Group Formation, Types, Member Qualities, and Behavioral Influences

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Group Formation, Types, Member Qualities, and Behavioral Influences

Leadership and Organizational Behavior · Chapter 11: Work Teams, Group Dynamics, and Team PerformanceSection 11.1 · lesson 62 of 12210 min · free with a free account

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In this lesson

How groups form, what holds them together, and why the informal ones matter most.

  • Distinguish formal from informal groups
  • Trace Tuckman's five stages of development
  • Explain how norms form and get enforced
  • Name the qualities of effective members

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Work Teams, Group Dynamics, and Team Performance

Group Formation, Types, Member Qualities, and Behavioral Influences

Groups are among the most fundamental social units in any organization. Some are formed deliberately by management. Others emerge naturally among employees. Both kinds shape how work actually gets done. They shape how decisions are made, and how individuals experience their working lives. This section examines how groups form and develop over time. It distinguishes formal from informal varieties, and the informal ones will surprise you. It looks at what qualities make an individual an effective contributor. And it identifies the behavioral forces that influence how groups operate. Those forces are norms, cohesion, and the wider social dynamics around them. Understanding what separates an effective group from a dysfunctional one is foundational. It is foundational for managers, team leaders, and human resources professionals alike.

Foundations

The Most Fundamental Social Unit

Start with why groups deserve a chapter of their own. Almost no organizational work happens through individuals acting alone. It happens through groups, formal and informal, overlapping constantly. So a manager who understands individuals but not groups understands half the system. Groups shape how work gets done, which is the obvious part. They shape how decisions are made, which is less obvious and more consequential. And they shape how individuals experience their professional lives. That third one determines whether people stay, and how much they give. We will cover formation and development, then norms and cohesion. Then the qualities of effective members, which is where selection decisions live. Each of these is a lever a manager can actually move.

Formal Groups

Created on Purpose, With Boundaries

Organizations give rise to two broad categories of groups. Formal groups come first, and they are the visible half. They are deliberately created by management to accomplish specific tasks or fulfill defined roles. Project teams and departmental units are formal groups. So are committees and task forces. Three features characterize them. They have clear membership boundaries, so it is knowable who is in and who is not. They have designated leadership, so somebody is formally responsible. And they have explicit performance expectations, stated rather than inferred. Those three features are what make formal groups manageable. They are also exactly what informal groups lack, which is the next problem.

Informal Groups

The Ones Nobody Designed

Informal groups emerge spontaneously, from shared interests, proximity, or personal affinity. They are not part of the official organizational structure at all. And yet they wield considerable influence over what happens. Informal groups can reinforce formal organizational goals. They can also quietly undermine them, and usually nobody notices which is occurring. They provide emotional support to their members. And they serve as channels for information flow that bypass the formal hierarchy. Managers who ignore informal groups are regularly surprised. They are surprised by resistance, and by coalitions they did not know existed. Effective leaders take a different view. Informal groups are resources to understand, not threats to suppress. Aligning informal norms with organizational goals dramatically improves morale and voluntary compliance.

Tuckman

Five Stages of Group Development

The most widely cited framework for group development is Tuckman's stage model. It was originally proposed with four stages. Forming, storming, norming, and performing. A fifth stage, adjourning, was added later to account for group dissolution. In forming, members orient themselves and rely heavily on the leader. Behavior is polite and guarded, because nobody yet knows what is safe. In storming, conflict emerges over roles and methods. There is emotional tension, and power struggles surface. In norming, the group reaches consensus on norms and roles, and trust starts to build. In performing, productivity is high, roles are flexible, and leadership is shared. And in adjourning, the task completes, the group disbands, and members process its ending.

The Leader's Job

A Different Role at Every Stage

The leader's job changes at every stage, which is the model's practical payoff. During forming, provide direction and structure. The group cannot yet supply those for itself, and pretending otherwise stalls it. During storming, facilitate open dialogue and mediate conflicts. Notice the instruction is not to prevent conflict, which would only delay it. During norming, step back and encourage shared ownership. This is where many leaders fail, because the group is finally easy to lead. Continuing to direct at this stage prevents the group from ever owning its own norms. During performing, delegate, and turn your attention to external challenges. The team can run itself, so the leader's value moves to its boundary. And during adjourning, acknowledge contributions and manage the transition deliberately.

