Dynamics of Social Group

A social group is a combination of individuals that naturally occurs or is purposefully made for accomplishment of certain tasks. For instance, a family, employees of an organization, students of a class, an association of officials such as doctor or engineers, unions of laborers, and so on. Every group contribute to society in certain ways. Group formation is indispensable for society because individuals are dependent on their fellow beings for survival and accomplishment of common goals

The Dynamics of a group mean the factors which influence formation, effectiveness and change in a group. Hence, the dynamics of group will be explained as follows:

1. Dynamics of Group Formation
2. Dynamics of Group Effectiveness
3. Dynamics of Group Change

   Dynamics of Group Formation

The dynamics of group formation are as follows:

1. Biological Chance: Some groups are biologically formed, e.g., when a person is born into a family, he becomes a member of this group. The family is the most important group which serves to provide shelter, food and care to its members. It plays an important role in the development of a healhty personality of an individual.
2. Living Together: People, living together for a long time, become part of the community as a group. Living in a community and interacting with one another leads to the fulfillment of mutual needs. They have common culture and problems. They develop a sense of belonginngness to their commnity and seves one another in different ways.
3. Doing together what we cannot do alone: Some tasks cannot be achieved individually. It requires a lot of human resouce. Hence, people may form a group to perform such tasks collectively. It may be a huge task or a task that requires many people for different nature work such as a musical band or a cricket team.
4. To resolve a collective problem: Some problems affect a huge number of people such as a social problem. It requires all the people to be involved, and to struggle collectively to resolve the problem.
5. Common Interests and goals: Common interests and goals bind people into groups. Students, having a common goal to get a degree, join a class to pursue their studies. Similarly, in an organization, all the employees work together to achieve common goals. People, having common interests, also form groups such as people having common hobbies, games, interests in learning music, interest in physical exercises and so on.
6. Interdependency: A man depends on his fellow beings for his survival. An individual cannot fulfill all his needs alone. Different needs are fulfilled by different people who may form groups to serve the mutual needs of people.
7. Socio-psychological needs: A man is also psychologically dependent on others. A man requires psychological support, appreciation, acceptance and social approval. These psychological needs unite them into groups.
8. Economic and material needs: Human beings have economic and material needs. A man requires a lot of resources such as monetary resources, commodities of routine life, edibles, technological products, raw material and so on. It results in formation of certain groups to serve each other's needs. Such groups can be seen in the form of shopkeeper-customer relationship, doctor-patient relationship, teacher-student relationship, lawyer-client relationship and so on.
9. Recreational Purpose: Recreation is essential for a healthy life. People come together to enjoy and amuse one another which may not be possible alone. Sports activities, social activities, ceremonies, dances parties and trips to places are group activities.
10. Similar attributes e.g. attitudes, values, gender and age: Similarity in people’s attitude towards a thing, values, gender, and other attributes also lead to binding them into groups.

   Dynamics of Group Effectiveness

The dynamics of group effectiveness are as follows:

1. Size of Group: Smaller groups have more cohesion than larger groups. A renowned Psychologist, Seashore examined 224 groups factories and concluded that small groups having 4 to 22 members are more effective than groups of larger size. The effectiveness of a group decreases if the size of a group increases.
2. Individual characteristics: Cooperative, motivated, efficient, sincere and productive people enhance the effectiveness of their groups. On the other hands, characteristics such as lack of confidence, aggressiveness, authoritativeness and lack of interest in the member reduce the effectiveness of a group.
3. Homogeneity in characteristics: Homogenous groups are more effective as compared to heterogeneous groups. The similarity in interests, values, beliefs and attitudes of the members enhance the effectiveness and stability of a group. Heterogeneity in characteristics of members results in less effective groups.
4. Hierarchy in the Group: Hierarchal arrangement of group members into boss, managers, administratives and other statuses is necessary for the effectiveness of a group. This hierarchy should be based on merit. If members are assigned roles on the basis of their competence, it would enhance the effectiveness of a group. Violating the merit of hierarchy results in dissatisfaction and conflicts in the members.
5. Leadership: A leader plays a significant role in the effectiveness of a group. The leader must be a sincere, competent, devoted, expert, cooperative and democratic person to enhance the effectiveness of the group.
6. Effective Communication: Inter-communication is essential for group effectiveness. The higher the effectiveness of the communication among member, the higher will be the effectiveness of the group. There are different types or channels of communication adopted in groups depending upon the nature of the group.
7. Group Motivation: Motivational factors count a lot for the effectiveness of a group. Appreciation, acknowledgments, bonuses, promotions and encouragement of members result in the effectiveness of a group. It motivates the members and raises their interest level in their work.
8. Inter-relationships among the members: A friendly and coodial working environment is necessary for the effectiveness of a group. It helps in avoiding inter-conflict among the members. It makes the members realize that they are members of the same caravan for the pursuit of common goals. It leads to mutual respect and cooperation among the members.
9. Goals to achieve: Different groups have different goals. The goals also determine the effectiveness of a group. The goals to which the members are emotionally attached (or the members are made to be emotionally attached) lead to the effectiveness of a group.

   Dynamics of Group Change

A Group is not always static but keeps on changing. Group changes include the change in the structure of the group, change in inter-relationship among the members, change priorities of the group, weakening or strengthen bonds of the group and so on., The dynamics of group effectiveness are as follows:

1. Internal Conflicts: The working environment may not always remain friendly. Differences or disagreements on issues among the members sometimes lead to internal conflicts which may results in the change in the structure, inter-relationships and effectiveness of a group.
2. Formation of intra-groups: Due to certain reasons including differences or disagreements on issues, some intra-groups are formed within the group. Each group comes up with its own attitudes and stances which lead to changes in the group.
3. Leadership Change: Sometimes the leader of a group is replaced by a new leader due to certain reason. The new leader may change the overall structure of the group to make it more goal-oriented. Some members may be removed or replaced with new members. Similarly, other negative and positive changes are brought about by the new leader.
4. Strategy Change: A group has a plan, a strategy and defined rules to achieve its goals. Sometimes, the old framework of the strategy and rules fails to achieve the goals. Hence, a new strategy and rules are designed and adopted to ensure achieve the aims.
5. Goals Achievement and change: Once the goals are achieved, new goals are set. Similarly, the goals may change with the passage of time. Keeping in view these facts, the group also changes to meet the evolving status of goals.
6. Discrimination against members of the group: Discrimination against members by the superior authorities affects the group. Unequal distribution of rewards, remuneration and benefits may lead to tension and frustration among the members who in turn attempt to challenge the structure and function of the group.
7. External Threats: Pressure from outside also influence the group. There are many reasons for external pressure such as to attract the members of the group, to make the group work according to their wishes, to stop the group from working due to some reason and so on. It threatens the structure and function of the group. Similarly, the members of the group are dissatisfied and feel insecure in the group.
8. Membership Change: The number of members of a group keeps on changing from time to time. Some member may leave the group on their own choice to join another group. Some groups are removed due to their incompetence. Similarly, new members join the group. Similarly, changes in the criteria for membership from time to time influence the overall members of the group.