Week Two Reflection Post
Developing Groups and Teams
Module 2 – Lecture 1
Group Formation & The Process of Joining
Welcome to the FIRST lecture for Week TWO of LED602, Developing and Implementing Groups and Teams.
This lecture will discuss important considerations during the process of group formation and joining.
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A Paradox of Belonging
All humans desire connection
One of the primitive reasons in which we join groups….to belong.
Unfortunately, groups can make us feel more alone.
This is known as the paradox of belonging.
All human desire connection and this can be seen as one of the primitive reasons that we join groups. We join groups because we want to belong and we want to create connections with others and we hope to create these connections in relationship to some sort of purpose, task, goal, or passion. Now unfortunately, groups can often make us feel more alone than we otherwise would have felt. This is known as the paradox of belonging.
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A Paradox of Belonging - “Dual Worry”
Joining creates a “dual worry”
This ambivalent state can cause an emotional regression within the individual.
Will I end up in a group that I do not want to be in?
Will I be rejected by a group that I do want to be in?
The process of joining a group and working to belong can cause a dual worry in our internal life. The first worry is will I end up in a group that I do not want to belong to combined with a second worry of being rejected by a group that I do want to belong to. This ambivalent state can cause an emotional regression within the individual.
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Group Formation - Cognitive Level
What will membership mean at a cognitive and emotional level?
Boundaries
Purpose and task
Operating procedures and policies
Roles
As members join groups they have to be able to understand at both the cognitive level and the emotional level what membership in the group will mean. At the cognitive level we are referring to the group’s boundaries such as time and territory or the purpose and task of the work to be accomplished. We need to know what rules, policies and procedures should govern our behavior and what formal role we will have in the group. These are the cognitive aspects of the group that we want to understand as we get ready to join a group.
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Group Formation - Emotional Level
Members won’t know the emotional level until the group meets.
Culture – set of beliefs and values
Norms – tacit rules that govern a group
Norms = behaviors associated with the culture
Members cannot really know at an emotional level what membership will mean until the group actually begins to meet. This can be understood at two different levels: culture and norms. Culture is the set of beliefs and values present in the group. Norms are the tacit or implied set of rules that govern the group. Norms are, therefore, the behaviors associated with the culture of the group.
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Norms within groups are essentially established in two different stages.
Establishing Norms - Stages
Occurs in two stages and is activated when the individual first encounters the group:
Expectation – “Group-in-the-mind”
Systemic norms
Reputation
Experience in similar groups
Feelings about and experiences with other members
2. Interaction – Testing Expectations
Norms within groups are essentially established in two different stages.
Norms are activated when the individual first encounters the group. The first stage is the expectation stage. This refers to the group-in-the-mind. Whenever any individual enters a group they carry with them the picture in the mind of what membership in the group will be like. This picture or group-in-the-mind is a result of systemic norms, reputation of the group, our experiences with similar groups, and feelings about or experiences with other members of the group. All of these things come together to create a very specific group-in-the-mind.
The second stage is the interaction stage. This is the stage when every individual in the group encounters each others picture or group-in-the-mind for the first time. It creates this interaction process where we begin to test the expectations that we have about what membership in the group will be like. As we test our expectations we learn to what extent they will be met or not.
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Establishing Norms - The Unconscious Negotiation Process
The Unconscious Negotiation Process:
Who listens to whom?
Whose ideas are accepted?
How much influence will each person wield?
* Informal authority, not formal authority, determines group norms.
During the interaction stage as we begin to test our expectations and compare or group-in-the-minds, we enter into this unconscious negotiation process with other members of the group. Now the currency of whose norms and expectations becomes established really revolves around a few group variables. Who listens to who? Who gets heard and who does not? Whose ideas are accepted by the group? How much influence will each person wield? Therefore, it is informal authority NOT formal authority that determines group norms.
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Leading Formation
Leaders must assess & understand individual & group expectations likely to exist upon formation of the group.
LEADERSHIP REQUIRES AN ASSESSMENT AND UNDERSTANDING OF INDIVIDUAL AND GROUP EXPECTATIONS THAT ARE LIKELY TO EXIST UPON FORMATION OF THE GROUP.
Given what we know about anxiety about the anxiety that is created upon joining a group and how expectations within groups are formed, those wishing to exercise leadership within groups and teams are required to assess and understand individual and group expectations that are likely to exist upon formation of the group. Doing so will allow us to contain the group’s anxiety and manage it in productive ways.
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Sources of Anxiety in Group Formation
Three primary sources of anxiety:
Not knowing what membership will mean
Loss of personal autonomy
Joining with others whose values and goals vary from your own
There are three primary sources of anxiety to pay attention to during the group formation process.
The first is not knowing what membership in a group will mean.
Second, is understanding the loss of personal autonomy and independence as a result of joining a group.
And third, is joining with others whose values and goals may vary from your own.
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Self-Assessment Question
Given the content of the lecture, what actions or interventions by authority or a group leader are appropriate to consider during the formation process?
What are the connections between leadership and forming group norms?
A self-assessment question to consider is: Given the content of the lecture, what actions or interventions by authority or a group leader are appropriate to consider during the formation process?
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