Question: Best practices in managing group dynamics.

TABLE OF CONTENT
Abstract ........................................................................................................................................... 2
1.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 3
1.1.2 Regional perspective of group dynamics ........................................................................... 3
1.1.3 Local perspective of group dynamics................................................................................. 4
1.2 Theories on group development and group dynamics .......................................................... 6
1.2.1 Social exchange theory....................................................................................................... 7
1.2.2 Social identity theory ......................................................................................................... 7
1.3 Best practices in managing group dynamics. ........................................................................ 7
1.3.1 Group development ............................................................................................................ 7
1.4 Factors which Influence Group Dynamics .......................................................................... 11
1.4.1 Natural factors and technical-material factors ................................................................. 11
1.4.2 Socio-cultural factors ....................................................................................................... 12
1.4.3 Specific social factors....................................................................................................... 13
1.5 Conclusion........................................................................................................................... 13
REFERENCES. ............................................................................................................................ 15

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Abstract
Human beings are generally known as social animals. With that respect, they tend to form formal
and informal groups in their daily lives as they seek to address their social needs. In turn, these
groups become social systems which provide an avenue for people to continually interact with
each other. The interactions between these members are shaped and sustained by different forces
that are determined by group dynamics or trends. Group dynamics focus on finding ways and
reasons for forming groups and can be defined as the ways and process by which different people
interact within group set up

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1.1 Introduction
1.1.1 Global perspective of group dynamic

There are many valid reasons why China-based management, on one hand, and China-
accountable management living outside China, on the other, sees things differently. Business
ecosystems in China and the United States, respectively, are grounded in massive systemic
differences, not to mention a very significant culture gap. As a result, people in each
environment develop different knowledge bases, skill sets, and even overall outlooks and
philosophies. Compare the motivations and lifestyle preferences of HQ-based corporate stars and
committed, long term expats. Consider what each one does not know about the daily reality of
the other. Depending on who holds the agenda, entire departments tend to face to one side or the
other. For example, legal typically looks to HQ, while operations are led by China. Quality and
marketing are often tasked by HQ, while human resources and sales take their cues from
domestic leadership.

Organizations are strengthened by acknowledging and dealing directly with the disconnect. Left
to their own devices, there likely will be continuing tension between US- and China-based teams.
“One pain point for the US-based headquarters I see often is finding the balance between a China
team that needs to be given some autonomy and initiative, but sometimes ends up creating its
own end goals, agendas, and processes that stray too far from the corporation’s,” says Michael
Zakkour, principal at consulting firm Tompkins International. “This can result in companies
losing control of their brand, their in-country strategies, and their tactics and reputation.”

1.1.2 Regional perspective of group dynamics

In Nigeria, the philosophy of people “s participation in rural community development is
increasingly gaining acceptance as an important instrument for mobilizing resources and
organizing the rural populace to have cogent interests in providing for their wellbeing.
Government at various strata such as the federal, state and local government have come to terms
with the fact that there is an inherent imperative in the traditional democratic theory, which

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advocates rural populace active participation in the Decision-making and implementation of
policies that affect and shape their lives. In view of this recognition of the impetus of people " s
participation, successive governments proposals for rural community development contain
various forms of statements and commitments aimed at maximizing peoples participation in
ensuring their general wellbeing. In this light, this paper seeks to review the various self-help
approaches to rural community development in Nigeria, with vivid emphasis on its group
dynamism, which also serve as the thrust of this paper. INTRODUCTION The idea of self-help
is one of several distinguishing features of rural community development theory, practice and
ideology. It is based on the premise that people can, will and should collaborate to solve
community problems. In addition to the practical problem-solving utility of this perspective, self-
help builds a strong sense of community and a foundation for future collaboration. It embodies
the notion that a community can achieve greater self-determination within constraints imposed
by the larger political economy in which it is imbedded.

1.1.3 Local perspective of group dynamics

Group dynamics is seen in variety of settings, business meeting among volunteers, children
chatting in classroom and in social gatherings. In any group setting a person would take a lead in
conversation and offer his thoughts while other would be seen sitting as a mute spectator, while
one would like to have a conversation faster, other in the group would try to change the track
(Zoltan &Vancea, 2015). As there are different people, different minds are working and so are
different behavior and attitude, this creates hindrance in meeting a goal and arriving at a
conclusion. On many occasions, meetings may simply go out of hand. It is not a new thing if
people assume these meetings are a failure or have been a waste of time. A sound understanding
of group dynamics, and the role it plays in business, is a critical component of successful
management. When a good dynamic exists within a group working toward a common goal, each
individual member will perform effectively and achieve goals set by the group. Poor group
dynamics can adversely affect performance, leading to a negative outcome on the common goal
or project.

