TYPES OF GROUPS

INTRODUCTION

For the manager in an organization, the behavior and performance of group provide the primary mechanism for the attainment of organization goals, In order to provide for effective goal accomplishment, the manager must be familiar with:

i) The process of influencing group behavior

ii) The climate for maximum interaction and minimal conflict between group members.

iii) The means for the satisfaction of individual needs, which may be different from individual to individual within each group.

Group is defined as collection of two or more individuals who are interdependent and interact with one another for the purpose of performing to attain a common goals or objective. The principal characteristics presented in this definition – goals, interaction and performance are crucial to the study of behavior in organizations. A group is a collection of individuals in which the existence of all (in their given relationships) is necessary to the satisfaction of certain individual needs to each. In order to satisfy certain needs relating to social interactions, employees may informally (or formally) join together to form various social, civic, or recreational groups within organizations.

TYPES OF GROUPS

Various methods are used to classify the types of groups that exist in our organizations. In organizations, the predominant operating groups are the functional groups, task or project groups and interest groups. In addition, groups are also classified as formal and informal groups.

Formal groups:

Formal groups are collections of employees who are made to work together by the organization to get the job done smoothly and efficiently. For example, if five members are put together in a department to attend to customer complaints they would be a formal group. The formal groups are those whose primary purpose is facilitating, through member interactions, the attainment of the goals of the organization. ii) Informal groups: Informal groups are groups that emerge or randomly get formed due to the formal group members’ interaction with each other, and thereby develop common interest. For example, members who are showing interest in cricket will join together and share and enjoy taking about the cricket games. Informal groups provide a very important service by satisfying their members’ social needs. Because of interactions that result from the close proximity of task interactions, group members play cricket together, spending their tea breaks together etc.

Functional Groups:

The functional group in an organization is a group generally specified by the structure of the organization. It involves a superior-subordinate relationship and involves the accomplishment of ongoing tasks and generally considered as formal group. Example – Manager of accounting department supported by staff accountants, financial analyst, and computer operators etc.

Task or Project Groups:

When a number of employees are formally brought together for the purpose of accomplishing a specific task – for a short-term or long term period – such a collection of individuals is called a task or project group. For example, the plant manager of a chemical processing plant may be interested in identifying potential safety problems in the plant. To provide a coordinated effort, the manager creates a four-person task force consisting of the production superintendent, maintenance superintendent, director of engineering and the safety engineer. The group members will deliberate these issues bring out suitable remediable measure for those safety problems within a deadline period.

If any problems are found, the plant manager may create other task forces to work toward the elimination of the potential problems. These activities create a situation that encourages the members of the task force to communicate, interact and to coordinate activities, if the purpose of the group is to be accomplished.

Interest and Friendship Groups:

The group members formed relationships based on some common characteristics such as age, political belief, or interests. Generally, it can be considered as formal or informal group. Employees who joined together to have their fringe benefits continued to have its implementation, to support a peer who has been fired, or to seek more festival holidays etc. they tend to unite together to further their common interest. Groups often develop because the individual members have one or more common characteristics. This is called friendship groups. For example, recreation clubs, social groups etc.

REASONS FOR JOINING GROUPS:

The most popular reasons for joining a group are related to our needs for security, identity, affiliation, power and engaging in common tasks.

SECURITY:

By joining a group, members can reduce the insecurity of being alone. The membership will make them feel stronger, gaining resistant to threats, having fewer self-doubts etc. New employees are particularly vulnerable to a sense of isolation and turn to the group for guidance and support.

STATUS:

Inclusion in a group that is viewed as important by others provides recognition and status for its members. Being a member of Rotary Club, the members feel pride and gain status and recognition.

SELF-ESTEEM:

Groups can provide people with feelings of self-worth. That is, in addition to conveying status to those outside the group, membership can also give increased feelings of worth to the group members themselves. The self-esteem is bolstered when members are accepted by a highly valued group. Being assigned to a task force whose purpose is to review and make recommendations for the location of the company’s new corporate head quarters can fulfill one’s intrinsic needs for competence and growth.

