Organizational Group and Analysis of the Group Dynamics of It - Essay Example

? GROUP DYNAMICS The objective of this paper is to identify an organizational group and analyze the group dynamics of it. Further, the paper describes the selected group and its demographic nature. To achieve certain goals organizations formulate small groups, with employees of the same organization to work together as a team. The behavior of group members effect the development of organization, positive attitudes would reflect positive effects on the success graph of organization and vice versa. To conclude, group dynamics is an important development in the study of Psychology, it explains how and why human behavior changes in different situations. Introduction To begin with group dynamics is referred to as a set of behaviors and functions carried on by a set of people. These people are grouped together to perform a certain task to achieve personal, social or organizational goals. In simple words, group dynamics is simply a team work or team effort. Strength of a society is derived from effective functioning of groups. Each unit of the society has to perform their functions well to gain success. GROUP FORMATION A group is a collection of people, who interact with each other and have common identity. An organization is a compilation of several departments and sections. To carry on all the departments together, every department has a manager for decision making purpose. In this paper, we are analyzing an organization that formulates groups to launch their new product in the market. It’s not only the production that is given high importance but to make both the ends meet a manager or leader has to divide the workers in groups to attain the best result from all its workers. The group was formed by the marketing manager, irrespective of the gender of employees. Such group-making not only help in division of work load, on the other hand, it makes the task simplified. The purpose of this group formation is to work on the marketing strategies and guide the production department to incorporate the best ingredients for a good-quality product. The group formed consists of different employees carrying similar educational qualifications. So that no one feels as odd one out. While forming a group and assigning them any task, it is first necessary to choose the members of the group. Irrespective of the gender of the employee, this group was formed for marketing a new product. A group is made up of people with different ideas and those who carry high motivation to fulfill their work. The group works over marketing policies and how the new product is to be launched. Along with this, the group members have to provide their best and avoid competition in the market. As the group is formed by a marketing manager, there won’t be any specific group leader; all the members have to report to the marketing manager for any sort of discussion or changes. Equal portion of work is assigned to each member, to avoid any misunderstanding. The main purpose behind group formation is to ease the working and specialization of tasks. In this way, the work is divided, it saves time and energy. Specialization of the work force takes place when specific workers are chosen for a particular task according to his or her ability. STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT Besides accomplishing the task all the group members have to interact with each other and develop a bond to overcome any chaos among them. In group dynamics formation and development of a group are most important. There are several theories that have described group development. Group dynamics is concerned with how and why groups develop. In a classical theory group, development is based on interaction, activities and sentiments. According to this theory, the groups develop positive or negative attitude towards each other on the basis of common interest of its group members. Whereas the social identity theory says that group development is the result of self-esteem, and individuals sense of identity and the group members are motivated by it. The most common framework of group development is given by Bruce Tuckman in 1960. These are step-to-step stages of development which any group experience in its efforts to be productive and effective. The group formed by our organization for marketing and launch of new product is not different from any other organizational group. It also faces similar stages of development and encounter similar conflicts and resolutions. The stages of development applied to the marketing group are Forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning. The first stage that the group faces is forming. As the word indicated its when the group is formed, this stage often faces confusions and uncertainty as the group is new. In this period, the group members get to know each other. Second is the stage of Storming, in this stage the group members face challenges in form of conflicts among each other. This is a stage of development and a positive experience for all the members. Third is the stage of norming, this is when all the group members in a marketing group have resolved their differences and are keen on pursuing their goals and cooperate. Responsibilities are divided, and the group progresses to its goals. After the group has decided upon the responsibilities, the group members show their performance. Now the group has matured, and can work on forming marketing policies for the product launch; the last stage of development. (McMillan) Therefore it’s necessary that a group is matured. A mature group knows its tasks very well and can resolve its internal conflicts and be prompt in decision making when needed. “Group development involves the overcoming of obstacles to valid communication among the members, or the development methods for achieving and testing consensus” (Bruke, Lake & Paine, 2008, p.441) EFFECTIVENESS OF THE GROUP After any group is formed the manager forms the structure of the group. If there is a well structured group than attaining goals is easier for the organization. Therefore, to have effective results efficiency as a team work is necessary. The group is marketing a new product so the success of policies and plans to launch the product is