In this essay we are going to discuss the various issues related to working in a group and working individually. The idea here will be to study the pros and cons with relation to the particular individual and not to the group of which he is a part. First we will try to understand the dynamics of a group vis a vis individual , then understand the various issues involved in working as a part of the group. We would also see as to how those issues will be influencing the person , be it in the positive side or being a hindrance.
Introduction
Remember last time when you had to do your project, how did you go about doing it? You must have contemplated doing it by many ways. But some thing that comes to mind very in the beginning is either individually or in a group. Every body by de facto knows what it is to be individual and perform a task individually, as he is the only person who is doing the task. But what is group and how it is formed and what are the dynamics involved in it.
So what is a group, we may define it as a collection of several people who come together to do a particular task or goal. And the group dynamics refer to the behavioral and attitudinal characteristics of any group . The basic concern of group dynamics is about the structure formation and functions of the group. This aspect is relevant for both informal and formal groups. In any organisational entity groups are very common entity and hence their dynamics and deep understanding of the group is important in organisational behavior.1
Being with group dynamics let us see what exactly it is about, it basically deals with why and how groups are formed and developed. In order to explain the same many theories have been proposed. One classic theory developed by George Homans , states that all groups are basically function of their activities, interactions ans sentiments. And all the group theories professes that when individual persons share common activities , they get interactions among them ans will develop either positive or negative attitudes towards each other.
The groups can also be of various types based on how and why they are formed, that is basically we may put them in to 2 categories like Formal and informal groups. Where a formal group is formed based on the organizational requirements . It could be a command group , tasks group, or a functional groups. Where as the informal groups are formed by association of members based on their own interest or social activities. More or less the informal groups are involuntary associations.
Coming to the main issue of whether or not working in the group is going to be beneficial or not to us will be depending largely on the group structure , which is nothing but the pattern of relationships among the members tat hold the group together and help in achieving the assigned goals. The structure of the group can be defined in a variety of ways , common among them would be to take reference to their Size, Norms, Roles And Cohesiveness.
Group Size:-
A group can be of any size ranging from two persons to a collection of large people how ever a small groups of size 2 to 10 are considered being more efficient in their job performance as it allows more active and positive interactions between the groups and also has has least chance of negative synergy. Usually large groups involve a lot of confusion and chaos leading to waste of time in deciding which process to be done and who should be doing what next . The group size thus not only affects the group participation but also effects the satisfaction of the members.
1.Individual Versus Group Learning as a Function of Task Complexity:An Exploration into the Measurement of Group Cognitive Load,Femke Kirschner1, Fred Paas, and Paul A. Kirschner
Group Roles:-
In case of formal groups the roles and functions of the group members are all assigned as per pre-plan.. Where in each role will l have specific responsibilities and duties . Even though these are predetermined some times , some new kind of roles also emerge in between and the it needs to be created new roles an assigned to the already existing roles of the members. And these new roles often will be replacing the existing roles of the members who will be starting to be more assertive and start expressing themselves.2
Group Norms
These are the common behavioral patterns which are exhibited by all the members of the group. They go on to define the confines of acceptable behaviors and unacceptable behavior in a group.
The basic reason behind the creation of these norms is to facilitate the group survival, and to make the group behavior more predictable .The groups establishes its own set of norms , which go on to determine anything from dress code to comments in a meeting . The group will exert pressure on the members to force them to confirm to the groups standards. The group norms usually reflect the level of commitment , motivation in a group performance.
Group Cohesiveness:-
The aspect of group cohesiveness reflects how badly the members of the group wants to be together and the bond that is existing among them .The amount of group cohesiveness is determined by a lot of factors. By normal conviction, the more difficult it is to get a group membership, the more cohesive that group is considered to be. One more reason when groups tends to get more cohesive is when they are in tense competition from other groups or may be some external threat to their own survival. The basic thumb rule is the groups which are in small size and those which spend more time together tend to be more cohesive.
