Features of the psychological climate in the team

The psychological climate is one of the most important characteristics of the team. It has a significant impact on labor productivity, as well as the emotional state of each member of the group - both employees and management. What does this indicator depend on? How to diagnose it, and is it possible to change it?

Atmospheric components in a group

Under the psychological climate in the team refers to the mood of the group, which is determined by the relationship of living, working or studying people. Nervous tension is a problem in many work and study groups. In addition to the direct harm to the relationships between people, their health, stress also affects the work process.

Most often, tense situations arise in a situation of instability. Another fairly common reason why the psychological climate in the team is deteriorating is the adverse conditions in which a single employee is forced to live. Perhaps he does not have the best living conditions, poor nutrition, difficulties in relationships with relatives, etc. This may also affect the psychological state of other employees. Another common reason for the unfavorable working environment is the difficulty of communication between the employees themselves.

The satisfaction of each employee with work

There are several factors that determine the psychological climate in a team. One of the main is the satisfaction of employees with their duties. The fact that the employee likes his work — whether it is diverse, whether it is possible to use his creative potential, whether it corresponds to the professional level of the employee — has a great influence on the formation of the situation.

The attractiveness of work is always enhanced by such motivators as decent wages, good conditions, fair and timely distribution of vacations, career prospects. Also important are such factors as the opportunity to increase the level of one’s professionalism, and the particularities of horizontal and vertical relationships.

Compatibility and harmony of team members

Those relationships that were formed in the process of communication between people are an indicator of their compatibility in psychological terms. It is believed that those people who are similar to each other are much easier to establish interaction. The similarity helps the employee to feel safe, increases self-esteem.

However, one should distinguish between concepts such as harmony and compatibility. If psychological compatibility is based on the characteristics of relationships between people, and it can be judged after a relatively short time after the start of joint activity, then harmony is developed over years. Its basis is the successful results of joint activities. At the same time, both harmony and compatibility matter.

Cohesion

It is formed on an emotional basis. If the team is united, then it is unlikely that everyone will be happy when one of the employees has grief. Factors that influence the level of cohesion in a group are the attitude of its members to the leader, trust within the team itself, the duration of the joint work, as well as recognition of the personal contribution of each of the employees.

To a large extent, this characteristic depends on what personal characteristics of workers are, how cultural their communication is, whether there is sympathy or antipathy in the relationship. The predominance of certain qualities affects the overall psychological climate in the team.

Communication Features

The collective atmosphere is always based on the personal characteristics of each of its members. It is important to have sociability, especially their assessments, opinions, social experience. For example, the difficulties experienced by some members of the group in communication can affect the situation in the team as a whole. For this reason, tension, distrust can increase, disputes and conflict situations arise. If each of the team members is able to clearly and accurately express their point of view, properly knows the methods of constructive criticism, and has the skills of active listening, this helps to create a favorable psychological climate in the group.

Analyzing the characteristics of the psychological compatibility of each of the members of the team, it is necessary to take into account such a factor as the type of communicative behavior. This classification was first developed by V. M. Shepel and includes the following categories:

• Collectivists are sociable people who will always support any undertaking. If necessary, they are able to take the initiative.
• Mavericks. Those employees who prefer to work alone rather than interact in a team. They are much more inclined to personal responsibility.
• Claimants. As a rule, such employees are often called conceited, touchy, striving to be in the spotlight during work. And such a characteristic is not without reason.
• Copycats. People who seek to avoid complications, and for this imitate other people's behavioral manners.
• Adherents. Weak-willed team members who rarely take the initiative and fall under the influence of others.
• Isolated. People who avoid contact. Often they have a completely unbearable character.

Leadership style

This factor also has a great influence on the characteristics of the psychological climate in the team. There are several leadership styles:

• Democratic. Thanks to this style, friendship develops within the team. Employees do not have a sense of being imposed on certain decisions from outside. Group members also take part in the management. This style is one of the best for creating a favorable psychological climate in the team.
• Authoritarian. As a rule, everything that gives rise to such a style is the hostility of the group members. There may be other alternatives - humility, fawning, often - envy and distrust. However, this management style often leads the group to success, and therefore is used in the army, sports, etc.
• The conniving style. It is characterized by the fact that work starts to drift. As a result, one can observe extremely low work efficiency, employee dissatisfaction, and the formation of a social and psychological climate in the team that is unfavorable.

We can conclude that each leader has a significant impact on the characteristics of the moral and psychological climate, people's attitudes to activities, satisfaction with the process of work or study.

The nature of the work performed

Also important are the features of the activity that each of the employees has to do. For example, the monotony of work or, conversely, its emotional oversaturation has a significant effect. It is also necessary to take into account the level of responsibility of each member of the team, the presence of risk to life and health, the stressful nature of the work.

Features an enabling atmosphere

There are many features with which you can characterize the positive socio-psychological climate in the team. Consider the most basic:

• In such a group, as a rule, a cheerful and positive tone of relations prevails. The main principles here are cooperation, mutual assistance, goodwill. Confidence prevails in the relationship between workers, and criticism is expressed with benevolence.
• The team has certain standards of respect for each of its representatives. The weak can find support, experienced workers help newcomers.
• Traits such as honesty, openness, and hard work are valued.
• Each of the team members is full of energy. If you need to do any useful work, he will respond. Labor efficiency indicators are usually high.
• If one of the members of the group experiences joy or failure, then those around him empathize.
• There is also mutual understanding in the relationships between mini-groups within the collective.

Negative moral and psychological climate in the team: features

If the group does not have mutual respect, then employees are forced to constantly take a defensive position and defend themselves, including from each other. Communication is becoming more rare. When the leader demands from the members of the group the impossible, criticizes them publicly, often punishes them than encourages them, does not personally assess the employee’s contribution to the joint activity - thereby contributing to the formation of a psychological climate in the team with a minus sign. And the main consequence of this is a decrease in labor productivity, a deterioration in the quality of products.