Regression

The Model Is Not a Ratchet

One important caution about the model. Groups do not always progress linearly through these stages. The sequence is a description, not a schedule. Several things can send a group backward. Membership changes can, and so can new challenges. So can shifts in the wider organizational context. A newly merged team is the clearest example. It can regress from performing all the way back to storming. Members renegotiate roles and relationships that had already been settled. And here is the part managers most often misread. The individuals have not become less capable. The group has become a different group.

Norms

The Rules Nobody Wrote Down

Norms are the shared expectations and informal rules governing behavior within a group. They cover an enormous range of things. Meeting punctuality and communication style are the obvious ones. How disagreements get handled is less obvious and more powerful. So is what level of work effort the group considers acceptable. Norms emerge through four routes. Explicit statements, where someone says out loud how things are done here. Critical events, where a significant incident establishes what happens in that situation. Precedent-setting behaviors, where the first time something is done becomes the way it is done. And member characteristics carried in from prior group experiences. That fourth route is why a new hire can shift a norm without ever discussing it.

Enforcement

Approval, and Its Absence

Groups enforce their norms through social pressure. On one side there is approval, acceptance, and praise. On the other side there is ridicule, exclusion, and ostracism. Neither side requires any formal authority to operate. The strength of enforcement depends heavily on group cohesion. Tighter-knit groups tend to enforce their norms more vigorously. Which is excellent news, or very bad news, depending entirely on the norm. So managers must be attentive to which norms actually prevail. Counterproductive norms are the ones to watch for. Consider a norm like, do not raise problems in front of the boss. That can persist for years after the original context that produced it has disappeared.

Cohesion

The Force That Keeps People In

Cohesion is the set of forces keeping members attracted to and engaged with a group. High cohesion correlates with several outcomes managers want. Greater member satisfaction, and more frequent communication. Lower turnover, and stronger compliance with the group's norms. So more cohesion is always better. Except that it is not. Cohesion is not uniformly beneficial, and this is the important qualification. Consider a highly cohesive group whose norms contradict organizational goals. That group will work energetically against those goals. It will do so with unusual coordination, persistence, and mutual support. Cohesion amplifies whatever the group already believes. It does not choose the direction, which is why norms have to be managed alongside it.

Building Cohesion

Five Factors That Pull a Group Together

Five factors reliably increase group cohesion. Similarity in values, attitudes, and background among members. Shared threats, or competition from outside the group. A history of past successes and positive experiences together. Small group size, which enables frequent and meaningful interaction. And physical proximity, with regular face-to-face contact. Two of those five cut both ways, and are worth flagging. Similarity builds cohesion by narrowing the range of perspectives in the room. That is the same mechanism that produces blind spots later. An external threat unifies a group quickly, and pushes it toward defensiveness. Neither factor is free, and a manager choosing them should know what they are buying.

Member Qualities

What Makes Someone Good at Group Work

Finally, the individual level. Not everyone is equally suited to group work. Research consistently identifies a cluster of five qualities. Interpersonal sensitivity is the ability to read emotional cues and respond appropriately. It ranks among the most important qualities in the whole cluster. Team orientation is the willingness to subordinate personal ego to collective goals. Communication competence covers more than clear expression. It includes active listening, and the ability to give and receive constructive feedback. Reliability means consistently delivering on commitments. That builds trust, and it reduces the coordination overhead that drags groups down. Adaptability lets members shift roles and revise expectations. It lets them recover from setbacks without destabilizing everyone around them.

About Leadership and Organizational Behavior at UPI Study

Leadership and Organizational Behavior (Business 206) is a self-paced online course of 122 video lessons in 20 chapters, from personality, perception and motivation to leadership and power, teams, decision-making, conflict, organizational structure, culture, ethics and change. It carries a NCCRS credit recommendation for 3 semester credits.

