Group Dynamics: Types, Formation of Groups and Group Cohesiveness!
A group may be defined as set of people who have the same interests or objectives and who organize themselves to work together and strive towards a common goal.
According to Shaw, “Group is defined as two or more persons who are interacting with each other in such a manner that each person influences and is influenced by each other.”
A group is characterized by the following features:
i. a common motive or goal and shared attitudes
ii. a hierarchical group structure i.e., clearly defined role for each member
iii. standard norms of behavior
iv. Influence of interaction with each other.
Groups exist in every organization and it is believed that “an organization will function best when its personnel function not as individuals but as members of highly effective work groups with high performance goals.”
As groups are essential for organizational functioning, they are either created by the organization itself in order to facilitate division of labor for achieving its sub-goals and ultimately its ultimate goal or groups are created automatically, as a result of the socio-psychological factors at the workplace. The study of group dynamics provides understanding of groups.
The term ‘group dynamics’ is formed by the combination of the two words ‘group’ and ‘dynamics.’ While ‘group’ refers to two or more individuals sharing an explicit socio-psychological relationship, ‘dynamics’ refers to the forces within the group that shape the patterns of interaction between group members i.e., the power or capacity of a group member to change or influence change in other members according to changed circumstances.
There are 3 views about group dynamics:
1. First view describes how a group should be organized and conducted, stressing more on democratic leadership and members’ participation.
2. Second view describes the techniques used in group dynamics, for instance, role playing, leaderless groups, brainstorming, group therapy, transactional analysis etc.
3. Third view describes group dynamics from the perspective of internal nature of groups; the structure, processes, reasons and methods of their formation, their influence within the group, with other groups and with the organization.
The three views can be summarized by describing group dynamics as a study of the nature and development of groups.
Types of Groups:
There are two types of groups in every organization:
Formal groups and Informal groups
1. Formal Groups:
An organization creates and maintains formal groups to fulfill needs or tasks that are included in its mission or organizational goals. In order to achieve its ultimate goal, an organization creates sub-goals which it assigns to different units or departments. These formal groups created by the organization itself are regulated by the organizational rules and regulations.
Life of the formal groups may be permanent or temporary depending upon the specific objectives to be fulfilled. Examples of permanent formal groups are board of directors, managing committees etc. and temporary formal groups are exemplified by task force or temporary committees created to fulfill certain specified objectives.
2. Informal Groups:
Informal groups are created voluntarily and spontaneously due to the socio- psychological forces operating in the workplace. Individuals working together often develop liking for each other and socialize with each other to overcome the psychological fatigue, boredom and monotony associated with their work.
Informal groups are formed as they satisfy the social needs of individuals while at work. As they are not created by the organization, the working of informal groups is not regulated by organizational rules and regulations.
As informal groups are smaller in size as compared to formal groups group-cohesiveness is easy to maintain. In-spite of this, informal groups are not very stable. The instability is primarily due to the personality differences between the members of the informal group.
An individual having the capacity to fulfill maximum needs of group members emerges as the informal leader and remains till the members think him capable of it. They are neither formed nor abolished by the management, rather if the management ever tries to abolish informal groups, then it may lead to alienation of employees as a protest against the management’s actions.
Jeff Lane was at his wits end. As a newly appointed production manager, he had tried virtually everything to get his workers to achieve the production targets. The equipment was operating properly, and the group had the training and experience to meet expectations, yet it was not performing well. What was wrong? And what could he do to correct the situation?
Managers and supervisors frequently face such a dilemma. What Jeff Lane and other managers/supervisors sometimes fail to realize is that within every organization there are often informal group pressures that influence and regulate individual behavior.
Informal groups formulate an unspoken set of standards establishing acceptable behaviour In Jeff’s department, the informal group may have established a norm below that set by the organization. They were working to reach the target set by their group as they had decided that the targets set by their managers was not acceptable to their group members.
Dynamics of informal Groups:
Informal groups almost always arise if opportunities exist. If management prescribes production norms that the group considers unfair, the group’s recourse is to adopt less demanding norms and to use its ingenuity to discover ways in which it can sabotage management’s imposed standards. Thus they counteract the tendency of the organization to get more output from the workers.
Informal groups have a powerful influence on the effectiveness of an organization. But the informal group’s role is not limited to resistance. The impact of the informal group upon the larger formal group depends on the norms that the informal group sets. So the informal group can make the formal organization more effective, too.
A norm is an implied agreement among the group’s membership regarding how members in the group should behave. From the perspective of the formal group, norms generally fall into three categories-positive, negative, and neutral,’ In other words, norms either support, obstruct, or have no effect on the aims of the larger organization.
For example, if the informal group in Jeff’s shop set a norm supporting high; output, that norm would have been more powerful than any attempt by Jeff to force compliance with the standard. The reason is simple, yet profound.
The norm is of the group members own choice, and is not one imposed upon them, There is a big motivational difference between being told what to do and being anxious to do it.
If Jeff had been aware of group dynamics, he might have realized that informal groups can be either his best friend or his worst enemy. He should’ have been sensitive to the informal groups within his area and he should have cultivated their goodwill and cooperation and made use of the informal group leadership.
That is, he should have wooed the leadership of the informal group and enlisted the support of its membership to achieve the formal organization’s aims.
