What is a group, structure, types

2024 Author: Miguel Ramacey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 06:11

Group structure is an object of socio-psychological research. The word "group" itself comes from the Italian gruppo, which meant a community of sculptural or pictorial elements that were combined strictly symmetrically. Over time, the term has spread to other areas of human life.

First group studies

The first study of groups as an independent unit of social psychology began in the thirties of the last century. The author of laboratory research was an American scientist of German origin Kurt Lewin. Group processes were the subject of study. At the same time, the terms "leader", "types of leadership", "cohesion of the group" appeared.

The concept of a group in social psychology

One of the important issues in social psychology is the determinant of the term "group". It is known that not every community can be assigned this concept. Different psychologists define the group based on personal research experience. For example, Galina Mikhailovna Andreeva meansterm as a unity of people, which stands out from the social community due to special features.

According to Eric Byrne and John Turner, the hallmark of a group is its members' awareness of their own belonging to the collective and awareness of the sense of "We". At the same time, a person who is in a group opposes the community “We” to the community “They”.

Pioneer in sociological research Kurt Lewin defines the essence of community as the interdependence of its members. A group is a dynamic whole, which is characterized by the dependence of changes in the structure of its components.

Perhaps one of the most accurate definitions of the term belongs to George McGrass. According to the scientist, a group is a union of two or more people. Members are in the activity of interaction with each other.

As you know, the structure of society is represented by social groups and communities. Based on this, analyzing the results of all studies, we can sum up the following about the main features of the unit:

• The structure of the group is characteristic of each such community, despite its peculiarities.
• The group is characterized by a clear organization.
• All members are actively interacting.
• All participants tend to realize the team as a whole unit, as "We".

The main characteristics of the group

The distinctive features of this community are:

• Value, that is, the number of members. Until now, scientists have been arguing about what is the optimal number of people in the group. It is noteworthy that teams with an odd number of members are more stable than those with an even number. In such groups, contradictions are less likely to appear due to the numerical advantage of one of the parties.
• Compositional characteristics of the group - age, profession, social characteristics of its members. The composition can be homogeneous, that is, of the same type, or heterogeneous - all members of the community are characterized by individual differences.
• The structure and organization of the group, that is, the relationship between the people who make up its composition.

Views

The social structure of the community and the group implies a clear classification of the latter according to certain criteria. The first separation factor is the degree of stability. According to this determinant, groups are

• Unstable, that is, those that were formed by chance and are characterized by a weak degree of relationship between members of the community. An example of such a team can be the public, transport passengers, a store queue, etc.
• Groups with medium stability, that is, those that are formed for a longer time - labor collectives, students, schoolchildren.
• High resilience groups - nations, peoples, etc.

The next criterion for the distribution of communities is their size. Group sizes are:

• Big (peoples, nations, professional communities, etc.).
• Medium (university students, urban residents, students in schools, etc.).
• Small (family, classroom, groups of students, friends, sports teams, etc.).

Social groups in the structure of society are also divided depending on the quantitative composition:

• Dyads are two people.
• Multiple international political and economic movements.

Depending on the duration of the existence of the community, there are:

• Fleeting (lasting a few minutes or hours). Such groups include, for example, the audience in the hall.
• Stable - those that exist for a long period of time - years, centuries (ethnic groups, nations).

The density of connections between members makes it possible to divide groups into:

• Close-knit teams and organizations.
• Fuzzy, amorphous formations (fans in the stadium).

Another distribution criterion is the structure of relationships in the group. Depending on the organization of relationships and interests, communities are divided into:

• Official (formal), having a generally recognized legal status.
• Informal, informal - characterized by a special system of relationships.

Small group

Such communities began to be studied in the twentieth century. A special characteristic of a small group is that the social connections of members act in the form of direct contacts. The main signs of a small community are the following principles:

• Collaboration.
• Direct contacts.
• Mutual influence of members on each other.
• Having common goals.
• Clearly defined roles and functions among members.
• Feeling "We" likethe fundamental value of group conscience.

There are the following types of small groups:

• Permanent, temporary or occasional.
• Formal and informal.
• Official and reference.

In the first case, the individual refers himself to a certain team as a social necessity. The second type of group is characterized by the desire of a person to belong to a particular community.

And the group is big

The structure of society is represented by social groups of different sizes. Large aggregates of people are characterized, first of all, by an unlimited number of participants, as well as stable values and norms of behavior. However, members of large groups tend to have low moral unity and often a high level of non-participation in the affairs of the community. The larger the group, the less the desire of its members to communicate with each other.

The main types of such communities are:

• Targeted large group. Team members are united by a common goal. An example of such a team is a group of students or schoolchildren seeking education.
• Territorial community. The members of such a group are united by the boundary of their place of residence. An example of such a social unit is an ethnic group, as well as citizens of states, cities, etc.
• Among large groups, there are also intelligentsia, employees, representatives of mental / physical labor, townspeople or peasants.

Main group roles

According to researchViktor Ivanovich Slobodchikov, there are social and game group roles.

Social mission is the connections and relationships that are imposed on people as a result of a single interaction.

Playing role is a free, but temporary relationship.

Consequently, the main difference between social and game roles is freedom or lack of freedom of choice.

The main group images are:

• Group leader.
• Accepted.
• Isolated.
• Rejected group members.

