UNDERSTANDING GROUPS STRUCTURE: INTER-MEMBER RELATIONS

A phrase given by Forsyth (2009) which you will come across in a lot of the other articles i wrote on understanding groups structure and their dynamics is that the best part of groups to study if you want to learn more about their dynamics is its structure. the structure of a group is defined by Forsyth as the complex of norms, roles and inter-member relations in a group. Inter-member relations is an essential part of a group's structure in other to have a better understanding of the group.

Social network Analysis: this is a mapping like process for understanding inter-member group relation. Works and studies done in this area date back to Moreno's early work on sociometry where a sociogram is used to describe the connections among group members. Social network analysis although more sophisticated, still starts with the question of who is connected to who?. Theorist here identified groups to be centralized and decentralized.
   some key terms to note in social network analysis:

• out degree; the sending ties a member gives
• in degree; receiving ties a member gets
• betweeness; the degree to which group members position in a network is located along the path or between other members in the network
• closeness; the inverse of distance, how close one member is to another.

  

  an example of applying social network analysis in studying a group

Network dynamics: status network is a stable pattern of variations in authority and power. the informal(actual) status structure does not always match the groups formal(mandatory) structure.
Attraction network: this is the stable patterns of liking-disliking(they tend to be more reciprocal). so for example if person one likes person three, it is very likely that person three will like person one too. this can also have negative effects if the flipside is considered. Heider's balance theory explains how these likes and dislikes are balanced. its basic fundamental assumption is that reciprocal relationships are balanced relationships and if we are in a social network where there is an odd number of negative relationships, that group will be imbalanced and the members must strive to correct that.
Communication network: formal and informal paths that define who speaks to whom most frequently. they differ however in degree on centralization.

Robert Freed Bales developed an observation and coding system which he called the systematic multiple level observation of groups(SYMLOG). It is a theoretical analysis of group structure and group observation system that assumes group activities to be classified along three dimensions; dominance versus submissiveness, friendliness versus unfriendliness and acceptance versus non-acceptance of authority. he further explained that groups are more effective when these three aspects align.

• Dominance or submissiveness:  is a group member active in group activities? outgoing? talkative or passie? quite or introverted? all these questions are addressed here.
• Friendliness or Unfriendliness: is this member warm, open and positive or irritable and negative? (friendliness is positive, unfriendliness is negative)>
• Acceptance or non-acceptance of task oriented authority: is this member analytic and task-oriented or emotional, non-traditional and in some cases resentful? (acceptance represents a forward movement while non acceptance leads to backward movement).

having considered inter-member relations in groups and some theories proposed by researchers in their studies of groups. we shall now consider other aspects of a groups structure and some concepts relating to group studies as we try to answer the question of if a group is a reality or some abstract concept that doesn't have meaning. find out in the other articles below.