Introduction:
Organisational behaviour is defined to traces its origins to the late 1940’s when researchers in psychology, sociology, political science, economics, and other social science sought to develop a comprehensive body of organisational research (Greiner,1979). Whereas according to George and Jones (1996), ” Organisational Behaviour is the study of the many factors that have an impact on how individual and groups respond to and act in organizations and how organization manage their environments”.
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This report shows the formation of group, behaviour of an individual in that group, advantages and disadvantages of individual in an group and stages of formation of the group, The factors like motivation, peer pressure, intra conflict, group norms which are psychological rewarding as well as potential demanding for an individual while working in a group with certain examples from journal and self examples.
GROUP:
Definition of group: Groups are described in many ways such as any number of people who interact with one another, who psychologically aware of one another and who perceive themselves in group (Schein, 1988).Whereas work group, is a part of group which is described as a collection of people who share their work in form of interaction, ability to act in a unitary manner, in group consciousness etc. (Schein, 1988). Apart from group, team work is almost similar to group activities, According Crainer (1998), “Team occur when a number of people have a common goal and recognize that their, personal success is dependent on the success of others”. There are some differences in group and teamwork based on size, selection, leadership, perception, style, and spirit.
Advantages of group for individual:
There are advantages for an individual in the group which can psychological rewarding as well as potentially demanding for an individual such as task performance where task given to every individual to performed with efficiently and properly while generating new ideas creative solutions to complex problem, superiority for purposes of liaison and co-ordination, greater suitability as vehicles for change, and to enable the socialization and training of new members (Chell, 1993). From my personal experience while working in a company, our groups main motive was to promote a marketing product. To perform the task efficiently I had good relations with senior who were experience from whom I learned good communication skills, shared the knowledge, and also the experience. As I was a new joined member in a group they treated me as usual member who is there from longer period of time. And if we had any critical problem related to work was solved collectively.
Disadvantages of group for Individual:
The disadvantages of group for an individual are conflict between members, seniority factor within group, dominated by one or two people, inactive member in a group. To support all this points I have an example we five friends stays together in a house where our work is divided equally. If there is a conflict between two members in a group it will affect each and every person in a group. Similarly if there is no honesty within the group may arise to conflicts, other than that seniority factor like age difference where senior may dominate the junior while working in a group. If the partner is not active in doing his given work may raise lots of problem within the group which may also delay the performance of task for e.g. if there is no lead dance for a group then how come a dance be performed.
Reason behind Joining the Group by an individual:
The reason behind joining the group is to achieve the psychological rewards as well as potential demand from the employees or other top managers in the organisation. There is a simple explanation that according to Myers (1994) “where strong proof on the basis that men and women seek to join others as a natural part of life and that they enjoy the socializing effect of being with other human being”. According to Katzenbach and Smith (1993) declares that “A team is a small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, performance goals, and approach for which they hold themselves accountable”. Whereas According to Heller (1997) “Working in groups is an excellent way of building the effective interpersonal relationships that organisations need. The basic reason behind joining the group for an individual is security, task achievement, social needs and power. Security means an employee’s when they come together with stronger feeling and more confident whereas collective bargaining with employers can indicate the uneven relationship between employer and employee for e.g. in a group there is a group leader and an employee where ideas are collected together but the differences are needed to be maintained. Whereas in task achievement, without group certain tasks cannot be performed where collective ability and skills are more efficient then the individual performance for quality of output. Social need means and addition in a group give individual status and self belief whereas social relationship also helps to improve communications and also leading to increased job satisfaction. In the power where the pressure of negotiation can be used more successfully if there are large numbers of members in group who support actively (Mullins, 1996).
