People may underestimate the importance of society and group memberships on their lives. Whilst people sometimes undertake solo journeys yet by and large much of our experiences of life involves being engaged with others and groups.
Within an organization we do find number of groups. Individuals joining group (s) is a reality – may be formal or informal groups. People work in groups quite frequently and in many different areas of their life e.g. at work, school/college, sport, hobbies. The managers need to understand Group Dynamics that can enable managers to adopt the right approach of interacting with them.
What is Group Dynamics?
Group dynamics deals with the attitudes and behavioral patterns of a group. Group dynamics concern how groups are formed, what is their structure and which processes are followed in their functioning. Thus, it is concerned with the interactions and forces operating between groups.
Group dynamics is relevant to groups of all kinds – both formal and informal. If the UPA government has set up Group of Ministers for every governance issue, the Supreme Court of India has 27 Group of Judges committees overseeing all manner of non-judicial work in the apex court. In an organizational setting, the term groups are a very common and the study of groups and group dynamics is an important area of study.
What is A Group?
Every organization is a group unto itself. A group refers to two or more people who share a common meaning and evaluation of themselves and come together to achieve common goals. In other words, a group is a collection of people who interact with one another; accept rights and obligations as members and who share a common identity.
Characteristics of a Group:
Regardless of the size or the purpose, every group has similar characteristics:
(a) 2 or more persons (if it is one person, it is not a group)
(b) Formal social structure (the