment within a group can be greatly enhanced when those giving leadership have an understanding of the developmental aspects of group process and the nature of group dynamics. This understanding would not only influence the design, format and timing of learning experiences, but also the development and implementation of strategies, skills and norms within groups and teams.

About the author

Dr. Raye Kass is a Professor of Applied Human Sciences at Concordia University (Montreal QC). Specializing in leadership and small group behaviour, she is the author of Theories of Small Group Development and co-author of three other books.

Dr. Kass currently spearheads group theory courses in both the undergraduate and graduate level. Professor Kass is highly involved within the Department’s teaching profile, having taught seventeen different courses, and extensively redesigned many of the counselling and group theory courses that the Department offers today. She was also instrumental in the creation of the Human Systems Intervention graduate level-program, which sees applications from across the globe.

Dr. Kass has led over 1000 workshops in leadership training, communication and problem-solving skills, staff development, team building and conflict management with various universities, research centres, schools, hospitals, penitentiaries, government departments and organizations in Canada, USA, Europe and Asia.

Dr. Kass has been highlighted frequently by both national and international press agencies for both her space sciences and group theory research. Dr Kass was Principal Investigator on two space simulation missions: the 1994 CAPSULS Mission held in Canada and the 240 day space simulation SFINCSS Mission held in Russia in 1999 – 2000. Her ground -based research project with the NASA Ames Research Centre examined the effectiveness of various training approaches to counteract team dysfunction among multicultural and gender-mixed teams.
 

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