Section 3

Group Formation and Development

Characteristics of a well-functioning, effective group

• Atmosphere tends to be relaxed, comfortable, and informal.
• Group’s task is well-understood and accepted by the members.
• Members listen well to one another; most members participate in a good deal of task-relevant discussion.
• People express both their feelings and their ideas.
• Conflict and disagreement are present and centered around ideas and methods, not personalities or people.
• Group is aware and conscious of its own operation and function.
• Decisions are usually based on consensus, not majority vote.
• When actions are decided, clear assignments are made and accepted by members of the group.

Formal and Informal Groups

Formal and informal groups form within organizations for different reasons. Formal groups gather to perform various tasks. Informal groups evolve to gratify a variety of members’ needs not met by formal groups. Both go through similar stages of development.

Stages of Group Development

1. Mutual Acceptance
   Mutual acceptance is the first stage in a group’s development. In this stage, the focus is on the interpersonal relations among the members. Members assess one another with regard to trustworthiness, emotional comfort, and acceptance. Power, influence, and authority issues may also emerge at this point, if strong personalities immediately attempt to dominate other group members or dictate the group’s agenda. This authority issue is also an interpersonal issue related to trust and acceptance. Once team members establish a comfortable level of mutual trust and acceptance, they can focus their attention on the work of making decisions.
   
2. Decision-Making
   Planning and decision-making occur during the second stage of a group’s development. The focus turns from interpersonal relations to decision-making activities related to the groups’ tasks, including defining the tasks and how to accomplish them. This second stage may be thought as the planning stage in a group’s development. In addition, the issue of authority often begins to surface during this stage, especially if it did not surface during the first stage. Authority questions to be resolved include: Who is responsible for which aspects of the group’s work? How do individuals take leadership roles within groups? How do group members share resources and take turns?
   
3. Motivation and Commitment
   In the third stage of development, the group has largely resolved the interpersonal and task issues. Members’ attention is directed to self-motivation and the motivation of other group members for task accomplishment. Some members focus on the task of initiating activity and ensure that the work of the group really gets moving. Other members contribute to the group through maintenance functions such as supporting, encouraging and recognizing the contributions of their teammates or through establishing the standards that the team may use in evaluating its performance.
   The emphasis during the third stage of group development is on execution and achievement, whether through a process of questioning and prodding or through facilitation and workload sharing. If key decisions or plans established in the second stage of development need to be revisited, they are. However, this is only done in the context of getting the work done.
   
4. Control and Sanctions
   In its final stage of development, a group has become a mature, effective, efficient and productive unit. The group has successfully worked through necessary interpersonal, task, and authority issues. A mature group has four distinguishing characteristics:

   a. Purpose and Mission- The purpose and mission may be assigned to a group or emerge from within the group. In the case of an assigned mission, a group may at times re-examine, modify or revise the mission. Stating the purpose and mission in the form of specific goals enhances group productivity more than any other activity.

   b. Behavioral Norms- Behavioral norms, which evolve over a period of time, are well-understood standards of behavior within a group. They are benchmarks against which team members are informally evaluated and judged by other team members. Some behavioral norms become written rules, such as attendance policies or ethical codes. Other norms remain informal; after hours socializing and handling of interpersonal conflicts may fall into this category.

   c. Group Cohesion- Group cohesion is the interpersonal attraction that binds group members together. It enables a group to exercise effective control over its members in relationship to its behavioral norms and standards. Goal-conflict in a group, unpleasant experiences, and domination by a subgroup are all threats to a group’s cohesion. Groups with low levels of cohesion have greater difficulty exercising control over their members and enforcing their standards of behavior. High-cohesion groups report greater productivity and lower anxiety and tension than low-cohesion groups. Member satisfaction, commitment and communication are also higher in groups with good group cohesion. Group cohesion develops gradually over time through a group’s normal development. Group cohesion is influenced by a number of factors, most notably time, size, team prestige, external pressure and internal competition. Whereas external pressures tend to enhance cohesion, internal competition usually decreases cohesion within a team.

   d. Status Structure- Status structure is the set of authority and task relations among a group’s members. A group’s status structure may be hierarchical or egalitarian depending on the group or the particular tasks the group sets to accomplish. Whereas groups tend to have one leader, teams tend to share leadership. Diversity in a group is healthy and necessary for the development of an effective team. Group members each bring something unique to the team; their particular contributions may be in the form of a perspective, a skill, or a resource.

COMMON ROLES OF GROUP MEMBERS

To be effective, every group needs at least one person to perform five basic tasks. Individual group member’s roles often change from meeting-to-meeting or during the course of a discussion.

1. The Contributor- is data-driven, supplies necessary info and adheres to high performance standards.
2. The Collaborator- sees the big picture, is able to keep a constant focus on the mission, and urges other members to join efforts that help accomplish the group’s mission.
3. The Communicator- listens well, facilitates the group’s process.
4. The Challenger- questions everything – from the group’s mission, purpose and methods to its ethics.
5. The Integrator- helps the group come to consensus, finding middle-ground and incorporating disparate or seemingly polarized ideas or issues.SETTING A COURSE TOWARD

GROUP COHESION

Group cohesion and conflict go hand-in-hand. A common response to group conflict is to avoid it at all costs: minimize it, pretend it doesn’t exist, smooth it over, bury it, and circumvent it. These strategies may work if the issue is temporary or peripheral. However, successfully facing and resolving conflicts within groups is actually one of the best ways to create group cohesion. Five things to keep in mind about group conflict resolution include:

1. Agree on the basics. Shared commitment provides very powerful glue to hold a group together in the face of the inevitable stresses and strains of group life.
2. Search for interests in common. It often helps to keep asking, “What do we have in common?” If we disagree on this issue, “Where can we agree?” Recognizing what members have in common makes it easier to discuss where they differ.
3. Experiment. Experimentation can be a very powerful tool for dealing with conflict. It is a way to move beyond a stalemate without forcing either party to lose face or admit defeat; the parties may agree on a test of their differences when they cannot agree on anything else.
4. Doubt your own infallibility. In the heat of the moment, a five-person group can turn into five teachers in search of a learner. At such times, it can help if at least one person asks: “Are we all sure that we’re infallible? Are we really hearing one another?” Groups have the advantage of diverse resources, ideas and perspectives. A group that sees differences as an asset and a source of learning has a better chance for productive discussion of those differences.
5. Treat differences as a group responsibility. If two members are on a collision course, it may be tempting for others in the group to stand out of the way: it’s their problem. But since everyone is riding the same vehicle, all will suffer if it careens off the road.