AFFILIATION:

Groups can fulfill social needs. People enjoy the regular interaction that comes with group membership. For many people, these on-the-job interactions at work are the primary source for fulfilling their needs for affiliation.

POWER:

For individuals who desire to influence others, groups can offer power without a formal position of authority in the organization. As a group leader he or she may be able to make requests of group members and obtain compliance without any of the responsibilities that traditionally go either formal managerial position.

GOAL ACHIEVEMENT:

There are times when it takes more than one person to accomplish a particular task- there is a need to pool talents, knowledge in order to complete a job. In such instances, management will rely on the use of a formal group.

MODELS OF GROUP DEVELOPMENT:

There are three types of Group development Model

1. Tuckman and Jensons – Five stage life cycle model

2. Punctuated -equilibrium model.

3. Bennis and Shepard Group Development Model

1)TUCKMAN AND JENSONS – FIVE STAGE LIFE CYCLE MODEL

Five Stage Life Cycle Model: Tuckman outline five stages of group development. They are:

i) Forming:

At this stage, group members try to comprehend where they stand in the group and how they are being perceived by others in the group. The members are very cautious in their interactions with each other and the relationships among the group members are very superficial. Members’ seldom express their feelings in the group and the individual members who are trying to understand who they are in the group have concerns about how they will fit in the group as permanent group members. This is characterized by much uncertainty about group’s purpose, structure and leadership. Members are ‘testing the waters’ to determine what types of behavior are acceptable. This stage is complete when members have begun to think of themselves as part of a group.

ii) Storming:

At this stage, disagreement tends to get expressed among the group members, and feelings of anxiety and resentment are also expressed. Some power struggle may ensure at this stage to determine who should assume the informal leadership role in the group. This storming stage is also known as the sub-grouping and confrontation. This group is characterized by intra-group conflict. Members accept the existence of the group, but there is resistance to the control the group imposes on individuality. There is sometimes conflict over who will control the group. When this stage is complete, there will be a relatively clear hierarchy of leadership within the group.

iii) Norming:

This stage is characterized by close relationships and cohesiveness. The group sets norms, tries to attain some degree of cohesiveness, understands the goals of the group, starts making good decision, expresses feelings openly and makes attempts to resolve problems and attain group effectiveness. At this stage, members’ roles get defined, and task and maintenance roles are assumed by group members. Group members’ also begin to express satisfaction and confidence about being members of the group.

iv) Performing:

This stage is characterized by collaboration and integration. The group members evaluate their performance so that the members develop and grow. The group relationships and structures are set and accepted. Group energy has moved from getting to know and understand each other, to performing the task at hand. Feelings are expressed at this stage without fear, leadership roles shared among the members, and the group members’ activities are highly co-coordinated. The task and maintenance roles are played very effectively. The task performance levels are high and member satisfaction, pride and commitment to the group also high. Both performance and members’ satisfaction are sustained indefinitely;

v) Adjourning:

This stage is characterized by concern with wrapping up activities rather than task performance. The group prepares for its disbandment. High task performance is no longer the group’s top priority. Instead, attention is directed towards finalizing activities. As the group approaches the terminal phase, members break off their bonds of affection and stop interaction with each other. Responses of group members vary in this state. Some feel pride in what the group has accomplished. Others may be negative and critical of the way the organization has treated the group and others may be sad over the loss of friendship gained during the life of the work groups.

These five stages of group development are only a suggestive and not prescriptive. Sometimes, groups do not always proceed clearly from one stage to the next. Some times, several stages go on simultaneously as when groups are storming and performing at the same time. Under some conditions, high levels of conflict are conducive to high group performance.

2) THE PUNCTUATED-EQUILIBRIUM MODEL:

This model emphasis the degree to which the group completes its task based on how much time is left before the task must be completed. In the group development, the timings of when groups form and change the way they work is highly consistent. It is reported that the three activities such as i) direction of the group, ii) inertia and iii) major changes occur at similar times during the formation and operation of groups.

