Group goals | aims | objectives
What is a group goal?
“No wind favours him who has no destined port”
- Every group has a reason for being and for doing what it does. Every group has at least one goal – it may even be to do nothing.
- A goal is in essence an ideal – a desired place toward which people are working, a state of affairs people value.
- Three aspects are important
- The group goal itself;
- The tasks the group must perform in order to achieve the goal;
- The processes of interaction among members that are necessary for achieving the goal.
- Groups can have short, medium and/or long term goals. Short term goals are of the greatest significance for they are the stepping stones to the long range ones.
- In setting goals it is important to choose immediate ones that can be easily recognised when achieved and that can be reached in a specified reasonable length of time.
Why are goals important?
- Reasons:
- Goals are guides for action: it is through goals that the efforts of group members are planned and co-ordinated;
- The efficiency and usefulness of group procedures are evaluated on the basis of how they facilitate goal accomplishment;
- Conflict in groups is resolved on the basis of what helps the group achieve its goals;
- Goals are the motivation for the members of the group – as members commit themselves to achieving a goal, an inner tension is aroused that continues until the goal has been accomplished or until some form of psychological closure is achieved concerning the goal – this internal tension motivates members.
- Participation in goal setting is important:
- It helps to a better matching of the group goals to the goals and motives of members, which brings about greater acceptance of the goals;
- It brings about a better understanding of the group actions needed to achieve the goals;
- Members have a better appreciation of how individual behaviour contributes to the necessary group action.
- An awareness of group goals solidifies co-operation among members.
- If goals are accepted, understood and desired by group members, group goals direct, channel, motivate, co-ordinate, energise and guide the behaviour of group members.
Group gaols and individual member’s goals
Do groups have goals, or are there only the various individual goals of individuals (group members)?
Group goals are a combination of the individual goals of all group members.
- Group goals agreed upon by the members must be relevant to the individual needs of the members;
- Personal goals of individuals can be homogeneous or heterogeneous;
- Heterogeneous goals easily become hidden agendas – personal goals that are unknown to all other members of the group and are at cross-purposes with the dominant group goals;
- Procedures for increased consensus and decreased disagreement among different member’s goals:
- When you first form a group, thoroughly discuss its goals.
- As the group progresses in its activities, remember there are two levels they are working on: toward the achievement of the group’s goals and toward the achievement and satisfaction of the individual member’s goals and motives.
- Look for hidden agendas – sometimes it should be brought to the surface and rectified, but under other conditions it should rather be left undisturbed – a judgment should be made of the consequences of either choice.
- Do not scold or pressure the other group members when hidden agendas are recognised – they are present and legitimate.
- Spend some time evaluating the ability of the group to deal productively with hidden agendas.
Group goals and interdependence among members
- Groups may be structured co-operatively competitively or individualistically – there may be a positive, negative or no interdependence among the goals of group members
- Co-operative goal structure: a positive correlation among group members’ goal attainments (climbers)
- Competitive goal structure: a negative correlation among group members’ goal attainment (runners)
- Each goal structure promotes a different pattern of interaction among group members and those patterns determine the outcomes of group functioning
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GOAL STRUCTURES AND INTERPERSONAL PROCESSES |
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Positive Interdependence ↓ promotive interaction ↓ Acceptance Support Trust, liking ↓ Exchange of information oral rehearsal mutual influence high utilisation of resources ↓ |
Negative Interdependence ↓ Oppositional Interaction ↓ Rejection Distrust Disliking ↓ No or Misleading Communication ↓ |
No Interdependence ↓ No Interaction ↓ No Interaction ↓ No Interaction ↓ |
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MOTIVATIONAL SYSTEMS |
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Intrinsic ↓ High expectations For success Incentive for Mutual benefit High commitment For learning High persistence ↓ High emotional Involvement in Learning CO-OPERATIVE |
Extrinsic ↓ Low expectations For success Incentive for Differential benefit Low commitment To learning Low persistence ↓ Low emotional Involvement in Learning COMPETITIVE |
Extrinsic ↓ Low expectations For success Incentive for Self benefit Low commitment To learning Low persistence ↓ Low emotional Involvement in Learning INDIVIDUALISTIC |
Productivity
“Two heads are better than one”
John Heywood
The effects of co-operative, competitive and individualistic goal structures have been studied extensively since 1897. Co-operative efforts resulted in higher productivity than did individualistic efforts. Users of group-incentive methods stated that their plans were valuable because they increased co-operation and team spirit among group members, reduced monotony on the job and caused workers to focus on a common goal.
