Perceptions of thinking styles and group environment among adults

Understanding how people work together effectively is a concern in many organizations. Relationships within the organization influence the performance and development of individuals. How the individual thinks and performs has the potential to influence the organizational environment and conversely how the organizational environment is perceived influences the individual.

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between thinking styles and perceptions of the group environment in an organizational context. The relationship of how individuals think and their perception of the group environment is a singular approach to gain an awareness of the components of effective organizations. This awareness can provide a basis for understanding that individuals do think about things differently and that they bring those differences to the organization. The study also provided an opportunity to acknowledge individual ways of doing things and to learn more about how individuals communicate. A secondary purpose was to determine whether differences existed between actual group environment and preferred group environment within an organizational context as perceived by the respondents. A third purpose was to determine whether differences existed between dominant thinking styles and subscales of preferred group environment in an organization.Thinking Styles and Group Environment Vii

The findings of this study indicated that the participants had a strong preference for a different group environment than the one in which they were currently working. Discrepancies between the actual and preferred group climate clearly reflected morale problems and specific areas of dissatisfaction. Open expressions of anger and disagreement were evident in the actual group environment but had an extreme polar shift to being the last dimension desired in a preferred group environment.

The major thrust of the study, examining the relationships between individual thinking styles and organizational environment, did not produce any highly significant differences. Out of 100 correlations, only four were found to be statistically significant. Thus it can be concluded that thinking styles and actual and preferred organizational environment are not significantly related. While 59% of the respondents were assessed to have a dominant thinking style, there were no relationships recognized between the Idealist, the Pragmatist, or the Analyst styles and the preferred group environment subscales.

The adult educator can use knowledge of what does and what does not work to improve the organizational environment. Working together more effectively can be enhanced by understanding the individual's influence on the organization and the organization's influence on the individual.