John O. Burtis (Ph.D., University of Minnesota) is a Professor in the Communication Studies Department at the University of Northern Iowa. He has taught courses in leadership, management, group communication, argumentation, persuasion, and communication theory at the undergraduate and graduate levels. He has been a consultant, trainer, and speaker on related subjects in both the private and public sectors. He has been the director of the Concordia Leadership Center and of the West Central Minnesota Leadership Program and the head of the Communication Studies department at the University of Northern Iowa. He has been the Director of Forensics at Kansas State University and Concordia College, where students in the programs won numerous individual and team championships in speech or debate including more than twenty national championships.

Preface
Unit I: We Co-construct Our Groups by Communicating
1. Why Study Group Communication Pitfalls?
Overview of the Book
Why Do Groups Matter Enough to Make a Study of Them?
Definitions of "Communication", "Group", and "Pitfalls"
Casting a Wide Net to Include All Pitfalls and Breakdown
Group Communication Pitfalls by Commission or by Omission
The Breakdown-Conducive Group Framework
Why Should We Focus Our Study of Groups on Group Communication Pitfalls?
2. How Grouping and Group Direction Help Create Effective Group Experiences
The Universals of Grouping Activity
The Framework for Grouping and Group Direction
Rhetorical Situation and a Purgatory Puddle
Unit II: We Struggle to Co-construct and Frame Our Circumstances and Processes
3. Pitfalls in Task and Supragroup Exigencies
Groups as Systems
Purgatory Puddle Pitfalls
Supragroup Pitfalls
Wrong Task for a Group
How to Expect, Detect, and Correct These Pitfalls
4. Personnel Pitfalls
"Wrong Group for the Task" Pitfalls
Traits
Orientation
Style
Circumstances
How to Expect, Detect, and Correct These Pitfalls
5. Pitfalls in Grouping Techniques, Tendencies, and Process Prizes
Grouping Techniques
Technique Pitfalls
Grouping Tendencies: Norms and Roles
Norm Pitfalls
Role Pitfalls
Process Prizes
Process Prize Pitfalls
Deliberation Outcome Pitfalls
6. Pitfalls in Confusion, Conformity, Conflict, and Group Consciousness: Grouping Concomitants
Confusion Pitfalls
Conformity Pitfalls
Conflict Pitfalls
Consciousness Pitfalls
How to Expect, Detect, and Correct These Pitfalls
7. Pitfalls in Vision and Direction Giving
Vision/Outcome Pitfalls
Savior Complex Pitfalls
Ascension Pitfalls
Transitions Pitfalls
How to Expect, Detect, and Correct These Pitfalls
Unit III: We Co-construct Our Exigencies for Grouping Into Our Group Outcomes
8. (Un)Intended Group Outcomes
Dynamics Involved in Potential Group Outcomes
A Set of Potential Group Outcomes
9. To Group or Not to Group, That Is the Question
General Exigencies Against Grouping
Distrust of Grouping
Distrust of Self as a Grouping Member
Distrust of Any Aspect of This Particular Grouping Effort
Inertia and Specific Exigencies Against Grouping
How Exigencies Against Grouping May Manifest
Expecting, Detecting, and Correcting These Pitfalls: General Orientational Advice
10. Observing Groups Well
Observing Groups
Improving Observational Focus and Quality
Observing the Purgatory Puddle
Observing The Way/Process
Observing the Vision/Outcome and the Savior Complex