When people are part of a group they interact and communicate in different ways to how they would on a one-to-one basis.

These differences include:

The Individual Member within a Group

Through networking within a group people come to a greater understanding about other group members and the wider environment – seeing things from other people’s point of view.  Also, within a group situation, people often learn about who they are and their strengths and weaknesses through comparison with other group members.

Groups are important to personal development as they can provide support and encouragement to help individuals to make changes in behaviour and attitude.  Some groups also provide a setting to explore and discuss personal issues.  A group setting can allow people to become more confident and learn new interpersonal, social and practical skills through observation as well as practice. These skills can be developed within a group setting and then effectively used in individual situations.  As group membership can improve self-esteem and confidence so it can also improve self-motivation and the desire to learn and develop.

The Group as a Whole

From the experience of belonging to different groups, it quickly becomes obvious that groups are often made up of individuals with very different personalities, attitudes and ideas.  For a group to function well a bond needs to be developed so that individual differences can be used for the wider interests of the group.  ‘Cohesiveness’ is the term used to describe this mutual bonding between members, with each having a strong sense of belonging to the group.

Cohesiveness is, in part, the measure of the success of the group. A group with more cohesiveness is more likely to keep its members than that of a group with little cohesiveness. Members of a high-cohesive group are likely to talk in group terms, using ‘we’ instead of ‘I’ when talking about group activities. The more cohesive a group the greater the sense of team spirit and the more individual members will cooperate with each other. A low-cohesive group may find that members frequently miss meetings; sub-groups or cliques may form within the original group and there is likely to be an underlying sense of frustration.