General characteristics of the team, its structure, relationships and psychological climate

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

The highest form of an organized small group is a collective. It is characterized by the regulation of activities and life, strict organization, the absence of conflicts, the presence of a leader who is respected, solidarity between members, friendly relations, and so on. The nature of interpersonal relations in the group depends on how the members of the work collective behave, how much they try at work, how they interact. So, common interests, certain norms of behavior are formed between people, a public opinion about the group is formed.

General characteristics of the team

Under the team should be understood as a grouping of people stable in time. They are united by common tasks and goals. In the course of joint activities, these people have reached a high degree of development. The concept of the collective suggests that the subject of research in this case is the socio-psychological phenomena of interaction and relationships between members of the group. It is advisable to include here the compatibility of the personalities included in the collective, the perception of the group by its members,self-respect and well-being in the team, as well as the perspectives of each person, interconnected with the perspectives of the whole group.

It is worth noting that the psychological climate is another subject of research, which constitutes a separate category. It serves as the most important indicator of the effectiveness of the process of formation and subsequent development of the team. The psychological climate is a qualitative aspect of interpersonal relationships, which manifests itself in the form of a complex of certain psychological conditions. It should be noted that all of them contribute to or hinder joint productive work, as well as the comprehensive development of group members.

The main characteristics of the team in socio-psychological terms are the following features: awareness, the desire to maintain integrity, organization, openness, responsibility, collectivism, cohesion, and contact. It is advisable to briefly consider the essence of these indicators.

Awareness

Such a characteristic of the team as awareness is a key factor in the conscious behavior of the individual in accordance with its goals, as well as the state of the team. It should be borne in mind that the results of the work of the entire group depend on the degree of awareness. Its sufficient level implies unquestioning knowledge of the tasks that the team faces, the rules and norms of behavior, the content and results of activities, as well as positive and negative aspects of interaction. It is important to include a good knowledge of each other by memberscollective.

Organized

Organization is nothing more than a clear definition and subsequent ordering of the functions, responsibilities and rights of team members. It is on the organization of the work process that the state of labor discipline and the attitude of employees to professional activities depend. Discipline should be understood as a certain order of behavior that meets the rules and norms that exist in the team. It allows you to fully regulate the behavior in the group, as well as ensure the consistency of operations within it.

Responsibility

The next characteristic of the team is responsibility. It represents the control of activities in terms of the implementation of the rules and regulations adopted in the organization. It is worth noting that in a close-knit team - in other words, with a positive socio-psychological atmosphere - workers tend to take responsibility for both the success and failure of joint work.

Openness

Openness is nothing more than the ability to establish, and in the future - to maintain favorable relationships that are formed on a collectivist basis with other collectives, as well as with their individual representatives. It is advisable to include here the establishment of contact with newcomers in their own team. It is interesting to note that in practice, the openness of the group is manifested in the provision of all kinds of assistance to other groups that have nothing to do with it. Openness is one of the most importantcharacteristics of the team, which allows you to distinguish the group from outwardly similar social associations.

Contact

Under contact it is necessary to consider good personal, trusting, emotionally favorable friendly relations within the team. It is advisable to include attention to each other, tact, respect and goodwill. These relationships somehow provide a friendly and calm atmosphere in the team, a favorable psychological climate.

Cohesion

Cohesion is one of the processes by which people come together. A close-knit team is distinguished by a high degree of commitment of its members to the group. This characteristic can be determined by means of two variables: the level of attractiveness of the team for its members and the degree of mutual sympathy in interpersonal relationships.

Collectivism

And finally, consider such a characteristic of the labor collective as collectivism. This is the continuous concern of the members of the group about its success, as well as the desire to resist the moments that divide and destroy the team. Collectivism is nothing more than the development of confidence in each team, as well as good traditions. If the interests of the group are hurt, the feeling of collectivism does not allow its members to remain indifferent. In such a grouping, the most important problems are overcome together, and decisions are made only in case of common agreement.

Team structure

You need to know that the formal structure of the group reflects the official distribution of professional roles among its members. This is due to the position of employees or production technology. A clear definition of the work functionality in one way or another increases the role of the individual in the team, the degree of his personal responsibility, thereby ensuring the success of the company as a whole.

In addition to the roles that are determined by the staffing table, there are those directly related to the production process, its needs in various activities. Employees who take on these roles are conditionally classified as follows:

• "Idea Generators" have creative, out-of-the-box thinking.
• Experts are able to calculate and predict how the proposed idea will "function". They will present its advantages and disadvantages, as well as possible consequences.
• Performers have a reproductive mind. These are conscientious performers of other people's ideas and ideas.
• "Pea jesters" (as you understand, this is a conditionally joking name). The fact is that some leaders recognize the need to let in a team of people who are contact, inoffensive, light, capable of defusing a conflict situation or raising the mood in a group. They know exactly how to join the team and improve the atmosphere in it.
• Criticists are people with a critical mindset. They are often incapable of productive work. However, these people are brilliant at identifying "bottlenecks" and negative aspects inproduction process. Other employees usually do not notice such nuances.

How to determine the type?

It is the manager who determines what type a particular worker belongs to. Accordingly, he allocates him a certain place in the team. It is unprofitable and unproductive, for example, to use an "idea generator" in performing activities. This is about the same as it is useless to reproach "criticism" on the topic: "it is much easier to criticize, but you try to do it yourself."

