Small group dynamics

Men, on the other hand, are likely to send the status signal through a system of dominant behavior including anger, disguise, and head shaking expressions. They stand tall at the conference table because they have the command of the place. Listening can occur with minimum eye contact. Men can keep their emotions in check while women tend to be more spontaneous with a lack of the ability to control their emotions. Women are good at gauging reactions because they can access the full message in communication. Later, Somner came up with the concepts of in-group and out-group. In-group is a group where individuals feel a sense of belonging and feels to be an integral part. Examples of in-groups include unions and church.

In contrast, out-group is a group that someone doesn’t belong and that which the individual may feel a sense of competition towards the group. The feeling of out-group is seen in situations such as bullying of gays and lesbians. Norms are the rules and standards specifying how members of a specific group are supposed to behave when faced with different circumstances. The norms also act as the regulators of the activities of its members. Besides, norms not only foster coordination of members to achieve group goals but also enhance a common identity of group members. Conformity means adherence to group norms. Members of a particular group may confirm for various reasons including to get the reward and to avoid being punished for not meeting the expectations of the group.

Here, group members do not have a clear understanding of the tasks; thus the leaders are relationship-oriented. On the other hand, stage two and stage their leaders are task-oriented. At this stage of group development, group members are either about to know or already know their roles; therefore, leaders participate in the tasks assigned to the group members. Phases of Group development There are four faces of group development, namely group forming, group storming, group norming and group performance. Group forming is also known as the orientation stage. Here, there is more interaction and cooperation between members of the group making it enjoyable and fun. It is easier for members to resolve disputes arising from the groups. Group leadership for facilitation is equally important at this stage of group development.

The final stage is the performing stage. Members get a sense of belonging, and there is high morale among group members. How the distribution of rewards affects group performance When work is divided up so that some individuals can specialize, there is the livelihood of the increased level of efficiency. Having too many individuals involved in the same task; on the other hand, hinders performance. Members of the group will often find themselves on each other’s way when attempting to do the same task assigned. Coordination of group activities becomes more difficult in such situations. A good reward system for employees is likely to boost individual performance within a group. The principle of need; on the other hand, explains that resources within a group should be allocated based on their needs.

The principle requires that priorities are set right to reward the most significant contributors to the change first. An increase in wealth for the organization as a result of improved performance; for example, should result in a reward for individual contributions to the enhanced performance. Hyper-competition in groups is the situation where there is stiff competition among members of a group to receive the highest share of the available reward. Hyper-competition is unsustainable and unhealthy; thus should be discouraged. Intergroup conflicts also ensure changes in group norms and goals. The reasons for such changes may be that previously valued behavior and activities may no longer have meaning to the group or in certain situations be detrimental to the group’s success in the time of the conflict.

The group, therefore, has to reorder its goals, priorities, and behaviors and select those that promise the ability to win. One of the probable results of such conflicts is that its members may demand increased conformity to the norms and standards of the group. In such a situation, in-group loyalty increases and individual liberties become less critical. Groups which are collectively more rational than the rationality of individual members produce weak synergy. On the other hand, groups which are together are more sensible than the rationality of most of its members. A case scenario of how group size affects synergy is the group is explained in the Ringelmann Rope-pulling Task. Here, although members in a larger can pull harder than a small group or an individual, the average contribution by each member declines with the increase in the size of the group.

One of the causes of reduced individual contribution to the result is faulty coordination. The main consequence of information overload in decision making is that the speed of decision making is reduced drastically. In situations where a person has a wide range of information from which to make decisions, the person has to partition and categorize the information to influence decision making. Besides, people have to determine which factors have the most significant impact on decisions and establish as a combination of factors that will have the most considerable influence on the decision. Information overload in organizations also ensures that the employees are unnecessarily overwhelmed or stressed out leading to a lack of engagement and lack of productivity. In situations where the information is irrelevant to decision making, employees may feel unprepared or inadequate.

Group members may be compelled into groupthink when the group values harmony and coherence of the group above reasoning. In situations of groupthink, members act in such a manner that they refrain from expressing their doubts. Members of the group in groupthink may fail to consider the ethical consequences of their decisions. There are eight different symptoms of groupthink: First, there are illusions of invulnerability which makes members of the group be risk takers in their choices. Secondly, groupthink is characterized by unquestioned beliefs where members ignore possible moral problems and consequences of group actions. First, group leaders need to give group members the opportunity to express themselves and give ideas which are against ideas already proposed. There are two types of group polarization.