Small Groups

In a large group the overall intensity of mutual relations is lower than in a small group. If this large group represents an organisation, the focus is on the realisation of the objectives of that organisation. The individual person is not so much seen in terms of a person but rather as the contribution to that realisation of objectives; more or less qualified for a job.

Small groups on the other hand allow people to know one another as persons, with all the related good and bad habits, not as a means to an end and primarily realising the objectives of the organisation. Just because of this aspect of being known individually, a small group may have a strong impact on a person. A simple reflection on the family you grew up in and its consequences may serve as an example. In the same vein a team at work may affect the working climate for better or worse and the dissolution of the team may take much of the work motivation with it.

People in a small group react to one another and show specific

behaviour. At the interaction level an individual has to clarify his or her questions, points of view, interests and so on, as well as to understand the points of the other. Lewin describes the behaviour of a group as a function of personal factors and the environment. Such interaction results in the small group’s own culture e.g. the use of certain words, specific behaviour, common opinions and the reference to common experiences. Groups may also face an inherent tension between the interests of individuals versus those of the group as a whole.

Personal factors include personality traits, status, authority, communication styles and patterns, co-ordination, personal advantage, socialisation, freeloaders and expectations of the members of the team. Environmental factors deal with the organisation as a whole, the place of the team in that larger whole, the expectations of that environment (management, colleagues, customers), the availability of people, organisational and national cultures and management styles.

Usually, culture is shared by a group of people but this does not necessarily mean that each member of the group shares every feature and value of this particular culture group.

The closeness between the people does however also forbid any socially unaccepted behaviour.