A Comparison Of Functional And Dysfunctional Behaviors In Different Groups

you can select one aspect of group behaviour from the range of concepts and theories considered in the first half of the course  (eg, decision making, team building, power and politics, communication, etc). 

On the basis of this aspect of group behaviour, compare and contrast the functional and dysfunctional behaviours of two groups in which you have active membership.

From this examination, argue a case (ie, explain and justify your conclusions) about how and why the groups may be considered similar or different.

This assignment requires you to make choices from the range of concepts and theories examined in the first half of the course (that is Modules 1-3) and apply these as tools of analysis to two different groups you are active within. The primary focus is on critically comparing the kinds of group behaviours that could be said to be functional (that is, enhance and support the group practice you are examining) with those that could be described as dysfunctional (that is, hinder the practice being examined). By comparing these kinds of behaviours, you will be able to make a case for how and why the two groups are different in terms of the particular practice you are examining. So what makes groups different and how can these differences be understood?

The report would present two groups in order to understand the differences and similarities demonstrated by their behavior. Group behavior and its behavior would also be explained to create a background of the report. Team building, decision making, communication and power and politics are the group behavior identified within the groups. Sports group and academic group are the two groups that would be analyzed to contrast their differences and similarities and understand group dynamics. Theories and concepts would be used to illustrate the differences and similarities between the two groups. Team building behavior of a group would be analyzed to highlight the differences and similarities between the two groups. Their common goals and objectives would also be evaluated to understand group dynamics. The report would make use of different theories, concepts and models to contrast the differences, similarities and common goals and objectives of the two groups.

A group consists of two or more individuals who interact with each other and depend on each other to pursue a common goal (French, 2011). Group can be further divided into formal and informal groups. A formal group is a group that has a definite structure with defined goals and procedures (Brooks, 2009). Informal groups are formed as response to need of contact. Group can also be classified on functional basis as command group, task group, interest group and friendship group.

A group has certain norms that define the behavior of the group members in order to control their performance. The norms could be performance norms, appearance norms, social arrangement norms and allocation of resource norms (Champoux, 2010). The group norms could either be written down, verbally stated, implicitly understood or could be deeply rooted within the group (Chen, 2008). The operant norms help to recognize the vital issues that could affect the productivity of task. The issues that could affect the processes are group formation, communication, decision making, creation and innovation, collaboration and negotiation (French, 2011).

The process of decision making involves series of steps. Firstly, the problem is defined to recognize the criteria. The criterion is then prioritized to generate different options. All of the options are evaluated to select the best possible alternative. Group decision making rarely leads to rational decision making because of access to limited information, yet it offers more alternatives and greater diversity to develop an accurate solution. The disadvantage of the process is that it is time consuming and less efficient. Group think is a conformity issue that leads to high quality decisions and happens when the people of group are pressurized.

Communication helps to control the behavior of the members and reinforces motivation within the group. Transmission and transaction communication are the two models of communication. In a transmission model, the source or sender encodes the message that is transmitted through a channel and the encoded message is finally received by the receiver. The receiver decodes the message in order to interpret it. In a transaction mode, both receiver and sender share information through a channel.

Team Building

Power and politics is another aspect of group behavior. Coercive, reward, legitimate, expert and referent are the five bases of power that could influence an individual. Legitimacy, inspirational appeals, rational persuasion, exchange, consultation, personal appeals, ingratiation, coalitions and pressure are the power tactics.

Team building is another crucial aspect of group behavior. The group members must have strong team work and collaboration skills (Guest, 2015).

In order to assess the behavior of different groups, team building attribute of the group has been used.

The different activities being carried within a group in order to encourage the members of a team is termed as team building. Team building helps to increase the overall team performance. Motivation factor is one of the most vital components of team building (Dyer & Dyer, 2013). The team leader must appreciate the person giving an outstanding performance in a team to encourage him to yield better results in the future (Aga, Noorderhaven & Vallejo, 2016). The person feels motivated after the appreciation and his confidence is likely to boost up that leads to better performance in the future.

Team building helps the members to socialize with each other and understand each other. This helps in problem solving process where everybody works collectively to arrive at a solution (Cha et al, 2015). They also understand each other’s strengths, weaknesses and interests that bring them together to pursue a common goal. Competition also helps to enhance overall productivity in a team. The individuals compete with each other to demonstrate their extra ordinary skills. Celebration and fun is also a part of team building as it encourages them for next big win. It also boosts team spirit within the team members. Collaboration and reinforcing of innovation and creativity also brings the people of a team together and leads to better performance of team. Effective communication is another important attribute for team building. The team members must be happy and comfortable with the environment.  