The leader is a team member with a high positive status (in a formal group) and unshakable authority (in the case of informal cohesion). The leader influences decisions, distributes responsibilities among other members of the community. There is usually only one leader in a group. In the event of the appearance of another leader, there is a danger of disagreements between opponents up to the destruction of the integrity of the social unit.

Accepted are group members who have an average positive status and are respected by the rest of the community. The adopted help the leader in his intentions to solve common problems, make decisions.

Isolated members are people with zero group status. They withdraw themselves from participation in group relations. Introversion, feelings of inferiority, self-doubt, or opposition to the team can be cited as reasons for such a departure from common affairs.

Forsakenmembers of the group who have a negative status are considered. They are consciously or by compulsion on the part of other members excluded from collective action and common decision-making.

Types of group structure

The structure of the community is a system of relationships between its members. There are several official characteristics of the group organization structure. This is the structure of preferences, and the structure of power, and the structure of communications.

The structure of a group is determined by many factors. The first criterion is the number of community members. Also important are the goals, objectives, responsibilities, functions, roles of group members, and the nature of the relationship between them.

The size of a group determines the complexity of its structure. The greater the commonality, the more complex its structure. Conversely, the smaller the group, the simpler its structure.

Goals, tasks and functions of the members of the Commonwe alth determines the homogeneity and heterogeneity of its structure. If the problem is simple, then the structure of the group is homogeneous. Such a community can be, for example, a team of construction workers or school teachers.

If a group faces difficult tasks, then its structure has a heterogeneous character. For example, for the arrival of an aircraft on time, many aviation specialists have to work hard, who perform individual functions to achieve a common goal. The pilot of the aircraft steers the apparatus according to the flight, the navigator plots the course, the radio operator keeps in touch with the dispatcher, etc.

There is also an official andinformal structure of a society-group. Society, cohesive formally, is distributed according to certain generally accepted tasks. Here, each member performs his assigned role and is responsible for it. In informal groups, there is an informal structure that depends primarily on the voluntary (rather than specified) fulfillment of their duties by members. Accordingly, such a structure is determined by internal criteria, while the official structure depends on external prescriptions.

Small group structure

Scientists-psychologists have best studied the composition of small communities. Such communities are characterized by a relatively small number of members, and therefore to investigate the processes within them. The main features of small groups are age differentiation of participants, gender, level of education, professional qualifications, marital status, etc. Each member of a small community occupies a certain place and performs prescribed functions.

The structure of a small group, depending on the processes occurring within it, is divided into the following types:

• In accordance with the group dynamics, the structure of the community includes those mechanisms that organize the life of its members. These include distribution of roles, control over the performance of functions, etc.
• Group norms determine the structure in terms of the moral and ethical side of the relationship. In this context, the roles of the participants are emotional.
• Sanctions within a group are mechanisms to bring members back into compliancethis community. Sanctions are encouraging and forbidden.

Formal groups

Formal communities are communities that have rallied at the behest of the governing forces. There are many formal groups today.

• Union of leaders - a community of leadership and his immediate deputies. For example, president and vice president, director and memorize, etc.
• Work team - employees who work to achieve common goals.
• Committee - a subgroup within a large community, which is charged with performing individual tasks. There are permanent and temporary (special) committees.

Types of informal groups

Informal alliances spring up spontaneously. The main characteristic of an informal group is its referentiality and community of interests.

Although outwardly such communities look unorganized, they have strict internal social control. All members of the informal group must abide by the prescribed rules and regulations.

Informal communities are characterized by a sense of resistance to the surrounding society, and a rebellion against generally accepted formal values. Such a group is led by an informal leader who is the reference person of many members.

The most striking examples of the informal community are youth associations of punks, goths, rockers, hippies, etc.

Team structure study method

The main ways of researching groups are observation, experiment, poll.

Methodobservation consists in revealing the vast side of the life of the community, its structure, level of development, etc. Observation can be included (the observer himself takes part in the life of the group) and not included (observation from the side).

Natural experiment allows you to explore some aspects of the life of the group. To conduct it, the community is placed in the required conditions, where the behavioral styles of the members of the community, their relationships with each other, reactions to external stimuli, etc. are studied.

Poll is used to study public opinion on a particular issue. The survey consists of open and closed questions. Open-ended questions require detailed answers, while closed questions require monosyllabic answers. Polls are oral (interviews) and written (for example, questionnaires).

The structure of society, social communities and groups is determined by applying the method of sociometry. This method allows you to identify, first of all, an informal leader. The procedure for conducting sociometry is quite simple. Participants are invited to choose a partner from the group members according to some criterion (for example, going to the movies, an invitation to a birthday party, a party, etc.).

After the poll, the number of elections for each member of the community is counted. For clarity, the results can be presented in the form of a sociomatrix - a graph that shows the choices between group members. The person with the most votes is the informal leader of this community.

Recommended reading

To better study the structure of a social community, you can familiarize yourself with the special literature of research scientists:

• M.-A. Robert, F. Tilman "Psychology of the individual and the group".
• Levin K. "Dynamic Psychology".
• D. G. Konokov, K. L. Rozhkov "Organizational structure of enterprises".
• G. Mintzberg "Structure in the fist".
• E. Berne "Leader and Group: On the Structure and Dynamics of Organizations and Groups".