Group Dynamics &Interpersonal Influence-FINAL

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MOI UNIVERSITYSCHOOL OF BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS.

DEPARTMENT OF ACCOUNTS AND FINANCE

BBM 360: ORGANIZATION THEORY AND

BEHAVIOR[APRIL JULY 2012]

CAT 1LECTURER: MR NAHASHON LAGNAT

GROUP MEMBERS

DANSON MWANGI BBM/2713/12

VICTOR NDATI BBM/2727/12

DANSON MUGANE BBM/2722/12

WINNIE WAITHERA BBM/2220/10

MAUREEN ANGIRA BBM/2754/12

DENNIS KALUVU BBM/2751/12

ALLAN MWANGI BBM/2756/12

KWAME NKURUMAH BBM/1769/09


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ABDIQAFAR HUSSEIN BBM/2207/10

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Contents

INTRODUCTION/BACKGROUND:

All Human beings exhibit some characteristics behavior pattern when in a group setting. It is

therefore imperative for people involved in managing people to study theories and doing

practical exercise which will help them to better understand people behavior in groups and group

dynamics.

We may underestimate the importance of societies and group memberships in our lives and opt

to take a solo journey through life but we will realize that much of our experiences in life involve

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being engaged with others and groups. When group patterns are combined with study of

individual development, then group dynamics can also be used for education and therapy.

Understanding Groups offers an extended 'dictionary' of the key concepts - culture, motivations,

leadership, role-playing, coordinating and consultation - and then shows how this 'language' can

help us find new solutions to familiar problems. All groups need to select, develop and reward

their people; to structure and design their work; to resolve political conflicts; to lay down

guidelines for their groups; and to plan for the future.

We have carried out this research as a group and compiled the different findings that we got from

different authors.

GROUP DYNAMICS AND INTERPERSONALINFLUENCE:

Group Defined

According to T.M Newcomb, a group consists of two or more persons who share norms about

certain things with one another and whose social roles are closely interlocking Its a collection

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ofindividuals who have regularcontactand frequent interaction, mutualinfluence, common

feeling ofcamaraderie, and who worktogether to achieve a common set of goals.

A group can be any number of people who interact with one another, are psychologically aware

of one another and perceive themselves to be a group. We can therefore say that a group has the

following characteristics

- A definable membership

- A group consciousness

- A sense of share purpose

- Interaction and ability to act in and unitary manner

Types of Group:

1. Formal group - Formed to carry out specific roles or tasks.

2. Informal group - Created by individual members for purpose of sharing a common interest.

3. Primary groups - These a characterized by close, face to face interaction between members

and they are small.

4. Secondary groups - These groups there is more interpersonal interaction between the

members. A good example is a department in an organization.

Theoretical Perspective

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Group dynamics theory originated with the work of Kurt Lewin who emphasized on bringing

about organizational change through teams rather than individuals. This is because in

organizational work, people work in groups and individual behavior must be modified or

changed in light of groups prevailing practices and norms.

Field theory by Lewin postulated that group behavior is an intricate set of symbolic interactions

and forces that not only affects groups structures, but also modify individual behavior.

Therefore individual is a function of the group environment or field.

In group leadership, we have the great man theory which says leaders are born in families of

leaders and are not made.

The trait theory of leadership assumed that leaders share certain inborn personality traits

William Schutz (1958, 1966) looked at interpersonal relations from the perspective of three

dimensions: Inclusion, control, and affection. This became the basis for a theory of group

behaviour that see groups as resolving issues in each of these stages in order to be able to

develop to the next stage. Conversely, a group may also devolve to an earlier stage if unable to

resolve outstanding issues in a particular stage.here as the behavioral approach isolated behaviors

characteristic of effective leaders.

Bruce Tuckman (1965) proposed the 4-stage model called Tuckman's Stages for a group.

Tuckman's model states that the ideal group decision making process should occur in four stages:

Forming (pretending to get on or get along with others);

Storming (letting down the politeness barrier and trying to get down to the issues even if tempers

flare up );

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Norming (getting used to each other and developing trust and productivity);

Performing (working in a group to a common goal on a highly efficient and cooperative basis).

It should be noted that this model refers to the overall pattern of the group, but of course

individuals within a group work in different ways. If distrust persists, a group may never even

get to the norming stage.

The functions of Groups in Organization:

a. Distribution and control of work

b. Spread of information

c. Delegation of work.

d. Analyzing and solving problems.

e. Conflict resolution.

Power in Groups

The power of group membership over individual behavior and work performance illustrated

clearly in the Hawthorne experiment at the western electrical company. A significant feature was

the attention drawn to the importance and influence of group values and norms. One experiment

was the observation of a group of 14 men working in a bank hiring room. The men formed their

own sub-groups of cliques with natural leaders emerging with the consent of members. despite a

financial incentive schemes where workers could receive more money the more they worked, the

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group decided on two units a day as a fair level of output .This was well below the level they

were capable of producing. Group pressure on individual workers were stronger that financial

incentives offered by management.

Formation of Groups

Tuckman model identify four main stages of successive group development .Forming, storming,

norming and performing.

Forming-: At this stage people try to share their ideas and see if they can work as a group with a

common goal(s).

