Amazing Five : Group Analysis

The five stages of developing groups is an important part of the position. In many cases it is the relationships that a person will have with other individuals who will determine the best members to put into the different groups. As well, the different skill sets that individuals have are also an important part in placing group members together. The observation of the first groups placed together will be a good gauge in learning how some of the individuals work and observing how others work well together. The group size should be eight to 10 people to facilitate greater ease of equal participation among the individuals.

Group communication is getting a small group of people together who share the same problem to talk about it. These work better when the group is small as the leader can interact better than working with a large group. In health care, group communication can range from AA meetings (Alcohol anonymous) to drug abuse to various phobias which people want to overcome. There are a number of factors we need to consider when working with a group, things such as group atmosphere, group leaders, thinking about what you are going to say, taking turns and the use of space.

Knowing and understanding the five stages of group development is extremely important. The first step is called Forming. Forming is when the group first meet up and is getting to know each other. During the forming stage members usually introduce themselves and give a brief introduction about their likes dislikes and interest. The members usually discuss what role each person will perform, by now the group should have a group leader who should be in attendance making sure the meeting is running smoothly. The second stage is called storming, storming is when the group comes together and bring their ideas to the table. Most groups don't get passed this stage because there tend to be arguments when it comes to deciding which direction the group

The five stage Tuckman’s theory (1965) namely forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning focuses on the way in which a group handles a task from the beginning to completion. The main group work approaches are cognitive behaviourist, feminist, psychoanalytic and humanistic approaches. Knowledge of theory enhances effectiveness of group work.

The term groupthink in this report is defined as, the social psychological phenomenon that results in groups during pressure situations. This social psychology theory is broken down into eight signs. Illusion of invulnerability, Collective rationalization, Belief in inherent morality, Stereotyped views of out-groups, Direct pressure on dissenters, Self-censorship, Illusion of unanimity, Self-appointed “mindguards”. According to research conducted by Irving Janis, there are three conditions to groupthink. The first, "high group cohesiveness" which is the direction for a group to be in unity while working towards a goal, or to satisfy the emotional needs of its members. Secondly, the structural faults such as insulation of the group, lack

As per Dr.Tuckman's hypothesis, "there are five phases of group improvement: framing, stroming, norming, performing, and dismissing. Amid these stages aggregate individuals must address a few issues and the route in which these issues are determined figures out if the group will prevail with regards to fulfilling its tasks.

Group member cohesiveness was absent from the group meeting for several reasons, but the primary reasons were due to the fact that the group members did not have a common description of value or structure to the discussion. Each member viewed their own area of involvement within the organization as being more valuable than any other area, and it was this exclusion of other valuable traits that lead the group to begin to clash in such a

The A Team presented numerous arguments that revolved around symptoms equaling a direct correlation to groupthink. This viewpoint alone is false. If one or two symptoms of groupthink are present within a group, we can’t come to the conclusion of groupthink being present. The A Team assumed correlation implies causation, which is a fallacy. As our text for this semester explicitly states “…the presence of cohesion is not enough. Rather three sets of antecedent conditions all of which are important to learning groups must accompany cohesion.”(Myers & Anderson, p.120) In other words cohesion alone will never be the sole cause of groupthink occurring in a

Groupthink is composed of six causes such as: stressful situations, highly cohesive group, members that share similar backgrounds, a strong leader in the group, no critical review system, and isolation. Social psychologists are able to distinguish if a group has fallen into groupthink if the group exhibits the following symptoms: invulnerability, inherit mobility, collective rationalization, unanimity, pressure of group members, self-censorship of ideas, emergence of misguiding, and if they have formed a stereotyped view of the public. As a consequence of groupthink, leaders encourage positive criticism, no consulting outside of the group, and critical reviews are established as strong norms within these groups. Members of groups are not consciously aware of the impact that groupthink

Groupthink is the process of a decision made by a group that pressures single individuals to not think for themselves and behave differently than if they were not in a group. For example, in a school project, the entire group but one person agrees on an idea. That one person stays quiet and does not speak up since everyone else

To understanding the Groupthink concept, it is wise to look at the reasons why Groupthink occur and the avoidance of Groupthink. The occurrence of Groupthink is evident when a group makes unpopular decisions while placed under extreme pressure generated from the group or when ethical predicaments present itself in the group

From a young age, the importance of communication is drilled into our minds. We are forced into situations that require us to collaborate and discuss. While the group work we've endured from a young age is intended to teach these skills through experience, the majority of the time, these skills are not fully utilized or learned. With group work, it is incredibly easy to divvy up the work or have one or two members do most of the heavy lifting. This occurs because there has been minimal to no instructional guidance on how to behave effectively in groups. Furthermore, this lacking of knowledge is what fuels the common feeling of dread directed towards group work. How does this apply to the service learning project where my group supported and helped Lindsay with her production of the musical, Alice? As initially stated, communication is key.

This weeks reading assignment introduced the idea of groupthink and the different signs and symptoms associated with this idea. The first sign of groupthink are the signs of overconfidence. This includes the illusion of vulnerability and the belief in the inherent morality of the group. The next sign of groupthink are the signs of closed-mindedness. The symptoms of this include collective rationalization and the stereotypes of outside groups. Signs of group pressure are also associated with groupthink. These symptoms involve the pressure on dissenters, self-censorship, the illusion of unanimity and self-appointed mind guards. Other factors associated with groupthink are failing to follow a decision-making procedure, group isolation, time pressures and other external threats.

To properly manage a group, groupthinking is what a leader/manager needs to avoid. Groupthink is when members of a group start to think collectively with one mind, without any independent thinking. Irving Janis founded this groundbreaking research about groups and groupthinking. Irving Janis views groupthink as a “dysfunctional process” (Sims, R.R., & Sausere4, W.I. 2013). The members of the group feel as though they need to “go along” with the majority, even though they did not agree with the decision. Groupthink results in bad decision-making due to lack of consideration of alternative courses of action for the sake of reaching a consensus. Members of these types of groups disregard logical thinking, common sense, and lack the confidence to express an unpopular opinion within the group. Consequently, groupthinking obstructs the decision-making and problem-solving within the group, resulting in a low probability of success. Opposite of groupthink is teamthink. When a team works together in a collaborative way, considering all options and makes the best decision that would benefit the team as a whole and those they work for is the definition of teamthink. Teamthink relies on the team's personal skills, perceptions, and knowledge to come up with the best ideas. Unlike groupthink, teamthink involves courage and being

Tuckman proposes that groups develop via five stages; forming, storming, norming, performing and finally adjourning (Archee, Gurney, & Mohan, 2013a). The first stage, known as forming, involves clarifying the task and purpose of the group, and identifying boundaries of both the task and interpersonal behaviour (Archee et al., 2013a). For the presentation task we were randomly allocated into groups. This worried me greatly as I have struggled in the past with group members who do not contribute equally or see the task as important as other group members. To avoid this problem, the group collectively determined and agreed upon a number of ground rules. For example, we decided that all group members were expected to contribute equally to the presentation, all group members were expected to attend and contribute at all group meetings, and all group members would adhere to agreed upon deadlines. Having failed to do this in previous group assignments, this clarification stage