Groups are formed to complete different goals in an organization. Groups may be very effective as they may help the organization by integration of organizational values and may inculcate competency among other members of the same organization through lead by example tactics.
Work Groups and Teams
A Group is a collection of people who interact with each other and work together to achieve a common goal. All members also perceive themselves as a part of that group. (Andrew J. DuBrin, 2008)
A team on the other hand is a special group that comprises of workers who share special skills to perform the particular task that is assigned to the workers. For example a team to carry out market research will comprise special market analysts who would specialize in promotion, pricing and research strategies. (DuBrin, 2008)
Informal Group
An informal group is a group of people that emerges with time as people get to know each other and prefer to stick together at the work place as they share similar likes and dislikes. An informal group is more of a friends circle inside an organization and is made by workers preferences. The informal group may work on specific tasks for the organization but may also gather to achieve personal satisfaction.
Formal Group
Formal Group is a group of people formed by an organization to achieve particular goals and targets. This group is not formed by workers own choice or preference in fact, it is formed by the management according to the needs of the task that is to be performed. A formal group includes a department or a project team that is specifically organized by a company to achieve specific goals for the organization.
Benefits of Groups for an Organization
An organization can gain a lot through distributing its work amongst different groups. A group allows workers to learn from each other while they are on a project through shared experiences, ideas and creativity. Groups also help workers to develop their emotional quotient by developing patience and tolerance. Also groups enable members to exercise their leadership skills while theyre at work. Group work also allows sharing of interests of the members who can indulge in activities after work hours, in case of informal groups, for recreation or leisure. Organizations may benefit from group work as a group may have diversity of skillful and talented people who may add value to the project as a whole and may help boost productivity. A group can be motivated easily as a whole and has a set target which is relatively easy to achieve while working as a group than as an individual. (Benjamin, Bessant, Watts, 1997)
Group Formation
Group formation goes through different stages when members come into contact for the first time as a group to when they leave the group. The following are the phases of group formation.
The first phase of group development is formation. During formation members are initially curious and excited to work on new tasks. Moreover, they also are interested to achieve a higher status in the organization through building relationships via membership of a group. Members during formation come together and try to conform to group norms and accepted behavior(Jackson, 2002).
The second phase is storming. This occurs when members interests start conflicting with each other and when everybody tries to become the leader of the group pushing forward their opinions and expectations. During this phase, some members are excluded from the whole group while the others build up on their relationship. In cases where groups do not have a conflicting stage and everyone is ready to work cooperatively, then the second stage is skipped and the third stage becomes the second stage. (Tuckman Jensen, 1977)
The third stage in group formation is norming. Norming takes place where members start to form their own norms and codes of behavior within the organization. This phase happens when members practice group cohesiveness and agree with each other on basic values and ways of behavior. For example a group may encourage its members to participate in decision making while an other group may restrict its members from giving opinions and just stick to their own specialized task. Norms may be formed through encouraging certain behavior such as open appreciation or punishment they may also be adopted from the norms of the organization or from an influential member of the group. (Tuckman Jensen, 1977)
The fourth stage is performing where members are well integrated and focused in achieving their goals and work productively as a group leaving aside their personal differences. At this stage, members are more acquainted of each other and concentrate more on reaching targets.
The fifth stage is adjourning, where once the group goal is achieved members disperse into their different departments and often join other groups. However, many members may continue to reassemble after they leave a group because of their association. They may prefer to keep their relationship alive even after the group is formally adjourned(Robbins,2000).
Group effectiveness under threat and pressure
Group effectiveness under threat and pressure deals with what makes groups under perform during times of great pressure. According to Marlene Turner and Todd Horvitz, threat for the work group is an external factor that puts pressure on the group. This pressure may involve a potential loss that may be foreseen by the group members such as a loss of job if the task is underperformed. Moreover, threat may be an internal threat within a group but the study done by turner and Horvitz only focuses on external threats, that is, threats external to the group(Armstrong,2000).
The threat rigidity hypothesis suggests how group members perceive and subsequently deal with the threat that they foresee or feel. This hypothesis suggests that is the effect of the threat is known, in other words, if the change from the threat is obvious and known, it will have a negative or dysfunctional effect on the performance of the group. However, if the effect is not known and the consequences of a threat are varied then the group may be motivated to work harder to go against the threat and will try to overcome it. (Turner and Horvitz, 2001)
According to threat rigidity hypothesis, workers tend to become rigid to the threat by avoiding work cooperation by avoiding information processing and increasing authority at the center. However, researches done by Gladstein and Reilly have supported that threat does hinder information processing however, it does not necessarily centralize authority and decision making. (Turner and Horvitz, 2001) Hence, group work may be affected by external factors such as threat. Other problems of group work may involve social loafing and free riding.
Social loafing
Social loafing is where some group members try to free ride by not doing any substantial work while others put in a lot of effort and perform beyond their capacities. Social loafing is a main problem of group work as the true potential of all the members is not achieved. Some members who may have out in their best efforts may feel dissatisfied as the other members may not have performed equally but would be getting the rewards similar to the other hard working members. Social loafing may be one of the main reasons why workers may avoid working in groups.
Another problem of a work group is where members cannot express their ideas fully some members may dominate the group by discouraging other members through their influence. This practice may discourage other members who could have produced efficiently had they been dealing with the task all alone. However, this may also teach some members to overcome dominance and to compete with the exclusion tactics implied by other more powerful members in a group. Negative influence may also affect members of a group. If a group leader is very abusive, members may adopt his or her habit and may develop that negative influence upon them which may be harmful for the organizations culture in the future.
Groups can be very effective in achieving results for an organization however, they may face many problems which may affect individual work practices in the long run. If group work is not properly supervised it may sometimes create more problems for the organization through internal politics and conflicts.