Types of groups:
There are two types of groups which are formal and informal group where as formal group is defines as a planned system of cooperative effort in which each participant has a recognized role to play and duties or tasks to perform (Katz, 1965). There are various levels that differentiate the bench worker from the skilled mechanic, from top to bottom of the department and so on. These level are well defined and also the formal orders, instructions and compensations are informed to them (Hussein, 1989). It also include systems, policies, rules and regulations that express what the relations of one person to another are supposed to be in order effectively to achieve the task of technical production (Roethlisberger and Dickson, 1941). According to Palazzolo (1981), “a collection of individual whose common work experience result in the development of a system of interpersonal relations beyond those expected of them by values of their employment”. Such type of group is characterized by friendliness and common interest where as group goals which are not required for the efficient performance of their expected work activity. It is also a flow of functioning in setting s outside the working environment. This may also develop relationships of a primary nature which relationships last longer than their common work experience (Hussein, 1989). For e.g. in formal group, when I was an employee for an company where our selected group use to follow rules and regulation like communicate should be done strictly related to work, not to behave in causal way etc. whereas if I had any problem related my work then I use to directly consent to the my leader rather than other employees. Due to which that work was based as an individual thinking. Whereas an example of an informal group, during an event organisation held in our university named ‘Spectrum- The Ray of Light’, I was a member of that event group, if I had certain problem related to my work I use to feel free to ask for a help from our co-members and leaders which motivated me a lot which automatically which created an extra efforts in my work and completed it efficiently. And which also helped me to gain the knowledge from other members of the group. It also made me to become socialized between the people due to which it developed my communication skills, there was better understanding, and behaved in very friendly way so that if there is any problem can be discussed with everyone. So according to my personal experience informal groups are better than formal groups. Apart from that there is most important advantage of informal groups. Sometimes informal groups is also rewarding for an individual like if an individual is having a good relation with top manager in the group can help him to get promoted to higher post or vice-versa, or increase in higher salary etc. which is an potential demanding for an individual in group.
Stages of Group Development:
Under this section describes some general stages through which groups evolve and points out the sequential development process involved such as forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning (Bettenhausen, 1991). According to Tuckman (1965) the initial stage of group starts with forming which means coming together and begins to form its own working relationships For e.g. when the group is formed the members of the group has to maintain good communication relation with other members in the group which helps them to achieve the goal efficiently. After forming there is second stage which is storming which means various members in the groups works together to settle any disagreements and set priorities for e.g. where he/she has to achieve some importance in a group while maintaining relationship with other members in a group rather than creating the conflicts. The next stage is norming which is characterized by co-operation and collaboration for e.g. members of the group coming together and try to sort out the problem by suggestion of idea from different members in the group and also to maintain good relation with the members. After norming , performing where the group is fully functional for e.g. the structure of the group is set and the roles, efforts , energies and commitment on performing which is accepted. The final stage is adjourning stage involves the termination of group activities. After researching through stages it plays an important role in individual of group where it is psychological rewarding such as developing good communication, forming relation with members and developing the knowledge of thinking.
Behaviour of an individual in a group:
B=f (P, E), Behaviour is a function of interaction between person (p) and environmental factors (E) (Lewin, 1951). This theory’s propose indicate that individual behaviour should be examined both from the organisational and the individual’s perspective. There are variable affecting the behaviour of an individual in a group or organisation personality, perception, values, abilities for innate factors. The other factor that is environmental factors which include organisation factor, family, peer-group pressures and personal life experiences. To support this theory there is an example the show called Big Brother where ten to twelve contestants share a house over several week and their behaviour is observed through a battery of hidden cameras. Where every week they were give a task to be performed and if it is not fulfilled then there was an elimination factor at end of that week. From which the behaviour of individual is tested physical as well mentally. And if the work performed by any member of the house there were rewarded with various incentives like chocolate, to phone at their original house which motivate them more to perform their work more efficiently which is psychological rewarding for individual . There are two main methods of analyzing the behaviour of individual in group situations are sociometry and interaction analysis.
The Key Aspects that working in a group can be both psychologically awarding as well as demanding for the individual:
Motivation: It is defined by Mitchell (1982), there are some characteristics from which one that underlie the definition of motivation which are as follows,
“Motivation as an individual phenomenon where every person is unique and the major theories of motivation allow for this uniqueness to be demonstrated in one way or another”.
There are also certain theories of motivation like Maslow’s hierarchy, Alderfer’s modified need hierarchy model, Herzberg’s two factor theory which plays an important role for motivating the individual in the group.