Poorly-knit group: properties

This group is characterized by pessimism, irritability. Often team members get bored, they frankly do not like their work, because it does not cause interest. Each of the workers has a fear of making a mistake, making an inappropriate impression, hostility. In addition to this feature, which is obvious, there are other features of an unfavorable moral and psychological climate in the team:

• The team has no norms of justice and equality. The division into “privileged” and those who are neglected is always noticeable. The weak in such a team are scorned, they are often subjected to ridicule. Beginners in such a group feel superfluous, a hostile attitude is often shown to them.
• Honor, hard work, selflessness are not held in high esteem.
• Basically, members of the group are passive, and some openly seek to isolate themselves from the rest.
• The successes or failures of employees do not cause sympathy, and often become the subject of open envy or gloating.
• In such a group, small groups may exist that refuse to cooperate with each other.
• In problem situations, the team is often unable to unite to solve the problem.

Disturbing “calls” of negative changes

However, it must be borne in mind that rarely when a favorable psychological climate in a team becomes negative spasmodically. Most often this is preceded by some initially imperceptible changes. In the same way as a person must go through a certain frontier strip before he turns from a law-abiding member of society into a criminal, certain trends are first outlined in the work collective. The following characteristics are inherent in the maturing of negative moods:

• Hidden disobedience to management orders or inaccurate follow-up.
• "Meetings" during working hours. Instead of doing business, employees communicate, play backgammon - in short, they kill time.
• Rumors and gossip. Often this attribute is attributed to women's groups, but the gender of employees is not an excuse - rumors are inevitable where they have nothing to do.
• Careless attitude to technology.

"Scapegoat" - a consequence of excessive authoritarianism

If the group leader (whether it is a work team, student stream or school class) adheres to an exclusively authoritarian style, this can affect each member in a negative way. Fear of punishment, in turn, leads to the appearance of "scapegoats." In this case, in most cases, a person is chosen (or even a group of people) who are in no way guilty of the problems of the team, but are somehow different from the rest. The Scapegoat is the victim of attacks and aggression.

Researchers emphasize that having such a target for aggression is only a temporary way for a group to get rid of stress. The roots of the problem remain unaffected, and when the scapegoat leaves the group, another will take its place - and it is possible that it will be one of the members of the team.

How can one determine the atmosphere in a group?

There are several criteria by which you can assess the psychological climate in the team:

• Staff turnover.
• Labor efficiency level.
• The quality of the products.
• The number of absenteeism and lateness of individual workers.
• The number of complaints and complaints from the company's customers.
• Deadlines for the work.
• Accuracy or negligence in the process of handling working equipment.
• The frequency of breaks during the working day.

How to improve team relationships

After assessing the characteristics of the atmosphere in the team, you can identify those weaknesses that need to be corrected. You may have to make some personnel changes. Creating a psychological climate in the team is the task of each responsible leader. Indeed, labor productivity often falls when employees are psychologically incompatible with each other or if one of the employees has such a personal property as a banal desire to create conflict situations.

After the obvious problems have been resolved, it is necessary to move on to strengthening ties between employees by conducting special events outside of working hours. Creating a favorable psychological climate in a team can be a lengthy process. However, this strategy allows you to relieve stress, as well as help employees move from a purely business interaction to a friendly one.

The improvement of the psychological climate in the workforce is also facilitated by the implementation of joint work projects. For example, it could be a brainstorming session. Often effective are special work events, within which employees of different departments should cooperate.

Features of the working atmosphere among teachers

Special attention should be paid to the psychological climate in the teaching staff. This area is always stressful, and the working atmosphere is often one of the factors determining the effectiveness of the teacher. The rallying of the pedagogical team always takes place within the framework of the fulfillment of a common task, activity - first of all, social, pedagogical. In such events, each teacher should be able to realize their creative abilities.

Of course, holding methodological days or creative meetings of teachers often requires additional time costs, but such events will remain in the memory of teachers for a long time as bright and unforgettable events.

How can a teacher shape the classroom?

Many teachers have to deal with the formation of the psychological climate of the classroom team. This is a rather difficult task, but its implementation contributes to the achievement of the most urgent tasks of education. Children in a cohesive class receive invaluable experience in interpersonal interaction, cooperation, responsibility. Allocate the following methods of forming a positive atmosphere in the classroom:

• The inclusion in the everyday learning process of various types of art.
• Games.
• Common traditions.
• The active position of the teacher in relation to the class.
• Creation of various situations in which the class could experience events significant for the collective.

How to determine the characteristics of the moral situation in the group?

There are many ways to find out what are the characteristics of the psychological climate in the team. The techniques developed for this purpose provide an idea of ​​what is happening in the group. The easiest way is to distribute leaflets with the following questionnaire to the group members (it can be anonymous if desired):

1. Do you like the work you do?
2. Do you have a desire to change it?
3. Assuming that you would have to search for a job at present, would you stop your attention at the present place?
4. Is the work interesting for you? Is it diverse enough?
5. Are you comfortable with technical equipment in the workplace?
6. Is wages satisfactory?
7. What would you like to change in organizing collaboration?
8. How do you rate the atmosphere in the team? Is she friendly, respectful, trusting? Or, on the contrary, there is envy, tension, distrust and irresponsibility?
9. Do you consider your colleagues to be high-class professionals?
10. Do you enjoy their respect?

Studying the psychological climate of the team allows you to take the necessary measures in time to improve it, and, therefore, increase labor productivity. The appearance of negative symptoms indicates that the team is “sick”. However, if you pay attention to these signals in time, the working atmosphere can be improved and even improved in many ways.