Assignment

Subject: Management Concepts & Organisational Behaviour

Topic: Unit 4 – Group Dynamics
1- Explain Group Dynamics and types of groups?
2- Explain Leadership and styles of Leadership?
3- Explain Power and its Characteristics?
4- Explain Power Dynamics in Organisations?

1. Explain Group Dynamics and types of groups?

Ans. - The social process by which people interact with one another in groups is
called group dynamics. Group dynamic focuses on team work where small groups
contact with each other and share common ideas to accomplish the goals. Thus, a
group consists of two or more persons to interact with each other consciously for the
achievement of certain common objectives. The members influence the group and in
turn are influenced by others in the group. To quote David Smith “a group is a set of
two or more individuals who are jointly characterized by a network of communication,
a shared sense of collective identity and one or more shared dispositions with
associated strength”.
In order to be called a group, an aggregation of persons must satisfy the following
conditions:
I. People must interact with one another,
II. People must be psychologically aware of one another, and
III. People should perceive themselves to be a group.

following types of groups coexist in every organization.

i. Formal Groups: Formal Groups are a part of the organization structure. They are
created deliberately by the management to perform the assigned duties. Work
groups, committees and quality circles fall in this category. These groups are
characterized by clear-cut authority-responsibility relationships. The pattern of
communication is also well defined. Rules are laid down to regulate the behavior of
group members.
ii. Informal Groups: Informal groups arise spontaneously at the work place because
of social interaction between the people. They are created by individuals rather than
by management. They are based on common interest, language, taste, religion,
background, etc. Thus, informal groups are alliances that are not officially planned.
These groups are natural entities in the work environment. Informal groups are more
flexible than the formal groups. Since they concentrate on personal contacts between
the members, they represent the human side of enterprise as compared to technical
side represented by the formal groups.
iii. Command and Task Groups: Formal groups may be subclassified into command
and task groups. The command group is composed of subordinates who report
directly to a common boss. Thus, a supervisor and the operative employees reporting
to him form a command group. The task group, on the other hand, represents those
working together to complete a given task. A task group or teams, say for the
introduction of a new product or service, is usually formed to complete an assignment
that involves a number of departments. Further, a command group is more
permanent than a task group in the organization.
iv. Interest and Friendship Groups: Informal alliances may take the shape of interest
and friendship groups. An interest group consists of people having a specific objective
and not aligned to common command or task groups. For instance, employees who
group together to pressurize the management for free transport and other benefits
constitute an interest group. But a friendship group includes close friends or relatives.
These relations even extend outside the organization. The group members know each
other very well and have good relations.

