Subject:

GROUP DYNAMICS AND HUMAN BEHAVIOR IN

EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATION

Name: Mary Rose N. Cornito

Topic: Limitations of Group and Group Work

Advantages and Disadvantages of

Group Work
Advantages of Group Work
1) Groups are natural places in which people live and grow. Families,
peer groups, workplace groups and neighbourhood groups are central to
the social life of an individual. If these groups have significant influence
on our personalities, can’t groups be used to change the behaviour of the
members? Group work aims at achieving these aims in different settings.
2) Group members who have similar interests and problems can help
each other by sharing their experiences and their problems. The
principles of mutual aid and self help are emphasized. Group work’s 
major advantage over casework is that each member becomes a helper
and a helped in the group. Thus help is given and taken in a spirit of
equality.
3) Group members empower members by increasing their consciousness
and awareness. People’s personal problems are made public and when it
becomes known that large number of people is involved. Solutions are
then discussed and further actions planned and implemented.
4) Groups are used to elicit opinions of the members in the agency
regarding the services provided.
5) Group work is able to show in practice the democratic principles.
6) Group work is very effective for certain groups of people like
adolescent, children and women. These groups find it more comfortable
to get help in groups as their need for security and belongingness is
fulfilled in groups.
7) Group work is economical and time saving as a number of clients are
treated at the same time.
Disadvantages of Group Work
1) Confidentiality is difficult to achieve as personal knowledge is shared
with the group.
2) Forming groups can be difficult. Members often drop out, are absent
and do not cooperate which can lead to dissolution of the groups
3) Agencies do not fully support group work as they are not clear about
its usefulness.
4) Group work often degenerates into games and fun neglecting the
treatment process.
5) Group needs resources like common time, place and resources.
6) Individual attention is missing and non participating members become
lonely.
7) Group work can further the stigma and discrimination that the
members face in society  as they become identified with the group.
8) Professional expertise is often missing as group work is seen as being
general skill everyone can master.
Every person at one time or the other may have the
experience of working in a group, be it while the person
is in college or while at work.

There are many instances in life that may have called

for teamwork. At the same time, on some other
occasions, it is the choice of the person to opt for
teamwork or to work individually.

Both have their own positive and negative points. This

article tries to give an idea about the advantages and
disadvantages of working in a group.

Getting Work Done: In Groups and

Alone:
Different people have different ideas regarding the work
to be done. There are few people who would like to work
alone, whereas few prefer to work in teams.

The best way to solve such a situation is to assign the

right task for everybody accordingly.

As a coin has two sides, working individually and

working in a team both will be having their own
advantages and disadvantages.

Let us take a look below to find a few pros and cons of

them.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Teamwork:

 Teamwork helps in increasing collaboration and
has a scope for brainstorming, which results in
 getting more ideas. Therefore you can see a
growth in productivity.
 To solve complex problems and to complete
difficult tasks, the team works better than an
individual.
 You can improve your skills while working in a
team, as a team will be having people with
different skills and abilities.
 Teamwork helps you improve your
communication skills.
 While working in a team, conflicts might occur in
case when one person works less than the other.
 When working as a team, a lot of meetings need
to be scheduled. But in case if not handled
properly can result in loss of time and decreases
the efficiency of the team.
 Decision-making process will be prolonged and
delayed.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Individual

Work:
 You need not depend on others and also can
decide things independently.
 No interference from others and extra meeting so
you can focus on your work and complete it faster
 You will be the one who is responsible for the
work done, you don’t have to share the credit
with others.
 You are the sole person for the work, so you can’t
blame others when things go wrong.
 To get the work done at times, you need to
motivate yourself.
 There are chances of getting bored as you will be
working independently, all alone.
 At times if you are sick and not able to do work,
the whole work gets delayed as there will be no
one to complete it on your behalf.
Problems Associated with Group
Work:
Here we will be discussing a few common problems,
which group members face when the work is not done
effectively while working in a group.

 Missing deadlines by not completing tasks

 Difficulty in getting started
 No discussion is done as a team
 Members not contributing
 Ineffective communication
 Conflict between team members
 Dominating personalities
 Inability to focus on the task

Why Work in Groups?

Working in a group is an effective and powerful way to
learn, and is highly relevant to the work type and
workplace.

Here are a few points to highlight the advantages of

group learning:

 Effective learning
 Generic Skills advancement
 Workplace relevance
 Development of Social Networks
 The group dynamic awareness development

What Makes an Effective Team?

Some of the tips that help your team to become effective
are
  Different skilled employees working together
effectively
 Understanding and committing to goals
 Have a clear idea about the tasks to be done
 Maintain a balance between task and process
 Providing a supportive and informal atmosphere
 Comfortable with the disagreement of opinions
 The discussions are taken together
 Criticism taken in a positive manner
 Learn from the experiences

Advantages and Disadvantages of

Working in a Group:

Advantages of Working in a Group Disadvantages of Working in a Group

More Productive Unequal Participation

More Resources Intrinsic Conflict

More Reliable No Individual thinking

Learn Things Decision making takes time

New Method Easy to avoid work

Information Exchange Loss of Creativity

Team Commitment Time Consuming

Advantages of Working in a Group:

One might opt to work in a group, due to many reasons.
What one needs to see is what works best for the job as
well as for the person.

So if you are confused about why work in groups

or positives or advantages of teamwork then here are
some points on the positives and advantages of working
in a group.