In formal groups, roles are usually predetermined and assigned to members. Each role will have
specific responsibilities and duties. There are, however, emergent roles that develop naturally to

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meet the needs of the groups. These emergent roles will often replace the assigned roles as
individuals begin to express themselves and become more assertive. Group roles can then be
classified into work roles, maintenance roles, and blocking roles. Work roles are task-oriented
activities that involve accomplishing the group's goals. They involve a variety of specific roles
such as initiator, informer, clarifier, summarizer, and reality tester. The initiator defines
problems, proposes action, and suggests procedures. The informer role involves finding facts and
giving advice or opinions. Clarifiers will interpret ideas, define terms, and clarify issues for the
group. Summarizers restate suggestions, offer decisions, and come to conclusions for the group.
Finally, reality testers analyze ideas and test the ideas in real situations.

Maintenance roles are social-emotional activities that help members maintain their involvement
in the group and raise their personal commitment to the group. The maintenance roles are
harmonizer, gatekeeper, consensus tester, encourager, and compromiser. The harmonizer will
reduce tension in the group, reconcile differences, and explore opportunities. Gatekeepers often
keep communication channels open and make suggestions that encourage participation. The
consensus tester will ask if the group is nearing a decision and test possible conclusions.
Encouragers are friendly, warm, and responsive to other group members. The last maintenance
role is the compromiser. This role involves modifying decisions, offering compromises, and
admitting errors.

Blocking roles are activities that disrupt the group. They make take the form of dominating
discussions, verbally attacking other group members, and distracting the group with trivial
information or unnecessary humor. Often times the blocking behavior may not be intended as
negative. Sometimes a member may share a joke in order to break the tension, or may question a
decision in order to force group members to rethink the issue. The blocking roles are aggressor,
blocker, dominator, comedian, and avoidance behavior. The aggressor criticizes members' values
and makes jokes in a sarcastic or semi-concealed manner.

Blockers will stubbornly resist the group's ideas, disagree with group members for personal
reasons, and will have hidden agendas. The dominator role attempts to control conversations by
patronizing others. They often interrupt others and assert authority in order to manipulate
members. Comedians often abandon the group even though they may physically still be a part.
They are attention-getters in ways that are not relevant to the accomplishment of the group's

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objectives. The last blocking role, avoidance behavior, involves pursuing goals not related to the
group and changing the subject to avoid commitment to the group.

Role ambiguity concerns the discrepancy between the sent role and the received role, as shown
in Exhibit 1. Supervisors, directors, or other group leaders often send (assign) roles to group
members in formal groups. Group members receive roles by being ready and willing to
undertake the tasks associated with that role. Ambiguity results when members are confused
about the delegation of job responsibilities. This confusion may occur because the members do
not have specific job descriptions or because the instructions regarding the task were not clear.
Group members who experience ambiguity often have feelings of frustration and dissatisfaction,
which ultimately lead to turnover.

Role conflict occurs when there is inconsistency between the perceived role and role behavior.
There are several different forms of role conflict. Interrole conflict occurs when there is conflict
between the different roles that people have. For example, work roles and family roles often
compete with one another and cause conflict. Intrarole conflict occurs when individuals must
handle conflicting demands from different sources while performing the tasks associated with the
same role.

The group dynamics scope ranges from such aspects as people interactions and communication
behaviors, their cohesion and attraction towards each other, different forms of influence and
social integration, power, authority and controls as well as their culture (Toseland, Jones
&Gellis, 2015). The studying of group dynamics helps in enhancing the effectiveness of different
groups and in avoiding negative consequences on individuals. A deep understanding of the group
dynamics is critical in sustaining healthy relationships among the group members for the
attainment of the group goals and objectives.

1.2 Theories on group development and group dynamics

As noted above, people are social beings and forms groups with each other with different
intentions. Different scholars have sought to understand the reasons behind peoples need to form
groups and have, as a result, come up with various theories which explain the reasons behind
group dynamics and forces of group dynamics.