Maslow’s hierarchy theory which indicate that stages which is for the development of individual and motivation like physiological needs, safety needs, social needs, esteem needs and self-actualization need. Where if we consider any individual then he has to first go through the physiological needs where needs a good pay, better working conditions etc. where as in safety level an individual thinks for job security, safe working conditions and company’s benefit. As on in social need good communication with the members in the group. And In esteem needs where individual thinks for a job title, promotion, wants importance from other employees etc. In last the self-actualization needs which is equal to highest post in an organisation like leader where individual has to face challenging job, creativity of ideas, achievement in work. As per myself experience at my work place most of the individual are satisfied with their physiological need and safety needs. Where there are certain people who show their ability to achieve self- actualization as in to become the leader. Using the above theory if an employee operating at the self-actualization level and fails to receive a challenging job which will affect the capabilities that employee’s has and also would be demotivated. If we see success among Chinese and Indian community is considered mainly through their support and family or community. Whereas Chinese will usually look for monetary rewards like bonus, incentives etc then only they will give their best efforts if family needs are satisfied. Whereas Indians on other hand will be loyal towards any organisation or group that caters for their own personal well being (Ahmad, 2001). After comparing this two example it shows psychological rewarding for the employees which in turn potentially demanding for the group which a success achieved by employee which helping the other members in the group.
Group Norms:
Sherif (1936) defined norms as the “customs, traditions, rules, values, fashions, and any other criteria of conduct which are standardized as a consequence of contact with individuals”. There are certain informal rules that group have adopted to regulate and regularize member’s behaviour through norms (Feldman, 1984). Norms are vital social-psychological as well as organisational concept that is presented in most discussion of work group behavoiur and organisational effectiveness (Gary, McMahan et.al. 1991). Group norms are of two types like formal and informal. Where in formal group norms there is standard should be maintained like written policies, operating procedures, operating manuals, blueprints, safety notices and similar materials (Cole, 2005) For e.g. In a recent case in sporting world, the Captain of England Rugby team sacked by the Rugby football union senior management for making some ill-advised public criticism of their behaviour. After that another team captain was sought but team was so united behind the former captain none was prepared either to accept the captaincy . So it is important to recognize that, even when arising from official sources, all norms are interim measures for securing the human resources of the organisation in the attainment of organisation al goals. Whereas for informal norms which not standardized such as decoration of an office plants or gathering of group member at lunch times (Cole, 2005). Like from this we can say that the performance of a individual matters a lot which comes in a form of psychological reward for an England captain by the other team members but not supporting the management. It is also potential demanding for the team as the performance of the captain.
Intra Group Conflict: Conflict is work a group is expected from time to time, especially if there is pressure to perform the work within the group. Whereas intra group conflict occurs when members of the same group fall out for e.g. where two different employees in a group have different point of view towards the same job given to them (Ellis and Dick, 2000). Intra group is allows cited as an important source of stress for an individual at work (Quick and Quick, 1984). This is basically affected to individual’s work as per my personal experience where I was a member of a group and my co-member had a conflict with leader in our group. Due to which it affected his motivation factor, lots of stress related to work. Whenever he suggests some idea related to problem were never took into consideration by our leader of the group. Due to which he was never psychological rewarded in group and where as his ideas were never potentially demanding would never be taken into count by the leader. Because leader is one who at last select the idea which is right for the organisation.
Peer Pressure:
Peer pressure can be influenced positively and can also be supportable for an individual to give his best. Whereas as it can also have negative consequences. The pressure to ‘fit in’ with co-members in the group can affect the way of talking, dressing, and behaving. Peer pressure can influence individual to do something which he/she has never done it before .For e.g. I had my personal experience I had a friend who wanted to be accepted in popular crowd so he was thrilled when the group of boys asked him to join their gang. But his happiness turned to tears when all of a sudden he was forced to do things that didn’t make him feel comfortable. Now the group of boys didn’t point a gun to his head or anything but he felt that if he didn’t went along with them and pretend that everything was cool then they had kicked him out of their group for sure. So he got his tongue pierced, started having a bad attitude and being really slack about his work. He was feared about losing that group who had given him so much of importance.
Conclusion:
To my own experience of working in a group is more well-organized for an individual performance who can mostly be rewarded psychological and his ideas may be demanding. Sometimes the problems are so critical that individual is not able to solve whereas in group it is solved collectively without wasting much time. And if any member is not pro-active towards the work then it can be covered by the remaining members which can help them to perform the work efficiently. Whereas not in the case of an individual.
