Management is a multidimensional process, which involves management of work, people and operations. Human resources are the most indispensable asset of an organization. It is difficult to maintain a workforce in balance and focus on operations simultaneously without management. Hence, it is essential for managers to take care of people’s diverse needs and behaviour as individuals to treat them as a group.
A manager’s duty is to bring out and enhance the talents of the people working under them and help them overcome their weaknesses.
A manager should keep in mind that each employee has got different personal problems to deal with and should not pressure anyone into doing things that could disturb them.
These problems may be low salaries, peer pressure or a feeling of being stuck in the workplace. Managers should understand that employees have a private life and while they work on achieving goals for the organization, they also have to work on achieving their personal life goals because both the dimensions of their lives are separate and not connected.
Achieving the collective goal is impossible without all employees working in harmony with full dedication and feeling like they are being heard rather than ignored. In order to develop team spirit and coordination in these individuals, group dynamics and team building is required.
What are group dynamics and team building?
Group dynamics refers to the interaction of people in a group.
It is the process of two or more people in a group making connections through communication by sharing ideas or knowledge or exchanging facts. Individuals have their own paces and interactions depend on them.
The objective of group dynamics is to identify and work upon social processes that affect the aspects of the group such as their familiarity and comfort in working together which will lead to group development and better collective performance. The interpersonal relations, group formation, and member participation play an integral role in working of a group.
Group dynamics include five stages:
- Forming – The first stage is group formation. In this stage, group members are complete strangers or acquaintances. Disconcerting formality is present. They are more concerned about their personal needs and require guidance from the leader.
- Storming – communication beings in the group at this stage. However, they still take time in identifying as a united team. This results in some individuals presenting their emotions where they might think they aren’t being heard. This further leads to more competition. The leader must rectify this by assigning them various tasks to work together on.
- Norming – The individuals of the group/ team start feeling familiar and relaxed around each other by this stage. There is a positive atmosphere and people feel part of the team. People collaborate with each other and ‘I’ is replaced with ‘We’.
- Performing – This is the peak of group dynamics. People work in a positive atmosphere where personal differences are discarded, complete trust and openness is developed. The group becomes highly productive and motivated to accomplish a common group objective.
- Adjourning – When the group objective is accomplished, the group is either adjourned or a new objective is framed, and the group development process starts from scratch.
Team building incorporates various activities and events designed to build a cohesive force between individuals which motivates them to work together as a team to achieve the organizational goals.
The first step towards team building is to set clear goals and objectives.
The management should then develop mechanisms for communication, such as e-mails and newsletters, as well as problem-solving mechanisms.
Once the team members are decided, the managers should assign a team leader. Team building activities should be carried out early on to build trust and motivation in team members. As well as, It can also be done for teams that don’t always work with each other but are at a similar position as a manager across departments.
These activities can include both indoor and outdoor activities such as go-karting, card games and any other innovative activity which boosts team spirit. CSR activities are great for making teams work in more profitable ways for the company. Also, management should celebrate team member’s accomplishments and birthdays.
Conduct regular meetings and keep a check a track of the work done by team members to achieve the goal.
Team building ensures better communication, more motivation and ultimately boosts productivity.
By applying these group dynamics and doing team building, you can achieve the desired results.
Remember, a group that plays together stays together.