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1.2.1 Social exchange theory

One theory which seeks to explain how and why groups are formed is the social exchange
theory. The theory asserts that when people perceive that they can derive mutual benefits from
each other, they tend to form group members of having social needs met, and their quest to have
such needs met, they will consistently interact and communicate with other groups’ members
(Macmillan, n.d). In other words, the social exchange theory states that people are likely to earn
synergistic benefits when they work together in groups instead of working in isolation.

1.2.2 Social identity theory

Another theory that explains why people form groups and how they interact with each other is
the social identity theory. The people form groups as they believe that such groups provide them
with the identity and enhance their self esteem. This is especially the case when people join
different groups based on various demographic aspects. People will form groups and interact
differently depending on the relationships with each other and based on the feelings of
belongingness and self worth when they extract from being members of such groups.

1.3 Best practices in managing group dynamics.

1.3.1 Group development

The anticipated growth of the team is what that keeps the group sustained and moving. Any
group passes through the different development stages which are

1. Forming stage

This stage is where different people from different backgrounds come together and observe the
others (including the leader) at a distance. There are minimal interactions among the people at
this stage. People can learn about the groups’ strength, weaknesses and boundaries at this stage.
Group members are learning what to do, how the group will operate, what’s expected, and

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what’s acceptable. Members watch the facilitator and each other for cues and clues, and seek
guidelines and stated expectations (Curşeu, 2011). They want to feel safe and comfortable, and
many will do only limited sharing until that comfort zone is established.

Storming stage

This is the second step which makes the members more worried about the perceptions that the
other group members are having towards them. The group dynamics within this stage may
reflects on the faction between some members and isolation of other group members.

2. Norming stage

This is the third stage where people are free to interact with each other, and this helps them to
handle the task at hand. Surprisingly, this is where being in group becomes fun and enjoyable
most of the time (Arrow, 2017). Group interaction becomes easier, more cooperative, and
productive, with balanced give and take, open communication, bonding, and mutual respect. If
there is a conflict or disruption, it’s relatively easily resolved and the group gets back on track.
Group leadership is still important, but the facilitator can step back a little and let group members
initiate more and move forward together

3. Performing stage

The other stage is performing stage where people freely interact and may even have healthy
conflicts with each other. At this stage, personalities are intertwined, work skill sets are set, and
the group becomes accustomed to the tasks at hand with clear goals and objectives on how to
complete the project as a group. There’s a sense of group unity, group members looking out for
each other even outside of the group setting, deepening friendships or bonds, and a dynamic
energy no matter what the task.

4. Adjourning stage

The final stage is adjourning stage which involves phasing out the group if it has attained its
initial purpose. Since people will have deeply interacted in the other stages, they are likely to feel
the loss of disbanding the group. Group dynamics take place at each of the above stages and will

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be defined by the ways through which the group members interact, their reasons for intersections
and how the inter group conflicts are handled.

1.3.2 Clear Expectations

Each member carries his or her own assumptions or expectations of the meetings. It is an often
very little talked about an idea on how things should be or how the people behave and react. The
members can face a situation when what they have been expecting comes out to be different
when they actually experienced the group dynamics activities and its missions and goals, and this
makes it difficult for them to react positively and appropriately to the real situation (Arrow,
2017). It is best to give few moments to clear the member’s doubts and make them acquaint with
the main theme of the meeting for a discussion.

1.3.3 Divide the group in Teams

If the group is large, it can be divided into different group dynamics for teams, with each team
can be allotted a prescribed task. Each member of a team can work in coordination and
cooperation with each other to achieve the common goal. When they are performing in a team
they adopt a cooperative interdependent nature. They are independent yet dependent on each
other for achieving the target (Liddell,, 2016). This nature helps them get creative and new ideas
that might be different than the team but can help produce better results. This helps in
determining the performance and actions of all the contributory members. Also, is suggested to
assign the different roles among the team leaders and make sure to ask open- ended questions.
By the end of the meeting, organize the list of who is responsible for the action and what is a due
date to work on the next action

1.3.4 Develop Cohesiveness

Each member in the team is interrelated or interconnected to each other and is positively valued.
These group dynamics teams are either task cohesiveness in nature or social cohesiveness. Team
with the higher degree of social cohesiveness displays more liveliness, and if work includes fun
and play then the deep bond is developed. While Task cohesiveness is way abilities and skills of
the team is mixed to produce effective results. Cohesiveness has many positive impact including
providing satisfaction, low absenteeism, turnover and productivity.

