Importance of Communication and Interaction in Group Dynamics

Discuss about the Group Work and Community Work Strategies for Communication Processes.
 

Group dynamics and group development plays an important role for the development of teams and organisations (Lyndon & Schupp, 2015). I believe that every group activity needs to be coordinated with the objectives of an organisation so that it can function properly for its productivity. At the same time I think that is required, that communication process within a group is maintained so that it can be effective for the success of an organisation. In the following assignment, I have highlights the communication process that exists in groups and the manner in which groups can be developed for maintaining the activities in an oragnisation and among each member. In my case the group project was done based on transgender the outcome of the results are presented.

According to Stüber (2017), communication is important among group members as it helps in transferring ideas and important information from one person to another. Therefore, I think it is necessary that the communication within group members exists in a smooth manner and along with it, the interaction pattern between the members also improve. I can say that the communication level within a group can improve by understanding the composition of the group. The pattern of interaction need to be maintained based on the formation of the group and the responses it receives (Habermas, 2015).

The communication within my group was direct so that no misunderstanding between the team members takes place. For example, while establishing online communication with every team members I had been able to gain accessibility to every member of the group. According to Lemonnier (2016), this can be considered as a modern way of communicating with the group members as various information such as pictures, videos and texts can be shared online. At the same time, applying video conferencing calls helped me in providing first hand information to the team members so that analysis of the topic related to transgender can be done in a proper manner.

Hence, I can say that in order to engage in effective communication, it is necessary to maintain a proper interaction pattern. The interaction pattern helps in effective transferring of messages so that every member of a group can maintain coordination with one another. The interaction pattern depends upon the responsibilities that are undertaken by the group members (de Jong, Dirks & Gillespie, 2015). I am of the opinion that direct interaction is needed between the person conducting on-field research and the person conducting the analysis of the research. This can help in the exchanging of raw information immediately so that the analysis can take place in a convenient manner.

Case Study: Group Project on Transgender

Thereby, in my opinion matter of the group mentioned in the study of transgender, online and direct communication with each group member is necessary. This can help the people to understand their responsibility and begin discussing the topics required for the success of the project. Information regarding the inclusivity of transgender requires excess secondary as well as primary analysis so that policies and thoughts related to the transgender people can be identified (Howard, Turban & Hurley, 2016). Hence, the group maintained the communication process among one another and balanced the development of the group. 

According to D’Innocenzo, Mathieu and Kukenberger (2016), group development is a systematic process that requires the cooperation of every group member. The development process that underwent in my team was assisted by the theory of Tuckman so that effective group can be formed. Tuckman had designed a 5-step group development process that helps in effective success of the members. Each of the stages of the Tuckman group development process follows certain pattern that helps in its effective development. For example, in our group, at the first stage the group members are introduced to one another so that the strengths and weakness of the group members can be understood.

At the second stage, there may occur, a slight setback, as people possessing a set of skills may apply to take responsibilities related to the particular task (Kim et al., 2016).  For example, in our group people with good analytical skills were involved in the analysis of the topic related to transgender. At the third stage, that is the norming stage, people are delegated with the type of task that suits their skill. This provided an opportunity for me to excel in the task delegated to me so that I can contribute heavily for the development of the team.

The fourth stage is the performing stage, in which members of a team perform on the topic or task delegated to them. According to Cooren (2016), the performing stage provides an opportunity to show case their talents in the group and ensure that the goal of the group is achieved in an effective manner. Most scholars recognise this as the ultimate stage in the group theory proposed by Tuckman as the performance is the ultimate result that requires to be attained for a group.

However, Wierzbicka (2016) is of the opinion that based on the results of the performance a team can be maintained or adjourned. The adjourning of the team is considered as the ultimate stage as it provides an opportunity to form a new group that meet the new requirements of a business. Thereby it can be said that the existence of a proper team have helped in the completion of the analysis of transgender topic.

Stages of Group Development by Tuckman

Conclusion

Therefore, it can be said that working in a group have helped me in completing tasks quickly and effectively. Communication among group members have helped in effective management of the group and the interaction pattern can help in increasing the unity among the members. I have seen that the development of a group can be a challenge, as it needs to undergo a few steps for its effective development. Therefore, I can say that in the current situation the existence of different group members with different roles can help them to remain successful and provide an emphasis on the effective completion of the project undertaken by the members. 

I have chosen the session that provides community support to young people that are at a risk of being incarcerated. Since this was, the first project that I participated in I had seen the session 5 group members have been involved that are provided with various responsibilities.  

In the session, that I participated had 5 participants that aimed at imparting knowledge about the improvement of society. The participants were students belonging in the RMIT University and age of the participants were around 24-25 years. I had participated in this session as it was based on helping the society to improve its probabilities in a community. The initial problem that I faced was that the formation of the group was based on convincing the people to participate. The group members consist of female participants that were keen to improve the society and make the young people an active member in the participation.

I faced challenge while delegating the roles of the people as most people had the same skills. However, the coordination and connection of the team members were improved with the help of an ice-breaking session that was conducted by Ritah. The individual factors of the people helped in improving the coordination between the people and the ice breaking session conducted helped to maintain the effectiveness of the group process. At the same, I also faced problems related to the communication between the group members. Despite several meetings, there were few communication problems, as direct contact could not be made between the team members.

I have seen that the group culture that exists among the members is homogeneous. The group members exist from the same cultural background and thereby interaction between the members can be conducted in a proper manner. After the analysis of the session, I have found s evidence of the existence of Tuckman’s theory of group dynamics. The systematic manner in which the group have been developed provided for the ultimate analysis of the factors that are involved in the working of a group. I have also seen that social cultures have a negative impact on the performance of a group. This is mainly because without coordination and similarity of thoughts success within a group cannot be attained (Forsyth, 2018). Therefore, I can say that the session on influencing the participation of young people have been successful mostly because of the similarity of gender, age and culture of the people. 

Case Study: Session for Community Support to Young People

The 2^nd session in which I was a part of included identiying sex workers in Victoria and the manner in which restrictions are maintained for the advertisement of the sex workers. The group session is conducted by 4 people belonging to the same university. The composition of the group consists of two boys and two girls.

The session consisted of 4 participants that had the aim of identifying the lifestyle of the sex workers in Victoria. The participants of the group therapy session were mostly students undertaking sociology course at the RMIT University. I have seen that the age group of the students are at 24 years and the group consists of an equal balance between the boys and girls. The composition of both genders also made the interaction between the members difficult. 

The absence of Luke in two classes had proved as a difficult factor for the successful completion of the project. I have seen that the communication between the team members proved to be a difficult factor for the group as the balance between the members was disrupted due to this. At the same time, I have seen that the group culture also proved to be a problem due to the mixed members that exist in the group. Therefore, due to these problems the objective of the group were threatened and the ice breaking session related to the formation of the group were conducted. At the same time, I had asked questions that provided an idea about the existence of the topic at hand.

The heterogeneous nature of the group is one of the advantageous that exist as the boys and girls can coordinate well within one another. I have seen that the implementation of Tuckman’s group model can be stated to understand the dynamics of the group. The systematic manner of the formation of groups and the similarity that exists among the group members provide an idea of the of the existence coordination among the group members. Hence, despite the difficulties that I faced, the session had an advantage in indentifying the topic and conducting its research in an efficient manner. 

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