necessary. In every group structure, a specific pattern of relationship between members is important. Few common considerations have to be made i-e group size, group role, group norms and group cohesiveness. Firstly, the manager decides the number of workers to be assigned the task. Groups with very large number of members are often unsuccessful. Keeping this in mind the marketing manager has included 10 workers in this group. The group size affects the performance; it increases the results up to an extent. Therefore it is advised to limit the number of group members. Secondly, the group role or tasks are assigned to members by the manager. Hence, it is his/her duty not to be unfair in the distribution of work. Thirdly, the group norms are regarded as a standard behavior which any group practices. It sets boundaries for the members of acceptable and unacceptable behavior. Lastly, cohesiveness has fruitful effects on the aim of a group. It decreases many problems an organization faces like low turnover, absenteeism and workers satisfaction to work. To sum up effectiveness of a group or team is not just the mere formation of the group. A group is made effective by its group members. Whereas the leader must also be concerned, increase cohesive and cooperative relationship between the groups. It is team work or the development of effective groups that give organizations the ability to attain its goal. (Alexender, 2004) GROUP DYNAMICS Group dynamics is the behavior of the group members with each other, their interaction, communication, attitude and the influence each member has of the other. In the group formed to market new product also has similar behavior. The ten members of the group are assigned different tasks but in the end each one carries on his/her duty to attain the desired result which is favorable for the organization. Although like other organizational groups this group also has some conflicts and disagreements over certain issues. Such disagreements in a group are healthy to a certain extent. Discussions would help the members in overcoming the disagreement and settle on something favorable both for the group and organization. The group’s behavior has both negative and positive effects and affects each individual’s behavior. EFFECTS OF GROUP POLARIZATION, CONFORMITY AND GROUP THINK The concept of group polarization is important as it explains the group behavior in a variety of situation. It means that, in group polarization the groups make decisions that are extreme than their actual beliefs. In such situations discussions usually shift to an extreme end, the group members who favor a particular idea would turn to extreme of their beliefs. Group polarization occurs due to three reasons i-e persuasion, comparison and differentiation. Under group polarization decisions are made under extreme conditions. To overcome group polarization, discussion of multiple perspectives and critical viewpoints should be avoided. Group-polarization occurs when groups are newly formed or tasks are new. (Dean, 2009) In the marketing group to avoiding group polarization is very essential. As the organization has to overcome all the flaws and achieve its goal. Such disagreements with in the organization are favorable to competitors and they are waiting for such opportunities to target. Therefore, the product is new in the market so it should b free of all flaws from manufacturing to its management level. The second concept is Conformity. It is a type of social influence that tends the other person to change his/her belief or behavior for the sake of fitting himself into a group. This is a common practice that is seen among organizational groups. The group members tend to adopt such behavior to make himself comfortable into the group. Another reason behind such change can be to avoid any sort of misunderstanding with his/her group members from ones behalf. It can also be a result of peer pressure. (McLeod, 2007) Lastly is the concept of Groupthink. As stated by “groupthink’ occurs when decision makers who work closely together develop a high degree of solidarity that clouds their vision, leading them to suppress conflicting views and negative feelings about proposals, consciously or unconsciously.” In this concept the groups overestimate there power and create pressure for all other group members. When such situation arises in the marketing group before the launch of product, its performance may decreases. Therefore, it’s necessary that check and balance must be kept on the system of working. Each member should learn tolerance and encourage his/her colleagues to discuss any doubts. (Karve, 2011) CONCLUSION Concluding, the organization has to face a lot of situations while and after the group is formed. An organization has to very carefully decide and manage the group. Groups with a lot of differences and conflicts often fail in their performance. It is therefore necessary that the marketing group be well administered under its manager and for this reason the group is formed with members of similar educational background to understand and cooperate with each other. References Alexender, M. (2004). The team effectiveness critique. Unpublished manuscript, Human Resource, University of Victoria, Retrieved from http://web.uvic.ca/hr/managertoolkit/teambuilding/team_effectiveness_critique.html Bruke, W., Lake, D., & Paine, J. (2008). Organization change: A comprehensive reader. (illustrated ed., Vol. 155, p. 441). John Wiley & Sons. Retrieved from http://books.google.com.pk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=JZ0rkeNvVkcC&oi=fnd&pg=PA441&dq=group development and behavior&ots=nOooOcXVGm&sig=G8fQCgq7z_wd55Qqda-EXTZ5INw Dean, J. (2009, september 1). Group polarization: The trend to extreme decisions. Retrieved from http://www.spring.org.uk/2009/09/group-polarization-the-trend-to-extreme-decisions.php Karve , V. (2011, may 11). Groupthink - organizational behavior. Retrieved from http://karvediat.blogspot.com/2011/05/groupthink-organizational-behavior.html Mcleod, S. (2007). What is conformity?. Retrieved from http://www.simplypsychology.org/conformity.html McMillan, A. (n.d.). Group dynamics. Retrieved from http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/management/Gr-Int/Group-Dynamics.html Read More