Psychology of management

Group classification by their sizes 
The 
dyad
is a group of two individuals. Dyads try to avoid controversies (as they may 
lead to failure), and the result of this may be an obvious coordination of actions even if it doesn’t 
exists (a false consensus)/ 
In the 
triads
, or groups of three individuals, the balance of relations is constantly 
destroyed. Here, there is a very high potential of power struggle, unplanned unions, and general 
instability. As a rule, managers are recommended to avoid triads, especially when the set tasks 
lead to necessity of frequent interaction between employees which presents an opportunity of 
pressing each other. Under conditions of confrontation and struggle for leadership such tasks 
cannot be solved. 
A 
small group
counts 4 to 15 people. If the group doesn’t exceed 10 people it is possible 
to freely communicate with each other, but when a group becomes large, people don’t catch the 
essence of problems and participate less in discussion, express fewer ideas. 
The concept of a small group is of interest for managers from various points of view, 
because work-teams for project realization, commissions, etc. are usually small groups. 
When forming a small group, managers should avoid an even number of group-members, 
because such groups usually come to a deadlock. It is better to create group with uneven number 
of members – for instance, 5, 7, 9 people who work much more effectively. 
A large group is a group with the number of group-members exceeding 15 persons. Large 
groups are organized for a short period of time. For example, a shareholders’ meeting, some 
collective members’ meeting, various conferences, etc. 
When the size of a group increases its activity efficiency may both increase, and 
decrease. The influence of group size on its effectiveness is summarized in Table 4. 
The effect of group size