1. More Productive:
It is been found that one of the main benefits of working
in a group is that it helps to raise the complete output.

If working in a group, everyone works together making

use of the best of their skills to make sure of quality
output.

It will also guarantee that there has not been any

compromise on the quality of the production,
whilst working as a team. This is one of the best
benefits of team working.

2. More Resources:
One thing to realize is that more the number of people
that joins the group, the resources also increase
alongside it. This is one of the pros of teamwork.

For example, as more people are added, the total ability

of the person also increases. Other than the skills, the
experience of each new person is as well added to the
group.

If the person is working individually, he will not have

the support from the other people in the group.

3. More Reliable:
One good thing about working in groups is that if in
case someone is not keeping well or if they miss the
work for some reason, the job can still be done properly
and efficiently by the rest of the people in the team.

Since working in a group there are people who are

aware of what’s happening at work. This is not possible
if a person is working alone or individually.

If one works in a group, they can also ensure that the

ideas or suggestions, which are not at par, are rejected
at the very beginning. This is one of the benefits of
group work.

4. Learn Things:
It is seen more often that, people in a group can go on to
learn new things from the others. They get the option to
learn from each other.

All people while working in groups have their own ideas,

from which another person can learn so many things.

On the other hand, when one is working individually,

they have to do things on their own. You do not have
the time to learn anything from anyone else. Learning
new skills is one of the benefits of group work.

5. New Method:
When working in a group, each one gets the opportunity
to come out with their own ideas and suggestions, thus
paving the way for new methods on how to complete the
job properly.

Each one can work towards the success of the work.

Since it is a large group, there could be quite a few of
the suggestions or ideas by some of the people that are
innovative and novel, which could help the job to
complete successfully.

6. Information Exchange:
While working in a group, everyone gets the opportunity
to communicate with others well within the group.

Each idea or suggestion, whoever it is by is considered

and thoroughly discussed before the group arrives at a
conclusion.

Hence, we can find that the flow of conversation or

communication is smooth and effortless within the
people of the group. This contributes a lot to the
success of the job, given. This can also be called
as group discussion.

7. Team Commitment:
When one is committed to working in a team, the
person can go on to encourage and support the
performance as a group.

A person, totally dedicated to the job at hand and to the

team, will also make sure to be present to do the job.
This is known as total team commitment.

Disadvantages of Working in a Group:

Now there are also disadvantages of group work as
working in groups would not work out for the best, all
the time.

Trying to get people in a group to work together is very

strenuous and also takes up a lot of time.
At the same time, if everyone comes together to work
towards success, there is nothing better than that. Here
are some negative points of working in a group or
disadvantages of  group work.

1. Unequal Participation:
It is quite possible that while in a group some of the
customers may not do that much work, while others
may work hard. This inequality in the work done could
cause trouble between the people in the group.

It also causes bitterness amongst the members of the

group, because some may be getting acknowledged for a
work that they have not even done at all, while others
may have strived hard to get that honour. Jealousy, in
such a scenario, is without a doubt inevitable.

2. Intrinsic Conflict:
When a wide variety of people start to work in a group,
disagreement is sure to arise between people in the
group.

Each person may have their own ideas which could

conflict with what the other person has to suggest.
Some people in a group might also find it difficult to
accept suggestions or ideas from another person. This
conflict could as well put a stop to the flow of work until
the issue is resolved.

3. No Individual thinking:
While working in a group, there is no place for
individual or independent thinking. It is by no means a
one-man show.

It is more of a group effort to complete a job properly.

Each idea and suggestions put forward by all the
members of the group have to be taken into account for
the successful completion of the work.

4. Decision making takes time:

In view of the fact that it is a group effort, suggestions
and ideas from all the people in a group have to be
taken into account.

Prior to making any decision, all aspects are to be

thoroughly discussed and considered, which
consequently takes up a lot of time and energy.

5. Easy to avoid work:

When in a group especially a large one, it is very easy
for the person to avoid work and leave it to others to
complete. It may take some time before someone
actually pays attention to this fact.

One can work, in whatever way possible and can also

get acknowledgment for work done by someone else, as
it is teamwork and the person is part of the team.

6. Loss of Creativity:
Whenever you need to work as a group, group thinking
becomes more relevant. Because of this reason,
creativity has been stumped.

One can never make a good decision, as each and every

person in the group will have a say in it.

7. Time Consuming:
The whole process could be time-consuming while
working in a group. It takes a lot of time since there is a
need for agreement and coordination from all members
of the team.
8. Inequality in getting work:
If the person opts to work in a group, when the work is
being distributed, everyone might not get an equal
amount of work.

Someone might end up with more work, while others

might get only little to do. This discrepancy in getting
the work can also lead to conflict.

9. People might loaf around:

One other issue while working in a group, is that some
of the people may just hang around, gossiping or loafing
around without doing the job. This could result in lesser
productivity from their end.

Tips to Improve Working in a Group:

 It is often found that people working in a group
can work better when they are comfortable with
each other.
 Engaging in social activities together can help one
to overcome this problem.
 Once, the role to be assumed by all is clearly
marked out it becomes easier to work in a group.
 The people need to have a proper ongoing
exchange of ideas.
 In order to get the best of output, one needs to
focus more on the benefits of working in a group.

Thus, working together can prove to be advantageous

for the project, as well as the company.

Reference:
https://article1000.com/advantages-disadvantages-group-work/
https://content.wisestep.com/top-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-
working-in-a-group/