ORG 3500 Group psychology
ORG 3500 Group psychology
This course aims at providing the candidates with a solid foundation for recognizing and relating to different group processes in life at work. The candidate is going to gain research-based knowledge about human interactions at the workplace, like different forms of psychological processes that occur in groups, social influence, conflict, and harassment. The student will have a broad overview of how groups are established and developed, but also gain knowledge of factors that threaten the effectiveness of groups. The course addresses various factors that have been shown through research to have an impact on groups' effectiveness and performance.Furthermore, the candidate ought to have nuanced knowledge about the difference between groups and teams, and how different teams perform different tasks and functions at work.
The student must also acquire nuanced knowledge of social influence strategies. Conflicts in the workplace are also an important topic as conflicts often take place within work groups or in other contexts in the workplace. The candidate must have knowledge of different types of conflicts, and develop a nuanced knowledge that it is particularly harmful when the conflict develops into bullying. Sexual harassment will often be a special variant of bullying. The student should also have a good knowledge of conditions that can contribute to de-escalation and dealing with the types of interaction problems in the workplace that staff conflicts, bullying and sexual harassment represent. This is key knowledge that managers and HR employees need in their meetings with people in organizations.
After taking this course you will have knowledge about:
- Knowledge of groups' processes, what strengthens and what hinders collaboration
- Knowledge of groups' level of maturity, development and performance
- Knowledge of conflicts, bullying and harassment
- Knowledge of conflict as a positive factor for learning and team effectiveness
- Knowledge of influence and influence strategies
After taking this course you will have:
- Increased skills in conducting mapping of group functioning, interpersonal conflict, bullying and harassment
- Increased awareness of organizational danger signals in relation to bullying and sexual harassment, which provides a better basis for early intervention
- Increased understanding of when it is necessary to intervene (intervene) in a conflict situation
- Increased understanding of the importance of morality and organizational justice for a team's functioning
Students will develop their ability to reflect on group processes, how the individual affects the group and how the group affects the individual (and the importance of the individual's individual contribution). It is important to recognize individual contributions for a team's performance where individuals support each other and provide a synergy effect. Students will further develop a sensitivity in relation to conflicts and bullying, and be aware of their individual responsibility to intervene when social tensions and conflicts develop in a destructive direction. Furthermore, students must have developed an understanding of the negotiation conflict as a positive interaction situation, which can both generate learning, respect, and a possible win-win benefit for all parties.
- Group processes and group function
- Different maturity levels and performance for groups and teams
- Factors that threaten the effectiveness of groups
- Group size, group diversity, group effectiveness and social facilitation
- Different types of groups, the distinction between groups and teams
- Social influence strategies and influence tactics
- Functional areas and work areas for different types of teams
- Conflict and conflict management
- Bullying and harassment, including sexual harassment
The course offers a combination of theory teaching and experiential learning. In the course, you will thus meet both more traditional lectures, in addition to teaching where participants perform and reflect on team-based exercises that stimulate and illustrate group psychological processes, reflection and theory understanding.
Higher Education Entrance Qualification
Covid-19
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, there may be deviations in teaching and learning activities as well as exams, compared with what is described in this course description.
Assessments |
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Exam category: Submission Form of assessment: Written submission Invigilation Weight: 100 Grouping: Individual Support materials:
Duration: 3 Hour(s) Exam code: ORG 35001 Grading scale: ECTS Resit: Examination every semester |
Activity | Duration | Comment |
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Teaching | 42 Hour(s) | |
Prepare for teaching | 30 Hour(s) | |
Student's own work with learning resources | 125 Hour(s) | |
Examination | 3 Hour(s) |
A course of 1 ECTS credit corresponds to a workload of 26-30 hours. Therefore a course of 7,5 ECTS credit corresponds to a workload of at least 200 hours.