UNIT-4

GROUP PROCESS

Definition

The interaction and inter personal relationship among the members lead to the development of
each and every individual. Thus group dynamism is known as group process.

Bonding: it is the affinity, affection by all the group members towards the other members. It
could be strong or feeble.

 The feeling of belonging is called group bonding

 Bond can save constructive or destructive purpose
 It can also become damaging when its strength prevents members from seeking any
association outside the group.

Acceptance: in some groups, some members are easily accepted while in some, it is difficult.
Genuine acceptance of each individual is unique strength and weakness. The isolate is a
member of either neglected or highly rejected by the group, yet present in it.

Isolation: those who are not accepted by the group are isolated. Those members who are not
accepting the group are also isolated. The isolate is a member either neglected of highly
rejected by the group, yet present in it.

Rejection: when there is weakness in the bonding or acceptance, then the member rejects a
group or a group rejects a member. The rejected member is tolerated by the group but he/she
is surrounded by a glass wall.

Subgroups: it is found in all groups – they are groups within a group. It is formed due to
common likeness among two or more members.

Conflicts: difference of opinion in a group is known as conflict. In a group when there are
different personalities, different ideologies conflict arises. A group that shares on conflict is a
dead one and one that is in conflict is a sick one.

Control: it is a method of resolving the conflicts in the group. It is also known as co-operation.

Methods of co-operation: Majority consent, Minority withdrawal, Through arbitration &

Negotiation.

Dynamics of the group is intertwined with the dynamics of the individual.

  The group process changes with time, its quality depends on the degree of health and
the maturity of its members & the purpose of the group
 The role of group worker.
 Understand group formation
 The necessity for subgroups & assess their place in the total group
 Know the position of the members who are isolates, leaders, or members of the
subgroup
 Should recognize conflicts & solve them amicably

Functional & Non-functional Role of Members in Group

 All members have a definite role to play in a group.
 Some take a lead role where others a passive one.
 Leaders should imbibe the spirit of the group and diffuse it among the members.
 They should be skilled in trying to take all the members towards achieving the goal for
which the group was formulated.
 Functional roles include- leaders, secretary, treasurer and other office bearers, who
actively take part in the functioning of the group.
 These people take up important responsibilities.
 They play various roles such as – mediator, advisor, liaison officer, motivator, role
model, problem – solver, catalyst, counselor etc.
 As passive participants – they should understand their role and contribute towards
effective formation of their individual development and group achievement.
 Roles vary according to the group- as passive participants, active participants and some
time active and passive aggressors.
 There may be individuals who sometimes cause problems to the very functioning of the
groups.

Group Dynamics
1. Definition
 The social process by which people interact face to face in small group is called group
dynamic. The word ‘dynamics’ comes from a Greek word which means ‘force’. Hence
group dynamics refers to the study of forces operating within a group.
  Group have properties of their own that are different from the individuals who from the
group.
2. Basic assumption of groups
 Man is always considered as member of a group throughout his life (family, peer groups,
students in the class, works in an office, member of a community).
 Social interaction is the result of group life.
 Group experiences have permanent impact on individuals.
 Group experiences changes the level of individual’s aspirations and desires.
 Man is a social animal (group animal)
 The capacity to solve problems may be increased through group experiences.
3. Group and group membership

 Definition: A group is two or more people who interact with one another such
that each person influences and is influenced by each other person
(Organizational Behaviors Managing people and organizations 7 th edition Gregory
Moorheed and Ricky W. Griffn ; Biztantra publications, New Delhi 2005).
 A social group may be through of as a number of persons, two or more, who
have some common loyalty and participant in similar activities – Bogardns.
 Based on membership, members can be distinguished as temporary and
permanent. Temporary members are floating members. Their presence is not
true for long duration. Permanent members play important role in the power
structure of the group.
 Eg:- Family – The members are permanent.
 Spectators – once the match is over, the members disappear
Types of Group can be

Formal Groups Informal Groups

Formed by the On the basis of common

organization interest
Public identity Proximity/Friendship
Types of Groups
Goal to achieve Need gratification
 S.NO Nature Official Unofficial

1 Concepts Power & Politics Authority & responsibility

2 Focus Position Person

3 Source of power Delegated by the mgt Given by the group

4 Guidelines for Rules Norms

behavior
5 Source of control Reward & penalties Sanctions

6 Key role of Performance & job Maintain

leadership
7 No. of leaders
8 Source of reward
satisfaction norms/sanctions/cohesiveness
Single Multiple/overlapping/external
but one primary leader
Authority delegated High esteem given by the
by the organization members

Classification of Groups

Relatively Relatively temporary

permanent

Formal Functional teams Task group (eg: Affinity groups (eg: new
(eg: quality & committee/task force product Devt group)
assurance dept)
Informal Friendship groups Interest groups (eg:
(eg: attend theater, women’s network
play game, travel etc

Affinity groups – are collection of employees from the same level in the organization who meet
on a regular basis to share information, capture emerging opportunities and solve problems.