Psychological atmosphere

Friendship within the team - where does it come from? It is formed precisely by the psychological atmosphere in the group. Let's consider this question in more detail. Just as a plant can thrive in one climate and languish in another, a person can be successful and feel inner satisfaction in one group and not at all in another.

Under the socio-psychological climate (SPC) should be understood the mood of the team, which is determined by interpersonal relations of the nature of living, studying or working people together. To date, a number of factors are known by which it is possible to determine the SEC:

• Satisfaction with workflow and results. Practically decisive for creating a favorable atmosphere is the extent to which the activity for a person is interesting, creative, diverse, whether it corresponds to the level of his professionalism, whether it allows him to grow professionally and realizecreative potential. It should be noted that the attractiveness of work, as a rule, is increased by satisfaction with working conditions, a decent level of wages, a system of moral and material, the distribution of holidays, social and information support, career prospects, working hours, the possibility of increasing the level of professionalism, the nature of personal and business relations in the team both horizontally and vertically, the level of competence of colleagues.
• Harmony and group compatibility. It should be noted that interpersonal relationships that arise when people communicate in a team determine the level of their psychological compatibility. This concept should be understood as the ability to work together. People who are similar to each other are much easier to establish interaction. The fact is that similarity contributes to a sense of self-confidence and security. It boosts self-esteem. Often, the basis of psychological compatibility is also the difference in character traits in accordance with the principle of mutual complementation. In this case, they say: "They fit together like a key to a lock." The condition and result of compatibility is the attachment of team members to each other, interpersonal sympathy. Forced contact with an unpleasant subject usually causes negative emotions. It is important to note that group compatibility and harmony are not the same thing. The effect of harmony, as a rule, is the result of business, formal relationships that are directly related to the activity. The basis of harmonyis the effectiveness and success of joint work, which implies coherence in the activities between its participants, as well as a favorable resolution of conflicts in the team.
• The cohesion of the group is primarily manifested in the emotional area. It is unlikely that in a close-knit team both joy and sorrow can coexist at the same time. Naturally, when one cries, the other will not laugh. Among the factors influencing the cohesion of the team, it is important to note the following: sincere, trusting relationships; the attitude of team members to the leader; recognition of the contribution of each person to joint activities and results; duration of collaboration. It is worth noting that the predominance of certain personal characteristics among group members affects the relationships that develop within the team, gives it certain features that can interfere or contribute to cohesion. By the way, negative character traits, such as envy, resentment or morbid self-esteem, hinder the unity of the group especially strongly. As a rule, members of a close-knit group are in no hurry to leave it, which means that turnover decreases, which is a positive factor in activity.
• The nature of communications. It is important to know that the psychological atmosphere in the team is based on the individual characteristics of each of its members, their mutual communication skills, opinions and assessments, reactions to the actions and words of others, and the social experience of group members. The low level of communicative competence of employees is also the cause of communicativebarriers, tensions in interpersonal relationships, misunderstandings, conflicts, and distrust. The ability to express one's opinion clearly and clearly, knowledge of the techniques of constructive criticism, as well as active listening skills - all this forms a satisfactory degree of communication in the company.

It is important to note that these are far from all the factors that determine the psychological atmosphere in the group. The rest will be discussed below.

Types of communicative behavior

In the process of analyzing mental compatibility, it is necessary to take into account varieties of communicative behavior:

• Collectivists: supportive of all kinds of undertakings, sociable, proactive.
• Pretensionists: endowed with touchiness, vanity, a desire to be the center of attention in the course of their work duties.
• Individualists: gravitate toward individual responsibility, tend to solve tasks alone.
• Passive (opportunists): not showing initiative, weak willed and influenced by other people.
• Mimics: imitating extraneous mannerisms that avoid complications.
• Isolated: obnoxious, non-contact.

Leadership Style

The most important factor in the psychological atmosphere in the team is the leadership style. So, its democratic character develops trust in relationships and sociability, friendliness. At the same time, there is no feeling of imposing decisions “from above”. It should be noted that the participationgroups in management, which is characteristic of this style of leadership, one way or another contributes to the optimization of the socio-psychological climate.

Authoritarian style usually entails submissiveness, hostility and fawning, mistrust and envy. If the named way of behavior of the leadership still leads to success that justifies the use of this particular technique in the eyes of the team, it implies a favorable SEC. A striking example here is sports or the army.

Consequence of an indulgent style - low quality of work and productivity, dissatisfaction with general activities. All this usually leads to the creation of an unfavorable SEC. It is worth noting that the conniving style can be accepted and useful only in some creative teams.

Final part

So, we examined the general characteristics, the structure of the team, the psychological atmosphere and relationships in it. In conclusion, it should be noted that the formation of a favorable atmosphere in the group largely depends on the leadership and the principles of its activities. The director can have a significant impact on the specifics of interpersonal relations in the workforce, on the attitude to the common cause, satisfaction with the results and working conditions. It is important to know that at present there are many factors that determine the SEC. We have analyzed the main ones, but do not forget about additional ones, among which, for example, the features of the activities carried out. The monotony of work, its high responsibility, stressful nature, the risk to life andhe alth of employees, emotional saturation - all these factors can negatively affect the SEC in the workforce.