When it comes to group interaction, it is very important for group interactions to take place during their childhood years so that when he or she grown up and gets older, he or she will know how important being in a group is as well as interacting with others. This not only helps the child grow up with understanding the importance of group interaction but also this helps the child develop and become more hands-on and more interactive with both adults and other children that he or she may be around during their childhood and school years.
There are five elements of group interaction that includes the following; common motives and goals, roles, established status relationships, norms and values, and the accepted final product or assignment. The first element of group interaction is motives and goals. Without motives or goals, no project would be completed or would even been begun without a motive. The second element of group interaction is roles. Roles are very important because each individual in a group, no matter what assignment or project is needed to be complete, should have a specific role such as manager, leader, etc. The third element of group interaction is established status relationships. Established status relationships need to be established and every individual involved needs to be able to get along with the members of the group.
The fourth element of group interaction is norms and values. Norms and values play a very large role in the group interaction because each member needs to have values in order to complete a task or assignment that is at hand. The fifth and final element of group interaction is the accepted final product or assignment. The accepted final product or assignment is what will be submitted or turned in and completed for the task or assignment that everyone in the group needed to work together to complete.
According to Eric Dontigney, there are five different conflict management strategies, these include; “accommodating, avoiding, collaborating, compromising, and competing.” (Dontigney, n.d.). Each of these strategies play a very large and important role in dealing with conflict that is happening or would happen within any workplace. Without managing conflict, everyone involved would be at ends with one another and would end up causing more stress on themselves as well as more stress on others in the workplace, even those who may not even be involved with the conflict at hand.
Kate McFarlin states that there are four different techniques to help handle conflict in the workplace and these techniques are; “being calm, allow opinions to be voiced, the stern behavior to remind individuals their behavior is unacceptable, and meditating can also help relive the stress and conflict at the workplace.” (McFarlin, n.d.). That being said there are a number of other techniques that can be used to help relieve the conflict, tension, and stress of a problem. However, not all techniques will work for everyone because everyone handles conflicts differently.
In order to manage group and team behaviors, it is important to first figure out if the behaviors are positive or negative. If the behaviors are positive then nothing needs to be done to correct the behavior. However, if the behaviors of the group or team members is negatively impacting the rest of the group it is important to make sure these individuals know what they are doing and how it is negatively affecting the individuals in the team. If the behavior does not stop a warning would be sufficient but if the behavior continues, a firmer tone and voice may be needed, if it still continues then the individual should be removed or fired, whichever matter would be best to do for the rest of the team or group.
- Dontigney, E. (n.d.) Five Conflict Management Strategies. Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/5-conflict-management-strategies-16131.html
- McFarlin, K. (n.d.) Types of Conflict Resolution Techniques. Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/types-conflict-resolution-techniques-10590.html