Storming -: As members of A group get to know each other better they will forward their views

more openly and forcefully.Disagreemnt will be expressed and challenges will be experienced on

the nature of tasks and arrangements made in the earlier stages of development

Norming-: As conflict and hostility start to be controlled members in the group will establish

guidelines and standards and develop their own norms and acceptable behavior.

Performing-: When the groups a has progressed successfully through the three earlier stages of

development, it will have created structures and work effectively as a team

Another writer suggest that groups go through the following stages

-The polite stage

The why are we here what are we doing stage?

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The power stage which dominant will emerge?

The constructive stage where sharing begins and

The Unity Stage This often takes weeks eating together, talking together etc..

Conflict

Conflict is defined as the degree of incompatibility, a struggle to achieve a purpose and a

clashing of opposed principles

Types of Conflicts

Interorganizational

Intergroup

Intra group

Between Individuals

Conflict Effects

Organization conflict is inevitable due to personality clashes and incompatible pressure or

onfluences.Each member has certain roles, objectives, and responsibilities which may be

frustrated by ones who do not cooperate

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Caused Of Intergroup Conflicts

Communication Problems through differences in work orientation, coordination

difficulties through task interference, organizational design problems and poor motivation

techniques

Different frames of reference which affect members of a group by influencing perception

and interpretation of events.

Being forced to compete for limited resources.

General lack of organization coordination.

Different interpretation of organizational goals and aims

Misplaced loyalty to group members which conflict which compete with loyalty of the

department or the organization.

Approaches To ending intergroup conflicts

Ensuring that frame for references coincide

Adopt a fair method of allocating limited resources

Exchanging members between groups and varying tasks.

Practical application of group dynamics in an organization

Improves on change management both theoretically and practical because an organization

can reach through to people through groups rather than through individuals.

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Team building activities in groups improve productivity and effectiveness in an

organization

Improves cohesiveness and decisions are quick to reach especially in the informal groups

Functional conflicts bring competition between groups and hence improve on

productivity within the organization.

LEADERSHIP

Leadership style is the manner and approach of providing direction, implementing plans, and

motivating people.

According to a group of researchers they identify different styles of leadership;

a. Authoritarian or autocratic

b. Participative or democratic

c. Delegative or Free Reign

Two other approaches that leaders use are:

Consideration (employee orientation) leaders are concerned about the human needs of their

employees. They build teamwork, help employees with their problems, and provide

psychological support.

Structure (task orientation) leaders believe that they get results by consistently keeping

people busy and urging them to produce.

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A good leader uses all three styles i.e., Authoritarian or autocratic, Participative or democratic

and or Delegative or Free Reign depending on what forces are involved between the followers,

the leader, and the situation. Some examples include:

Using an authoritarian style on a new employee who is just learning the job. The leader is

competent and a good coach. The employee is motivated to learn a new skill. The situation is a

new environment for the employee.

Using a participative style with a team of workers who know their job. The leader knows the

problem, but does not have all the information. The employees know their jobs and want to

become part of the team.

Using a delegative style with a worker who knows more about the job than you. You cannot

do everything and the employee needs to take ownership of her job! In addition, this allows you

to be at other places, doing other things.

Using all three: Telling your employees that a procedure is not working correctly and a new one

must be established (authoritarian). Asking for their ideas and input on creating a new procedure

(participative). Delegating tasks in order to implement the new procedure (delegative).

Forces that influence the style to be used included:

How much time is available?

Are relationships based on respect and trust or on disrespect?

Who has the information you, your employees, or both?

How well your employees are trained and how well you know the task.

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Internal conflicts.

Stress levels.

Type of task. Is it structured, unstructured, complicated, or simple?

Laws or established procedures such as OSHA or training plans

The six leadership behaviors are:

Encouragingself-reinforcementby team members. Through the reinforcement of high levels of

group performance, the Super leader encourages the group to recognize and appreciate actions

that lead to high performance.

Encouragingself-evaluation so that team members gather the relevant information to monitor

and evaluate their performance.

Encouraging team members to beself-criticalof their own performance.

By promoting a culture based on group outcomes the Super Leader helps assist team members to

engage in behavior ofself-goal setting.

Encouragingself-expectation among work team members so that the team has high expectations

for group performance.

Encouraging the behaviors of taskrehearsalso that the team practices a work activity before

performing it

CONCLUSION

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From the research, we have found that for individuals to have a success in organizations they

tend to form groups as their source of unity and strength. Groups create need for understanding

other individuals and solving problems together. Its a source of strength and increase bargaining

power. It simply concur with the saying unity is strength.

REFERENCES:

1. LAURIE J. MULLINS-Management and organization Behavior, Seventh edition.

2. CHARLES B. HANDY-Understanding Organizations, Fourth edition.

3.Szillagyi A. Jr and Wallace M. Jr., Organizational Behaviour and performance

4. Bernard Burnes-Managing change fourth edition-2004

5. Management and Organizational Behaviour Laurie J Mukins -7th Edition

6. FT Practice Hall Financial Times person edition Ltd England 2005

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Documents

Group Dynamics &Interpersonal Influence-FINAL