Transcript Leadership, the Individual & the Group

Leadership:
The Individual & The Group
Presented by Phillip Penna, MA
Coordinator
Ontario Environment Network
http://www.oen.ca - [email protected]
tel: 705-840-2888
fax: 705-840-5862
Leadership:
The Individual & The Group
• The presentation is based on the work of
Pierre M. Turquet & Wilfred Bion’s
“Theory of Group Development”
Questions we hope to address:
1. What groups do to stay functional, healthy
& successful
2. How to identify barriers and how to
overcome them
3. How to facilitate and utilize the creativity of
each member of the group
4. The role of leadership in the group in
accomplishing all of the above
The Group Defined
• Group size: 8-12 (maximum 16) persons
• A Small Group must have a Primary Task
• It must carry the Primary Task (PT) out
The Group Structure
• Structure and PT are internally linked
• There exists a boundary between the group
and its surrounding environment
• There will be control mechanisms to guide
& assist transactions through the boundary
• The fundamental aspect of Leadership is
Boundary Control
The Group Leader
• The Leader must look externally to guide the
group’s interactions with surrounding
environment
• They must also look internally to guide &
assist the internal interactions of the group
• By looking both internally and externally, the
leader is able to maintain Boundary Control
The Group:
Two States of Existence
• Within every group, two distinct States exist
and operate at the same time, they are:
• Sophisticated Working Group: the
manifest level of group performance
• Basic Assumption Group: unconscious
defenses against anxiety or unpleasantness
Sophisticated Working Group
- Predetermined, consciously accepted PT
- Members are aware of the PT and are able to
define it
- The group is able to re-define the task
- The group is highly self-aware
- Determines skills in group & evaluates
them against the PT
- Thus leadership and support roles shift
depending upon the demands of the task
Sophisticated Working Group
- Is marked by freedom
- Members respect and accept one another
- Responsibility is collective, with members
aware of their roles and responsibilities
- Members use dialogue and reflection to
transfer knowledge and enhance learning
- Work is structured and organized
- Its structure is related to the PT
Basic Assumption Groups
- PT arises from within the group and is pursued
solely for the members’ satisfaction
- Time boundaries vanish ‘as if” time was
unlimited
- Critical dialogue & reflection is avoided /
discouraged
- Result is a “breakdown” of group effectiveness
- 4 Kinds of BA Groups:
a) Dependency b) Fight/Flight
c) Pairing
d) Oneness
BA Groups: Dependence
- Feelings, thoughts and actions directed
toward making someone the sole leader of the
group
- Members look to leader for all solutions,
structure, etc.
-Insistence on simplistic solutions
BA Groups: Dependence (cont.)
- Members sabotage leader by providing
partial or inadequate information
- Members demonstrate disappointment and
hostility toward leader
- Leader may be expelled from group or
demoted
- Group seeks out new leader
BA Groups: Fight/Flight
- Group behaves ‘as if’ its purpose is to fight
or flee a real or imaginary enemy
- Member refuse to critically evaluate
themselves
- Members are singled out and “scapegoated”
- Weaknesses (as perceived by the group) are
not tolerated
BA Groups: Pairing
- Members rely on a pair within the group for
all creative effort
- Great interest in creative process
- Hopeful expressions of anticipation / use of
cliches
- Solutions or leaders generated by the pair are
sabotaged or destroyed by the group
BA Groups: Oneness
“Members seek to join in a powerful union
with an omnipotent force, unobtainably high,
to surrender self for passive participation, and
thereby feel existence, well-being, and
wholeness.” (Turquet)
(Italics are mine)
BA Groups: Leadership
- Leadership is personified
- Leadership is “mythical” in nature
- BA Groups are self-contained
- BA Groups appear spontaneously
BA Groups: The Individual
- Little skill assessment; tasks and social roles
of individuals defined by the group (this leads
to a “de-skilling” of members)
- Individuals exist solely for the group
- Leaving can be dreadful
- Consolation comes from the undoubting
nature of “rightness” of the group
BA Groups: Observable Behaviors
- Long silence in which something is expected
from a leader or other group member
- Hypothesis offered by one member and
contradicted or shot down by another
- Search for something believed to be hidden
and waiting to be discovered
- Members seeking approval of leader or
alliances with other members
BA Groups:
More Observable Behaviors
- Strong feelings of love, hate, comradeship
- Projection of strong feelings, beliefs or
behaviors on other group members
- Scapegoating
- Member expelled or voluntary leaving of
group
BA Groups are:
- Full of energy
- Very cohesive
- Its structure aids this cohesiveness to
continue
Examples of BA Groups are:
a) Dependency: ______
b) Fight/Flight: ______
c) Pairing:
______
d) Oneness:
______
Only a SWG can constructively
use the elements of BA Group
behavior. How?
- by recognizing that the BA state is always
present in a group & functions as a defense
against anxiety, individual group members
identify and make explicit the group’s BA to
guard against BA group behaviour
- group performance depends on each
member’s awareness of his/her BA preference
and a willingness to direct energy toward
maintaining a SWG stance
A SWG is “Sophisticated” by:
a) the way it uses leadership
b) the way it protects the skills of the group
c) its use of predictions
d) the way it makes use of (that is,
mobilizes) the relevant BA Group(s) for the
implementation of their Primary Task
How This Applies to a Network
• Be aware of your group’s BA preference
• Groups need to be willing to direct energy
toward maintaining a Network that’s a SWG
• Need to identify the Primary Task of/for
the Network
• Predict what model is going to work (PT and
Structure are linked)
• Mobilize the relevant BA Group(s) for the
implementation of the Primary Task
Leadership:
The Individual & The Group
Presentation References:
• Pierre M. Turquet, "Leadership: The Individual and the
Group," Analysis of Groups, Coleman and Geller, Ed.,
San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1974, pp.349-371
• “Group Development Theory,” Wilfred Ruprecht Bion,
http://www.odnetwork.org/conf2004/followup/103PREB.
pdf
Leadership:
The Individual & The Group
Presented by Phillip Penna, MA
Coordinator
Ontario Environment Network
http://www.oen.ca - [email protected]
tel: 705-840-2888
fax: 705-840-5862