GROUP’S GOAL MIX: Find Your Perfect Recipe

A group’s goal mix is the mix of goals the group and its members have.

Although some might think that people join groups to adopt group goals, in reality, groups lie on a spectrum from single-goal cults to groups providing infrastructure to pursue the individual goals of their members. An example of the latter might be a university: people join this group to get access to its resources—infrastructural, informational, human, etc.—and fulfill personal goals. Even single-goal cults have a mix: a guru’s goal will likely differ from members’.

Any organizational transformation—i.e., an organization-wide project aiming at changing the organization’s work—will fail if it does not account for the goal mix because people mainly pursuing personal goals in a group will not spend any effort on transformation.

How do we ensure that group members work towards a group’s goal, i.e., work for the group?

There are two ways: control and trust. Control, grounded in ECPM, can provide an objective way. However, complete control is unachievable in many situations with complex contexts, so building trust in these environments is a must. The more complicated and dynamic the environment is, the more trust is required.

{TRUST, ECPM, COHESION, GROUPS: A PARAMEDIC APPROACH, CONSTRAINTS OF A SYSTEM, CHANGING GROUP NORMS}