Sports group and academic groups are the two groups that have been presented in the report in order to understand similarities and differences between these two groups and analyze the group dynamics. I’m actively involved in my sports team of football and have won numerous tournaments by demonstrating our competency skills. I’m the front player of the football team and have to effectively collaborate with the other team members to win the tournaments. Every individual is highly competitive and has to consistently thrive towards high level performance. Though, individual performance is important in the team, but collaboration is highly important because during the game the team players must be able to understand each other in order to strategically pass the ball, otherwise, the opponent team may take the ball. Thus, team spirit and team collaboration are the two most important components of the team. The team has a president and a vice president who decides the roles and responsibilities of each player. They decide the position of each player and also devise the strategy for each game.

Activity 1

On the other hand, academic group has a different layout. The goal of the group is to handle the projects and assignments as given by the professor. A team leader is selected by the group members who represents and leads the team. The team leader takes care of the deadline of the projects. He is also responsible for distribution and allocation of the tasks to the members based on their skills and abilities. The project is firstly divided into smaller segments that are distributed among the team members of the group based on an individual’s skill sets. The team leader consistently monitors the activity of each and every candidate in order to track progress of the project. The team leader also defines the deadlines for each and every task that is communicated to the team members through meetings and discussions. Frequent meetings are conducted to resolve the queries of the members. Suggestions and feedbacks are also taken from each and every individual in order to find reach an agreeable solution. The team leader is also responsible for resolving the conflicts within the team members.

The table below illustrates the similarities and differences between the two groups as has been discussed above.

Sports group and academic group have different goals and objectives and therefore, there are some dissimilarities between the two groups based on their behavior. Compatibility and team motivation are requisite components of sports group that leads to great results whereas trust & accountability and commitment are necessary for academic group. Compatibility in football team ensures that the team members understand each other very well and have great harmony within the team. A game is built on a strategy that can only be implemented when the team payers have great compatibility with each other. Team motivation is highly essential in the team because without it there would be no win. Every game requires high level of energy and enthusiasm from the team players. When the team is not motivated the energy level gets down and they are no more enthusiastic to give high level performance in the game that could affect the game. On the other hand, a highly motivated team would ensure a win.

The academic group requires high level of trust & accountability to be established within the team. The members must be able to trust each other for their roles and responsibilities (Giessner, 2013). This ensures fairness and fosters a friendly environment within the group and automatically the members thrive to attain better results. Commitment is also equally important as every individual has to understand his/her roles and responsibilities that would ultimately lead to achieve goals and objectives of the group (Bane, 2014). It is the duty of each and every member to complete his assigned task in the due time period.

Team building helps to attain the desired goals and objectives through team collaboration and team work. After being actively involved in two different groups, I have identified two similarities between the sports group and academic group. Team collaboration and effective communication between the team members are the two important aspects of team building in both the groups. Team collaboration brings all the team members on a common platform and they thrive to attain common goals and objectives. When they aim to work towards a common goal, they can feel the sense of purpose that inspires them to perform better. Team collaboration in both of the teams helps to promote self analysis by challenging them to think and articulate. The group members are able to understand their own strengths and weaknesses. Team collaboration creates a pool of knowledge within the groups that helps in problem solving within the groups. The president and the team leader both assesses individual’s strengths and weaknesses so that every team member complement each other through his core competency. The president decides the position of each player, for instance front players are those who can score goals for the team. Similarly, team leader also allocates the analytical part to an individual with great analytical skills.

Sports Group

Effective communication is another major aspect of both of the group’s behavior. Effective communication helps to eliminate stress and conflicts arising within the team and boosts their spirit through motivation (Boies, Fiset & Gill, 2015). Further, it also helps to gather an individual’s feedback and suggestion in order to arrive at a better solution (McLaren & Spink, 2015). The team president collects everybody’s opinion while devising a strategy for a tournament. Similarly, team leader also gathers the suggestion of every member while working on a case study to achieve team consensus. Effective communication satisfies each and every member of the team by considering their views while arriving at a solution. Both the team leaders also provide an individual with a justification when an individual’s opinion is not appropriate.  

