Title:

Behavior and Conflict within Group

Subtopic 1: Introduction (20 minutes or shorter)

This Part of the symposium showcases the definition of terms and the
basic concepts regarding behavior and conflict within group.

4 criteria of a group according to Gordon (2001)

1. THE MEMBERS OF THE GROUP MUST SEE THEMSELVES AS A UNIT

A group must consist of multiple members. 2 persons was called

a Dyad, 3 persons were called a Triad and a collection of 4 to 10
individuals is called a Small group.
A collection of individuals will be considered as a Group if they knew
one another and were together. Eight separate shoppers for
example would not be considered as a group.

2. THE GROUP MUST PROVIDE REWARDS TO ITS MEMBERS

The membership must be rewarding for each individual in the group.

A group must feel that being together was rewarding.

3. ANYTHING THAT HAPPENS TO ONE MEMBER OF THE GROUP AFFECTS EVERY OTHER
MEMBER.
It was also called Corresponding effects
If something significant happens to one person, it will affect any of the
other people gathered with the person.
4. MEMBERS OF THE GROUP MUST SHARE A COMMON GOAL

Common goal is an aim or purpose shared by the members of a

group

Subtopic 2: Group Behavior (15 minutes or less)

There are different factors that affects a group behavior and
performance. It includes Group Cohesiveness, Group ability and
confidence, Personality of the Group Members, Communication
Structure and the Group Roles. In this subtopic, we will elaborate each
factors to know how it affects the group.

GROUP COHESIVENESS
Group cohesiveness is the extent to which members of the group
like and trust one another. Cohesiveness can also lower group
performance, especially in a work setting. When employees become
too cohesive, they often lose sight of organizational goals. Although
the majority of research supports the conclusion that cohesiveness
results in better group performance, it is not always necessary for
ultimate group success. It is also demonstrated that employees in
cohesive work groups will conform to a norm of lower production
even though they are capable of higher performance. The Following
are some aspects under Group Cohesiveness:

Group homogeneity the extent to which its member are similar.

Group homogeneity has its two types: Homogeneous group
which contains a member who are similar in some or most ways,
and the other one is the heterogeneous group that contains
member who are more different than alike. These two will lead to
the best group performance.
Stability membership is also related to group cohesiveness, this
is the extent to which the membership of a group remains
consistent over time.
Isolation is the degree of physical distance of a group from other
group
Outside pressure the amount of psychological pressure placed on
a group by people who are not members of the group.
Group size the number of members in a group.
Group status the esteem in which the group is held by people not
in the group.

GROUP ABILITY AND CONFIDENCE

Group consisting of high ability members outperform those with lowability members. Furthermore, groups whose members believe that
their team can be successful both at a specific task and at task in
general perform better that groups whose members arent as confident
about their probability for success.

PERSONALITY OF THE GROUP MEMBERS

Personality of group members is an important factor affecting the
group performance.it is also indicate that group hose member have
task-related experience and score high in the personality dimensions of

openness to experience and emotionally stability will perform better

than groups whose members do not have these characteristics.

COMMUNICATION STRUCTURE
Communication structure will also affect the group performance. This
is the manner in which members of a group communicate with one
another.
GROUP ROLES
Another factors that affect the performance of a group is the extent to
which its members assume different roles. For a group to be
successful, its members roles must fall into one of two categories:
task oriented and social oriented. Task oriented roles involved
behavior such as offering new ideas, coordinating activities and finding
new information while Social-oriented roles involve encouraging
cohesiveness and participation. There is a third category of group roles
the individual role include blocking, calling attention to oneself, and
avoiding group interaction.

Subtopic 3:

Conflict within the Group

PRESENCE OF OTHERS: SOCIAL FACILITATION AND INHIBITION

Social facilitation the positive effects that occur when a person
performs a task in the presence of others. Social inhibition the negative
effects that occur when a person performs a task in the presence of
others. These two can be further delineated by audience effects and
coaction.

Audience effects the effect on behavior when one or more people

passively watch the behavior of another person.
Coaction the effects on behavior when two or more people are
performing the same task in the presence of each other.

More than 200 studies of social facilitation have indicate that

performance does not always increase in the presence of others.
Performance increase only when the task being perform is easy or well
learned; performance decreases when the task is difficult or not well
learned. There are some researchers who do not agreed on this
findings and they make four explanation about it.

The four explanation with empirical support:

1. Mere presence theory stating that the very fact that others
happen to be present naturally produces arousal and thus may
affect performance.
2. Comparison the effect in when an individual working on a task
compares his or her performance with that of another person
performing the same task.
3. Evaluation apprehension the idea that a person performing a
task becomes aroused because he or she is concerned that others
are evaluating his or her performance.
4. Distracting the idea that social inhibition occurs because the
presence of others provides a distraction that interferes with
concentration.

INDIVIDUAL DOMINANCE
Another variable that affect group performance is individual dominance
by a leader or single group member. if the leader or group member has
an accurate solution to the problem the group is trying to solve, the
group will probably perform at a high level. But if a leader or a group
member has an inaccurate solution, he will lead the group astray and it
will perform poorly.

GROUPTHINK
Groupthink is a state of mind in which a group is so concerned about
its own cohesiveness that it ignores important information. With
groupthink members become so cohesive and like-minded that they
make poor decisions despite contrary information that might
reasonably lead them to other options.
Groupthink most often occurs when the group:

Is cohesive
Is insulated from qualified outsiders;
Has an illusion of vulnerability, infallibility, or both;
Believe that it is morally superior to its adversaries;
Is under great pressure to conform;