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Human characteristics appearing in groups

Human beings usually do not work alone but work as a team by cooperating with bosses, colleagues, and employees working in other departments. To conduct group work efficiently, it is necessary to clarify each team member’s roles and responsibilities and facilitate communication among them under the leadership of a reliable leader. Moreover, human characteristics that appear in a group situation should be taken into consideration.

(1)Communication

To communicate smoothly and efficiently it is important to say things simply and accurately. It is also important that trusting relationships are developed among the team members. Moreover, giving sufficient consideration to the position and skills of others is indispensable when conveying information. The same word might have different meanings, especially when communicating with people doing different types of work or having different cultural backgrounds. As a result, we should always be aware that inadequate communication might cause errors in group work.

(2)Human characteristics appearing in groups

Human beings have the characteristic of living comfortably in the group that they belong to think that their group is wonderful and valuable. Sometimes, however, such characteristics have negative effects on group activities and unsafe behaviors tend to be performed by the group against the work ethic and society. The followings human characteristics can be observed in groups.

1. Authority gradients: Usually, a leader is selected to facilitate efficient team-work. Moreover, the power relationship between the leader and other members is called an “authority gradient.” When this gradient is too shallow, the team cannot be effectively controlled, whereas when the gradient is too steep, the leader gives orders to other members, whereas the other members cannot express their opinions or make important suggestions.
2.Conformity/interdependence: Sometimes everybody tends to go along with the opinions of others rather than voicing their own (conformity). Moreover, everybody might think that a person doesn’t have to be very diligent at work because there are many other members (interdependence). When members have such attitudes, positive results cannot be achieved even in spite of the excellent abilities of individual members.
3.Groupthink: Group members sometimes make judgments based only on information that is convenient for making the conclusion that can be agreed, and quickly finish meetings to avoid conflicts. It should be noted that team members sometimes conduct such behaviors.
4.Ingroup preference: People tend to avoid conflicts and change their own opinions to maintain team harmony. Such characteristics sometimes lead to serious organizational crimes such as hiding or falsifying data, and not reporting the mistakes of other members, among others.
5.Indifference to other teams (out-groups): People cannot learn from others’ mistakes because of the idea that it has nothing to do with their team and only the safety of their own team is important.

We should be aware of the human characteristics described above that can be observed in a group.