Group Membership

Group Membership Moreland and Levine’s (1982) Model of Group Membership consist of five phases. These five phases are associated with some sort of social role. A year ago, I took a class called Group Dynamics. The objective of this class was to learn how to work within a group in a workplace environment and how to be a better leader. The first week of class the professor announced that groups would be formed the next class meeting and students were to maintain these groups for the remainder of the quarter. The first stage of Moreland and Levine’s model consist of the investigative phase. In my case, this phase began as soon as the professor announced that we would be forming groups. Everyone in the classroom was leery due to lack of knowledge of one another. A few members in the class mentioned how important their grades were to them and how they did not trust anyone with their work. I felt this was my chance to step in; I spoke to two of these complaining individuals hoping that they would accept my group membership proposal. As the three of us spoke another individual stepped in and began to join in on our conversation. Eventually, we asked each other questions to decide how important school really was to each of us. The outcome was the four of us forming a group named Live, Laugh, Learn. The socialization phase is the second portion of Moreland and Levine’s model. The second week came around and when the professor questioned who had formed groups we each raised our hand with pride. It seemed as if we each felt we had a solid enough group. At this point we began to form rules for our group to maintain order. We also appointed a group leader. The group leader was the person to address any issues that the group was having including lack of participation, unethical behavior in class, and not handling your own workload. If a member had an issue he/she must address it with the group leader. The fourth week of school had come around and the second project