The level of group

Inquiring at the level of the group or group-as-a-whole means assuming the presence of a group mind - a pattern of organisation or a set of dynamic relationships, in which when a group member acts they are not only acting  on their own behalf, but also on behalf of the group or parts of the group.

Inquiring at the group level.

When inquiring at the level of the group or group-as-a-whole, we begin to make sense of organisational events as originating primarily out of shared concerns or issues existing in a group of people. These shared concerns or issues can be conscious and explicit or unconscious and implicit. Conscious issues can be anything, from the assignment of roles and responsibilities, to questions or critiques pertaining to the reasons behind tasks, to emotions that accompany a shared context. Unconscious, shared issues can be many - concerns about rejection and acceptance, conformity  and individuality, influence and efficacy, leadership and followership.

The challenges of working with this level.

Groups, by virtue of the number of people in them, and the power of both the conscious and unconscious concerns that need to be addressed, usually seek someone to represent or express those concerns. In a majority of the cases, the concerns are not in the conscious awareness, and the process for finding a spokesperson, someone to raise the issue of shared concern, is subtle and harder to observe. This other group dynamic, in which an individual expresses a shared concern that is disowned by others, is often misdiagnosed. As a result the shared concern often fails to be addressed. Therefore, the work of inquiring at the group level through exploration of connection to the "deviant,” “scapegoat” or “outlier” is the primary task. And this level of inquiry - the acknowledgment that the deviant in the group represents something in all of us, demands engaging in self-reflection to include the split away aspect of ourselves, discovering of the unexpressed shared issue, and then speaking up.

Improving the situation at this level.

Groups experience shared concerns or issues that may not be in any individual’s awareness, or individuals may not be aware that they are shared. Thus, anxiety in new situations is often not in each individual’s awareness unless or until it is publicly acknowledged. And even when individuals in a group are aware of their anxiety, it may take an explicit discussion for the members of a group to become aware that it is, in fact, a shared experience.

 
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The level of intergroup

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The level of interpersonal