Introduction to Group Dynamics

Lesson Objectives

• This lecture aims to identify terminologies in group dynamics
• This lecture aims to understand the nature of group dynamics
• This lecture aims to gain knowledge of how groups develop
• This lecture aims to identify the fields of Group Dynamics

Motivation: All by Myself... or Not?

• Track your daily activities from waking up to falling asleep in as much detail as possible
• Cross out the activities that involve a group of people such as family, friends, classmates, colleagues

Questions to Ask When Studying Group Dynamics

• Why do people join groups?
• What unifies a group?
• How do groups evolve?
• How do groups impact their members and vice versa?
• When is a group considered a team?
• Why are some groups more productive than others?
• What causes conflict within and between groups?
• What defines a group and what are its essential characteristics?

Introduction to Group Dynamics

• A deeper understanding of people necessitates an understanding of their groups
• Group membership is an unavoidable shared experience
• People engage with various groups daily, moving between them
• From birth, people are part of the family group, which is essential for survival during early life.

What Are Groups?

• A group has at least two people who are connected by social relationships
• Group size varies from pairs or triads, to large numbers of people
• Relationships connecting group members vary in type, strength, and length

Variety of Groups

• Groups are classified as primary, secondary, collectives, or categories

Group Classifications

• Primary groups include families, close friends, and small combat squads
• Secondary groups include coworkers, teams, crews, and study groups
• Collectives include audiences, queues, mobs, crowds, and social movements
• Categories include men, Asians, Americans, New Yorkers, doctors, and Filipinos

Key Characteristics of Groups

• Groups possess common features that set them apart

1. Composition

• This pertains to the qualities of the individuals who are members of a group.

2. Boundaries

• Boundaries define who is a group member and who is an outsider.

3. Size

• The number of members influences group interactions, communication, decision-making, and overall effectiveness.

4. Interaction

• Robert Freed Bales developed Interaction Process Analysis (IPA) to study social interactions in small groups
• Task interactions relate to the projects and goals of the group
• Relationship interactions maintain group harmony, support, and resolve conflicts

5. Interdependence

• Members rely on each other, where their actions, outcomes, thoughts, feelings, and experiences are partially based on others in the group

6. Structure

• Defines the pattern of relationships, roles, and standards that dictate how members interact.
• It also determines responsibility, how decisions are made, and how members exert influence.

7. Goals

• Goals refer to shared objectives that direct actions, interactions, and decision-making
• Goals give members a shared purpose and direction
• Joseph E. McGarth identifies four types of group goals: generating, choosing, negotiating, and executing.

8. Origin

• Origin refers to how a group initially forms and develops
• Group origin can be planned with concocted and founded groups, or emerge with circumstantial and self-organizing groups
• Holly Arrow, Joseph E. McGrath, and Jeniffer Berdahl defined concocted, founded, circumstantial, and self-organizing groups in 2000
• Concocted groups are planned outside of the group or by certain individuals
• Founded groups are planned by the individuals who remain within the group.
• Circumstantial groups are unplanned groups arising from external events
• Self-organizing groups occur when interacting individuals align their activities, creating interdependence

9. Unity

• Unity refers to a group’s cohesion, integrity, solidarity, social integration, and overall groupness.

10. Entitativity

• Social psychologist Donald Campbell coined the term in 1958
• It describes how much a group seemed like a single, unified entity that is a real entity

What is Group Dynamics?

• The word "dynamic" originates from the Greek word dynamikós, meaning strong, powerful, and energetic
• Group dynamics involves processes, operations, and changes within a social group that affect patterns of affiliation, communication, conflict, conformity, decision making, influence, leadership, norm formation, and power

Key Processes in Group Dynamics

• Formative Processes show the need to affiliate in groups
• Influence Processes impact attitudes, behaviors, and decision-making
• Performance Processes drive group ability to achieve goals
• Conflict Processes address how conflicts emerge, escalate, and get resolved
• Contextual Processes show how environment impacts a group's dynamics

Why Study Groups

• Kurt Lewin first used the phrase group dynamics to describe powerful processes in groups
• Lewin also used the term to describe the scientific study of group dynamics
• Studying groups helps understand people and how groups influence society