4. Group Norms
The rules and regulations that exist in a group in unwritten form, but accepted by all the
members as guidelines.
It is natural that there be members in the group who will violate the norms.
Group norms shape the individual behaviors in the group.
5. Group Cohesiveness
  Cohesiveness means the bonding existing in a group. The bonding varies from
group to group and members to members.
 The bonding can be strong or week depending on the members on the group.
 In a flexible group the members allow new members to join and any member
can leave the group whenever he/she wants.
In a rigid group once you become a member of the group, you cannot leave the group
on your will and new members cannot join easily with the permission from the head.

6. Group Culture
 Definition – Eduward B Tylor, a famous English anthropologist, has defined
culture as “that complex whole, which include knowledge, belief, art, morels,
law, custom and any capabilities and habits acquired by men as a member of
society.
 Functions
 Culture is the treasury of knowledge
 Culture defines situations (eg: what we eat, drink, what we wear, when to laugh,
weep, sleep, love, worship, etc.
 Culture defines attitudes, values and goals
 Culture decides our career
 Culture provides behavior pattern
-group culture gives identity to the group
-an individual gains his/her identity from the group culture

7. Group Control
 Definition: “Social control is the sum total of the processes whereby society or
any sub groups within the society secures conformity to specifications on the
part of its constituent units, individuals and groups” (fair child)
 “Social control is a collective term used to refer to those processes planned or
unplanned, by which individuals are taught, persuaded or compelled to conform
to the usages anf life values of groups” (J.S.Roucek)
 Group Control
 Types: formal and informal controls. Formal controls eg: state makes use of law
and associations and institutions. Informal control includes gossip, slander,
resentment, folkways, mores, customs, religion, morality etc.
 Control is a process by which every group keeps its processes under its influence
and prevents any kind of deviance (breaking rules) every group needs to have
control on its members and its activities. Otherwise there will be chaos in the
group and gradually the group will dissolve. Punishment ranges from loss of
status, loss of certain privileges, fines, shame, or termination of membership.
8. Group Morale
 When assessment of individual satisfaction are averaged across all members of a
work unit. The general term used to describe overall group satisfaction is morale.
Morale is significant as individuals adapt their own attitudes to conform to those
of the group.
 Moral is a state of attitude, feelings and judgment of the group of people about
their group members.
 It is the ability to work together for a common objective.
 It refers to team working.
 It is the spirit and confidence with which individuals do their work.
9. Group Attraction
 It means the bonding between members.
 Attraction and repulsion are based on similarities and dissimilarities.
 The characteristics feature of any group is to keep the members intact.
10. Communication and Interaction pattern
 The ability of members to interact with each other in order to reach the desired
group goals and objectives
 The types of interaction pattern include: group process ; (BAIRSCOCO) ie :
Bonding, Acceptance, Isolation, Rejection, Sub groups, Conflict and co-operation
11. Sociometry
  It is the diagrammatic representation of sum total of all the interactions of a
group process among the members of the group. It helps to identify the
intrapersonal relationship existing among the members of the group
 The word “sociometry” comes from two Latin words “socius” (social) and
“metrum” (measure). Hence sociometry is a way of measuring the degree of
relatedness among people.
 Sociometry can be powerful tool for reducing conflict and improving
communication.
 Sociometry is based on the fact that people make choices and improving
communication
 A drawing like a map of those networks is called a “sociogram” the data for the
sociogram may also be displayed as a table or matrix of each person’s choices.
Such a table is called “sociomatrix”.
12. Problem Solving
 Problems are inevitable in groups. Since there are members from different
background and every individual has his point of view it becomes a difficult
process to solve a problem.
 Hence the leader should bring the group together and influence the group in
problem solving.
 Identify the problem.
 Discussion on the problem by every group member
 Identifying the various alternatives in solving the problem
 Choosing the right alternative
 Implementation
 Unsolved problem in the group can lead to the group can lead to the
disintegration of the group.
 Equal participation in problem solving brings in “we feeling” among the
members.
13. Decision Making
  It is process by which the group reaches to the best alternative out the given
alternatives to solve the problem.
 Identify the problem
 Discussion on the problem by every group member
 Identifying the various alternatives in solving the problem
 Choosing the right alternative
 Implementation
14. Goal Setting
 Every group formed is based on certain objectives and goals. Even a crowd that
has gathered during an accident is gathered because of the curiosity to see the
person in accident.
 Similarly every group before commencing to function sets a group of goals. The
achievement of individual goals depends on the completion of group goals.
 Group goals = Growth and development of the group.
 Individual goals = Personal satisfaction of needs.
15. Conflict resolution
 In order to bring cooperation within the group and remove the conflicts existing
in a group, the conflict have to be resolved.
 Unsolved conflict can influence the inter personal relationship within a group.
 Unsolved conflict can hinder the growth and development of the group
 Unsolved conflict can influence the group cohesiveness
 Hence any sort of minor or major conflicts have to be resolved for the smooth
functioning of the group.
Methods of Conflict Resolution
 Majority dominates the minority
 Minority gives way to majority
 Consensus – majority decision is accepted
 Accommodation: one sub group accommodated other’s interest that theirs
 Compromise – give and take policy.
 SOCIOMETRY AND SOCIOGRAM

The word sociometry comes from Latin word “socius” – social and “metrum” – measure.
Sociometry is a way of measuring the degree of relatedness among people. It is a methodology
for tracking the energy vectors of interpersonal relationships in a group.