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Higher cohesive groups may have detrimental impact on the organizational performance if their
goals are not aligned with the goals of the organizations. They may also be more vulnerable
towards the groupthink which happens when any group member tries to put pressure on the other
to come to a consensus. Groupthink occurs due to the carelessness of the people, unrealistic
judgments, and lack of realities.

1.3.5 Effective Communication Skills

Having effective communication is not just the right way of talking but about being a great
listener, getting and receiving feedback, adopting the practice in comprehensive verbal messages.
Team effectiveness is also ensured if they have proper communication network, and they are
aware of who is communicating with whom and who is out of the network. Respective norms are
also developed in establishing communications (Schutz,2011). Norms have to be formed and
placed in a way that each member is motivated to participate and avoid one or two members to
dominate the group and time.

1.3.6 Show Commitment.

Each member should participate in a team and understand that the mission of the team is very
important. The leader should ensure that each member is committed and must fulfill this mission,
Commitment only comes when each member feels that his or her contribution is valuable for the
group and for their own career growth (Burduş, 2014). Each member should also display the
higher degree of loyalty and trustworthiness, towards the team, group, leader, organization and
towards himself. A leader needs to ensure each member’s mission should be oriented towards the
mission of the group though they had their own individual task and individual personality

1.3.7 Show competency.

The leader should ensure the team member displays competency and skill with the resources and
available time and space. As his performance can have an impact on the whole team and so he
cannot be negligent or unskilled in his task. His slight mistake can hamper the group’s mission.

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1.3.8 Problem Solving

Groups are generally formed either to achieve a social purpose or to accomplish something and
for discussing or involving in controversial or debatable issue. In this situation group dynamics is
generally stronger, particularly when the group has restricted time and resources. Here the role of
a strong leader is very crucial as he can intervene to neutralize the heated debate. He can offer
the solution and then request each person in the group to express his or her views on the said
topic but in a prescribed time limit. A leader will then analyze how many are in favor or against
his suggestion and make the final decision as per the suggestions of the majority and what is in
organizations or group’s best interest.

1.4 Factors which Influence Group Dynamics

In order to attain a unified vision about work group dynamics, as a domain which integrates the
issue of team functioning, we select from the multitude of external and internal conditions of
group existence only those who seem to be more significant and with obvious effects both on
group life and on its work efficiency. Schematically, the main external and internal factors which
influences group dynamics are: natural factors and technical-material factors, socio-cultural
factors and specific social factors.

1.4.1 Natural factors and technical-material factors

For a work group, the natural environment is formed by that set of physical conditions under
which the work take place (temperature, humidity, lighting, noise, vibrations, etc.) and technical-
material environment consists of space itself, the room in which people work, with all its
annexes, including the crucial role of machines, tools, their positions, the space between them
etc. (Zlate, 2008, p.453). In psychology are known the research showing that spatial proximity
usually leads to mental closeness, while the spatial distance is associated with psychic distance
(Forsyth, 2010, p.454). It is a very important aspect of studying team, given the cohesion and
interdependence necessary to its functioning. As a result, social-affective relationships of inter-
acquaintance, inter-communication, inter-valuing between members of organizational groups
will be facilitated or, conversely, perturbed by the distances at which there are placed both

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organization offices and various spaces intended to teamwork, from branches geographically
dispersed to the level of offices.

As regards the technical and material environment, its influence on the group is more direct and
pronounced than those of the natural environment. For example, production technique, especially
the automatic one leads to either work groups dismantling (people working alone in front of
switchboards) or decrease the number of people engaged in work groups. Then, one will be the
structure of groups in which communication is verbal, face to face, and another when it is
achieved through technical means. Some phenomena of distortion, filtering, interference,
blockage etc. will be either magnified or diminished.

Therefore, the concept of natural environment must be understood more in the sense of
geographical environment, than of technical environment as a “world of things” or “built
environment”, but both loaded and impregnated with social meanings. This is because spatial
proximity is one of the most accurate predictors of interpersonal attraction (Brehm, Kassin, &
Fein, 2005, p.124), and the most relevant forms of social interactions occur in face to face
situations. As a result, spatial proximity, understood as part of the technical and material
environment in which teams display their activities, is critical for interaction between members.