I. Group’s direction: During the first meetings, the members will discuss and set the group direction to achieve the assigned target. A set of behavior pattern and various assumptions will be emerging to formulate action plans during the first meeting. These lasting patterns can appear as early as in the first few seconds of the group’s life

II. Inertia: During this period the group tends to stand still or becomes locked into a fixed course. The group is unlikely to reexamine the course of action and always keep a fixated mind based on the earlier assumptions and behavioral pattern. New insights that might challenge initial patterns and assumptions might occur among individual members, but the group is often incapable of acting on these new insights. . This is called inertia.

III. Transition from old pattern towards major changes or new perspectives to get results:

At one point of time the group experiences its transition from switching the old behavioral pattern or assumptions to the new perspectives to reach the targets. This period is characterized by a concentrated burst of changes, dropping of old patterns and adoption of new perspectives. This transition sets a revised direction. During this stage, the group members are involved in a final burst of activity to finish its work, A flurry of activity occurs, with group members putting pressure on each of their time fulfill their individual roles and responsibilities. It is as if the group experienced midlife crises. This midpoint crises appears to work like an alarm clock, heightening members awareness that their time is limited and that they need to ‘get on with the job’

Comparison of these two models of Group Development:

The punctuated-equilibrium model characterizes groups as exhibiting long periods of inertia, interspersed with brief revolutionary changes triggered primarily by their members’ awareness of time and deadline. In the terminology of the five-stage group development model, the group begin by combining the forming and norming stages, then goes through a period of low performance, followed by storming, then a period of high performing and finally, a last meeting of pressured activity and adjourning. The five-stage life cycle model is best known of the relationship-oriented and sequential models, while the punctuated-equilibrium model is the best researched of the outcome oriented and non-sequential models. This punctuated-equilibrium model helps to give a clearer picture of how groups, especially task-force and project type groups operate in the workplace.

THREE CRITICAL PERIODS DURING THE GROUP DEVELOPMENT:

Period I - Initial Period of Meetings:

During this initial period, the group has the least structure and often is dependent on the leaders, and has unclear expectations, high anxiety, and sometimes, low member participation. Initial meetings outline priorities, define member roles, establish pecking orders, and evaluation criteria.

Period II - Midpoint: Tension between outcomes and relationships, the exhaustion of group creativity, and the onset of physical and emotional fatigue seem to occur most frequently at the midpoint of group’s life cycle.

Period III - Crises Point:

While the urgency of the task can accelerate the pace of task outcomes, other factors such as cohesion, conflict management, balance between relationships and task needs, effective communication and involvement are required for well-developed groups

3) BENNIS AND SHEPARD MODEL OF GROUP DEVELOPMENT:

This model focuses primarily on task or projects groups and assumes that such groups follow four stages of development

i) Orientation: During this stage, the group members will be involved in the following activities: Establishing structure, rules and communication networks of the group, clarifying relations and interdependencies among group member, identifying leadership roles and clarifying authority and responsibility relationships, developing a plan for goal accomplishment

ii) Internal Problem Solving: The major activities of this stage include: identification and resolution of interpersonal conflict, further clarification of rules, goals and structural relationships. Development of a participative climate among group members.

iii) Growth and Productivity: In this stage, the members devote much time directing towards goal accomplishment, developing data-flow and feedback systems for task performance, growing cohesion among members of the group.

iv) Evaluation and Control: During this last stage, the members, particularly leadership role emphasizes facilitation, feedback and evaluation, roles and group interdependencies are renewed, revised and strengthened, group exhibits strong motivation toward goal accomplishment.

Application of Bennis Model of Group Development: Knowing which stage of development a group is in is an important factor for manager in determining which style of leadership would be most effective for moving the group toward goal accomplishment. For example, if a group of project engineers is experiencing interpersonal conflict during the internal problem solving stage, the manager or group leader should attempt to resolve the major internal problems before sending the group on a construction site to accomplish a particular task. Unresolved internal problems may create more serious problems, which will adversely affect group performance. For the project engineers, conflict arising from questions of interdependencies may result in not completing the project on time.

