Notes from Carter, Anderson, and Lowe

Groups

I. Introduction

As an arena of social interaction, the group has potential to provide for a range of human needs:
A need to belong and to be accepted by others;
A need to be validated by other through feedback processes;
A need to share common experiences with others;
Opportunities to work with others on common tasks.
The term group comprises those patterns of association and activity in which person engage most of their “selves” from day to day.
A group is more than simply an aggregate of individuals: it has a unique wholeness of its own.
Groups are characterized by energy/information exchange to promote synergy.
A cluster of persons can be considered a group only if it fulfills certain specific criteria of systems.

II. Types Of Groups

Groups can be created for purposes of therapy, self-actualization, support, problem-solving, goal achievement, or to influence larger systems as in community organization and social action.
Growth groups, or human potential groups, are organized to further purposes of their members, usually personal growth, through provision of “intensive group experience” over a limited time span.
Growth oriented groups have as their focus the facilitation of an individual’s passage through the normal developmental stages. There is no assumption of pathology.
Growth groups tend to focus on expressive functions, to emphasize feelings and impersonal transactions. The norms include mutuality of support, openness, and disclosure. The group’s powers of acceptance and validation are employed.
Therapeutic groups, or remedial groups is divided into three kinds:
Supportive treatment groups
Interpersonal growth groups
Intrapsychic growth groups
Therapeutic groups are structured to serve as vehicles for persons struggling with intrapsychic concerns.
Therapeutic groups usually have an expressive focus with leaders clearly differentiated from the group. Socialization and communication are emphasized.
Self-help and support groups are not seeking personal psychological insight or growth.
Sharing experiences and ways of coping are vehicles for mutual help.
There are several types of self-help and support groups:
Groups that are primarily focused on self-fulfillment, self-development, or growth in specific aspects of personal functioning;
Groups that meet in sheltered environments under close supervision by peers or others who have experienced similar problems;
Groups for those who care for other in both senses of that term: either care about them, or provide services to them.
Consciousness-raising and social action groups have its roots in radical social/political philosophy.
One objective of such groups is cognitive restructuring, self-examination of one’s behavior and reactions.
Groups that fit this category include:
Social advocacy groups
Empowerment groups
Task groups most often are part of organizations, but may exist independently. They assume, or are assigned, specific task to accomplish, within a specified time period.
Task groups include committees, work teams, volunteers who accept responsibility for completion of a specific goal.
Task groups are probably the most common means of accomplishing tasks in our society and in organizations.
Cliques and coalitions operate within organizations without legitimation.
Such groups usually are time-limited: they dissolve with their goal satisfied (or not); achieve power and become the leadership themselves; or simply fade as circumstances change.
Most people who work in organizations have observed such cliques, participated in them, or opposed them.

III. Dimensions of Groups

Instrumental versus expressive: the distinction is usually understood as being between a particular, articulate, time-limited objective and a diffuse, unarticulated, enduring and supportive group climate.
The distinction is usually taken to imply that a ‘goal’ or ‘task’ is adaptive whereas ‘expressive’ or ‘sentiment’ is related to interactions among components of the group.
Instrumental or expressive activities are intended to move the group toward one of these two steady states.
Primary versus secondary: describes the importance that the group has for group members.
This criterion is the breadth of influence the group has upon its members and particularly its influence upon their affective functioning.
Narcissistic versus generative: applies to self-gratification of one or more members versus a wider commitment to the group’s goal.
The importance of this dimension of groups is that it explains the ability (or inability) of some groups to survive.

IV. Aspects of Group as System

Evolutionary Aspects: groups and families are more dependent upon specific persons than are other systems and are thus more likely to be affected by changes in personnel.
It has been almost a dogma that all aspects of groups are subordinate to the maintenance of steady state:
The group is like an organism, as a group approaches maturity it becomes more complex, more differentiated, more interdependent, and more integrated.
A group’s steady state is then viewed as its ‘culture’ or ‘identity’ or ‘personality’.
Norm, consensus, and bond. A group establishes norms through consensus.
One definition of norm is a generalization concerning an expected standard of behavior in any matter of consequence to the group.
Consensus is agreement regarding goals, norms, and roles.
With the establishment of norms and consensus, a group is well on its way to having forged a bond between its members.
Consensus and cohesiveness are expressive, integrative, and primary aspects of the group and are essential to supporting goal direction.
Goal direction: goal attainment is instrumental, adaptive, and secondary.
Group objective or goal usually refers to a specific end that is instrumental to the purpose.
Stages of evolution: as a group seeks to establish its steady state, it moves through various stages of dynamic evolution.
It can be viewed as the stages of forming, norming, and storming.
Phase 1: E pluribus Unum. During this first major phase, exploration of each other occurs among the members.
Phase 2: Control phase. The emphasis shifts from ‘inclusion’ to ‘control’.
Phase 3: Conflict phase. Can occur at any point in group process. When it occurs, it is a crisis in the life of the group. If norms are established permitting resolution and continuation, positive resolution can occur. If norms have not developed, and positive outcomes are not forthcoming, conflict may result in disintegration and termination. A group as an entity must tend toward adaptation and integration if it is to survive. Conflict can be reduced through concentration on a superordinate problem.
Phase 4: Terminal phase. May have one of two general outcomes: (disintegration) or (2) a planned, or agreed upon termination in an affirmative manner.
Structural Aspects. Boundaries and Autonomy: the boundaries of a group are determined by the structuring activity of the group and its components through interaction among the members and with the environment.
Groups have greater or less degrees of autonomy from their environment.
A group must have discernable, locatable boundaries in order to exist.
Differentiation, hierarchy, and role. Differentiation of roles occurs as part of elaboration in the evolution of groups.
Some roles become standardized among groups and persist regardless of the person occupying the role. Common roles include: the scapegoat; the clown or joker; the peacemaker; the idol; and the critic.
The subject of most research on groups is leadership in its various forms. Two common forms are: task leader and social-emotional leader.
Rules for leadership:
The leader will maintain the primary position
The leader will live up to the norms of the group.
The leader will not give orders that will not be obeyed.
In giving orders, the leader will use established channels.
The leader will listen.
The leader will be self-aware.
Interaction between the leader and the group members and between the group and its environment determine which form of leadership is most functional for the group at any particular time.
The leadership role need not reside in only one person. Leadership tasks are usually distributed among the members.
Behavioral Aspects. Adaptation states that all group behavior has some bearing upon securing and expending energy externally whether explicitly designed to do so or not. An important component of adaptation is leadership, specifically problem-solving and decision-making activities inherent in the leadership role.
Socialization is integrative behavior within the group intended to furnish energy to the group and to reduce the likelihood of conflict. Much like the family, the small group can readily serve as a transition into wider systems.
The process of socialization may be of three kinds:
Compliance
Identification
Internalization
Social control and social conflict. The process of standardization is related to social control. A group achieves consensus or steady state by shaping its members’ behaviors in certain ways. The application of sanctions in one form or another is social control. The major means of control is energy applied to, or withheld from, a member.
An important part of social control in groups is conflict and the management of conflict.
Communication is defined as intended to accomplish adaptation, integration, social control, or goal attainment. Communication is best carried out when members have significant freedom, and are not overwhelmed by the demands of communication. Communication between group members is one powerful element of leadership. One purpose of communication in groups is to allow the group members to improve their communication skills within the group and then transfer these skills to other systems.