What do you mean by group? What are the reasons for joining groups? Explain.
Meaning of Group
Group is a collection of two or mare individuals, interacting and interdependent, who have come together to achieve particulars common objectives. A group is an aggregation of people who interact with each other, are aware of one another, have common objectives, and perceive themselves to be a group.
Mere collection people cannot constitute a group. For example, a crowd in front of a shop in the market watching will not be called as group because people do not interact with one another, and also do not share a common purpose.
Reason of People Forming and Joining Group
People form and become members of a group for a variety of different reasons. Some of them are explained below.
- Safety and security: Groups provide protection to their members from outside pressures. That is why workers join trade unions to feel safe and secure.
- Relatedness or belongingness needs: People being social belong, relating to groups satisfies a numbers of their social needs. In every organization, there are many persons who are very isolated or who prefer to be absent from work most of the times. Studies shows, such phenomena occur more where people are unable to belong to groups.
- Esteem needs: when one member of a group and does some good piece of work, gets praised from other. This is turn, brings a sense of recognition to the group members, on the one hand, and a sense of fulfillment of one’s need for growth towards achievement of work and better prospects, on the other side.
- Power: one of the appealing aspects of group is that they represent power and also offer power to their members. Workers enjoy much greater power by joining groups than they do as
individuals. This is because of at least two reasons: (i) there is strength in numbers, and (ii) united we stand, divide we fall.
- Identity: as a member of a group, and individuals gets identity who am I? In practices we understand ourselves through the behavior of other towards us. For examples, when people praise, we feel great, if others laugh at us, we see ourselves as the funny ones.
