Human Resourse Management Essay -- GCSE Business Marketing Coursework

HRM Human Resource Management: How Groups Behave Differently ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR AND ANALYSIS COURSE ASSIGNMENT QUESTION 2 IN WHAT WAYS DO GROUPS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY FROM INDIVIDUALS? This essay will attempt to answer the above question by not only studying the conduct of individuals and groups in a work context, but also by looking at the causes of behaviour. Organisational behaviour theories, experiments and case studies will be used to investigate the behaviour of first the individual and then the group in a work environment. The term "group" for the purposes of this assignment as been defined as a formal group which has been established by an organisation at a point in time in with the purpose of achieving a specified goal. Although it is noted that many friendship and informal groupings do develop. When both the behaviour of the individual and the group have been assessed, a discussion will be made as to how these behavioural patterns differ, why they differ and to what extent they differ. Individual Behaviour. There are many theories of human behaviour used for the purposes of management and these are constantly being updated. Traditional management thinking focuses on the idea that in order to understand how a person will act in a given set of circumstances, individuals motives have to be assessed. A more modern approach looks at the individuals: abilities, personality, personality traits, ethics and culture. Traditional View In earlier models it was first assumed that people were basically the same, that they had the same wants and needs. Leavitt [1] suggested that there are certain generalisations, which are useful in predicting human behaviour. In order to illustrate these generalisations he asked this question, "What are the fundamental, unexceptionally truths of human behaviour?" Some of the answers he found included: People are products of their environment. People want security. All people want is bread and butter. People are fundamentally lazy. People are fundamentally selfish. Pe ople want the chance to show what they can do. Although many of the answers that were received were contradictory, Leavitt believed that at another level the contradiction disappears and that there are three basic assumptions that can be made... ...ery differentially than it's separate individuals. In many cases a student's own individual traits; ability, personality, values and ethics and culture, the elements which would normally govern their work behaviour have been cancelled out by the group process of norms. In the Southwestern example - before the introduction of effected behaviour, the majority of students conformed to the new level of work habits and conduct, and the variance in sales levels decreased and the average sales levels increased. Hopefully this essay has now highlighted that groups can behave differently from individuals, showed the ways in which the behaviour can vary and the reasons for yet been mentioned is to what extent the behaviour differs. This is very subjective and difficult to assess. Can you put an actual figure on the benefits or disadvantages of working in a group? This is maybe an area for future research. Bibliography Brewer M and Miller N (1996) Intergroup Relations Fincham and Rhodes (1999) Principals of Organisational Behaviour Huczynski and Buchanan (1991) Organisational Behaviour Hunt J (1992) Managing People at Work Leavitt H (1972) Managerial Psychology Makin P, Cooper C, Cox