Group Process

The processes that go on within a group - the communication within the group, behavior of the leader, power dynamics and conflict within the group - are crucial for understanding group behavior. Process gains can be maximized by training people for simple tasks in groups, and for complex tasks in individual practice sessions. The tasks that a group undertakes can moderate the impact of group processes on its performance and member satisfaction. The effectiveness of group performance is to a great extent affected by the level of conflict among group members and the quality of their communication.

Group members share some acceptable standards of behavior among themselves, and once they are established, they become norms. Status also has major behavioral consequences when individuals perceive a disparity between what they believe their status to be, and what others perceive it to be. Research has shown that small groups are faster at completing tasks than large ones, whereas large ones are good for obtaining diverse inputs from members. The composition of a group may sometimes, prove to be a critical factor in its total performance and turnover.

Some of the structural variables are formal leadership, roles, norms, group status, group size and the composition of the group. All these variables affect the functioning of groups. The style or behavior of the group leader tends to be imitated or repeated by the members of the group. As everyone is required to play a diverse set of roles within and outside an organization, one of the tasks in understanding behavior is grasping the role that is currently being played by a person. As far as group processes are concerned small groups (two to ten members) are better than large groups because large groups may waste time by deciding on processes and trying to decide who should participate next.