For harnessing the power of informal groups one should have:
1. An understanding of group dynamics and,
2. An ability to bring about changes in informal group norms that positively reinforce the formal organization’s goals.
Formation of Informal Work Groups:
Individuals are employed by an organization to perform specific functions. The organization is only concerned with the job done by an individual-the output. Because people have needs that extend beyond the work itself, informal groups develop to fill certain emotional, social, and psychological needs. The degree to which a group satisfies its members’ needs, determines the limits within which individual members of the group will allow their behavior to be controlled by the group.
Sense of Belonging:
Several major functions are served by informal groups. For example, the group serves as a means of satisfying the affiliation needs of its members for friendship and support. People need to belong, to be liked, to feel a part of something. Because the informal group can withhold this attractive reward, it earns the power to exploit group members to comply with its norms.
Identity and self esteem:
Groups also provide a means of developing, enhancing, and confirming a person’s sense of identity and self-esteem. Although many organizations attempt to recognize these higher needs, the nature of some jobs-their technology and environment-precludes this from happening. The long assembly line or endless rows of desks reinforce a feeling of depersonalization.
By developing a consensus about their feelings, group members are able to reduce the anxiety associated with their jobs. For instance, several individuals may share the feeling that their supervisor is a slave driver or that their working conditions are inadequate.
All for One, One for All:
Joining forces in a small group makes the members feel stronger, less anxious, and less insecure in the face of a perceived threat. As long as needs exist that are not served by the formal organization, informal groups will form to fill the gap. Since the group fills many important needs for its members, it influences member behavior.
Leadership of Informal Work Groups:
Informal groups possess certain characteristics that can be used to advantage. While many of these characteristics are similar to those of formal organizations, others are unique. One attribute of informal groups is rotational leadership.
The informal leader emerges as the individual possessing qualities that the other members perceive as critical to the satisfaction of their specific needs at the moment; as the needs change so does the leader. Only rarely does a single individual possess all of the leadership characteristics needed to fill the various needs of the group.
Unlike the formally appointed leader who has a defined position from which to influence others, the informal leader does not possess formal power. If the informal leader fails to meet the group’s expectations, he or she is deposed and replaced by another.
The supervisor can use several strategies to affect the leadership and harness the power of informal groups. One quick and sure method of changing a group is to cause the leader to change one or more of his or her characteristics. Another is to replace the leader with another person.
One common ploy is to systematically rotate out of the group its leaders and its key members. Considering the rotational nature of leadership, a leader may emerge who has aims similar to the formal goals of the organization.
The supervisor can attempt to ‘co-opt’ informal leaders by absorbing them into the leadership or the decision-making structure of the formal group and thereby make the formal organizations more stable. However, a leader may lose favor with the group because of this association with management, and group members will most likely select another leader.
Communications Network—the Grapevine:
In the informal group, a person who possesses information vital to the group’s functioning or well-being is frequently afforded leadership status by its members. Also, the centrally located person in the group is in the best position to facilitate the smooth flow of information among group members.
Knowing about informal group communication the supervisor can provide a strategically placed individual with information needed by the group. This not only enhances the stature of this individual perhaps elevating him or her to a leadership position but also provides an efficient means of distributing information.
Providing relevant information to the group will also help foster harmony between the supervisor and the informal group. By winning the cooperation of informal group leaders the supervisor will most likely experience fewer grievances and better relationships.
Another characteristic of informal groups is group cohesiveness-the force that holds a group together. It is the degree of unity in a group. The more is the unity between the group members, more is the power associated with the group.
According to Walker, “Cohesiveness may be defined as the resultant power of a group to think and act as a single unit in pursuit of a common objective.”
According to Likert, “Cohesiveness is the attractiveness of the members to the group or resistance of the members to leaving it.”
According to Seashore, ”Group cohesiveness is the attraction of the members to the group in terms of the strength of forces on the individual members to remain active in the group and to resist leaving it.”
A cohesive group is one in which all the members work towards a common goal by taking responsibilities voluntarily and leave no stone unturned in their efforts to achieve their common goal. An effective leader plays a major role in keeping the members close knit, thereby increasing the group cohesiveness.
Group cohesiveness varies widely based on numerous factors-including the:
a. Size of the group-smaller groups has more cohesiveness.
b. Dependence of members upon the group-more the dependence more will be the group cohesiveness
c. Achievement of goals-If all members are in unison regarding achieving common goals, their group cohesiveness increases the chances of their being successful in achieving their goals.
d. Status of the group-high status group has more loyal members that confirm to the norms of the group.
e. Management demands and pressures—group cohesiveness increases strongly whenever the membership perceives a threat from the outside. This threat produces the high anxiety that strong group cohesiveness can help reduce.
If the supervisor presses the group to conform to a new organizational norm that is viewed as a threat to the security needs of group members, the group will become more unified in order to withstand the perceived threat. With the passing of the threat the group tends to lose its cohesiveness.
Supervisors can use the factors that affect group cohesiveness in favor of the management. For instance a supervisor can involve the informal group members in the decision-making process.
Input from group members will not only reduce their feeling of alienation but also improve communication between the supervisor and subordinates thereby reducing potential conflict. Where group participation in decision making is not practical the supervisor should carefully explain the reasons to play down what might be seen as a threat to the group.
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