The cohesiveness in work groups has many positives, like increases worker satisfaction, low turnover and absenteeism, thus leading to higher productivity. On the other hand high cohesiveness in groups at times may lead to detrimental effects also if the goals of the group are misaligns with the organisational goals. Higher cohesiveness results in to situation like group think where the group members put pressure on one another to make them bring round to a common conclusion while making decisions. This will be resulting in careless judgments , unrealistic appraisals of alternatives, which will eventually leads a number of decision making situations.3
After having seen the dynamics of group, we will now understand the issues on which we are going to make a critical analysis of the pros and cons of group work. These issues are like Social support, group norms, peer pressure and conflicts.
Social Support:-
Social support is nothing but the physical and emotional comfort given and shown by our friends, family and colleagues. which basically is all about knowing that we are all a part of the larger community of people , who care and think for us and are concerned about our well being. situations. And the critical part of this support is that unless the receiver of the support views it a support, the communicative experience or message extended to him would not be considered as
support.
2.Schwarzer, R., & Knoll, N. (2007). "(Functional roles of social support within the stress and coping process: A theoretical and empirical overview.International Journal of Psychology, 42(4),243-252.)"
3.Revenson, T. A., Kayser, K., & Bodenmann, G. (Eds.). (2005).Couples coping with stress: Emerging perspectives on dyadic coping.Washington, DC: American Psychological Association
This social support can be understood in a variety of ways like, resources of others, assistance or exchanging resources.
Peer Pressure:-
By peer pressure it refers to the influence or pressure exerted by a peer group in encouraging an individual in changing ones attitudes, values or behavior so that he or she confirms to the group norms .the social groups influenced by the peers include formal groups like political party , trade union or informal groups like a social clique. How ever a person who is affected by the peer pressure may or may not wish to continue with the group. This would also help persons in finding out if they really belong to the group , which would lead to adverse affects of the groups behavior.4
Conflict:-
A Conflict is a perceived difference of opinion or action of course on any issue. It is usually a dichotomy of actions for a goal to be achieved. It could be a simple intra personal conflict existing in a person or a interpersonal conflict that is appearing bet ween two individuals or a group and an individual. It can also be between one group and another group.5
Basically there are three different types of conflicts existing ., like go- go situation, where you want to do both the actions, where as you will have a chance to make only one selection. The other two types are go- no go type of conflicts and the third one being -no go- no go type, where you don’t want o take either of he decisions but still you want to make one choice.
All conflicts in group are because of common resources which by their very nature are limited. By convention all conflicts are not counter productive. A conflict when used and controlled in the right way will be helping a great deal in increasing the productivity of the group. On the other hand, when not handled properly a conflict can have spiraling effect and can bring down the collapse of the whole group. Most of the times the conflict does exist in the group but may not be manifested , so it takes a good eye to visualize the same and handle it.6
Hawthorne Studies:-
The term was coined in 1955 by Henry A. Landsberger while he was analyzing older experiments from 1924-1932 at the Hawthorne Works (A Western Electric factory outside Chicago). Hawthorne Works had commissioned a study to observe the efficiency of the workers under various stimuli both external and internal. Which included physical working environment and also group structures. Light was one such factor on which the effects were studied. if the workers would become more productive in higher or lower levels of light. The workers’ productivity has improved when changes were made and slumped when the study was concluded. It was observed that the gain in productivity is more due to the fact that they are being observed rather than the actual experiment itself.
This Hawthorne effect is a form of reactivity where in subjects improve an aspect of their behavior by being experimentally measured simply in response to the fact that they are being studied, not in response to any particular experimental manipulation.
4.Steinberg L, Monahan KC. (2007). “(Age differences in resistance to peer influence.)” Dev Psychol. Nov;43(6):1531-43.PMID
5.Caroline Brem (1995). “Are we on the same team here?” Allen& Unwin Pty Ltd.(P.42)
6.Managing Conflict within or between Groups, Timor Australia Friendship Manual.
