People join groups for a variety of reasons. For example, students may have to take a certain class, they join functional groups simply by virtue of joining organizations and accepting a specific job assignment that involves working with a designated group of other people.
- The need for belonging:
According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, the need for belonging is one of the basic human’s needs. According to Maslow people feel that they want to be a part of a group as a part of their nature.
- To feel superior:
According to individual psychology, the desire to feel superior is a desire that all humans experience. By joining the superior group people can help themselves achieve the need for superiority.
- To survive:
Since the early days, humans used to join groups to increase their survival abilities and to be better able to protect themselves.
- To be a part of something bigger:
People can join a group out of their feelings of weakness. Since an individual human can feel powerless on his own he might join a social group to gain more power and influence.
- To project an identity:
Some people can join certain groups to project certain identities. People usually buy branded clothes in order to project a certain identity to others.
- To reduce inferiority:
Sometimes people join groups to reduce the feelings of inferiority they feel as individuals. According to psychologists, some people become racists to join a certain group in order to feel superior.
- Because of common interests:
A person can join a certain group in order to Connect with people who have common interests.
- It increases one’s self-esteem:
According to the sociometer model, a person’s self-esteem can increase when a person joins a certain social group. According to this Theory, the self-esteem boost arises from the fact that a person feels accepted by the group.
- Uncertainty-identity theory:
According to the uncertainty-identity theory, people join social groups to reduce the uncertainty about their •identity and their place in the world.
- Learning:
User groups provide a unique opportunity for people to learn from their peers.
- Networking:
The opportunity to network and make new connections with industry peers, make new friends is endless.
- Sharing Experiences
Most human beings love to share and highlight their expertise and knowledge. During most community meetings, members share their challenges and experiences with each other.
- Solutions to Problems
Community members are very helpful in helping one another. Most user group sites feature an online forum enabling interactions between members.
Organizations typically form groups in order to accomplish work-related tasks; however, as a member of a workgroup, you may unintentionally reap the numerous benefits independent of the original group construct.