After assessing the differences and similarities between the two groups it can be concluded that both the groups require team collaboration and effective communication in order to demonstrate high performance. Team collaboration brings the team members together through meetings and discussions and identifies their weaknesses and strengths. The team leaders assess the individual strengths and weaknesses to assign their respective roles and responsibilities. The team leaders regularly maintain an effective communication within the team so as to bring harmony among the members. They also work towards resolving conflicts and issues within the team in order to bring them on a common platform. When the members work on a common platform with great zeal, they are likely to achieve goals and objectives of the group.

Common differences concepts: Compatibility is an essential component of group 1 that leads to harmony among the players whereas trust and accountability reaffirms high level performance in group 2.

Common similarities concepts: Team collaboration helps to assess strengths and weaknesses of the individuals of the both the groups that helps in problem solving and brings the members together.

Common aims and objectives: The common goal is to have high level of team spirit within the team in order to give outstanding performance.

The major differences within the two groups are compatibility and trust and accountability. Group 1 requires compatibility in order to attain harmony within the team and bring every member on a common platform. On the other hand, group 2 requires trust and accountability to be established in order to develop a friendly environment that leads to outstanding performance.

Team collaboration is required in both the teams to identify strengths and weaknesses of the individuals. This helps to assign them with the required roles and responsibilities and attain the goals and objectives

Both the team thrive to attain high level of team spirit so that the team members give outstanding performance.

Conclusion:

The report has successfully contrasted the differences and similarities between the groups of sports and academic. The differences were identified as compatibility and team motivation for group 1 whereas trust & accountability and commitment in group 2. Compatibility brings understanding among the players within group 1 and brings harmony within the team so that they can demonstrate high levels of performance in the game. When the players understand each other, they also understand strengths and weaknesses that help them giving an outstanding performance in the game. Team motivation boost their confidence and enthusiasm level and they are able to give their best performance during the game. On the other hand, trust & accountability fosters an environment of friendliness within the group. The team members rely on each other that help to bring peace and harmony within the team. Group 2 also requires high levels of commitment from every group member in order to accomplish goals and objectives.

Team collaboration and effective communication are the similarities between the groups. Team collaboration brings every member on a common platform by assessing their strengths and weaknesses. The members of the group can understand each other very well once they know strengths and weaknesses of each other. This helps to bring harmony within the team and leads to attain goals and objectives. Effective communication is also essential in both the groups and resolves the differences between the team members through motivation and grievance handling.

Thus, both the groups work to achieve high level performance by developing high levels of team spirit within the group.

References:

Aga, D. A., Noorderhaven, N., & Vallejo, B. (2016). Transformational leadership and project success: The mediating role of team-building. International Journal of Project Management, 34(5), 806-818.

Bane, K. D. (2014). Avoiding catastrophe: The role of individual accountability in team effectiveness. Developments in business simulation and experiential learning, 31.

Boies, K., Fiset, J., & Gill, H. (2015). Communication and trust are key: Unlocking the relationship between leadership and team performance and creativity. The Leadership Quarterly, 26(6), 1080-1094.

Brooks, I. (2009). Organisational Behaviour: Individuals, Groups and Organisation. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

Cha, J., Kim, Y., Lee, J. Y., & Bachrach, D. G. (2015). Transformational leadership and inter-team collaboration: Exploring the mediating role of teamwork quality and moderating role of team size. Group & Organization Management, 40(6), 715-743.

Champoux, J.E. (2010). Organizational Behavior: Integrating Individuals, Groups, and Organizations. New York: Routledge.

Chen, O.T. (2008). Organizational Behavior and Dynamics. New York: Nova Science Publishers.

Dyer, W. G., & Dyer, J. H. (2013). Team building: Proven strategies for improving team performance. John Wiley & Sons.

Fox, W. (2007). Managing Organizationa Behavior. Cape Town: Juta and Company Ltd.

French, R. (2011). Organizational Behavior. UK: John Wiley & Sons

Giessner, S. R., van Knippenberg, D., van Ginkel, W., & Sleebos, E. (2013). Team-oriented leadership: The interactive effects of leader group prototypicality, accountability, and team identification. Journal of Applied Psychology, 98(4), 658.

Guest, D. (2015). Team building, team challenges. Appita Journal: Journal of the Technical Association of the Australian and New Zealand Pulp and Paper Industry, 68(2), 87.

McLaren, C. D., & Spink, K. S. (2015). Examining the relationship between intra-team communication and team cohesion in competitive youth soccer athletes. Journal of Exercise, Movement, and Sport, 47(1), 104.

McLaren, C. D., & Spink, K. S. (2015). Examining the relationship between intra-team communication and team cohesion in competitive youth soccer athletes. Journal of Exercise, Movement, and Sport, 47(1), 104.