GROUPS IN

ORGANISAT

IONS

AND GROUP

DYNAMIC

S

UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF SADAF MA’AM.

Groups are an integral part of modern

organizations. They are present

everywhere, from the shop floor to the highest levels of management.

Stephen robbins defines a group “as two or more

individuals, interacting and interdependent, who have come together to achieve

particular objectives.”

DEFINITIONS

TYPES OF GROUPSMost individuals belong to various types of groups. These different groups can be broadly classified in two types.• {1} FORMAL GROUPS: these groups are consciously

created to serve an organizational objective. The crew of an airline flight is an example of a formal group.• Formal groups can be further divided into different types.• [a] Command group: It is a group determine by the

connection between individual who are a formal part of the organization. For eg, the marketing department comprising of the general manager and the other marketing staff.• [b] Task group: A task group is created by the

management to accomplish certain organizational goals. It is specifically created to solve the problem or preform a defined task.

[2] INFORMAL GROUPS: Informal groups are groups that develop naturally among people, without any direction from the organization within they operate. They are formed spontaneously and are based on personal relationships or specific interests.

The different types of informal groups are:

[a] Interest groups: Interest groups consist of person who share common interests. They may be job related interest, or such as sports, national politics or religion.

[b] Friendship groups: friendship group consist of individual who come together because they share one or more common characteristics. They consist of people with natural affinities for one another.

STAGES OF GROUP DEVELOPMENT Every group passes through different stages in its life cycle. According to a popular model, every group passes through five distinct stages of group development.

(1) Forming: In the forming stages the members share personal information and try to know more about the tasks to be preformed.

(2) Storming: the members compete for positions of status and control. This is a period of high emotionality and tension among group members. The storming stage is completed when the intra group conflicts are resolved and the group’s leadership is accepted.

(3) Norming: In this stage the group really begins to come together as a co-ordinated unit. Members start co-operating with each other and place their competing interest in the background.(4) Performing: This stage is sometimes called as total integration. During this stage, the group members work effectively and efficiently towards achieving the group objectives.(5) Adjourning: In this stage the group prepares for disbandment. The group’s focus is now on wrapping up activities rather than achieving high task performance.

people join groups for a variety of different reason. Most people belong to several groups because different groups provide different benefits. The following are the benefits: (1) Security. (2) Self-esteem. (3) Status. (4) Affiliation. (5) Power. (6) Goal achievement. (7) Satisfaction of needs. (8) Shared interest and goals.

WHY DO PEOPLE JOIN GROUPS

Each group has its own unique personality. This is because several factors affect the working of groups. The different factors that influence group dynamics can be classified in to:

GROUPS DYNAMICS- FACTORS

INFLUENCING WORKING OF GROUPS

(1) EXTERNAL FACTORS (2) GROUP RESOURCES(3) GROUP STRUCTURE(4) GROUP PROCESS (5) GROUP TASKS

External conditions

imposed on group

Group member

resources

Group task

Group process

Group structure

Performance and Structure

Fig 6.1 Group Behaviour Model

work groups don’t exists in isolation. They are a part of the larger organization. They are as follows.

(1) organization strategy. (2) authority structures.(3) formal regulations.(4) organizational resources.(5) human resources selection process.(6) performance evaluation and reward system.(7) organizational culture.(8) physical work setting.

EXTERNAL CONDITIONS

To succeed a group must have members with the right skills and competencies. The resources that individual members bring to the group have a strong influence on its performance. Abilities and personality characteristics of group members are two important resources.

(1) Abilities: What group members can do it has a strong bearing on group performance. Intellectual and task relevant ability of group members affects overall group performance.(2) Personality characteristics: The personality traits of individual group members strongly influence how they interact with other group members. Characteristics such as authoritarianism and dominance have a negative impact on groups.

GROUP MEMBER RESOURCES

Group structure refers to the pattern of interrelationships between the individuals constituting a group. The different aspects or variables of group structure are:

(1) Formal leadership(2) Roles(3) Norms(4) Status(5) Size(6) Cohesiveness(7) Composition

GROUP STRUCTURE

Group process includes the communication patterns used by members for information exchange, group decision processes, leader behavior, conflicts and the like. One group process that has generated considerable interest among researchers is the social facilitation effect. Psychologists have given different explanations for the social facilitation effect. Some of the prominent explanations are:

(1) Drive theory.(2) Evaluation apprehension.(3) Distraction-conflict model.

GROUP PROCESS

Task may be simple, routine and standardized or they be complex, non routine, and novel. The nature of the task moderates the group process and effect group performance and member satisfaction. For certain kind of tasks, large groups are more suitable while for some tasks smaller groups are desirable. Greater interaction among group members is required when there is a high degree of interdependence among the tasks that group members must perform.

GROUP TASK

MADE BY :

HARISH 05

THE END