Effect of Group Composition on Group Dynamics

Paper Summary:

This essay examines how the composition of a group, whether for therapeutic or business reasons, affects the outcomes and group goals that can eventuate. The essay contends that group composition needs to be both homogeneous and heterogeneous enough to allow for group processes to occur, i.e. group stages, for the group dynamic to progress and group goals to be achieved.

From the Paper:

"While it is true that a group is made up of individuals, and without those individuals there would be no group, it is quite impossible to judge the "sort of group" that will eventuate from merely examining the "sorts of people" that constitute it. Doing so would be like "explain[ing] the shifting pattern of a kaleidoscope by taking the tube to pieces and listing the fragments found inside" (Thompson and Kahn, 1970: 12). Systems theorists have long posited, in opposition to individual psychological explanations of group behavior, that when individuals "merge into a group" something new is created" (Lewin, 1951: 57). This new entity, although comprised of individuals, is believed to be "greater than the sum of its parts" and thus the dynamic that is created within the group is not directly attributed to any one individual but rather the unique interrelationship between those individuals and the force that this interrelationship has on group functioning."

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