2. Explain Leadership and styles of Leadership?

Ans. - Leadership is the process of influencing the subordinates so that they
cooperate enthusiastically in the achievement of group goals. In other words,
leadership is the process by which an executive imaginatively directs, guides, and
influences the work of others in choosing and attaining specified goals by mediating
between the individuals and the organization in such a manner that both will obtain
maximum satisfaction.
Styles of Leadership
Leadership style refers to a leader’s behavior. Behavioural pattern which the leader
reflects in his role as a leader is often described as the style of leadership.
Leadership style is the result of leader’s philosophy, personality, experience, and
value system. It also depends upon the types of followers and the organizational
atmosphere prevailing in the enterprise.
Different types of leadership styles are: i. Autocratic leadership; ii. Participative
leadership; iii. Free rein leadership; and iv. Paternalistic leadership.
i. Autocratic or Authoritarian Leadership
The autocratic leader gives orders which must be obeyed by the subordinates. He
determines policies for the group without consulting them and does not give detailed
information about future plans, but simply tells the group what immediate steps they
must take. He gives personal praise or criticism to each member on his own initiative
and remains aloof from the group for the major part of the time. Thus, under this
style, all decision-making power is centralized in the leader. Leader adopting this
style stresses his prerogative to decide and order and subordinates’ obligation to do
what they are told to carry out.
ii. Participative or Democratic Leadership
A democratic leader is one who gives instructions only after consulting the group. He
sees to it that policies are worked out in group discussions and with the acceptance of
the group. Participative manager decentralizes managerial authority. His decisions
are not unilateral like that of the autocratic leader. Unlike an autocratic manager who
controls through the authority, a participative manager exercises control mostly by
using forces within the group. Some of the advantages of participative leadership
are:
- It increases the acceptance of management’s ideas.
 - It improves the attitude of employees towards their jobs and the organization.
- It increases the cooperation between management and employees.
- It leads to reduction in the number of complaints and grievances.
- It increases the morale of the employees.
iii. Free Rein or Laissez Faire Leadership
A free rein leader does not lead, but leaves the group entirely to itself. The free rein
leader avoids power. He depends largely upon the group to establish its own goals
and work out its own problems. Group members work themselves and provide their
own motivation. The leader completely abdicates his leadership position by giving
most of the work entrusted to him to the group which he is supposed to lead. This is
also known as permissive style of leadership, where there is least intervention by the
leader. Abdication of authority by the leader and letting the group to operate entirely
on its own are the common features of this style. This mode of direction can produce
good and quick results if the subordinates are highly educated, responsible and
brilliant who have a strong desire and commitment to give their best to the
organization.
iv. Paternalistic Leadership
In this style, the leader assumes that his function is paternal or fatherly. His attitude
is that of treating the relationship between the leader and his group as that of family
with the leader as the head of family. He works to help, guide, protect, and keep his
followers happily working together as members of a family. He provides them with
good working conditions, fringe benefits and employee services. This style has been
successful, particularly in Japan because of its cultural background. It is said that
employees under such leadership will work harder out of gratitude.

3. Explain Power and its Characteristics?

Ans. - There is no universally accepted meaning of power. Power has more diverse
meanings than any other concept in organisational behaviour. In general, it refers to
a capacity that one has to influence the behaviour of another so that the other person
does something which would not be done otherwise. However, few of the definitions
on power are presented here to capture the wide range of the meanings it has
assumed over a period of time.

Characteristics of Power
To have better understanding of power, we bring out clearly the distinctions between
power and authority and power and influence.
Power – Authority Distinctions
From the preceding discussion, it is clear that a person who possesses power has the
ability to manipulate or influence others. Authority legitimizes and is a source of
power in the organisation. In contrast, power need not be legitimate. Distinction can
be made between top-down classical, bureaucratic authority and Barnard’s
acceptance theory of authority. To him, authority is “the character of a
communication (order) in a formal organisation by virtue of which it is accepted by a
member of the organisation as governing the action he contributes”. Power is
different from such acceptance theory of the authority in the words of Grimes who
notes: “what legitimizes authority is the promotion of pursuit of collective goals that
are associated with group consensus”.
Power- Influence Distinction
Influence is broader than power in its scope. It is a process of affecting the
potential behaviour of others. Power is the capacity of influence. Thus, authority is
different from power because of former’s legitimacy and acceptance, and influence,
though broader than power, is closer to it conceptually. Hence, both are
interchangeably used.

4. Explain Power Dynamics in Organisations?

Ans. - Power dynamics refers to the relationships between people in an organization.
When we talk about power dynamics, we are usually talking about the ways that
formal authority is distributed and how that affects people's behavior

The social process by which people interact with one another in groups is called group
dynamics. Group dynamic focuses on team work where small groups contact with
each other and share common ideas to accomplish the goals. Thus, a group consists
of two or more persons to interact with each other consciously for the achievement of
certain common objectives. The members influence the group and in turn are
influenced by others in the group. To quote David Smith “a group is a set of two or
more individuals who are jointly characterized by a network of communication, a
shared sense of collective identity and one or more shared dispositions with
associated strength”.

In order to be called a group, an aggregation of persons must satisfy the following

conditions:

I. People must interact with one another,

II. People must be psychologically aware of one another, and

III. People should perceive themselves to be a group.