Group behavior: dynamics, influence, and collective outcomes

Group Behavior

The group in question is a company that my cousin works for. This company is a small advertising firm where the different employees each work closely together on projects. Each member of the team has set responsibilities and must work both independently and in concert with one another to ensure that the project is completed to the customer's satisfaction.

Communication in the group takes two forms -- verbal and non-verbal. The verbal component includes both written communication and spoken. The written communication is typically computer-mediated, especially when members of the team work remotely, which is frequent in this group. It has been shown that computer-mediated communication can decrease communication effectiveness, increase the time required to meet tasks and results in decreased team member satisfaction when compared to face-to-face communication (Baltes, et al., 2002). This is in part because much of the non-verbal element of communication is lost, and there are fewer opportunities for clarification of ideas with computer-mediated communication.

One of the reasons why this team is successful is because it blends computer-mediated communication with face-to-face communication. This allows for the infusion of non-verbal communication. In situations of disagreement or conflict where one member is working remotely, the situation is typically remedied with face-to-face communication, which is possible since remote work typically means from a home office. With this organization, communication is viewed as the most essential component to success, and in order to minimize the problems and delays caused by computer-mediated communication, all staff members working on a given project must meet at least once a week and often when the project reaches a critical point in its development, the amount of work done remotely is reduced.

The group began with a strict leader-follower dynamic, but over time it has developed into something with a more complex dynamic. Many members of the group have developed their own degrees of informal power, some from the expertise that they have demonstrated and others from their ability to cultivate that power within the group dynamic. Indeed, the leader of the organization may have seen his power diminish over time, as others have excelled.

The roles within the team are, for the most part, strictly defined. Some of the roles are primarily creative, which is essentially a task role. The creatives provide significant guidance to the people in the maintenance roles. There are, however, some roles that overlap between task and maintenance. These roles are often for copywriters or graphic artists, who begin the task by taking instruction from the creatives and others who interface directly with the customer. Within these roles, however, there is room for some creativity as well. They then play the role of clarifier or summariser in order to unlock some truths about the task at hand, so that they can go back to their work with a clearer vision of the job.

The maintenance roles help to support the creative side, which is a task that can be high risk at times (Benne & Sheats, 1978). The work that the junior members do in providing support to the creatives while simultaneously challenging them to develop stronger ideas is one of the reasons that the shop's output is so highly regarded.

This group has a significant amount of trust. The different members have built this trust over the course of years and multiple projects. With this trust, however, they are able to be stronger, in particular with task roles. Assumptions are challenged frequently, in particular with regards to the outcomes sought by the customers. The group views this is value added to the customer, by refining a vague customer concept into something that is actionable for the advertising firm.

The high level of trust that the group members have in one another allows for the different members to hand off sensitive work to team-mates. This delegation allows the company to have a greater degree of output than it otherwise would. The efforts are collaborative, but there is no need for all of the group members to work together all of the time. Instead, the group increases its throughput because the different group members trust one another to produce quality work on time.

There is a high level of interdependence among the group members as well. In part, this stems from the nature of the job -- many of the functions essential to creating a finished work are highly specialized. The team functions well in part because the team members recognize their interdependence, but blend it with a high level of trust. If the trust did not exist, team members would see significantly elevated stress levels because of the interdependence.