GROUP DISCUSSION AND GROUP TASK

“The person who never takes a risk, never succeeds.”

Group are important at the psychological level to understand the candidates’ actions, thoughts
and emotions without taking into consideration the group they belong to and the groups that
surrounds them. The groups are important at sociological level. Societal forces, such as
traditions, values, and norms, don’t reach directly to individuals but instead, work through the
groups to which each individual belongs. Therefore, the degree and style of leadership may
depend heavily on group dynamics. Often external rules, like parliamentary procedure are less
important than “group dynamics.” If we can become more aware of group dynamics, we can
be better assessors of personality in a group.

• Communication. One of the easiest aspects to be observed in a group

process is the pattern of communication in a group. The points observed are,
who talks, for how long, how often, who talks after whom and who do people
look at? Other aspect that needs to be keenly seen is the style of
communication used, e.g. assertions, questions, gestures etc. Who interrupts
whom? Is there change in participation i.e. who becomes quiet or more
talkative or changes pitch/tone? How are silent people treated? This pattern
of communication gives certain clues to other important things, which may be
going on in the group such as, who leads whom or who influences whom.
When we observe what the group is talking about, we are focusing on the
content. When we try to observe how the group handles its communication,
i.e., who talks to whom, we are talking about group process. At a simpler
level, looking at processes really means to focus on what is going on in the
group and trying to understand it in terms of other things that have gone on
in the group.

• Decision. Many kinds of decisions are made in groups. Some members try to
impose their own decisions on others, while some want all to participate or
take shared decisions. Some decisions are made consciously after much
debate and voting, others are made silently, with no objection. It is important
to understand whether the decision was self-authorized, by majority or
consensus; and how was it taken and what was the contribution of each
member?

• Influence, Some people may speak very little, yet they may capture the
attention of the whole group. Others may talk a lot but other members may
pay little attention to them. There is a need to observe, which members are
high in influence i.e. when they talk others seem to listen and which members
are low in influence i.e. others do not listen to them or follow them. Is there
any shifting of influence? Also pay attention to any rivalry in the group? Is
there a struggle for leadership? What effect does it have on other group
members?

• Group Task The group’s task is to get the job done. People who are
concerned with the task tend to make suggestions as to the best way to
proceed or deal with a problem; attempt to summarize what has been
covered or what has been going on in the group; give or ask for facts, ideas,
opinions, feelings, feedback, or search for alternatives and keep the group on
 target; prevent going off on tangents. Relationship means how well people in
the group work together. People who are concerned with relationship tend to
be more concerned with how people feel than how much they know. They
help others to get into the discussion, try to reconcile disagreements and
encourage people with friendly remarks and gestures. A group member who
can play a variety of tasks sand relationship roles and can avoid self-oriented
roles will be most helpful to the group.

• Role. Behaviour in the group can be of various types e.g. helping the group
to accomplish its task, helping the group to accomplish its task, helping group
members to get along (relationship) and self-oriented behaviour, which
contributes to neither group task nor group relationship. The examples of
these types of behaviour are called roles. The task roles are, initiating,
seeking giving information or opinion, interpreting ideas or just summarizing.

• Membership. One major concern for group members is the degree of

acceptance or inclusion they feel in the group. This can generally get
influenced if there are any sub-groupings? Sometimes two or three members
may consistently agree and support each other or consistently disagree and
oppose one another, or some people seem to be outside the group?

• Feelings. During any group activities, feelings are frequently generated by

the interactions between members. These feelings, however, are seldom
talked about, but guesses based on tone of voice, facial expressions, gestures
and many other forms
• Norms. Standard or group rules always develop in a group in order to control
the behavior of members. Norms usually express the beliefs or desires of the
majority of the group members as to what behaviors should or should not
take place in the group. These norms may be clear to all members (explicit),
known or sensed by only a few (implicit), or operating completely below the
level of awareness of any group members.
• Group Maturity. Group maturity is defined as the ability and willingness of
group members to set goals and work toward their accomplishment.
Assessing group maturity is especially important for a group leader. An
immature group needs direction. Directive leadership is usually best. If a
group is very mature then non-directive leadership is usually best. In between
the extremes of very mature and very immature, democratic leadership will
be the best bet depending on the situation.

• Conclusion The individual’s personality can be better observed firstly, when

he is communicating in a group and secondly, by his actions when he is
interacting with others in the group discussion and group takes. The true
picture of the individual is exhibited when he is under controlled stress due to
presence of his peers, imposed time limitation and difficulty in finding out the
solutions to problems. The way he influences other members of the group to
execute his thoughts and get influenced by others’ ideas to modify his own
thought process within the stipulated time, holds special significance.