Bhawani Shankar Acharya

A group is defined as two or more interacting and interdependent individuals, who come together to achieve particular goals. Members of a group relate to each other in the same way and are united by common ties, beliefs and perceptions on a relatively sustained and structured basis. Robert Kreitner said: “A group can be defined as two or more freely interacting individuals who share a common identity or purpose.”

Hence a group is a collection of people trying to do a task to achieve a goal. Group members regularly interact with each other and depend upon each other to do their task. Group members share common values and are affected in their behavior and performance by group norms. Groups may be formal or informal.

Characterstics
A group is a collection of two or more people who have a common interest and interact with each other to accomplish their objectives. For a group to exist, it must have at least two members. Groups cannot be formed without individuals. A group would be quite static without interaction.

It is necessary for all members of the group to interact with each other. Some form of communication and ability to communicate is vital for a group to exist. The shared goal identifies a common concern of all members. Group members desire for the attainment of the same specific objectives. Individual members of the group possess at least one common goal.
It is the awareness of each other that most clearly differentiates a group from an aggregation of individuals. Unless people are aware of each other, they will not interact in the way that achieves the common goal. Casual groups do not qualify as a group because they ordinarily are not aware of one another.

There should be a leader in every group. The leader emerges from within an informal group and is accepted by group members. Leaders in many formal groups are followed and obeyed because employees perceive them as possessing the power and influence to reward or punish them if they do not comply with their request. The informal leader emerges from within the group and serves a number of functions. A status system develops in a group.

Members are accorded by their groups. Individuals in leadership roles possess status because of their roles. Groups prepare implicit or explicit agreement among the group members as to show how they should behave. The more an individual complies with norms, the more he accepts the group’s standard of behaviour.

Managers and non-managers belong to a number of different groups within organizations. Formal group is a work unit that is formed as a part of the organization structure by virtue of management decisions to perform organizational jobs. Its members are selected by the management and are required to assume certain roles.
Formal groups tend to be more rationally structured and less fluid. Members under formal groups are selected according to their talents in order to assume certain defined roles and undertake specific tasks. A command group consists of a manager and a set of his immediate subordinates directly reporting to him. The command group is specified by the organisational hierarchy, usually outlined in the chart.

Meanwhile, a task group is formed for performing a specific task. It consists of a number of employees who work together to complete a specific project or job. This group may or may not be a part of the organization’s structure.
Similarly, Informal groups develop naturally among an organization’s personnel without any directions from the management. It is a voluntary and unofficial formation of relationships coming into existence by virtue of some commonly shared backgrounds, needs, interest, value and purposes. Members of such a group need not necessarily be from the same department.

Interest groups are formed to share a common interest in some job related event or possible outcome. It is an informal or non structured group that maintains membership primarily because of a special concern which each member posses about specific issues. Friendship groups are formed in an organization because of the social affiliation needs of the members such as needs for belonging, affiliation, acceptance etc. Employees having common characteristics such as age, ethnic background, political sentiment etc. form a friendship group. These groups frequently extend their interaction and communication to off-the-job activities.

Formation of Work Groups
Most people belong to a number of groups. It is obvious that different groups provide different benefits to their members. By joining groups, individuals can reduce the insecurity of ‘Standing alone’.
People feel stronger, have fewer self-doubts and are more resistant to threats when they are part of a group. Inclusion in a group is viewed important by others because it provides recognition and status for its members.

A group can provide with a feeling of self worth. In addition to conveying the status to those outside the groups, membership can also give an increased feeling of worth to the group members themselves.
Groups can fulfill social needs. People enjoy the regular interaction that comes with group members. For many people, on the job, interactions are their primary means of fulfilling their need for affiliation.

A group represents power, what cannot be achieved individually often becomes possible through group action. Individuals may align with other to protect themselves from unreasonable demands by the management.People may join a group for goal achievement. When it takes more than one person’s talents, knowledge or power to complete the job, the stated goal can be achieved easily.
Social scientists have long been interested in how people form groups. It is a dynamic process. We cannot predict exactly how all groups form. Groups generally pass through standardized sequence in their evolution. From the mid 1960s, many organizational experts have believed that groups pass through a standard sequence of five stages.

A team is defined as two or more persons who interact and influence each other toward a common purpose. Teams potentially make more creative decisions and coordinate work without the need of close supervision. Team members are mutually accountable for achieving common objectives. All teams require some form of communication to coordinate and share common objectives.
Katzenbach and Douglas Smit said: “A team is a small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to common purpose, set a performance goal, and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable.”

Types of Teams
Besides, groups, there are teams of people that are formed to take up and successfuly conclude certain works assigend to them. A team is a small group of people with complementary skills and all team members must have common goals.
A team is self directing, autonomous and self managing, has individual and mutual accountability. and has unified commitment to goal achievement. Two-way communications, synergy through coordinated efforts are other characterstics of a team, which often has leadership
Organisations form several teams according to the requirements. Work teams are responsible for a specific set of task, the most common types of teams formed in an organization is proble solving teams composed of five to twelve employees from the same department to improve quality, efficiency and work environment.
In problem solving teams, members share ideas or offer suggestions on how work process and methods can be improved. Self-managed work team, cross functional team, virtual team are other types of teams.

Objectives
The main motive of team management is to encourage effectiveness and efficiency in organizational performance. For this purpose, management needs to integrate skilled and capable team members having diversified knowledge. It is essential to develop the practice of mutual trust and support among the team members to achieve common objectives. The following are the major strategies for effective team management.

(Prof. Acharya teaches at Central Department of Management, Kirtipur University)