Work Groups and Teams
A Group is a collection of people who interact with each other and work together to achieve a common goal. All members also perceive themselves as a part of that group. (Andrew J. DuBrin, 2008)
A team on the other hand is a special group that comprises of workers who share special skills to perform the particular task that is assigned to the workers. For example a team to carry out market research will comprise special market analysts who would specialize in promotion, pricing and research strategies. (DuBrin, 2008)
Informal Group
An informal group is a group of people that emerges with time as people get to know each other and prefer to stick together at the work place as they share similar likes and dislikes. An informal group is more of a friends circle inside an organization and is made by workers preferences. The informal group may work on specific tasks for the organization but may also gather to achieve personal satisfaction.
Formal Group
Formal Group is a group of people formed by an organization to achieve particular goals and targets. This group is not formed by workers own choice or preference in fact, it is formed by the management according to the needs of the task that is to be performed. A formal group includes a department or a project team that is specifically organized by a company to achieve specific goals for the organization.
Benefits of Groups for an Organization
An organization can gain a lot through distributing its work amongst different groups. A group allows workers to learn from each other while they are on a project through shared experiences, ideas and creativity. Groups also help workers to develop their emotional quotient by developing patience and tolerance. Also groups enable members to exercise their leadership skills while theyre at work. Group work also allows sharing of interests of the members who can indulge in activities after work hours, in case of informal groups, for recreation or leisure. Organizations may benefit from group work as a group may have diversity of skillful and talented people who may add value to the project as a whole and may help boost productivity. A group can be motivated easily as a whole and has a set target which is relatively easy to achieve while working as a group than as an individual. (Benjamin, Bessant, Watts, 1997)
Group Formation
Group formation goes through different stages when members come into contact for the first time as a group to when they leave the group. The following are the phases of group formation.
The first phase of group development is formation. During formation members are initially curious and excited to work on new tasks. Moreover, they also are interested to achieve a higher status in the organization through building relationships via membership of a group. Members during formation come together and try to conform to group norms and accepted behavior(Jackson, 2002).
The second phase is storming. This occurs when members interests start conflicting with each other and when everybody tries to become the leader of the group pushing forward their opinions and expectations. During this phase, some members are excluded from the whole group while the others build up on their relationship. In cases where groups do not have a conflicting stage and everyone is ready to work cooperatively, then the second stage is skipped and the third stage becomes the second stage. (Tuckman Jensen, 1977)
The third stage in group formation is norming. Norming takes place where members start to form their own norms and codes of behavior within the organization. This phase happens when members practice group cohesiveness and agree with each other on basic values and ways of behavior. For example a group may encourage its members to participate in decision making while an other group may restrict its members from giving opinions and just stick to their own specialized task. Norms may be formed through encouraging certain behavior such as open appreciation or punishment they may also be adopted from the norms of the organization or from an influential member of the group. (Tuckman Jensen, 1977)
The fourth stage is performing where members are well integrated and focused in achieving their goals and work productively as a group leaving aside their personal differences. At this stage, members are more acquainted of each other and concentrate more on reaching targets.
The fifth stage is adjourning, where once the group goal is achieved members disperse into their different departments and often join other groups. However, many members may continue to reassemble after they leave a group because of their association. They may prefer to keep their relationship alive even after the group is formally adjourned(Robbins,2000).
Group effectiveness under threat and pressure
Group effectiveness under threat and pressure deals with what makes groups under perform during times of great pressure. According to Marlene Turner and Todd Horvitz, threat for the work group is an external factor that puts pressure on the group. This pressure may involve a potential loss that may be foreseen by the group members such as a loss of job if the task is underperformed. Moreover, threat may be an internal threat within a group but the study done by turner and Horvitz only focuses on external threats, that is, threats external to the group(Armstrong,2000).
The threat rigidity hypothesis suggests how group members perceive and subsequently deal with the threat that they foresee or feel. This hypothesis suggests that is the effect of the threat is known, in other words, if the change from the threat is obvious and known, it will have a negative or dysfunctional effect on the performance of the group. However, if the effect is not known and the consequences of a threat are varied then the group may be motivated to work harder to go against the threat and will try to overcome it. (Turner and Horvitz, 2001)
According to threat rigidity hypothesis, workers tend to become rigid to the threat by avoiding work cooperation by avoiding information processing and increasing authority at the center. However, researches done by Gladstein and Reilly have supported that threat does hinder information processing however, it does not necessarily centralize authority and decision making. (Turner and Horvitz, 2001) Hence, group work may be affected by external factors such as threat. Other problems of group work may involve social loafing and free riding.
Social loafing
Social loafing is where some group members try to free ride by not doing any substantial work while others put in a lot of effort and perform beyond their capacities. Social loafing is a main problem of group work as the true potential of all the members is not achieved. Some members who may have out in their best efforts may feel dissatisfied as the other members may not have performed equally but would be getting the rewards similar to the other hard working members. Social loafing may be one of the main reasons why workers may avoid working in groups.
Another problem of a work group is where members cannot express their ideas fully some members may dominate the group by discouraging other members through their influence. This practice may discourage other members who could have produced efficiently had they been dealing with the task all alone. However, this may also teach some members to overcome dominance and to compete with the exclusion tactics implied by other more powerful members in a group. Negative influence may also affect members of a group. If a group leader is very abusive, members may adopt his or her habit and may develop that negative influence upon them which may be harmful for the organizations culture in the future.
Groups can be very effective in achieving results for an organization however, they may face many problems which may affect individual work practices in the long run. If group work is not properly supervised it may sometimes create more problems for the organization through internal politics and conflicts.
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