APPLIED GROUP DYNAMICS PS38B

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APPLIED GROUP DYNAMICSPS38B

• Lecturer Denise Simpson
• Department of Sociology, Psychology Social Work

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GOALS

• .life is not about the attainment of money,
  material things or anything else. Rather, it is
  about goals in process. It is not the ends we
  strive for, but the process of striving itself is
  essential to our satisfaction Napier
  Gershenfeld

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DEFINING GOALS

• Napier and Gershenfeld (1999) internal
  representations of desired states
• ii. Johnson and Johnson (1997) A future state of
  affairs desired by enough members of a group to
  motivate the group to work towards its
  achievement.

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DISTINGUISHING BETWEEN MISSION, GOALS, OBJECTIVES
AND TASKS

• Mission - captures a person or an organizations
  vision of fundamental work An aim or a calling.
• Usually, implicit in a mission is the core values
  of the person or the organizationthats why your
  text say it should express the heart and not
  the mind.

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DISTINGUISHING BETWEEN MISSION, GOALS, OBJECTIVES
AND TASKS

• Goals The means of achieving the mission. They
  are measurable, outcome oriented and relatively
  short term products.
• Objectives these are sub-goals, steps to
  achieving the goals.

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DISTINGUISHING BETWEEN MISSION, GOALS, OBJECTIVES
AND TASKS

• Tasks the kinds of work that must be done in
  order to accomplish the groups goals.
• It must be agreed on which task must be done by
  the group as opposed to which must be done by
  different individuals.

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DISTINGUISHING BETWEEN MISSION, GOALS, OBJECTIVES
AND TASKS

• CLASSIFICATION OF TASKS
• Unitary vs Divisible
• Also
• Additive
• Conjunctive
• Disjunctive
• Compensatory

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Relationship between group goals and activities

• The content of the goals affect the group
• Difficulty of the goal affects the group
• Type of goals affect the group

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Impact of Group Goals on productivity and
behaviour

• Goals themselves are inducing agents
• Surface vs hidden agenda
• Social loafing
• Personalities in the group affect productivity

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PERSON ORIENTED AND GROUP ORIENTED GOALS

• Person oriented goals - Seek outcomes with
  significant personal benefit
• Effects of person-oriented goals
• They foster self-centered behaviours
• They foster competitiveness
• They inhibit cooperation and collaboration
• They inhibit the development of norms and common
  purpose
• They inhibit cohesion
• They interfere with group performance

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PERSON ORIENTED AND GROUP ORIENTED GOALS

• Group Oriented Goals May not bring direct
  personal benefits but may satisfy a group member
  because of the overall beneficial impact on the
  group.

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PERSON ORIENTED AND GROUP ORIENTED GOALS

• Does it make a difference for which reason a
  person helps a group to achieve its goals?

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DETERMINING GROUP GOALS

• GROUPS CAN DEVELOP GROUP GOALS BY APPLYING THE
  CRITERIA OF FAIRNESS AND EFFECTIVENESS
• THAT IS - participation by members in the
  setting of goals and the quality of decisions
  made.

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DETERMINING GROUP GOALS

• PROBLEM SOLVING METHOD OF DETERMINING GROUP GOAL
  MUST INVOLVE
• - Discussing alternative choices
• - Examining resources of members
• - Considering the time available
• - Assessing the probability of success

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GOALS AND GROUP STAGES

• FORMING
• The context in which the development of group
  goals take place is one where new members have an
  overriding concern for safety, tension reduction,
  inclusion and dependable leadership
• If the goals have been predetermined, few members
  will be willing to risk rejection by disagreeing
  or asking for clarification.
• Sometimes there may be no clear or defined group
  goals (in the case where the goal is not
  predetermined)
• Different interpretation of goals (in the case
  where the goal is predetermined)

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GOALS AND GROUP STAGES

• Storming
• Individuals are defending their personal goals
  with regard to anxieties and expectations
• They are far from being ready to work on goal
  accomplishment and its requisite tasks

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GOALS AND GROUP STAGES
NORMING Development of group goals.. The
question of how to arrive a group goal or how to
interpret and understand the predetermined goal
emerges. Problem solving method at arriving at
group goals involve discussing alternative
choices, examining the resources and constraints
of the groups and its members, assessing the time
available, assessing the possibility of success
(Napier and Gershenfeld.)
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GOALS AND GROUP STAGES

• PERFORMING
• There are clear indication that the group has
  come to some agreement of common goals for the
  group (members are enthusiastic about
  participating and hopeful about the likelihood of
  group success.
• Clear goals induce action and performance greatly