Working in Groups and Teams: Group Deliberations

Abstract

Humans are a social species, and humans organise spontaneously into groups. Group behaviour is something we share with other non-human primate species. Certain principles are starting to emerge from studies of group structure, formation and behaviour. Group meetings of every type and stripe are a ubiquitous feature of organisational life. Peter Drucker, the renowned management theorist, famously stated ‘Meetings are a symptom of bad organization. The fewer meetings the better’. He had it right and wrong. Coming together in meetings and in other, less formal, places (such as ‘the water cooler’, coffee bar or wherever) is an essential part of maintaining the social disposition of organisations. I use the phrase ‘social disposition’ deliberately. Organisations, at their core, are social: they rely on the patterns of interactions among the individuals that work in those organisations to ensure that the organisation achieves its goal, whatever this goal may be. Humans are a profoundly social species.