Classifying Groups

Liberty University Defining and Classifying Groups
According to the course text, “A group is defined as two or more individuals, interacting and interdependent, who have come together to achieve particular objectives” (Robbins & Judge 2009). There are multitudinous types of groups including formal groups, informal groups, command groups, task groups, interest groups, and friendship groups. In the fire department, an engine company is an example of a formal group. There is an officer, a driver, and a paramedic who designated work assignments designed to meet organizational goals. An exemplification of an informal group would be Scott from the IT department, Jared from finance, and myself. We revel in playing pickle ball together after work weekly. This group is more based on the gratification of social interaction than on the fulfillment of organizational ambition.
An illustration of a command group at the fire department where I work would be the four division chiefs. Each of us is the same rank, we direct distinctive areas such as logistics, professional
Groupthink takes place when pressures for conformity dissuade individuals from presenting opposing points of views (Robbins & Judge 2009). “When faced by a group majority whose preferences are different from theirs, participants assume the majority to be correct and focus on comparing their preference to that of the majority” (Dennis, 1996). In my organization, there are two staff meetings every Monday. The first meeting is larger and consists of approximately a dozen people, while the second meeting has only half that amount. It is evident in the larger meeting that when a preponderant member of the organization takes a stand on a topic, no one feels comfortable contesting it. This can be true, even if the ranking member’s viewpoint is clearly