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Why students take Leadership and Organizational Behavior with UPI Study

Why people act the way they do at workLeadership and Organizational Behavior explains how individuals, groups and leaders behave inside organizations: motivation, attitudes, teams, power, conflict, culture and change. It is a core course in business administration, management and human resources programs.
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130,000+students helped with college creditsACE and NCCRS have over 2,100 cooperating colleges that will consider accepting credits; the final decision is with the universities.

Where the credit goes

Universities that work with NCCRS

Leadership and Organizational Behavior carries a NCCRS credit recommendation. These universities work with NCCRS; some are UPI Study's signed partners. ACE and NCCRS have over 2,100 cooperating colleges that will consider accepting credits; the final decision is with the universities.

Thomas Edison State UniversityThomas Edison State UniversitySigned partnerUniversity of the PeopleUniversity of the PeopleSigned partnerCharter Oak State CollegeCharter Oak State CollegeSigned partnerStrayer UniversityStrayer UniversitySigned partnerColumbia Southern UniversityColumbia Southern UniversitySigned partnerIndiana TechIndiana TechSigned partnerPenn StatePenn StateWorks with NCCRSSouthern New Hampshire UniversitySouthern New Hampshire UniversityWorks with NCCRSSUNYSUNYWorks with NCCRS +many more cooperating universitiesFind my college →

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FAQ

Questions students ask us

About Group Formation, Types, Member Qualities, and Behavioral Influences

What is the difference between formal and informal groups in an organization?
Formal groups are created by management to accomplish specific tasks, while informal groups form spontaneously from shared interests, proximity, or friendship. Project teams, departments, committees, and task forces are formal groups with clear membership, designated leaders, and explicit performance expectations. Informal groups sit outside the official structure, yet they provide emotional support, carry information around the hierarchy, and can either reinforce or quietly undermine organizational goals.
What are Tuckman's stages of group development?
Bruce Tuckman's model describes forming, storming, norming, and performing, with a fifth stage, adjourning, added later. In forming, members are polite and rely on the leader; in storming, conflict arises over roles and methods; in norming, the group agrees on norms and builds trust; in performing, productivity is high and leadership is shared. Groups can move backward, for example after a merger or membership change.
What are group norms, and how do they develop?
Group norms are the shared expectations and informal rules that govern behavior in a group, such as punctuality, how disagreements are handled, and how much effort is acceptable. They develop through explicit statements, critical events, precedents set the first time something happens, and habits members bring from earlier groups. Groups enforce norms through approval or exclusion, and counterproductive norms can persist long after the situation that created them is gone.
Is high group cohesion always good for performance?
No, high group cohesion is not always good, because it amplifies whatever the group already believes. Cohesive groups tend to show higher satisfaction, more communication, lower turnover, and stronger norm compliance. But a cohesive group whose norms conflict with organizational goals will resist those goals with unusual coordination. Some sources of cohesion also carry costs: member similarity can create blind spots, and an outside threat can make a group defensive.

About the Leadership and Organizational Behavior course

How many college credits is Leadership and Organizational Behavior?
Leadership and Organizational Behavior (Business 206) carries a NCCRS credit recommendation for 3 semester credits. ACE and NCCRS have over 2,100 cooperating colleges that will consider accepting credits; the final decision is with the universities.
How much does Leadership and Organizational Behavior cost and what is included?
$250, paid once, with lifetime access: all 122 video lessons, a practice quiz after each, the graded work and final exam, and an official transcript when you finish. Students who want several courses choose UPI Study PRO instead.
Which universities accept UPI Study credits?
UPI Study has signed partner agreements with universities such as Thomas Edison State University, University of the People and Charter Oak State College, and works with universities such as Penn State, SNHU and SUNY. ACE and NCCRS have over 2,100 cooperating colleges that will consider accepting credits; the final decision is with the universities. Use "Find my college" on this page to check yours.
How long does Leadership and Organizational Behavior take?
It is self-paced with no deadlines. The 122 lessons total about 21 hours of video; most students add reading and practice time and finish in a few weeks to a few months, on their own schedule.
How are the exams done?
Quizzes and assignments are online in the course. The final exam is taken online with proctoring; a person on the UPI Study team checks assignments, usually within two days.
How do my credits reach my college?
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