Morale
“All for one, one for all”
Alexander Dumas
Co-operative goal structures have been shown to be superior to competitive and individualistic goal structures:
- More positive relationship among members
- Relationships characterised by mutual liking, positive attitudes among members, mutual concern, friendliness, attentiveness, feelings of obligation toward each other and a desire to win each other’s respect
- Promote better and greater interpersonal attraction among members than does interpersonal competition
- Promote better and more positive attitudes toward supervisors and organisation superiors
- More cohesive
- Group members like the group better, as well as the tasks and the organisation that houses the group
- Self esteem and overall psychological health are higher, group members feel better about themselves
Group effectiveness
- Group effectiveness is determined in large part by:
- The quality of the reasoning strategies that members use;
- Members’ ability to take a variety of perspectives on the issue under consideration;
- The constructiveness of the conflict-resolution strategies members use;
- Members’ general level of collaborative skills.
- Members of groups dominated by a co-operative rather than a competitive or individualistic goal structure typically engage in more critical thinking and higher-level reasoning, view the issues from a number of different perspectives and resolve conflicts more constructively – they are also more willing to be influenced by other group members and are better able to influence their fellow members, the influence being based on persuasion and reason rather than coercion.
- Group members will usually have a mixture of co-operative, competitive and individualistic motives – they may be committed to group goals and work to maximise joint outcomes while at the same time seeking to outperform a peer and to meet personal needs unrelated to the concerns of other members.
- When an individual, dominated by competitiveness joins the group, it normally has the following effects on the group:
- Firstly:
-
And secondly:
- Co-operative members begin behaving in competitive ways;
- They start violating trust, hiding information and cutting off communication;
- The competitive person sees the formerly co-operative; members as having always been competitive
- The co-operative members are aware that their behaviour is being determined b the other’s competitive behaviour, but the competitive person is not aware of his / her impact on co-operative members.
- Co-operativeness needs to dominate group life effective patterns of interaction among members are usually far easier to destroy than build.
- Co-operation may be structured among group members in a number of ways other than through the group’s goal structure:
- Division of labour;
- Division of resources of information needed for task completion;
- Role assignments of members;
- Distribution of rewards.
Goal structures and the allocation of rewards among group members
Part of the process in which effective cooperation among members is promoted in order to ensure their individual wellbeing is the distribution of rewards.The way in which rewards are distributed among group members can have a marked effect on how members behave toward one another in the future and how effective the group is.Depending on the circumstances, rewards may be distributed according to:
- Equity or merit: in a just distribution, rewards will be distributed among individuals in proportion to their contributions – members who contribute the most to the group’s success receive the greatest benefits
Problems with this allocation: the use of equity values can have unfortunate effects on group member’s views of themselves and each other as well as on the relationships among members
Rewards are valuable because they are a scarce commodity that one competes with others to obtain – members with more resource attractors (ability, training, previous experience, drive and character) have an advantage in the competition for scarce resources and usually get higher rewards than members with few resource attractors
Group members who are rewarded the most usually end up in the position where they are given the power to distribute future rewards on the basis of their assessment of how much each member is contributing to the group effort – this allows those who are in power to bias the system of allocation to continue their disproportionate rewards and power even when they are no longer making relatively large contributions to the group’s wellbeing
- Equality: each group member is rewarded equally. Effects are:
Mutual esteem; equal status; mutual respect among each other; the fostering of enjoyable personal relationships, group loyalty and cooperativeness
- Need: members are rewarded according to need
Members who are most in need of the rewards receive a disproportionate amount of them, e.g. the member with the largest family may receive the highest monetary bonus, the member who has the least ability will be given the most support and assistance for completing his assigned tasks.
