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The Power Of Groups, Donelson R. Forsyth

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

Who can deny the power of groups? Although poets, social philosophers, and the other members of the intelligentsia overlook no occasion to bemoan the growing alienation of individuals from the small, cohesive interpersonal units that once linked them securely to society-at-large—families, neighborhoods, work teams, communities, and even the spontaneously formed groups like my street-corner altruists—those who study groups believe in the complexity and integrity of individuals’ interpersonal lives. People are in many respects individuals who seek their personal, private objectives, yet they are also members of larger social units that seek shared, collective outcomes. Our groups sustain us, and remind …