GROUP DYNAMICS

Presented by,
Nikhila Raj
Abhiram S
Abhijith K Babu
Aksa Sabu
Presented to,
Kanaka Ma’am
 GROUP DYNAMICS
The term “group dynamics” refers to the interaction between people who works together in a group setting.
According to Keith Davis , “ the social process by which people interact face to face in small groups is
called group dynamics.
Group dynamics include :
• Groups
• Types of groups
• Stages of group development
• Pitfalls of groups
• Group determinants of group behaviour
• Group cohesiveness
• Group decision making
 PITFALLS OF GROUPS
The principal pitfalls identified with groups are:
a)Status differentials

Groups are formed for task fulfilment, which requires interaction with one another ( i.e. , exchange of

emotions and stimuli).Through such exchange people become conscious of other members of the group .

High status individuals receive prominence and their views are accepted and respected , even if they are

wrong . Thus status differentials hinder integration of members.

b)Group norms

Norms play an important role in enabling groups to function . Norms dictate the behaviour of group

members . But group norms may force members to support decisions which privately they disagree with and

which are detrimental to the organisation .

c)Risky and cautious shifts

Risky shifts occur where a group makes a decision which is more risky than an individual operating

alone would make . Cautious shifts occur where group makes a decision which is less risky than an

individual alone would make . Risky shifts can lead groups to accept probabilities which are rationally

indefensible where excessive caution can lead to missed opportunities . Both phenomena may not be in the

interest of the organisation.

d) Polarisation

This means magnify a dominant view point . One reason for polarisation to occur is that group

members are swayed by one another’s advocacy . Another possibility is that the security of group

membership induces members to support a decision which is more drastic or more cautious than they

would accept as individuals whatever the reason , polarisation make groups ineffective .
e)Groupthink

Groupthink refers to the tendency of members in a highly cohesive group to lose their critical , evaluate
capabilities . Group cohesiveness demands conformity and the members of the cohesive group are
unwilling to criticise one another’s ideas and suggestions . Group leads to conformity.

Determinants of Group Behaviour

1)External conditions
a)Organisational Strategy

Organisation has a strategy set by top management that outlines the organisations goals and means for
attaining these goals . The strategy that an organisation is pursuing , at any given time , will influence the
power of various work groups . This will determine the resources that the organisation top management is
willing to allocate to it for performing its task .
b) Authority structures

Organisations have authority structures that define who reports to whom , who makes decisions
and what decisions individuals or groups are empowered to make . This structure typically
determines where a given work group placed in the organization’s hierarchy , the formal leader of
the group and formal relations between groups .

c) Formal regulations

Organisations create rules , procedures , policies and other forms of regulations to standardize
employ behaviour . The more formal regulations that the organization imposes on its employees , the
more the behaviour of work group members will be consistent and predictable .
d) Organisational resources

Organisational resources are important to the work group include such things a
tools ,equipments ,

facilities and work methods and procedures .To achieve their true potential in task performance
group need proper resources support . The relative scarcity or abundance of resources in the
organisations can affect the groups .

e) Procurment of personnel

The method adopted by the organisation to hire employees will determine the type of people to
constitute the group . The procurement factor becomes more critical if a large segment of
organisation employees are unionised . In such cases collective bargaining contract will play a key
part in specifying who is hired as well as acceptable and unacceptable behaviour of group members .
f) Perfomance appraisel and reward system

Groups are influenced by reward system . Well defined systems help establish and maintain
topper levels and direction for group efforts .

g) Organisational culture

Every organisation has an unwritten culture that defines standards of acceptable and unacceptable
behaviour for employees . Members of work groups have to accept standards implied in the
organisation’s dominant culture if they are to remain in good standards .

h) Physical work setting

Physical arrangement of work setting can also influence what goes in a group . The size and
physical layout of work setting can create both barriers and opportunities for work group interactions.
2) Group members’ resources
a) Abilities

A group’s performance can be predicted by assessing task relevant and intellectual abilities of its
individual members .However correlation between abilities of members and group performance
depends upon size of group ,nature of task ,actions of the leader and the level of intragroup conflict .

b) Personality characteristics

Positive characteristics include traits such as sociability, self reliance and independence tend to be
positively related to group productivity , morale , and cohesiveness where as negatively evaluated
characteristics such as authoritarianism , dominance and unconventionality tend to have adverse
effect on group performance .
3) Group structuring
a) Leadership

Effective leadership is a key ingredient for high performance in formal and informal groups. In
formal group, the leader is responsible for direction and goal accomplishment of the group and can
reward or punish individual members when they do not comply with directions , orders or rules of
the group .