 Measurement of relatedness can be useful not only in the assessment of

behavior within groups, but also for interventions to bring about positive change
and for determining the extent of change.
 For a work group, sociometry can be a powerful tool for reducing conflict and
improving communication because it allows the group to see itself objectively
and to analyze its own dynamics.
 It is also a powerful tool for assessing dynamics and development in groups
devoted to therapy or training.
 It shows the patterns of how individual associate with each other when acting as
a group toward a specified end or goal.

Jacob Levy Moreno coined the term sociometry and conducted the first long-range sociometric
study from 1932-38 at the New York State Training School for Girls in Hudson, New York. Many
sociometric studies have been conducted since, by Moreno and others, in settings including
other schools, the military, therapy groups, and business corporations. Moreno defines
sociometry as “the mathematical study of psychological properties of populations, the
experimental technique of and the results obtained by application of quantitative methods”.

SOCIOMETRIC CRITERIA

Sociometry is based on the fact that people make choices in interpersonal

relationships.Whenever people gather, they make choices--where to sit or stand;
choices about who is perceived as friendly and who not, who is central to the group, who
 is rejected, who is isolated. As Moreno says, "Choices are fundamental facts in all
ongoing human relations, choices of people and choices of things. It is immaterial
whether the motivations are known to the chooser or not; it is immaterial whether the
choices are inarticulate or highly expressive, whether rational or irrational. They do not
require any special justification as long as they are spontaneous and true to the self of the
chooser.

Choices are always made on some basis or criterion. The criterion may be subjective, such as
an intuitive feeling of liking or disliking a person on first impression. The criterion may be
more objective and conscious, such as knowing that a person does or does not have
certain skills needed for the group task. When members of a group are asked to choose
others in the group based on specific criteria, everyone in the group can make choices and
describe why the choices were made. From these choices a description emerges of the
networks inside the group.

A drawing, like a map, of those networks is called a Sociogram. It is a visual

representation of the relationships of the members. Pictures, symbols, shapes, colours and line
structure can be creatively used to depict a sociogram. The data for the sociogram may also be
displayed as a table or matrix of each person's choices. Such a table is called a Sociomatrix.
Constructing a sociomatrix for a small group is a simple task, but when the number of people in the group
is more that about five or six, the clerical work and calculations become quite tedious and open to error.
With a large matrix, the identification of sociometric relationships begins to resemble a migraine
headache. Fortunately there are computers; software exists to automate all the tedious calculations
involved in creating a sociomatrix of up to 60 people. The software produces not only the Sociomatrix
itself but also several useful group and individual reports.

Sociometric Relationships

 Sociometric star – the person who receives the most number of choices
 Mutuals – where two people choose each other
 Chains – where person A chooses B who chooses C who chooses D and so on
 Triangles – where A chooses B who chooses C and who in turn chooses A.
 Circles – choices are made in circles
 Cleavages – when clusters of people have chosen each other.
 Isolates – no one has chosen.

CRITERION SELECTION

The selection of the appropriate criterion makes or breaks the sociometric intervention. As
in all data-collection in the social sciences, the answers you get depend on the
questions you ask. Any question will elicit information but unless the right question is asked,
the information may be confusing or distracting or irrelevant to the intervention's objective. A
good criterion should present a meaningful choice to the person in as simple a format as
possible.

The criterion must be like a surgeon's knife: most effective when it cleanly isolates the material
of Interest. In responding to the question, each person will choose based on an individual
interpretation of the criterion. These interpretations, or sub-criteria, for this particular question
could include: do I want a person who works hard, who is a power-broker, who is amiable, a
minority, etc. A clear statement of the criterion will tend to reduce the number of
interpretations and will therefore increase the reliability of the data.

SOME PRINCIPLES OF CRITERION SELECTION

 The criterion should be as simple stated and as straight forward as possible.

 The respondents should have some actual experiences in reference to the criterion, otherwise
the questions will not arouse any significant response.
 The criterion should be specified rather than general or vague.
 When possible, the criterion should be actual rather that hypothetical.
 A criterion is more powerful if it is one that has a potential for being acted upon. For example, for
a college fresher the question “Whom would you choose as a roommate for the year?” has more
potential of being acted upon than the question “Whom do you trust?”
As a general rule questions should be future oriented, imply how the results are to be used, and specify
the boundaries of the group.