Group Dynamics - The Effect on Worker Behaviour

Groups are found in all situations inside and outside the working environment, and play a large part in the everyday working of companies. If management wish to ensure they can influence the behaviour of their employees, then they must be aware of and understand how groups work and what kind of impact they can have if not handled well. This essay will cover the theory of groups, focusing on work groups, and how they affect individuals within them. Aspects to be covered will be definitions of what groups are, the different stages in the formation ad development of groups, classification of groups, the structure of groups, sociograms which show the relationships between people within the group, how relationships can affect performance. Also explained in the essay will be communication, which will discuss the work of Dr. Janet Bavelas, the effect of groups on individuals, Norms, Conformity and Deviance, the benefits of groups, and will also mention the Hawthorne Studies.

A number of definitions can be found which attempt to describe what a group is. According to Mullins (2002) “Groups are a characteristic of all social situations an

It sometimes occurs that group membership can have a negative effect on productivity, which is clearly illustrated in the Hawthorne experiments which were carried out at the Western Electric Company in America. One of these experiments consisted of a group of fourteen men being observed while working in the bank wiring room. These men formed their own cliques with members consenting to natural leaders emerging. Despite the fact that management had introduced a financial incentive scheme which allowed the men to receive more money if they produced more work, the group decided that a fair level of output was six thousand units per day, although they were able to produce much more. The group placed pressure on individual workers which was stronger than the appeal of the financial incentive scheme. The work group developed their own set of norms relating to what they considered to be proper group behaviour. These were that group members should not be ‘rate busters’, ‘chisellers’, ‘squealers’, or ‘officious’. A ‘rate-buster’ was someone who had a rate of output that the group considered too high according to the level they had set for combined output. A ‘chiseller’ was someone whose production levels were too low compared with the other group members. To avoid being thought of as a ‘squealer’ the members were not allowed to say anything to the manager or supervisor which might harm the other group members, and being ‘officious’ would be someone who had authority over the other members taking advantage of this seniority or distancing themselves socially from the group because of their seniority. The group had developed its own range of sanctions in case any members did not conform to the norms that had been set. These sanctions included damaging completed work, hiding tools, sarcasm, playing pranks on inspectors, and ostracising the members who refused to conform. They also made threats of physical violence, with the group also developing a system to punish offenders by striking a hard blow on the upper part of the arm, which they called ‘binging’. This method was also used as a means to control conflict within the group. The group also decided that instead of allowing their supervisor to report their individual daily production figures, they did the reporting themselves, which the supervisor consented to in order to keep in the groups favour.

If groups have effective structures and communication strategies, then they will be a success, and being part of a successful group will benefit individuals in terms of morale, as their social motives, such as their needs for security, friendship and belonging. The organisation will benefit through its profit levels and through low staff turnover and customer complaints if the groups in place within the company. Also, if the groups within the company are operating efficiently, then Gestalt’s Principle of Synergy will operate. The Oxford Dictionary definition of synergy is “The interaction or cooperation of two or more organizations, substances, or other agents to produce a combined effect greater than the sum of their separate effects”. This is the basis of the principle of synergy, where if the group is effective in its workings, then its productivity and worth as a group is greater than each individual group member could achieve when working on their own. However this theory can also work in reverse; if the group is not working effectively, then the productivity levels would be greater if each person was working on an individual level. This is particularly illustrated by the findings of the Hawthorne experiments, which are explained below.

Some topics in this essay:
According Mullins, Company America, Jacob Moreno, Janet Bavelas, Muzafer Sherif, Oxford Dictionary, , Jones Gerard, Hawthorne Studies, mullins 2002, Conformity Deviance, link person, norming stage, hawthorne studies, according mullins, communication networks, leadership predictability, levels low, according mullins 2002, financial incentive scheme, conformity deviance, development identified tucker, level satisfaction, mullins 2002 “the, dr janet bavelas,