What are the characteristics of a group

ABE Diploma Level 1 - Organisational BehaviourGroups

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 appropriate. Members 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

Same as above

What are the Key functions required in an ideal team?

Meredith Belbin observed team-working in practice and discovered certain combinations of personality types performed more effectively than others. The ideal team embraced a number of functions:

Coordination clarifies goals/facilitates decisions

Shaper dynamic and challenging

Teamworker builds relationships/resolves conflict

Completer painstaking/delivers to deadline

Implementer - turns ideas to action

Investigator explores opportunities

Specialist contribute scarce skills/knowledge

Monitor/evaluatorQuestion - 3 December 2001Q5

(a) What are the characteristics of a group?

(7 marks)

(b) Distinguish between the following:

(i) formal task groups

(ii) informal groups

(6 marks)

(c) Use examples to explain the difference between group task roles and group maintenance roles.

(12 marks)

(Total 25 marks)

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