Dynamics Of Group Behavior Research Articles

Dynamics of Present Day Organizations Triggering a New Hr Paradigm : A Critical Analysis

Continuous change becomes a culture in new age organization. Radical shift in economic, social, cultural and technological environments compels today's organizations to cope with mass obsolescence in traditional organizational structures and designs, products and processes, technology, work culture etc. compel an organization to put thrust on innovations to sustain in an unpredictable and chaotic environment. The urge in the organizations of the day is how to build a highly responsive and adaptive system within that can quickly usher in reengineering in the respective sphere of obsolescence to insulate from the vagaries of upheavals. Indeed, today's organization ought to be busy to tide over turbulent business environment. Moreover, overwhelming information technology (IT) upsurge drives an organization to shift towards generating a knowledgeable work force who can substitute a substantial number of manual workforce to achieve organization's goal. An organization is now a knowledge driven unit. Therefore, the modern organization is more human-machine oriented compared to human dominated in traditional organization. Today, information sharing, knowledge dissemination, multitasking, computerized product designs and production, application of e-commerce etc. are the propelling forces to remodel organizational behavior. So, the psychodynamics of group behavior has undergone a sea change. The present article makes an attempt to portray the dynamics of group behavior in the present day organization and depict a behavioral model that truly integrates various interconnecting forces that shape the dynamics of group behavior in a knowledge driven organization.

Dynamics of Two-Actor Cooperation-Competition Conflict Models

A mathematical model for conflict can give us insight into which mechanisms are the most important in maintaining or resolving a conflict. We developed a nonlinear model of the interactions in time between two groups based on the intuitive and experimental insights of Deustch (1973, 2006) and Pruitt (1969, 2006) and the dynamical insights of Gottman, Murray, Swanson, Tyson, and Swanson (2002) and Coleman, Vallacher, Nowak, and Bui-Wrzosinska (2006). In this model, the state of each group at a given moment in time depends on its own state in isolation, its previous state in time, its inertia to change, and the influence from the other group. Each group can influence the other group either through cooperation, that is positive feedback, or through competition, that is negative feedback. We analyzed this model using analytical methods and numerical computer simulations. We show how the positive or negative feedback between the groups leads to different dynamics and steady states. When the strength of the feedback is less than the inertia to change, then positive or negative feedback between both groups leads both groups into a neutral state. Above this threshold their behavior changes. Positive feedback between both groups leads to either both groups being in a positive state or both groups being in a negative state. Negative feedback between both groups leads to both groups being neutral or in opposite positive and negative states. Whether they are both neutral or in opposite states depends sensitively on their initial states and their uninfluenced states which tips their behavior from being neutral into entirely new states. Mixed negative and positive feedback between the groups results in oscillations between positive and negative states with both groups stabilizing in a neutral state. These results give us insight into how the dynamics of group behavior depends on the cooperation or competition between the groups.

A review of social identity theory with implications for training and development

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to review social identity theory and its implications for learning in organizations.Design/methodology/approachThis article is a conceptual paper based on a multidisciplinary review of the literature on social identity theory. This article explains the theoretical concepts, constructs, and findings of an identity‐based view of learning in organizations. The article describes the theoretical foundations of social identity theory and its elaboration as self‐categorization theory, along with some of the limitations of the theory. Important implications for workplace learning are presented.FindingsAlthough multiple factors influence how people work, social identity theory portends to be a unifying theory of organizational behavior because what and how people think as members of social groups influences subsequent behavior and attitudes in social systems. This influence has important implications for workplace learning..Practical implicationsThe social identities in organizations serve as important drivers of performance. How people think as members of groups affects the outcomes of learning interventions. Therefore, social identity is a key input to or driver of learning and performance in organizations.Originality/valueTraining and development have focused primarily on the individual and occasionally the organizational levels with little attention to the identity‐based dynamics of group behavior in organizational settings. This paper offers insights from social identity theory for training and development.

How to achieve integration on the human side o the merger

Blake and Mouton use an actual case of a successful merger to show how their Interface Conflict-Solving Model, based on behavioral science principles, can be used to achieve integration. The authors outline the history of the two organizations, give illustrations of the kinds of changes that were necessary to more from the actual state of affairs within each organization to the conditions needed for synergy, and explain how the merging organizations collaborated to develop a model for the interface. The merger is evaluated from the perspective of what happened during the two years following the merger. Blake and Mouton also elaborate on the dynamics of group behavior that they took into consideration in designing the Interface Conflict-Solving Model: the effects of group members' shared history; the natural tensions that typically exist between groups that have a functional relationship and misperceptions and distortions that arise as a result of these tensions; and win-lose competitiveness instead of a win-win mentality as a shared expectation. Finally, the authors show how shared participation can overcome inappropriate and debilitating competition.

Toward a Cyclical Theory of Race Relations in Jamaica

It is generally assumed that the sociological enterprise consists of bringing about an understanding of social situations, social institutions, and the dynamics of group behavior. Perhaps there are few areas within the discipline of sociology in which the goal and the urgency of understanding are more pressing than in the subfield of race relations. In striving for understanding, Rex (1970: 7) urges,

The Dynamics of Group Behavior

The Dynamics of Group Behavior

Experiences with a Complex Management Game

Games designed for teaching can also be used as diagnostic devices to spot weaknesses in the organization chart and as potent research tools into the dynamics of group behavior.

A Quantitative Analysis of Intragroup Relationships

Although the nature of relationships within groups has been widely discussed by sociologists and social psychologists, the numbers and forms of the relationships which inhere within the group framework have received little attention. This paper is an analysis of the quantitative aspects of intragroup relationships. Specific formulas are presented for the determination of the various possible combinatory subgroupings. The question is then raised as to whether the dynamics of group behavior might be better understood through a derived ratio of actual to potential relationships (A.R./P.R.). Fields of inquiry are set up in which the A.R./P.R. hypothesis can be tested.