Group Dynamics

• Group Dynamics


  A field of inquiry dedicated to achieving knowledge about the nature of group interrelations with the individuals, other groups and larger institutions. It refers to a system of behaviors and psychological processes occurring within a social group (intragroup dynamics) or between social groups (intergroup dynamics).
• Group Dynamics


  • The organization and management of groups towards a democratic leadership in the acquisition of knowledge of the nature, laws of development and interrelations of, and among groups which involves set of techniques designed to improve human relation skills
• General Procedure as Teaching Techniques

  1. Setting the learners in a state of attention, anticipation and readiness for active learning

  2. Going through experience

  3. Processing the experience for intellectual enlightenment (cognitive) and emotional effects (affective)

  4. Application of insights to real life situations

  5. Additional information provided by the resource person to enrich or complement the learner's insights
• ARE Model


  • Awareness - Sensitivity to self, others and the environment
  • Responsiveness - Discerning how the other person understands or interprets the communication
  • Effectivity/Effectiveness - Aims to give the learner satisfaction derived from effective group interaction and interrelationships
• Stages of Team Development

  • Forming
  • Storming
  • Norming
  • Performing
  • Adjourning
• Johari Window


  A framework to develop better self-awareness of conscious and unconscious biases, and to build trust, develop self-awareness, and improve understanding and interpersonal relationships with colleagues
• Fundamentals of Group and Group Dynamics
• Significance of Group Processes

  • Group dynamics (forces within the group) is interchangeably used as group process - the understanding of behavior of people in groups such as task groups trying to solve a problem or make a decision
  • Explains the individual is in constant interaction with the environment, and such interactions are forces or energies that produce change in the individual, and other individuals with their non-external environment
  • An individual with expertise in group process such as a trained facilitator can assist a group in accomplishing its objective by identifying how well the group is functioning
• Facilitators' Function
• Group


  A collection of individuals who have regular contact and frequent interaction, mutual influence, a common feeling of camaraderie, and who work together to achieve a common set of goals. They are motivated, a unified unit of interacting people who contribute in various amounts to the group process, reach agreement and have disagreements.
• Types of Groups


  • Task/Work Groups
  • Psycho-Educational Groups
  • Counseling Groups
  • Psychotherapy Groups
• Group Dynamics (Kurt Lewin)


  The interaction of the forces or energies of the environment (process elements) at any given point of time, which actively influence the individual, the group, and the situation.
• Elements Affecting Group Development and Productivity

  • Group Content - information within (actual words, ideas exchanged) and purpose of the group
  • Group Process - interactions and relationships among members within the group
• Member Roles


  • Facilitative/Building Roles
  • Maintenance Roles
  • Blocking Roles
• Task of the Beginning Group

  1. Dealing with apprehension/anxiety

  2. Reviewing goals and contracts

  3. Specifying group rules

  4. Setting Limits

  5. Promoting a positive interchange among members
• Stages of Group Development

  • Forming
  • Storming
  • Norming
  • Performing
  • Adjourning
• Group


  Two or more individuals who are connected by and within social relationships
• Varieties of groups


  • Dyads (two members)
  • Triads (three members)
  • Huge crowds
  • Mobs
  • Assemblies
• Definitions of group


  Emphasize on social relations that link members to one another
• Types of relationships that link group members

  • Kinship (families)
  • Task-related interdependencies (workplace)
  • Friendship
  • Common interests or experiences
• Primary group


  Small, intimate clusters of close associates, such as families, good friends, or cliques of peers
• Social secondary groups


  Larger and more formally organized than primary groups, with shorter duration and less emotional involvement of memberships, and more permeable boundaries
• Collectives


  Larger, less intricately interconnected associations among people
• Social category


  A collection of individuals who are similar to one another in some way
• Characteristics of groups


  • Composition
  • Boundaries
  • Size
  • Interaction
  • Interdependence
  • Structure
  • Goals
  • Origin
  • Unity
  • Entitativity
• Group dynamics


  The influential interpersonal processes that occur in and between groups over time, determining how members relate to and engage with one another, and the group's inherent nature and trajectory
• Formative processes


  • Personal and interpersonal processes that turn strangers into a true group
  • The need to belong and its consequences
  • Personal and situational forces that prompt people to join or remain apart from groups
• Influence processes


  • Processes that transform individuals with their own motives, inclinations, and preferences into a socially coordinated, smooth-functioning collective
• Performance processes


  • Processes by which groups get things done, pooling personal efforts to reach specifiable goals
• Conflict processes


  • Processes by which conflict occurs in a group, undermining cohesiveness and weakening or breaking specific relationships
• Contextual processes consider how the physical environment affects a group's dynamics
• The study of groups and their dynamics is essential for understanding people, organizations, communities, and society itself
• Groups are the interpersonal microstructures that link individuals to society
• When we face uncertain situations, we join groups to gain reassuring information about our problems and security in companionship
• Through groups, we can reach goals that would elude us if we attempted them as individuals
• By resolving group conflicts, we learn how to relate with others more effectively
• Inclusion and identity


  Groups transform the me into the we, and members must contribute to the collective while also seeking their own goals
• The need to belong


  A pervasive drive to form and maintain at least a minimum quantity of lasting, positive, and impactful interpersonal relationships
• Aristotle: '"Man is by nature a social animal; and an unsocial person who is unsocial naturally and not accidentally is either unsatisfactory or superhuman."'
• Henry David Thoreau: '"Society is commonly too cheap. We meet at very short intervals, not having had time to acquire any new value for each other. We meet at three meals a day and give each other a taste of that old musty cheese that we are. Certainly less frequency would suffice for all important and hearty communication."'