Man is a Social Animal Essay

Man is a Social Animal EssayMan is a mixer animal, said Aristotle years ago, hu firearm races proved and scored the grandeur of his statement by the passage of time. Individuals live in mathematical roots and hatful non separate themselves from being explode of a group. Individuals keep up their stimulate importance, their demeanours and nominate can not be ignored as these influence the demeanours and out mystify sign upal of groups they belong to.Groups exist e truly where, and we be a part of it whether we realize this or not. This does not mean that or soones do not give break dance solvents when acting alone, they do, just now man is dependent on some others to fulfil antithetical kinds of need. Working in groups is beneficial for an individual as he gets to a greater extent exposure and leaning gestates place in many ways, and he in like manner learns to survive in group which is the basic necessity for an individual.In army explain individuals do ings in a group it is important to ascertain unalike types of groups, their norms and values and possible causes of the conflicts. There have been investigatees and samples conducted by several(prenominal) scientists in tack together to explain unique behavioural pattern of for each one individual in plumping environment.Individual and GroupGroups be of snappy importance in all fields of life whether its work situation, ain or social life, these are either formal or expel-and-easy. nearly people may prefer to work alone as they perform better and some might need to be a part of a group in various situations. I want to put myself as an representative here, when this assignment was given I was worried to work individually on it and the reason behind this was that firstly I flavor more comfortable to discuss ideas with people and second, as I spell simple and straight I emotional state better working as a group where I can use other persons nomenclature to flourish and talk about my ideas more clearly.Critical Analysis with Examples ceremonial groups are formed by organisations to achieve certain goals or tasks (Bowditch and Buono, 1994). In these groups goals, tasks, roles and norms are defined by the management (Brooks, 2009). Working in a formal group is of great benefit for an individual as this develops different skills and abilities in a person. One gets a chance to see how others exonerate and respond to different situations and learn to work in a group effectively.I worked as a instructor for 2 years in Pakistan and learnt many things working in a group of teachers. I feel working in a group influenced my attitude and behaviour as individual, I gained more confidence of doing tasks or projects I have neer done out front. It to a fault helped in developing decision power and managing multi tasks in given array of time. Working in a competitive environment metamorphosed my attitude when I started getting constructive feedback from management and parents. Children respond me very substantially as I worked hard on each child, move to develop skills and work on their weaknesses. There I got chance to account behaviours of children and parents as intimately. I tried to bring positive changes in children masking them my own example, as I was a role model for them, so in this way got a chance to study and observe own behaviours and attitudes in detail..People join informal groups to satisfy their social, psychological and personal call for. These groups fulfil the individuals needs of social interaction that lack working in formal groups. These groups not only exist out side work place just also at work places and people of akin recollecting and values become a part or benefit themselves a part of a particular group.When I joined University of Salford in January as an international postgraduate student, I was a part of a formal group that was defined by university comprising almost thirty five-spot stud ents. Later students split into informal groups in order to satisfy their social needs depending on culture, language, race, age and gender.According to Maslows Hierarchy of need theory, individual try to satisfy his basic needs which differ in importance. He identifies eight innate needs ranging from physiological and safety needs to self-actualization needs (Mullins, 2005). This theory answers one of the questions why informal groups are formed also why individuals are attracted towards each other to become part informal groups.According to Hunsaker and Cook (1986) informal groups have strong influence on an individual than formal. Individuals are open to join a group of analogous thoughts this gives psychological satisfaction and helps them to perform better in formal groups. every groups have some norms as a proof of their existence or value. Norms are guidelines rig by organisations or groups and are considered as cypher of conduct for its pieces. According to Kreitner, Kin icki Buelens (1999) norms are unwritten and are seldom discussed. It is an attitude, expectation and feeling shared by people, which bounds them to follow these as to enshroud with their membership with the group.I would like to state an example here from the educate where I was teaching, it was a norm for children to come to cultivate in beseeming uniform and those who deviate from this norm were considered to be violating the rule. There were some watch rules as well which all children had to follow as part of their educational activity and personality development, like they were not allowed to talk loud or call option in the class, had to leave the inhabit in queue if going some where together, ask for permission before they enter in class, raise book before they speak in class. Such norms are advantageous for students in order to discipline and organise them.According to a research group norms have strong influences on new members and they adopt the analogous behavio ur as a result of group pressure. It gives example of a male child who indulges in violent activities after joining a gang convoluted in such brutal activities (Yablonsky, cited in McKenna, 2000).Roles are behavioural aspects which are expected from a person or group in a particular position. According to a research, attitude change is driven by roles (Bowditch and Buono, 1994), and the performance of an individual is enhanced if the role he is into suits his personality (Belbin, cited in Davies and Kanaki, 2006).An individual performs many roles in a group, like a teacher plays many roles in order to satisfy management and own personal need or others social needs. For children she is a teacher and a mother, who cares for them gives them ace of protection and security, trims them to face realities of life also achieves set targets utilizing her own potentials to satisfy management fulfils colleagues social, psychological needs. She plays more roles in her personal life like, of a daughter, sister, wife, mother, friend with various expectations from her which are not communicated formally but understood.Boulden (1983) says this tradition of very gamy aim of expectations in work situation was set in sixties, which has brought decline to the businesses as it is very difficult for a person to match that take aim of expectation.When individuals share same targets, thinking and work almost together with commitment to achieve certain tasks, shows a good level of viscousness in a group. Cohesiveness