Question

Juan and Al were new employees at an upscale grocery store on Hennepin Ave. in Minneapolis. Both worked in the deli—they were among the 20 people who worked on the first shift. First shifters were a hearty group—they arrived at 5am to prepare, then sell, the foods that stocked the deli. Frank made daily food orders from local vendors, while Al other took take-out orders at the deli and arranged their delivery. Their manager, Lisa, noticed that there were a lot of mistakes and misunderstandings among the group; Frank often ordered the wrong food in wrong amounts, while Al missed deliveries because of back-ups. All of this was wearing on relationships and there was fighting among the group; Lisa needed to work on improving group dynamics. Name five activities that Lisa could do to improve the group dynamics among the deli’s first shift and name the concept or theory that Lisa would be demonstrating for each.

Answer 1

group dynamics was a concept studied by kert lewin. he observed that while owrking in group people take up different roles and responsibilities. these effect the group as a whole. the causes of poor group dynamics include poor leadership, holding back of opinions in order conform with the leader, groupthink, etc.

5 ways lisa cn use to improve group dynamics are-

1. the behavior of the team mates need to be observed and after knowing the issues which are effecting the problem they can give a feedback on the behavior and its effects on the work and encourage them to change their behavior so as to improve work quality. the concept of problem solving is employed.
2. communication can be enhanced by meetings and announcements and notices so that everyone knows what needs to be done and interact with each other. here the concept of effective communication is implied.
3. the concept of team building and exercises for it can be used.this helps by introductions timely meetings ice breaking sessions for new joinees etc. this helps to increase attachment to members of the group.
4. many a times people dont understand their roles in the group lisa should properly defi9ne them so that everyone works effectively towards their roles and also define the objective of the group so that people work effectively to fulfill that objective. the concept is distribution of roles and responsibilities.
5. lisa needsto pay extra attention to the decisions made by the employees. they can show signs of groupthink and bullying etc. then new ways of encouraging people can be developed.