Emergence of Technology Assisted Self Learning and How it can be a Game Changer
Formal System of Education and Employment Historically, learning has been associated with attending a school, college or a university to acquire formal degrees that can help the graduates in finding jobs and otherwise, enriching their skills. While the parallel concept of learning by oneself or self-learning has been with us for the same time, the […]
Employee Layoffs – Handle Carefully
The term employee layoff is referred to as temporary separation of an employee from the employer. However, these days it is also used for permanent termination of an employee for business reasons. According to section 2 of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, the employee layoff is the failure, inability or refusal of an employer to […]
Employment Counselling and Career Development
Many firms across the globe have realized the necessity of employment counselling. One of the reasons is to create a quality workforce along with desired skills and competencies in order to utilize them to maximum possible extent. In today’s highly turbulent and ever-changing environment, keeping a pace with the latest developments and surviving the cut […]
What Should Companies do to Actualize Collective Knowledge Management
The Internal Dilemma of Employees Unwilling to Share Knowledge Managing the accumulated and discrete knowledge in an organization can be tricky. For instance, organizations might have knowledge about processes and projects that are distributed across the organization and not collated and centralized in one repository. This is where an effective knowledge management that centralizes and […]
Creativity and Entrepreneurship
Individuals who are creative love to do things differently. They seldom blindly follow what others have done in the past but believe in creating their own concepts and ideas. Creativity and entrepreneurship go hand in hand. Let us first go through a case study: John was working with ABC industries as sales executive. His role […]
In an organizational context, groupthink and group behavior are important concepts as they determine the cohesiveness and coherence of the organizational culture and organizational communication. For instance, unless the HRD function communicates the policies clearly and cogently, the employees would not participate and comply with them wholeheartedly. Hence, molding group behavior is important for organizations. However, this cannot be construed to mean that all employees must think and act alike. On the contrary, innovation cannot happen when group behavior is the same across all levels.
The point here is that while organizations must strive for cohesiveness and coherence, they must not sacrifice the principles of individual creativity and brilliance that are at the heart of organizational change and innovation. In these turbulent times, there is a need for individuals to take a stand and be firm on the direction that the organization seeks to take.
Of course, group behavior needs to be inculcated in organizations for the simple reason that employees must conform to the rules and regulations that govern organizations. Hence, there is a need for uniformity and consistency in the way organizational group behavior has to be molded. Towards this end, groupthink and group behavior must be encouraged by the HRD function as a means to ensure cohesiveness in the organization.
In the technology sector, we often find employees straight out of campuses behaving as though they are still in college. While some of this freethinking and freewheeling spirit is good for innovation, the HRD function must guard against the tendency to be flippant with the organizational rules and procedures.
Further, competitiveness can be encouraged but it should not come at the expense of collaboration and cooperation that are at the heart of organizational success.
On the flip side, group behavior can be detrimental to the organizational health as well. This happens when the decisions of the top management are not challenged or are followed blindly leading to the leadership thinking that whatever they do is right. We do not mean to say that there must be fractious fights in the organization.
On the other hand, there must be a space for free expression of ideas and thoughts and true democratic decision making ought to take place. Only when organizations inculcate these elements in their DNA can they succeed in the competitive business landscape of the 21st century.
Finally, group think can be a powerful motivator as well as inhibitor. The motivating aspect happens when because of group think; employees feel bonding with their peers and colleagues and hence ensure that they give their best to the job. The inhibitor works when employees feel that their individual creativity and brilliance are being sacrificed at the altar of conformity.
Hence, the leadership as well as the HRD function has their task cut out to ensure that group behavior does more good than harm. There is a need for a nuanced and balanced approach towards group behavior to leverage the individual creativity and at the same time not sacrifice organizational cohesiveness and coherence.
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