Why are groups and organizations useful to society?

They provide guidance, they have influence over others, others respect them,
they respond to the needs of others, and they put the welfare of others above
their own.

It offers mutual influence—community members have influence and are

influenced by one another. It has shared needs and a shared commitment to
meeting them. It has a shared emotional connection—members share
common history, experiences, and support.

Why do people join groups?

The need to belong and to be part of a group is a fundamental part of being

human. The exact inspirational force that motivates people to join a group is
not agreed upon in the psychological literature. Realistic group conflict theory,
the self-esteem hypothesis, uncertainty-identity theory, terror management
theory, and sociometer theory each explain the need to belong through
distinct perspectives. These five heavily researched theories provide different
explanations and predictions for why people join and identify with groups,
such as the motivation for completing personal goals, the drive to increase
self-esteem, to reduce anxiety surrounding death, to reduce uncertainty, and
to seek protection within a group. Across the research on this topic, it is
becoming clear that self-uncertainty reduction seems to be a powerful reason
for identifying with groups. However, there is no doubt that other reasons may
also be involved in the motivation to join groups. For example, existential
uncertainty may drive people to affiliate with groups that specifically address
existential issues; people may prefer to affiliate with desirable, rather than
stigmatized, groups in order to satisfy the basic pursuit of pleasure over pain;
and people may affiliate to protect against a wide variety of fears. Further
research is needed to fully elucidate why people join groups.
There is no particular reason answering why individuals join groups. Group
helps individual to feel stronger, have fewer self-doubts, and be more contrary
to threats.
The following points help us understand the need of joining a group by
individuals −
 Security mirrors strength in numbers. Status pinpoints a prestige
that comes from belonging to a specific group. Inclusion in a group
is considered as important because it provides recognition and
status.
 Self-esteem transmits people's feelings of self-worth.
Membership can sometimes raise feelings of self-esteem like being
accepted into a highly valued group.
 Affiliation with groups can meet one's social needs. Work groups
significantly contribute to meet the need for friendships and social
relations.
 Groups represent power. What mostly cannot be achieved
individually becomes possible with group effort. Power might be
aimed to protect themselves from unreasonable demands.
Informal groups provide options for individuals to practice power.
 People may join a group for goal achievement. Sometimes it takes
more than one person to accomplish a particular task.
 In business, education, sports, politics, and in many areas of social life,
we see people come together in groups and then share ideas. Why are groups
or organizations important to us? From my point of view, I would like to list
three main reasons for it: to communicate, to share common interests or
purposes, and to learn from others.

Firstly, people take part in groups or organization to communicate.

According to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, besides physiological, safety needs,
people have natural desire for being belong to a group. The group can be a
family, a group of friends or an organization. In the prehistoric time, human
lived in groups for their safety and to protect themselves from external
threatens like: wild predators, natural disasters…But in the modern society
today, people still have enormous demand to be included in groups because
they need the connection and interaction with human’s society. Without
interacting with anyone, people feel extreme lonely, depressive and become
introverted, even isolated. Groups and organizations give them special
environments to talk, share, and have a fulfilled social life. For example, there
are many groups for the single which connects people who are single,
divorced, or widowed all around the world. By joining in the groups, people
meet more new friends and can easier find happiness. That’s why for
communicating is one of leading roles of groups.

Secondly, groups or organizations are where people share similar

interests and purposes. Various kinds of interest can be listed, from music,
sport, or making craft, to academic ones. In the groups, people organize many
activities related to their interests or to meet particular purposes. For example,
I take part in a group with other people who all care about Vietnamese culture.
Every week, we spend at least three hours to study and present about cultural
fields like: the origin of Vietnam’s ethnic communities, Hanoi’s cafe…And every
a few months, we organize an event with traditional performances such as:
Cheo, Xam, Chau Van…to spread the love of Vietnam’s culture to others. Being
in groups or organizations with someone who share the same passion make
you explore your interest and raise it bigger. Without groups, people still can
develop their own interests, but nothing can be greater than having truly
friends who share the same direction. It’s a second reason why groups or
organizations are important to us.

In particular, groups give us value opportunities to build social skills and

learn plenty of things from other members. For example, being a part of a
group and join in its activities, we learn to how to cooperate with other
members and be responsible for what we do. Or taking charge of an important
role in your group, we train our abilities to inspire people, lead them, and face
with high pressure. Addition, friends in group are new worlds for us to
discover. From their experience, perspectives, and knowledge, we can learn
many value things. For example, you like piano, but never have the change to
try it, then you realize your new friends in groups is a pianist. You can ask her
to teach you play. Or you are a good writer but have no idea about designing a
poster. In contrast, you friend is a designer, but bad at expressing ideas in
words. You both can collaborate to help each other better or may can publish
your own newspapers. Groups are important because they bring us new
friends and also new teachers in life.

To summarize, involving in groups and organizations benefit people in

many aspects. Three of them are to communicate, to share common interests,
and to learn more. Clearly, groups are indispensable part in our lives. However,
we shouldn’t only expect to gain something from group, because its value
comes from what we contribute to them.