Interdisciplinary Perspective On Small Group Research

Critique: Influential Interdisciplinary perspective on Small Groups

Group Process in organization (Psych 4016)

Matthew Webb

, "…Natural selection acts only by taking advantage of slight successive variations; she can never take a great and sudden leap, but must advance by short and sure, though slow steps."

(Darwin, 1895)

Introduction:

Employees rarely function in isolation in modern buisness, most need to work in teams of varying size. In larger teams it’s not uncommon for smaller sub-divisions to be created to deal with specific task or function. Understanding of what makes these units function can be key in modern business. Making sense of groups motives allows managers to better manage their staff. Darwin’s theory of evolution

Possible usefulness of the evolutionary perspective on small groups.

Small group evolutionary research is a highly diverse field drawing from multiple disparate fields, thus a unified stand point has yet to emerge and it seems unlikely that one will as theorist would have to cede their stand point. Although lacking a unified stand point, this diversity may suggest a healthy competition for equally viable ideologies; a similar situation is seen in many fields of psychology, where the differing theories bring strong arguments to the fore. Each contribution has brought furthered understanding of the topic.

Key assumptions

Evolutionary theory is concerned with multiple interpretations of Darwinism, certain key assumption must be interrogated: Within Group studies a focus on adaptive behaviours is key, specifically adaption, variation and retention (Pool, 2005). These traits theoretically promote the most likely behaviours to promote the success of the individual within the group as well as the success of the

This bottom up model stands in stark contrast to the genetic elimination model. Here complex behaviours are created out of interactions with the environment. Observations of artificial intelligence and robotics systems have led credence to the viability of this theory.

The self-organising systems theory would appear to relights on double loop learning (Morgan, 2006), taking into account the environment and the effect that an individual appears to have on the group. This form of constant feedback modification makes holds an intuitive appeal as it allows for the correction of problematic behaviours with groups. Although originating from a different stand point, it harks back to the evolution of an individual to better conform to the environment. This intern would allow for better group function-in effect