group processes in organizations

8/7/2019 Group Processes in Organizations

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GROUP PROCESSES IN

ORGANIZATION

PRESENTED BY:

SITARAM PAUL



What is a group?

� Two or more individuals interacting who have

come together to achieve a particular goal.

� Two or more interacting individuals with a stable pattern of relationship between them

who perceive themselves as a group.



ASPECT OF GROUP PROCESS

� Patterns of communication and coordination

� Patterns of inf luence

� Roles / relationship

� Patterns of dominance (e.g. who leads, whodefers)

� Balance of task focus vs social focus

� Level of group effectiveness� How conf lict is handled

� Emotional state of the group as a whole.



What is group dynamics?

� It is a perspective of:

� Internal nature of a group/ composition.

� How it is formed.� Its structure and processes.

� How does it function.

� How does it affect individual members.

� How does it affect organisation.



GROUP DYNAMICS

Objectives:-

� To identify and analyze the social processes that

impact on group development and perf ormance.

� To acquire the skills necessary to intervene and

improve individual and group perf ormance in an

organizational context.

� To build more successf ul organizations by

applying techniques that provide positive

impact on goal achievement.



Reasons for joining groups

1. security: group reduces insecurity

and standing alone syndrome.



2. Status : recognition and status same

as that of group

�



4.Affiliation: Fulfills need of affection



5. Power: There is power in number



6. Goal achievement: pool of talent,

skills and knowledege



STAGES OF GROUP FORMATION

� Classic theory, developed by George homans

(activities, interaction & sentiments)

� Social

Excha

nge Th

eory (ba

sed ontrus

t& fe

lt

obligation)

� Social Identity Theory (demographically,

culturally, or organizationally based)

� Bruce Tuckman Theory



STAGE -I

FORMING:

CONFUSION- not certain about

purpose,ta

ska

ndlea

dersh

ip.



� STAGE II

STORMING:conf lict and confrontation(disagreements).



STAGE III

NORMING: settling down, coop, collaboration



STAGE IV

PERFORMING: group fully functional, devoted totask at hand.



STAGE V

ADJOURNING: end of group/ new modifiedgroup

happy

sad

depressed



TYPES OF GROUPS

� FORMAL & INFORMAL GROUPS

Formal Informal



Command & Task groups

Interest & Friendship groups

Reference(social validation &

comparison) & Functional groups



FACTORS AFFECTING GROUP

PERFORMANCE

� COMPOSITION

� Roles

� SIZE

� NORMS

� COHESIVENESS



COMPOSITION

� Heterogeneous group with diverse abilities andinformation more effective.

� Effective outcome with heterogeneous group interms of gender, person

ality, opinions, ski

llsa

ndperspective.

� More conf lict laden and less expedient- moredeliberate.

� Cult

ural

diversit

y useful

wh

en diversit

y of viewpoints are required.

� However, culturally diverse group have difficultyin learning.



Contd..

Common demographic attributes like age, sex,race, education level strength of service in

organisation result in better outcome.

Composition of a group acts as a predictor of turn over.

Groups which have cohorts( persons with

common attributes) are likely to performbetter.



ROLES

� Roles are predetermined & assigned to members

� Work roles:- task oriented activities that involveaccomplishing the group's goals. Involve initiator,informer, clarifier, summarizer & reality tester

� Informer roles:- finding f acts and giving advice oropinions

� Maintenance roles:- social-emotional activities that help members maintain their involvement in the groupa

nd ra

iseth

eir personal

commi

tmen

t toth

e group. Roles are harmoniser, gatekeeper, consensus tester,

encourager & compromiser

� Blocking roles:- activities that disrupt the group



SIZE

� Does the size of a group affect the groupsoverall behaviour? YES

� For completion of a particular task

( something productive)- smaller group but forproblem solving a larger group more effective.

� Social loafing effect more people individual

effort less

.

� Individual becomes a free rider.

� Preferable to have odd number.



NORMS

What do they mean?

� All groups have norms.

� These are acceptable standards of behaviour that areshared by group members.

� These define what ought/ought not to be done bymembers.

� When accepted and agreed upon by members theseact as behaviour inf luencing parameters for conduct

without outside control.� Norms differ group to group.

� These could be formally or informally laid down.



Common classes of norms

� Performance norms: laid down parameters as to howhard a person is required to work, what productionlevel to achieve and so on.

� Appea

ra

nce norms: dress, seeming

tolook for

anew job etc.

� Arrangement norms: basically applicable to informal groups. These laid down degree of social interaction. Inessence participative social activities.

� Allocation of resources norms: these could include pay,bonus, tools equipment, assignment of difficult jobsetc.



HOWS & WHYS OF NORMS

HOW

Norms normally develop in one or more ways:

� Explicit statement by manager: no personal calls

during working hours.

� Critical events in groups history: monitoring each other, eg: accident.

� Primac

y:th

e first b

eha

viour patt

ernthat

emergessets the norms. My seat, my friend etc.

� Carry over behaviour: what one followed.



WHY

It f acilitate group survival- as group they dont want to f ail and forbid interference from other

groups.

It increases the predictability of groupmembers predictability of behaviour.

It reduces embarrassing inter personal

probl

ems of group memb

ers.

It allows group members to express the

central values of the group and clarify.



COHESIVENESS

� bonding of group members and their desire to remain part of the

group

� Has many positive effects like worker satisfaction, low turnover and

absenteeism, and higher productivity

� Highly cohesive groups may also be more vulnerable to groupthink� Group Think can lead to a number of decision-making issues such as

the following:

Incomplete assessments of the problem,

Incomplete information search,

Bias in processing information,

Inadequate development of alternatives, and

Failure to examine the risks of the preferred choice.

� Groups outperform when variety of skills, experience & decision

making required



CASE STUDYThe 2008 UEFA European Football Championship (2008 Euro Cup) saw a Spanish teamthat took many keen observers of the game by surprise. The side which, over the years,had earned the tag of 'underachievers' in the international arena despite having someof the most talented individuals and the best domestic clubs in Europe, played superblyto win the 2008 Euro Cup, its first triumph in such ma jor tournaments in 44 years.

Experts felt that the Spanish national team's sub-par performance in ma jortournaments was primarily due to a lack of team spirit and the killer instinct.The lack of team spirit was a result of the intense rivalry between different regions of

Spa

ina

sth

e va

rious regions were divided interms of

cult

urea

nd political

outl

ook.

Insuch a situation, it was very difficult for the members of the team to play as a unit,according to them.

Spain's stellar performance in the 2008 Euro Cup and the team spirit they displayed inthe tournament was largely attributed to the brilliant management and leadership of coach, Jose Luis Aragones Suarez (Aragones). Aragones appointment came shortly af terSpain's debacle in the 2004 Euro Cup. The new coach put in much of his effort into teambuilding and instilling a sense of team spirit into the fractured team that was also short on self belief .

Though the team f ailed to perform well in the 2006 World Cup, its overall performancerecord under Aragones leadership was very good culminating with the success in the2008 Euro Cup. However, the feat was not an easy one as Aragones had to take somevery tough decisions along the way which dented this popularity among the public andthe media and attracted a lot of criticism. However, with the team breaking the 44-year

jinx, Aragones team building initiatives, strategy and tactics, management skills, andleadership came in for special praise.



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group processes in organizations

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