Benefits and Challenges of Small Groups

Like any other type of communication, there are benefits and challenges in working in small groups.  However, given the nature of work, it’s very likely that you’ll be participating in some small group work at some point.  Public speaking skills such as understanding your audience, organizing information, and clearly communicating can help small groups function effectively.

Benefits of Small Groups

There are benefits from working in a small group, including shared decision-making, shared resources, synergy, and exposure to new ideas.

Shared Decision-Making

As group members participate in decision-making, they can raise questions, critically assess ideas, and bring up alternatives or points of view that individual members might not have considered. Thus, groups often make higher quality decisions. Group members also tend to feel more invested and accountable to decisions that were made as a group, as compared to one person or a leader making a decision.

Shared Resources

No single group member has all the experience, skills, time, and talents to help the group progress or reach its goals. However, group members together bring their own abilities to contribute to the whole and benefit the group. For example, volunteers working at a community theater might bring expertise in carpentry, fundraising, social media, and project management to support a production. Successful small groups take advantage of group members’ abilities and access to resources.

Synergy

Synergy refers to the idea that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. In other words, the interactions between group members can create outcomes that are greater than individual members could have accomplished working separately. As group members communicate, problem-solve, and make decisions, their interactions have the potential to produce results that are superior to what they could have done individually. Small group members might motivate, inspire, and provide critical feedback to each other. Working and communicating in small groups can be fun and provide positive social interactions and creativity.

Exposure to New Ideas

Being part of a small group can widen members’ perspectives as they share ideas and listen to each other. Each group member will bring a unique field of experience and background, and as a diversity of opinions, ideas, and viewpoints are shared, every member can learn and grow. Ultimately, being exposed to new ideas and perspectives can lead group members to make more ethical decisions and progress.

Challenges

Most people have had some experience with the frustrations or unique challenges of working with small groups. The following categories detail some of the challenges you may have encountered with group work.

Interpersonal Challenges

Interpersonal challenges include personality clashes, differing communication style, and conflict between members.^[1] While conflict is normal in a small group, unproductive interpersonal challenges tend to be personalized and detracts from the group reaching its goals. For instance, a member who has an outspoken and direct communication style might overwhelm or offend other members.

Culture and Gender Differences

While cultural diversity can be highly beneficial in a group, particularly when a range of experiences is valued, it can also be challenging. For instance, cultures that are individualistic promote competition, winning, difference, and individual achievement. Collectivist cultures tend to prioritize the needs of the group, harmony, and cooperation. If one group member is highly individualistic, they might tend to take control and be more forceful with their ideas than members from more collectivist cultures who are more concerned with the needs of the entire group.

Gendered and sex differences in roles, expectations for communication, and roles can also be a factor. From a young age, women tend to be socialized to be agreeable and build relationships while men tend to be socialized to be task and achievement driven (these are all generalizations, of course). These and so many other cultural factors can create unique challenges when a group is communicating and working together towards a common goal.

Power Struggles

Power struggles in groups might include monopolizers who take over, too many leaders, and competing goals and agendas. Sometimes this is because of role conflict, where it’s unclear who is in charge, or because there’s a power struggle to determine different roles (not just the leader).

Lack of resources and support

At times, the challenges in small groups come from inadequate time, money, expertise, or vision. For example, in the workplace, a committee might be formed to tackle a problem without resources or support from supervisors, or lack enough time to meet to adequately address a problem.

Naysayers and Antisocial Members

Group members who are naysayers or function in other antisocial roles often denounce ideas or anything new, or take over the discussion with off-track or disparaging comments. Those comments can be frustrating for other groups members and impede progress.

Inadequate or Ineffective Leadership

This challenge arises when no group member is willing to take charge of some or all of the group tasks. Alternatively, members who try to take a leadership role might lack experience or skills to do so competently. For instance, a group member might be willing to write the research paper, but is a poor writer and lacks experience writing an academic paper.

Groupthink

While unity can be a positive quality in a group, a lack of any tension and total agreement can signal a possible unwillingness on the part of group members to critically evaluate discussions and decisions. Groupthink can lead to inferior outcomes because members just “go along” with ideas or suggestions without adequately questioning or critically assessing them.

Social Loafing

Social loafing happens when group members fail to invest their time and energy in the group, often because they can feel like they can “hide” behind the work of other group members. Group projects in classes are notorious for social loafers who allow other group members to do all the work while they keep their heads down and avoid taking initiative or accepting assignments.

The following video reviews advantages and disadvantages of working in small groups.

Here is the video with accurate captions and a transcript: Advantages and Disadvantages of Working in Groups (opens in new window).