Group dynamics

Group dynamics

1. Typologies (Schein 1980)

   • Primary
     • close, personal relationship
   • Secondary
     • occur within organisation
   • Informal
     • social groups
   • Formal
     • formed by organisation to serve function
   • hierarchical - leader
   • breakthrough - work together
   • synchronised
   • open - opportunity to communicate
   • Task interaction = work together towards outcome
   • Relationship = interpersonal interaction

2. Theories

   • Social Exchange Theory (Homans 1961)
     • people conform is want to remain in group
     • people engage with activity and get rewarded
   • Cognitive Dissonance Theory (Festinger 1957)
     • psychological forces impact our behaviour
       • conform to reduce dissonance
   • Social Identity Theory (Tajifel & Turner 1979)
     • people categorise themselves according to group they belong to
       • group influences our behaviour
     • highlights minorities

3. Group Formation

   • Tuckman & Jensen (1977)
     • FORMING - people come together, tension, recognise goals
     • STORMING - friendships formed, greater cohesion
     • NORMING - clear goals, group bonded
     • PERFORMING - committed to task, conflicts handled constructively
     • ADJOURNING - group breaks up, task complete
     • linear model - not always followed
   • Tubbs (1995)
     • ORIENTATION - group gets together, opportunities & limitations discussed
     • CONFLICT - necessary for group's development, evaluate ideas and avoid groupthink, conformity
     • CONSENSUS - group members agree to alternatives
     • CLOSURE - agree on final decision

4. Norms

   • "acceptable standards of behaviour shared by group members" (Robbins 2005)
   • PREDICTABILITY - obey rules
   • TRUSTWORTHINESS
   • CONFORMITY - encourage obedience
   • reflect organisational structure

5. Roles

   • set of behaviours: act in certain way in certain context (Hare 1994)
   • Task Focus - towards goal
   • Emotional - support
   • group socialisation
     • members learn values & expected behaviour
       • need to conform
   • Factors causing tension (Bales 1950)
     • Conflict reduced by feedback, job descriptions, role of leder in role selection
     • greater access to resources
     • more control by other person
     • higher expertise
     • social role