Where as in informal group , the leader aids the group in directing towards goal accomplishment ,
embodies the values of group, acts for the group in presenting their view point when interacting with
management or other groups and facilitates group activities by initiating group actions and assisting
in resolving group conflict .
b) Role

The word “Role” meant the part that an individual plays as a result of occupying some position or
status in life . In organisations individuals play either task -oriented , relations- oriented or self-
oriented roles.

An individual who helps the group to reach its goal is playing the task-oriented role.

An employee who is supportive , nurturant and who seeks to make other feel happy is said to play
relations- oriented or socio-emotional role .

People do things for themselves , often at the expense of the group is playing self oriented role .
c) Group size

Group size has implications on problem solving , resource and communication trade off , member
satisfaction and character of group membership .

 Ideal group size is 5 – 7 members

 Member satisfaction increases as group approaches 5 and decreases there after . Turnover and
absenteeism also increase with group size .

i) Less than 5 members result in :

 Fewer people to share task responsibilities

 More personnel discussions
 More complete participation
ii) More than 7 members result in :
Fewer opportunities to participate

More member inhibitions

Domination by aggressive members

Tendency to split into subgroups

d) Group norms

These are the set of believes , attitudes and feelings shared by group members . They also refer to as rules or

standards of behaviour that apply to group members . Norms carry 3 functions :

• Predictive : Norms provide a basis for understanding the behaviour of others and for deciding ones own
behaviour.
• Control : Norms regulate the behaviour of members
• Relational : Norms define relationships among roles
Characteristics of Group Norms

 Represents characteristics of groups

 Basis for predicting and controlling behaviour of others
 Related to behaviours considered important for their group
 They are applied to all members
e) Group task

Task can be classified on the basis of time frame , task requirements and task objectives

 Time frame refers to time required by group for task completion. On the basis , tasks may be
sorted into short term task and long term task.

 Task requirements include amount of information to be generated processed and transmitted:level

of interaction between group members required and skills required by the group members . Based
on this, tasks may be classified into routine and complex types .

 On the basis of task objectives , task can be categorized into production tasks , discussion tasks
and problem solving tasks .
Group Cohesiveness
Cohesiveness refers to the extent of liking each member has towards others and how far everyone
wants to remain as a member of the group .

Causes and consequences of group cohesiveness

 Actions to increase cohesion :
• induce agreement on group goals
• increase interaction among members
• decrease group size
• introduce competition with other groups
 Actions to decrease cohesion :
• increase membership
• remove physical isolation
• allocate rewards to individuals rather than to the group as a whole
• introduce a dominating member
How cohesiveness and productivity norms affect group productivity ?
Group decision making
Group decision making is a situation faced when individual collectively make a choice from the
alternatives before them .

Approaches to group decision making

a) Autocratic decision making

Leader makes a decision by himself or herself or independently . This approach is fast and often effective ,
particularly when the leader is competent person . Highly useful in time of crisis .

b) Expert member soliciting

In this method advice of an expert is obtain and decision is made according to it . Where the persons
involved in decision making do not possesses adequate knowledge about the subject , this method is
appropriate .
c) Consultative decision making

This involves obtaining inputs from those responsible for and affected by the decision and then
making a decision independently .

d) Minority control

This approach involves allowing a small number of people in group to make a decision this
method is desirable when there is a crisis demanding immediate action and when only a small
number of members have necessary knowledge about the matter .

e) Majority control

Here majority of members involve themselves in decision making . This method has an advantage
that it allows a large number of members to involve in the process of decision making .
f) Consensus

It involves finding a proposal acceptable to all members . This approach has an advantage that all group
members are committed to decision . But the problem with this approach is its procrastination .

Advantages of group decision making

• Results in more alternatives

• commits all members to the decision
• Group members develop decision making skills by involve in themselves in the process
• Results in empowerment of members
Problems of group decision making

• May result in group think

• Often a small number of people dominate decision making process
• Some members may resort to social loafing
• There are also possibilities that groups makes riskier decision than do individuals . This is because
group member share responsibilities .

Considerations in group decision making

 Time : Longer the time , better are the decisions .But there is a problem of procrastination .Time factor
is related to the method of approach . In autocratic method , time required is short where as in
consensus approach it takes long time .

 Member competence : In the consensus approach to decision making , all members are expected to be
competent . In the autocratic model it is only the leader who is said to be competent .

 Autonomy and self direction : The consensus approach believes that all the members have the power
and motivation , but autocratic approach fails to recognise such an assumption . In addition, autonomy
and self direction make decisions sound .
 Availability of information : Information available is the least in the autocratic approach but
consensus approach assumes that the vast data are available to facilitate decision making .

 Group size : Larger the size of the group more will be delay in arriving at a decision .

 Degree of participation : Effective decision making depends on whether managers involve the
right people in the right ways in helping them solve problems . One model that provides guidance
for practising managers is developed by Victor Vroom and Arthur Jago .
THANK YOU