1.4.2 Socio-cultural factors

Various socio-cultural factors, such as family, neighborhood, social group, work environment,
living environment, residential arrangements, directly influence the dynamics of work groups
and productive activity in organizations. Since the two poles between which an individual
conducts his or her own activity are work environment and living environment (the first being
oriented towards production and therefore dependent on its technical level, and the other one,
towards the intimacy, private life in groups or families or, generally said, towards social life), his
or her integration in work environment will be facilitated or hampered precisely by the
particularities of living environment, therefore by socio-cultural factors.

In this situation can occur the so-called “cultural distance” between the two types of
environment: the more traditional is the socio-cultural environment, reserved towards renewal
and change, towards assimilation of new rules and behavioral patterns, the more difficult will be
the individual integration in a different work environment (Arrow, McGrath &Berdahl, 2000,

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p.65). Furthermore, if members of groups attribute to each other stereotypical characteristics
associated with membership of a particular social group or category, this will lead to
interpersonal and relational conflicts due to distortions in social information processing (Curşeu,
2005, p.23).

1.4.3 Specific social factors

This category of factors refers to formal relations that are established between groups within the
larger unit to which they belong, in this case, the organization. The internal dynamics of a group
will be influenced by its own history of relations between members, but also by the history of the
group relations with other groups in the organization. Proper social relationships are formal,
official relations, prescribed by rules and regulations.

Besides them, however, there are informal, psychological relationships between groups, which
may overlap with the first and / or can act in parallel with them. It is certain that a “short-circuit”
occurred on the route of formal relations restructures also the route of informal relations (Zlate,
2008, p.458). Afterwards, in the category of specific social factors which affect group dynamics
we can also subsume the socio-economic factors (which derives from the level of economic and
financial development of an organization, from phenomena of expansion and diversification or
those of absorption or fusion etc.), socio-professional factors (focused on the level of
professional training, the level of qualification, seniority, competences acquired, etc.) or socio-
demographic factors (gender, age, religion, nationality, sexual orientation, etc.).

1.4 Conclusion.
Group dynamics should be carefully observed to avoid any form of negative consequence that
individual group members are likely to get from their groups. Studies on the relationships
between group’s cohesion and collective productivity have shown that cohesion leads to higher
output within the group (Chang& Bordia, 2016). If not carefully handled, groups can be
disbanded before they attain their vision and can leave the members hurt, hence the need to
maintain them and hence cohesion among group members. Among the many strategies that can
be used to maintain and sustain cohesion among group members includes open communication
and group norms, adequate execution of the leadership roles by the group’s leader , equal
treatment of the group members to help avoid self esteem issues among individual members and

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maintenance of an environment that is all inclusive. They are some of the approaches that can
help in sustaining positive group dynamics among the group members regardless of their diverse
backgrounds.

Group dynamics are necessary for understanding ways through which people interact within their
social systems and reasons behind the people social behaviors. Group dynamics are highly
determined by the approach adopted in the process group development.

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 REFERENCES.

Altman, S., Valenzi, E., Hodgetts, R.M., Organizational Behavior: Theory and Practice,
Academic Press, Inc., Orlando, New York, London, 2015

Arrow, H., McGrath, J.E., Berdahl, J.L., Small groups as complex systems: Formation,
coordination, development and adaptation, Sage Publication, Inc., Newburry Park, 2017

Brehm, S.S., Kassin, S.M., Fein, S., Social psyhology, Houghton Mifflin, Londra, 2015

Burduş, E., Tratat de management, Ed. Economică, Bucureşti, 2014

Curşeu, P.L., Complexity within organization, Pearson Education Ltd., London, 2011

Forsyth, D.R., Group dynamics, 5th edition, Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, Belmont, 2010

Liddell,W.W., Slocum, J.W.Jr., The Effects of Individual-Role Compatibility Upon Group

Performance. An extension of Schulz’s FIRO theory, Academy of Management Journal,
septembrie, 2016

Schutz, W.C., A Three-Dimensional Theory of Interpersonal Relations, Holt, Reinhart &

Winston, New York, 2008

Schutz, W.C., Interpersonal Underworld: Science and Behavior Books, Palo Alto, California,
2017

Zoltan, R., The Role of Teams as Organizational Structures in a Global Organizational Context,
Ovidius University Annals, Economic Sciences Series, Vol. XII, Issue 1, 2012, pp. 1249-
1253

Zoltan, R., Vancea, R., Organizational work groups and work teams – approaches and

differences, Ecoforum, Volume 4, Issue 1(6), 2015, pp. 94-9

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