Self-concept Change Under The Impact Of Group Culture

Organizational culture is a pattern of shared basic assumptions that the group learned as it solved its problems of external adaptation and internal integration that has worked well enough to be considered valid and therefore, to be preserved as the correct way to perceive, think, and feel in relation to those problems. There are four kinds of organizational culture:power culture, role culture, task culture and person culture. The culture of a group is shaped in its group formation process consisting of four stages:forming, storming, norming and performing. No matter of what kind it is, group culture has great impact on self-concept of students during the group culture formation processSelf-concept is a dimensional concept which contains two fundamental aspects:"I" and "Me", the subject and the object, or the knower and knowee. Self-concept change is an interactive progress between "I" and "Me" which contains5stages:pre-contemplation, contemplation, preparation, action and maintenance. How far students successfully go through this process depends on their personalities and the environment.In our observation of my tutor’s CAIR class mode we find that the degree of students’self concept change highly depends on the kind of group culture they are in:the stronger the group culture is, the more drastic their self concept gets changed.The differences of the group cultures are due to three factors of the class culture:interpersonal interactions, group cooperation and personal reflection. The environment where they are free to share ideas stimulates them to explore their deepest real self.The author has carried out an empirical case study to reveal how students’ self-concept change under the impact of different group cultures.During this process, we applied two tools, the first is word associate test to measure students’group shared mental model embedded in its organizational structure;the other is students’monthly and terminal reflections which are used to track students’detailed self-concept change process.The research questions that guide the study are: 1What kinds of group culture have been shaped in CAIR class?2How do the groups in various subcultures perform in different stages of group formation process?3What are the elements leading to different group cultures in CAIR class?4How did students go through the stages of self concept change process?5What is the long term impact CAIR class culture and specific group culture exert on the mental structure of self-concept of the students?Our conclusions are as follow:1CAIR class culture offers variety of probabilities which helps groups in developing into the kind of culture they want.For task culture, they are mostly affected by the basic principle of the class, that’s why they become strict with themselves in order to adapt to the environment, for person culture group, they are more likely to focus personal elements,so they are more likely thinking about personal feelings and attitudes, for them the open mind and encouragement is the most valuable things she get from the class, and from these things she felt being valued and cherished which brings her comfortable in this class.2Of the four stages of the group forming process only a few groups can achieve the stage of performing in the first half of the semester while the great majority of the students were still struggling in the two stages of storming and norming. After a semester’s learning, groups more or less successfully passed the forming, storming and norming stages and entered the performing stage. Group storming and norming are of utmost importance to groups’future performance. When group members can involve themselves devotedly in these two stages, they will feel a great sense of achievement and be open to talk about their group performance process.3There are totally three elements contributing to group formation:personal impact, cooperation process and introspection.Cooperation process makes the biggest contribution in group forming, followed by personal interaction and introspection. Cooperation brings members into interaction with each other; they not only have richer resources for the completion of the given task but also more opportunities to influence each other in discussion. In CAIR class, through personal interaction students create an environment conducive to the formation of co-learning group subcultures.4If one group wants to make a good job, it is of great importance to share ideas among group members and develop a person culture through vigorous leadership. In a group culture that is characterized by tolerance, understanding, moral support and emotional encouragement, the visions of the work and self-concept can be expanded among the greatest majority of the students. There are five self-concept change stages, precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action and maintenance. The first stage increased the most while the third stage the least, the main change is concentrated at first three stages. The second stage makes the greatest contribution and forth stage the least. Most students have done a lot for making improvement, yet only a few students have progressed far enough to reach the stage of maintenance.5A strong group culture, by offering the members a environment of safety and trust, arouses among its members a high motivation and loyalty.Supported and encouraged by their peers with a shared vision of a common goal, there may be not only better aligning when they are to achieve goals but also a great awareness and willingness to explore their inner self and thus to bring about greater self-concept change. However, members in a weak culture do not have the social support needed when they encounter difficulties and when the tasks become too challenging, some would understandably adopt the policy of avoidance and remained almost stagnant in the developing process and self-concept change. In CAIR class, person culture is comparatively stronger than task culture group, because in group who has person culture,they usually don’t lose faith when the task seems a difficulty to them, for in such group, everyone’s personality and opinions are valued, and they see their group as a unit which offers them a safety and free environment. In task group, the main concentration is on the fulfillment of the tasks, so there is no chance for anyone to be absent-minded or slip away. Their sense of achievement comes from the appreciation by the teacher and classmates’ and they get self-improvement through grasping knowledge and skills, but there is no deep thinking about their attitudes and affections, and a sense of the deep real self would not be aroused.