Group Psychology

Introduction

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. 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.

In addition to knowledge of the effectiveness of teams and groups in organisations, students will gain knowledge of the potentially harmful aspects concerning group dynamics. The course covers different destructive processes, like conflict escalation, bullying and sexual harassment. This knowledge is central for leaders and HR-workers when meeting people in organisations.

Course content

The course will cover these topics:

• Group unity, development, and the value of psychological safety
• How perceive, think about and act when faced with our own versus other groups (intergroup relationships)
• Power and social influence in small and large groups
• Conflicts, conflict escalation, bullying, and sexual harassment
• Conditions for effectiveness and performance in teams, in theory and in practice, including team training, team development, functions and dynamics in effective teams
• Characteristics, challenges, and strategies for special kinds of teams, including interdisciplinary and digital teams