Advantages And Disadvantages
Having studied the various theoretical aspects on which we are going to critically analyse the advantages and disadvantages, we will now enlist the various experiences both personal and compiled from others’. The disadvantages and advantages of group works against to individual.
Both the choices whether group or individual has its advantages and disadvantages. An introvert that I am , working alone is more beneficial to me
It is admitted that , working in groups has many benefits. With our partners, the project can be finished quicker. For example, when I was studying in university my task was on wars of world So we have divided the topic based on the period of war in to ancient medieval and modern era, and each of the part in turn was assigned to a particular person of the group. This has made the division of work more efficient thus accomplishing the task was much easier.. This is a good way to improve our presentation skills and knowledge too.
On the other hand Working individually also has some different kinds of advantages . The first major advantage that comes to mind is we can work independent of any other person and while working alone, we have to solve our work all alone . Like solving our assignment, which we do on our own and not rely on any others. . You can always do the way you want to do it in your own methods. This would not only give us the freedom in choosing our own methods of doing things in the way we want but also gives us the confidence to make our own decisions, based on our experience and expertise on our work.. Moreover, we can manage our time better when we work by ourself. You can do your work any time.
From my experiences of working individually and also as a part of the groups, working individual always gave me success. As I am an introverted person,I didn’t find much joy doing job in a group, so I had done all my projects independently and individually. This has helped me in learning so many things first hand and with out any intervention or disturbance from any others.
This has enriched me in many ways, how ever I felt that I was not having any new way of thinking or working to intervene which other wise would have made me to be more innovative or divergent in the way I did the job. May be I have missed out on a better way doing it , by not being a part of the group.
As I have been saying in the above paras, working with a group or individually both come with their set of pros and cons .We can always choose which ever is suitable for us but for me I have found out that working individually has been more beneficial , which has improved my own ability and also improved my ability and success more and more.
However choosing which way to work – individually or in a group depends on the type and nature of the job involved and the personality of the individual.
Now let us see how working in a group can enrich you individually as a person, while still being a part of the group.
Just as they that many hands would make the job easier, we can achieve more as a collection of individuals rather than individually. There are numerous benefits of working as a part of the team, some of them can be stated as below
1. Creativity
Every body is born with a different skill sets, knowledge and personal attributes. When in a group different people with different ideas come together and more creative and innovative ideas are generated, which will help us in enriching our knowledge and may be use them for our future requirements.
2.Satisfaction:-
As a team keeps on interacting more and more they tend t o be more cohesive and enjoy the success of one another which leads to a greater satisfaction.
3. Skills
No individual is born with all the skills required for doing every thing.
So when we are in a team we can make use of the pool of skills from the group for effecting the job more easily.
4.Speed:-
When we need to do a big job, we would be taking a lot of time in finishing it , if we have to do all the things by ourselves. How ever when the same job is performed by a team, we have the advantage of job sharing, and the same job can be assigned to members o the team where in the job is completed at a much faster pace.
Meanwhile, work in a team also has small disadvantages, usually hard to see them in our everyday work.
When working in a team there will not be any individual losers or winners. Though on the face of it no losers looks like an advantage. It has got its disadvantages too, for no one can be blamed or no one can feel good of having achieved some thing like success . When we have situations where the group consists of only leaders then their team might just not work at all.
The worst thing is that the people who are not of a leader type they may be pushed aside by the other members of the team. Leaders would be concentrated on achieving the goal and won’t care about helping other team members and socializing with them and won’t become a good team.
Conclusion:-
The question of which one has more advantages is only of academic interest as ultimately , the result depends on what is best suited of the type of job and the persons nature and level of skill and the type of skills required along with the all other constraints like time, money and resources available at your hand. Given that you have all the knowledge of above things, we would be able to make a decision which one works better for which.
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