EXTERNAL CONDITIONS IMPOSED ON THE GROUP

ORGANIZATIONAL STRATEGY

The type of strategy formed by an organization influences the structure of the groups. A strategy outlines the organization’s goals and the means for attaining these goals. An organizations strategy might be being pioneering and innovative in their products and services offered or reducing costs as much as possible and offer low priced products, or offer a distinctive unique or customized products and services etc. The strategy will direct the organizations to reduce costs, improving quality, expanding market share etc. The strategy that an organization is pursuing influences the power of various work groups and its structure which in turn determines the resources the organization’s top management is willing to allocate to it for performing its tasks.

ORGANIZATION CULTURE

The values, attitudes, beliefs systems which bind all employees together to have common way of life are called as organizational culture. Each organization has its own written or unwritten code of conduct that defines employees’ acceptable and unacceptable behavior such as dress code, quality commitment, transparency or honesty in dealing with customers etc. Certain work groups do have its own subculture which is shared by all the members. Members of work groups have to conform to the standards imposed in the organizations dominant culture if they are to remain in good standing.

ORGANIZATION RESOURCES AND TECHNOLOGY

If an organization uses a state-of-the-art modern technology in its work operations, and embraces the current information technology products and its services, such as e-mail, mobile phones, PCs, teleconferencing etc, the technical nature of the work can affect the communication style, number of people in the group, job description and reporting systems etc. There will be a virtual group consisting of member operating in remote areas and accomplishing the goals of an organization.

AUTHORITY STRUCTURES

The reporting system and the flow of authority strongly determine the structure of the group. If the structure is highly standardized, formalized, centralized, and simple in nature, the group members will be doing routine work and bound by more rules and regulations. The group member relations will vary based on the types of organizations structure.

FORMAL REGULATIONS

Organizations create rules, procedures and other forms of regulation to standardize employee behavior. The more the formal regulations that the organizations impose on all its employees, the more the behavior of work group member will be consistent and predictable.

PERSONNEL SELECTION PROCESS

The criteria that an organization uses in its selection decisions such as the importance to the merit, professional commitment, expertise, age, loyalty etc are very much influence the types of evaluation process and its reward system which in turn affects the work group performance.

PERFORMANCE EVALUATION AND REWARD SYSTEMS

Instituting a proper developmental oriented performance evaluations systems providing opportunity for growth, assigning challenging assignment, offering competitive rewards etc. will have a significant impact on the work group members overall performance. Since work groups are part of the larger organizational system, groups’ members’ behavior is influenced by how the organization evaluate performance.

UNION INFLUENCE

Unions can affect the selection process and also influence acceptable and unacceptable behavior. Disagreements with management or the imposition of work conditions which the group considers unfair are often dealt with by the union. Mangers often moderate what they require of a group because of concern for the union’s reaction.

PHYSICAL WORK SETTING

Physical working conditions such as physical lay out, illumination level, arrangement of equipment, work space designs particularly office furniture etc will affect the employees work behavior. Some of them may create barrier and opportunities for work group members. Even the color of the walls and equipment may have an effect on the mood of the work group.

CONCLUSION:

Various types of groups exist within the framework of organizations, from the formal functional and task or project groups, to the generally more informal interest and friendship groups. Whatever the classification – it is Important for the effective functioning of the organization that the goals of such groups be congruent with the overall goals of he organization. Groups with incongruent goals create a situation of conflict, inter personal problems and reduced effectiveness.

Although different types of groups develop at different rates, they all tend to follow a similar four-stage pattern – orientation, internal problem solving, growth and productivity and evaluation and control. Each of these stages is characterized by different types of behavior required of individual members and of the organization. Changes in composition of the group, its task or leadership can result in the group reverting to any earlier stage.