Small Groups

Abstract

Small groups constitute a large portion of the immediate context of professional social work activities. Social workers spend much of their time in therapy or counseling groups, meetings with families, work and staff groups, committees, neighborhood groups, professional associations, civic and service groups, and task forces. These small groups are the basic building blocks of the larger social structures, organizations, and communities that make up the environment and are the targets of social intervention. It is essential that social workers have a clear conceptualization of the structure of these elemental social units and an understanding of their dynamics and operations.Throughout this century professionals in the medical, human and social services, education, and management and organizational disciplines have recognized the significance of small groups and what potential use they have for their practice. Spurred on by the Western Electric Studies, psychologists and social scientists have intensified their investigations of these units. Since the 1930s a vast literature has emerged about group dynamics. A number of basic texts familiar to most social science undergraduates summarize many of these findings. The list of periodicals reporting on small group research continues to grow.