Group Dynamics Group Issues Usually

Group Dynamics

Group issues usually revolve around conflicts, disagreements, personality clashes and different values of the members. It is important to understand what a group is before we can focus on group dynamics in an educational setting. A group consists of two or more people who freely interact with each other and have chosen to be part of a group largely out of their own free will.

According to Oxford American Dictionary (2001, p. 752) a group is "a number of people who work together or share certain beliefs." Similarly other thinkers maintain that a group is any number of people who have come together with a shared goal that makes them interdependent to some extent. In these definitions we notice that a group needs to have a common goal or interest or anything that makes them want to work together.

Without these shared interest, a group becomes a refugee camp as Mike Freeman of Hewlett Packard's Electronic Division felt when his group developed conflicts: "We were like a refugee camp. We worked for the same company but spoke different languages. Shock resulting from a downturn in our industry permeated everyone. We were confused and without organizational homes. Survival meant creating a new way of life." [5]

Bruce Tuckman is considered the pioneer in the field of study of group dynamics. In 1965, he developed his Forming-storming-Norming-performing model of team development that focused of better understanding of group dynamics. This model was similar to some other team development models that emerged around the same time including Tannenbaum and Schmidt Continuum and Hersey and Blanchard's Situational Leadership model.

Tuckman maintained that groups pass through four important stages as they gain maturity and establish important connections with each other. The leader is the one who plays a crucial role in team development as he moves from coaching to participating to delegating and later detaches himself from the group. This progression of group leader is critical for the understanding of group dynamics. The four stages forming, storming, norming and performing help us understand the role of other team members.

In the first stage, a group is highly depended on the leader who directs and guides them since they are not familiar with their roles. There is usually low agreement on what the team should achieve and how. Roles are ambiguously defined and thus chances of conflicts are bright. In the second stage of storming, team members fight for their place in the group. Each tries to vie for the best position or more authority as they ease into their new roles as team members. In this stage, power struggles are common.

The group then moves on to the third stage of norming. This is an important stage since this determines the success of the task undertaken by the group. At this point, members have a clearer idea of their role in the team, they mostly agree on bigger issues while minor decisions rest with individual or sub-groups. Leader is seen as the head of the team and he is accorded due respect. Members open up to each other and may also enjoy social activities together.

The last stage of performing is when the team actually achieves its goal. By now the team has understood what the group is trying to accomplish and thus share common goals and values. The members have grasped their roles and responsibilities well and thus are less dependent on the leader. They enjoy greater autonomy and more freedom to make decisions on their own. Team members share camaraderie and this helps them achieve their goals with minimum conflict and disagreements.

Almost a decade after this model was developed; Tuckman added a fifth component to this cycle known as adjourning. Adjourning refers to the period when after the successful completion of given tasks, the group breaks up. This is a mourning stage as people who had come closer to each other during the project are forced to bid farewell to each other and the team officially comes to an end.

In a learning environment such as a classroom group dynamics are more pronounced than they may be in other settings. Group dynamics in such an environment produce psychological and energy changes "fuelled by the underlying forces of motivation and anxiety"(Tyson, p.47).

Stacey (1998) maintains that study of group dynamics in an educational setting is important because group interaction is seen as a "interaction is a "critical variable in learning and cognitive development" (1990 p.43 in Stacey, 1998, p.77) specifically in the "socio-emotional variables of group interaction, including motivation, satisfaction and anxiety reduction that are important in effective learning" (Stacey, 1998, p. 77). Group dynamics is thus a 'critical variable' whose effect on learning "cannot be ignored" (Stacey, 1998, p.40).

In an educational setting, the leader plays an important role especially at the beginning of the session when every member in the classroom is unfamiliar with his environment and his peers. Bion (1961) concludes that initially a group may face three possible problems known as dependency, flee instinct and rescue. It means that in the early stages, students turn to the leaders, in this case a teacher to resolve conflicts. Bion identifies these instincts as Basic Dependency, Fight/Flight and Pairing. This is parallel to what we mentioned earlier in the paper. This is the forming stage and team members are generally wary of each other.

With the passage of time, students enter the storming stage where conflicts occur as members try to vie for a more powerful position. Students are likely to engage in power struggles as they respond to the new environment and develop a sense of competition that paves way for rivalries. In some cases, single loop learning is noticed in this stage as students pay little attention to existing rules and norms while trying to climb the power ladder. In double loop learning scenario, a more mature approach is adopted as students question the existing norms and "invite each other to confront their views and to alter them in order to produce a position that is based on the most valid information possible, to which people involved can become internally committed" (Tyson, 1989, p.158).

In the norming stage, students gain more autonomy as they learn to work independently of their leader's direction and guidance. By this stage, students have a clear idea of their roles and responsible and of each other's capabilities. The teacher who was hitherto working as 'anxiety controller' can now delegate work to class 'monitors' or any responsible member of the team in case of his absence. Students learn to communicate better and their ability to communicate with other members is a sign of group's maturity.