Good Day!

INTRODUCTION TO GROUP
DYNAMICS
Recreational Leadership and Activities
 Group
A number of people or things that are together or in the same
place
A number of people who are connected by some shared activity,
interest or quality
A number of things that are related in some way
A number of individuals assembled together or having some
unifying relationship

Origin: French groupe, from Italian gruppo

 DYNAMICS

A branch of mechanics that deals with forces

and their relation primarily to the motion but
sometimes also to the equilibrium of bodies
Interaction: What people do in groups

Relationship
interaction
(sustaining Task interaction
relationships, (problem solving,
providing guidance,
encouraging others,
coordination, etc.).
complaining, etc.).
 MALCOLM AND HULDA KNOWLES

What Is Group Dynamics?

The term has come to be used in four different
ways:
 In its most basic sense, it is used to
describe something that is happening in
all groups at all times, whether anyone is
aware of it or not. Group dynamics
used in this way refers to the complex
forces that are acting upon every group
throughout its existence which cause it to
behave the way it does.
 Group dynamics is also used to describe a
field of study-a branch of the social sciences
concerned with using scientific methods to
determine why groups behave the way they
do. In this sense, it is possible to speak of the
investigation of group dynamics in the same
way that it is possible to speak of the
investigation of nuclear energy.
 A third use of the phrase is in reference to the
body of basic knowledge about group
behavior that has accumulated from past
research. It is in this sense that one would
speak of the findings of group dynamics.
This body of knowledge is found in doctoral
dissertations, articles in the journals of the
social sciences, monographs, pamphlets, and
a growing number of technical books.
 Finally,group dynamics has come to be
used to describe a growing body of applied
knowledge, or technology, which attempts to
translate the findings and theories of basic
knowledge into practical principles and
methods. Applied group dynamics is
concerned with the use of knowledge about
group processes.
Thank you!
By: Gabby T. Ilagan