Group Dynamics

Essay by debbieclarke100University, Bachelor'sC, November 2002

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Group dynamics is an important theory that has enabled me to understand my own approach to interacting with others. People work in-groups quite frequently and in many different areas of their life e.g. at work, school/college, sport, hobbies. A group can be defined as 'two or more people acting interdependently in a unified manner towards the achievement of goals' (pg.258, 'management', Koontz and Weihrich). There are different types of groups; they can be primary or secondary. A primary group 'consists of members who come into direct contact' (pg. 292, 'management', Roger Bennett), e.g. project teams, small department teams, sports teams. A secondary group 'are larger, less personal, and lack immediate direct contact between members' (pg. 292, 'management', Roger Bennett) e.g. long assembly line. This is where there is little interpersonal communication. Groups can also be formal or informal. Formal groups tend be created by management deliberately. Management will pick the members and the methods of doing work.

However informal groups are usually established by people who have things in common and they will decide members, methods etc.

While in secondary school I became part of a primary group. This group

was a girl's football team, which I joined. We were in direct contact because we meet up twice a week and interacted during training and matches. The group was informal because it consisted of close friends and the members ran it. I benefited a lot from this group because we were able to make all the decisions without any kind of manager co-ordinating or controlling us. This suited us fine at the time because none of us took the game that seriously and mostly did it for fun. Since then I have learnt from that football team experience because a few years later a joined another football team which was...