The acknowledgement that someone is a team player is often one of the highest accolades that can be given within a work situation. The organisation of the workplace lends itself to working in groups, as it is team effort rather than solely an individual push that ensures the completion of the task at hand, and ultimately the survival of the company as a whole.
When a group works well, its productivity and group members` feelings of support and satisfaction are usually well above average.
Jill Hamlyn, MD, The People Business Group of Companies.
Although the past few years have seen a flattening of the organisational structure, there is still a definite workplace hierarchy. Companies tend to be organised across bands, and communication within companies occurs within these bands and also across them. Group dynamics within and across bands, as well as within and across teams, are largely situated within the corporate culture, and also reproduce this culture.
A group is usually defined as including two or more people and incorporating issues around communication and other modes of interaction, as well as interdependence of group members. Groups function as a microcosm of the broader environment in which they are located as each group incorporates power hierarchies, acceptable norms and mores based on tacit or overt agreement between members.
Groups are incredibly powerful structures within the organisation. The group dynamic, which incorporates the relationships between members and issues of power, leadership, communication and decision-making, often determines the extent to which the group as a whole will succeed.
The psychology of groups and group dynamics is broad in scope, and looks not only at within-group processes but also at those that occur between groups. This particular field of study has, among other studies, produced research that shows that the larger and more unwieldy the group, the less effective it is likely to be due to a diffusion of responsibility, lack of co-ordination and a reduction in effort which form part of the psychological phenomenon of `social loafing`. Although such research may not be able to be extrapolated in its entirety and applied to groups that are found in today`s workplace, it is probable that many people who have had experience working in a group have an intimate knowledge of responsibility, effort and group co-ordination, and know at least one social loafer.
Grouping instincts
Humans are social beings, and the urge to group together is part of our make up as a species. Very few of us crave complete isolation, and while it is possible to find one or two people in the workplace who genuinely do not function well in a group setting, the majority of us have a tendency to cluster. When a group works well, its productivity and group members` feelings of support and satisfaction are usually well above average. However, when a group is unable to function optimally, damage is usually magnified because more than one person is affected.
When groups are seen to be in trouble or in need of extra input, training is usually among the options contemplated or discussed in order to right the balance or extend experience.
In the past few years, there has been an emphasis on training at the expense of genuine people development. There is no doubt that training in certain areas is important and should not be overlooked. However, development of people within an organisation is vital and is correlated with both personal and organisational growth, as well as heightened motivation and productivity. Training can be done individually or in a group, but the nature of training means that trainees usually have to conform to a training schedule that may be inflexible and not entirely based on the needs of the individual or the group. This is not to say that training is not without merit, but a thorough needs analysis would be helpful in determining what exactly is needed. It is likely that people development would lead to greater benefit in a majority of cases.
Groups and group dynamics respond well to people development. This is related to the Gestalt principle of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. Individuals make up a group, which in turn develops its own procedures and identity. Group members who have gone through processes related to people development are usually able to function optimally on many more levels. People development is not only concerned with skills, but is the process of uncovering the authentic self in relation to others, or the group, and with it potential that until that point had been left largely untapped.
The concept of development is attached to growth, and when this growth happens on both an individual and group level, negative group dynamics can be fundamentally altered. Power struggles can be understood and possibly eliminated and communication patterns optimised. Development of individuals within the group usually leads to a development of the group, which in turn influences the development of the individuals within the group - the opposite of a vicious cycle.
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