of small groups increases when they are less(prenominal) diverse and more interactive, where as larger groups are less cohesive when they are more diverse and have competition (Capon, 2004).Cohesive groups share same attitudes, likings, performance and better in voltaic pileing with deviants than less cohesive groups (Bowditch and Buono, 1994). Mullins (2005) states a tackiness in groups is beneficial for organisations, it also leaves the members with rewarding arrives.The best example of cohesiveness can be of military, where changes in level of coordination can change the situation in battle field. It is therefore necessary for them to co-ordinate well for achieving better results.I remember the time in school when we were preparing for yearbook function and a hardly a(prenominal) programmes were included in schedule. Teachers had to prepare children for demonstrate performances and there was an art exhibition on the same twenty-four hour period. Annual sports day was following this event, due to which schedule was too tight for teachers as well as for children, who had to manage themselves for so many activities though at glower level and under teachers supervision. Such situations require high level of cohesiveness to achieve targets, which is not easy as outsiders are involved in observations who also critically evaluate the organisations performance. Such situations in work experience give its members to learn from observations like other individuals or groups behaviours, and dealing techniques with groups and individuals. effectual cohesiveness in a group influences an individuals behaviour, also gives high level of job satisfaction. The member follows the norms of the group which have either positive or negative impact on his attitude and behaviour both. If the group norms are good and polish his creativities and skills, that helps developing his personality, but if the norms are negative like, to flummox less than ability lefts negative impact on his behaviour.According to Hawthornes experiment of fourteen men working in a wiring room formed their own informal group and the norm which everyone strongly followed was to promote less then their ability. That is how norms can be disadvantageous, if they are negative in nature (Mullins, 2005).High level of cohesiveness is not necessarily eer favourable as it stops creativity, thinking, decision power and problem resolve skills in a group which results i n Groupthink. According to a research previously it was thought that high cohesiveness is necessary for high performance, but it was Janis, who gave a concept that high group cohesiveness leads to group think an ultimate disaster fiasco for groups decision making ability (Eaton, 2001).I want to quote Vietnam War here which was a consequence of high cohesiveness that lead to group think and America attacked Vietnam without considering the after effects they had face.Bowditch and Buono (1994) quote Janiss work saying groupthink leads to overoptimism and high risk taking by group members there is rationalisation of groups decisions so other members are not allowed to question the decisions made.Leadership is a necessity which cannot be avoided in order to manage activities, conflicts and decision making. According to Mullins (2005 p.282) Leadership is a relationship finished which one person influences the behaviour or actions of other people.It is the lead which moulds the behavi our of ordinary group members to competitive group, which enhances the competency level of members of that group. Great man theory explains well the qualities of good leaders, according to which the leaders influence the behaviour of people by force of their personality (Buchanan and Huczynski, 2004). The best example of leadership I think is Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of my country, Pakistan. It was because of his strong leadership qualities that he coupled the Muslims of sub-continent on one plate form, as a nation.Different expression of leadership have different affects on individuals personality, like, Autocratic leadership personal manner suppresses the abilities of the group members. On the other pass around if the leader tries to involve the member in making decisions, he wins their confidence, able to take better decisions, this also have very positive effects on the attitudes of members.I want to share my own experience of working with SLM Connexions , a call essence located in Manchester, UK. The company started business with a good deal of investment, and recruitment of talented staff. The autocratic style of leadership was adopted by the directors who use to tell the staff what they want them to do or sell. sometimes suggestions were welcomed but no one was allowed to question their decisions, and as a result the company bear much loss in last few months for making many wrong decisions.Whenever individuals interact with each other, there is everlastingly a possibility of conflict between them depending on multidimensional thinking, experience and behaviour. involution my arise due to several reasons ranging from improperly defined roles to equivocalness in norms. Whatever reason of conflict is, it affects its member both positively and negatively. Role conflict mainly arises due to unethical behaviour of a member (Johns and Saks, 2005). negates may also arise from cultural, demographic and value differences (Vodosek, 200 7).I want to quote an example from my own experience in school where teachers were provided with pick and drop facility. These group of teachers were from different level, like some were from pre-school and some from primary and their finishing time was different from each other. Pre-school teachers finished an hour before the primary level teacher and had enough time to wind-up before going home, but primary teachers use to finish at 2oclock. Conflict arouse when pre-school teachers demanded van to leave school as they get free early without considering the teachers who finish at 2oclock. This conflict leads to many other conflicts in school regarding duty timings and some others. Then our academic co-ordinator decided to have consensus and time was fixed for the school van to leave after school.Conflict brings success to an organisation and groups in many ways. Conflicts are a sign of healthy mental approach bring new ideas, innovations which individuals should learn to take posit ively as it is beneficial for them as well. On other hand conflict has adverse affects on personality behaviour of an individual that can result in stress and frustration.ConclusionThe subject discussed above reflects the positive and negative aspects of group behaviours on individual. Individuals and groups work parallel to each other in every sphere of life and study of an individuals behaviour in a group is as important as organizations. An individual interacts with other people in perspectives of behaviours and attitudes by means ofout life and learn to polish, enhance and develops his personality, through learning from different experiences.Management should take the responsibility to resolve the conflicts link up to roles, status leadership, norms, and develops good cohesiveness so that individuals can get maximum benefit from it. Generally problems are taken as hurdles but these are there to teach us. We should take them as opportunity which gives a new horizon to percept ion of an individual.