Groups

What are the characteristics of a group?

A group is basically a collection of individuals contributing to some common aim under the
direction of a leader, and who shares a sense of common identity. Groups also provide Stimulus,
Protection & other Psychological requirements to its members.
The characteristics of a Group are as follows:
Members engaged in frequent interaction;
Those involved define themselves as group members;
Others define members as belonging to a particular group;
They share common norms and mutual interests;
They identify with one another and share values;
They feel a sense of collective responsibility;
They act in a unified way towards the organisation.
What are formal task groups?
Those groups set up by the management of an organization to undertake duties in the pursuit of
organizational goals.
They are created to fulfill specific goals or undertake specific tasks.
They have a formal status and role conferred by the organisation.
They have definite structures with prescribed leadership and established rules, processes and roles.
They tend to be permanent.
What are informal groups?
Informal groups
Those grouping which the employees themselves have developed in accordance with their own
needs. Every organization has these kind of groups Researches say these are very important to
organisations effectiveness.
They are created by the individual members for the purpose of sharing a common interest or
meeting a shared need.
They emerge from organisational interactions and may be contained within formal task
groups.
They exist for as long as they serve a common interest or fulfill a common need.
Communication tends to be flexible and rapid and within and between groups is known
as the grapevine. - GOSSIP

 An example would be ABE students who meet at Oxford College socially.

Elton Mayo in the Hawthorne studies demonstrated the potential power of the informal
workgroup.
What are group task roles?
Initiating tasks and defining group problems;
Information/opinion seeking;
Information/opinion giving, e.g. beliefs, ideas or facts relevant to the group
problem;
Clarifying, e.g. identifying issues and alternatives arising and interpreting
contributions;
Summarising, e.g. bringing group ideas together and offering conclusions
and potential decisions;
Consensus testing involving trial balloons to test agreement.
What are group maintenance roles?
Group maintenance roles are focused on promoting and maintaining group relationships by:
Encouraging, i.e. being friendly and responsive to others and accepting their
contributions;
Expressing group feelings;
Harmonising, i.e. reconciling disagreements and encouraging members to
explore differences;
Compromising, i.e. being prepared to give ground to maintain group cohesion;
Gatekeeping, i.e. facilitating the participation of others;
Setting standards for the group to achieve and applying them in assessing
group performance.
What are the group functions?
May be divided into two types and a balance of both is required:
Task functions required to achieve the groups purpose and objectives and include:

Formulating objectives and setting targets

Seeking opinions and exchanging information to facilitate task achievement
Reinforcing, confirming and clarifying information
Assessing brainstormed ideas and selecting ideal solutions

Maintenance functions of the viability of the group by establishing norms, and a sense of
Purpose

Conflict resolution and ensuring harmonious relationships

Creating opportunities for participation and member contribution
Assessing group effectiveness and initiating any required remedial
action

What are group norms?

Group norms are the set of rules governing appropriate behaviour, opinions and attitudes.

Exert considerable influence over group members indeed continued group membership
may depend on their observance.
They drive expected behaviour, maintain group identity and regulate social interaction
Norms can cover such matters as dress code, social behaviours and output limits
Task norms will govern work performance and acceptable quality standards and may diverge
from those expected by the formal organization
Maintenance norms promote group cohesion and identity.

They include group rituals as means of defining the group. Relationship norms establish common
ways of responding to outsiders i.e set attitudes and behaviour.

The process of acquiring norms is known as socialisation while the strong pressure to abide
by the expected norms is termed conformity
Groups develop both positive and negative sanctions to ensure conformity

What is Group cohesion? (Togetherness)

Also known as team spirit or esprit de corps.

The longer a group is together the stronger the cohesiveness. Strong norms and beliefs
develop causing the group to close ranks in time of trouble or outside interference
The degree of group cohesiveness is determined by factors such as: The size of the group
small is more cohesive
The degree of mutual dependency e.g. workers from close knit communities
Incentives attaching to successful task completion Commonality through gender, faith,
skills, experience
The strength of the leader
Cohesive groups will only be effective if their goals are complementary to the organisations
Cohesive groups provide mutual support and social satisfactions and so may be positive in
impact
Cohesive groups are protective and pursue their own interests they may be closed to new
entrants

What is group development?

New groups must go through a formative process before they can gel and become fully effective.

Tuckman identified 5 stages to the process: forming, storming, norming, performing &
Adjourning.
Forming concerns finding the situation the group faces and the types of behaviour and
interaction that will be appropriateMembers test out attitudes and behaviour to establish
acceptability and agreed ground rules. A powerful leadership personality can assist this
anxious process
Storming is the stage where different opinions and styles emerge, creating possibilities for
competing sub-groups, leadership challenges and resistance to meeting task requirements
Issues must be resolved at this stage in order to move on and develop.
Norming occurs when resistance is overcome and conflicts are resolved Mutually
acceptable task and maintenance norms are established and members begin to internalise
them so building up cohesion Group roles are clarified and the leader established.
Members begin to feel included Recognition of the value of different contributions grows
and real performance begins.
Performing is the final stage when the groups energy is available for effective task
completion.
Adjourning is when group disperses on completion of tasks.

What are the elements affecting group behaviour?

Research indicates that the most important factors are:
Size of the group
The group leader
The nature of group members and their motivation
Group norms
Individual roles
The environment
The task itself.
As mentioned above, a group is a collection of individuals, sharing a common identity and
contributing to a common aim under the direction of a leader. Most organisational tasks are
undertaken by groups or teams which in turn provide stimulus, protection and assistance to the
individuals that compose it. Distinction should be made between formal and informal groups.
However, in practice many groups are so driven by pressure to meet deadlines that the relevance of
process and relationship issues is often overlooked. Yet for groups to be effective, sufficient time
needs to be set aside to allow issues to be aired and relationships to be built. Once group norms are
established there are strong pressures to conform.

These might conflict with management norms. e.g. output controls. Effectiveness is achieved when
the needs and expectations of the organization are at one with those of the group and individuals.
Effective groups tend to be informal and relaxed with a high degree of participation. Conflict is
brought into the open and decisions are reached by consensus.

Teams and Team Building

Students tend to confuse both Teams and Groups. Their questions are, whether groups and teams are
same?
In both teams and groups, there are major differences as well as similarities which can be seen. But
there are some unique qualities which can be seen in teams.
According to John Adair (1986)
A team is more than just a group with a common aim.
In a team all members are seen as complementary.
There is strong collaboration & strong togetherness
There is a strong commitment from its member & genuine support for each other.
The Specialty is an Ability to work as a team even if the individual members are apart.
(operating from various places)
Researchers have shown that following attributes (things) are very much visible in a team.

Clear objectives
Good leadership
Openness and confrontation
Support and trust
Co-operation and conflict
Sound procedures
Regular monitoring (review)
Individual development
Group inter-group relations

In another study carried out by Meredith Belbin and his team identified that a leader or
manager may be playing one or more of the following roles.

Chairmans role A person who coordinates and controls other team members
Shaper Who shapes others thinking and decisions.
Innovator Who provides creative thinking in a team
Monitor/Evaluator Who monitors and analyses
Company worker Who translates ideas into practice.
Team worker Who maintains team spirit and work with others.
Resource Investigator Who looks for resources and for ideas out side the team and helps
the team with those.
Completer Who looks forward to complete the given job on time