Such a system of distributive justice emphasises the confidence and trust members may have in their colleagues’ good intentions
Whatever system of distributing rewards a group uses, it must be perceived as ‘just’ by the group members.When rewards are distributed unjustly, the group may be characterised by low morale and high conflict among the members, which in turn will lead to low or decreased productivity.
There is evidence that indicates that before a task is completed, there is a general perception that an equity or competitive reward system is fairest, but after a task is completed, an equality or co-operative system in which all group members receive the same reward is viewed as the fairest.
Clear and operational goals
- To function properly, individual group members must:
- Know what the group’s goals are
- Understand the actions needed to be taken to accomplish them
- Know the criteria by which the group can tell when they have been reached; and
- Be aware of how their own behaviour can contribute to group actions
- The clarity of the group goal and the clarity of the actions required to achieve it are important if individual members are to accept the group goal, to experience a feeling of group belongingness, to be interested in goal-related behaviours and to be willing to accept influence from the group
- The group and the group’s task become more attractive as the goal becomes clearer and as the nature of the tasks and the responsibilities of each member within the group are made more understandable
- Goals become clarified as they are made more specific, operational, workable, measurable and observable
- A goal is operational when:
e.g. “name three qualities of a good group member”
e.g. “name three qualities of a good group member”
name = there can be several alternatives which can be tested – write down, point out, note, memorise, observe, detect etc
- It can be determined to what extent the goal will be achieved by a particular sequence of group actions
- name = sequence of group actions and three= when it is achieved
indicators must be observable, countable and specific
- Alternative courses of action for achieving it can be tested
- Advantages of having operational goals:
- They help communication among members and between the group and other groups
- They help guide the group in planning and carrying out its tasks
- They help the group evaluate both the group process and the group outcome or product
- Conflicts and differences are more likely to be decided by rational, analytic processes
- How are clear, operational goals developed
- Modify any stated goal until all the group members understand it and a consensus exists concerning how it is to be operationalised or put into practice – such discussions build commitment to group goals and the goals become more acceptable to the group members
- When are a group’s goals sufficiently understood and operationalised
- Symptoms of unclear goals are a high level of group tension, joking or clowning, distraction of the group by side issues and the group’s failure to support, use or build on good ideas
Effectiveness of group goals
Effectiveness of group goals depends on
- The extent to which members see the goals as being meaningful, relevant, realistic, acceptable and attainable
- How co-operative the goal structure is and how co-operatively oriented the group members are
- The degree to which both group’s goals and individual member’s goals can be achieved by the same tasks and activities
- The degree to which conflict exists among the group members about the group’s goals and the tasks the group must complete to achieve the goals
- The extent to which the goals are challenging and offer a moderate risk of failure
- The degree of co-ordination achieved among group members
- The availability of the resources needed for accomplishing the group’s tasks and goals
- How specific the goals are, because specific goals indicate what needs to be done next
- How easily the goals can be modified and clarified
- how long a group has to attain its goals
Helping groups set effective goals
There are two methods of helping groups set effective goals, viz. the Survey-feedback method, and programme evaluationa and review
1. The survey-feedback method
- Interview the individual members of the group about group goals and the priorities of group goals as they see them – do this before a periodic meeting of the group
- Conduct a group session in which the group sets its goals and priorities for the next six months or a year
During this meeting the group
- Plans short term goals
- Reviews its long term goals
- Develops the tasks necessary for accomplishing its short term goals
- Defines specific responsibilities for working on the tasks
- Ranks the tasks and goals in terms of priority to the group
- Sets group development goals for more effective group work
- Special attention is paid to specifying the leadership and the membership role relationships necessary not only for working on the tasks but also or development ways in which to identify and solve group relationship problems that might hinder goal achievement
2. Pragramme evaluation and review
This is also called the critical path method.
- Help the group to specify the end state they want to achieve (this is called their final goal)
- Work backward from this final goal and let the group detail what must happen immediately before it is achieved – the tasks and sub-goals needed to accomplish it must also be spelled out
- Let the group decide which of the activities are most critical for final goal accomplishment and let them allocate resources accordingly
- Then let the group set up a timetable for accomplishing each sub-goal
- Review the whole process and let them assign responsibilities