Life Cycle of a Group
Topic: Discuss the life cycle of a group, showing how the process involved in each stage can affect the overall effectiveness of any group in the performance of an assigned task.
A group is a collection of two or more people who, over a period of time develop shared norms of behavior, are interdependent, and interact with each other for the purpose of achieving some common goal or set of goals. There are two types of groups namely; a formal group and an informal group. For example, a formal group in an organization is deliberately formed to achieve specific objectives. This is achieved through organization, co-ordination and delegation of work load within the group. Within a formal group exist set rules and procedures to be adhered to, all information is declared and taken note of. All formal groups have a formal point of origin and an end point.
An informal group however is formed by personal preferences and satisfies psychological and social needs (Mullins, L. 2005). A lack of official information will quickly reveal informal groups within an organization. The grape vine will pass information swiftly through the organization. This cuts through the organization’s structure ignoring the formal channels of communication. The group members are spread across departments; they may be friends who do lunch, or smokers who meet outside the building. This networking is informal, and can benefit the individual member; each group has its own culture. These groups are cross sectional, and are formed without any involvement from the formal structure (Mullins, L. 2005).
According to B.W.Tuckman (1965), as a group develops towards an effective, productive and healthy team it will pass through a number of distinct and natural sequences of stages. Each stage has both specific a task and socio-emotional issues. Knowledge of these stages and relevant behaviors can assist greatly in the understanding of the needs of the group. By understanding this, one can ask
A group is a collection of two or more people who, over a period of time develop shared norms of behavior, are interdependent, and interact with each other for the purpose of achieving some common goal or set of goals. There are two types of groups namely; a formal group and an informal group. For example, a formal group in an organization is deliberately formed to achieve specific objectives. This is achieved through organization, co-ordination and delegation of work load within the group. Within a formal group exist set rules and procedures to be adhered to, all information is declared and taken note of. All formal groups have a formal point of origin and an end point.
An informal group however is formed by personal preferences and satisfies psychological and social needs (Mullins, L. 2005). A lack of official information will quickly reveal informal groups within an organization. The grape vine will pass information swiftly through the organization. This cuts through the organization’s structure ignoring the formal channels of communication. The group members are spread across departments; they may be friends who do lunch, or smokers who meet outside the building. This networking is informal, and can benefit the individual member; each group has its own culture. These groups are cross sectional, and are formed without any involvement from the formal structure (Mullins, L. 2005).
According to B.W.Tuckman (1965), as a group develops towards an effective, productive and healthy team it will pass through a number of distinct and natural sequences of stages. Each stage has both specific a task and socio-emotional issues. Knowledge of these stages and relevant behaviors can assist greatly in the understanding of the needs of the group. By understanding this, one can ask