Scholar Profile · Psychology & Motivation

Group Dynamics

Cartwright & Zander · 1953 · The Group Era

The relationship between leader and group.

Begin the walk↓

Room I

The Person

Dorwin Cartwright (1915–2008) and Alvin Zander (1913–2012) led Michigan's Research Center for Group Dynamics — Lewin's intellectual heirs — after its move from MIT in 1948. Their landmark reader consolidated the science of cohesion, norms, power, and leadership as group phenomena.

Room II

The Idea in Context

Cartwright and Zander consolidated the science of groups — cohesion, norms, power, and the leader–group relationship. Leadership became inseparable from the group in which it occurs.

The era: The Group Era — Leadership can be learned; leader–group relations. Not apart from the group but part of the group — any member can lead.

Room III

The Big Idea

The Enduring Contribution

Made the group, not the individual, the unit of analysis.

The relationship between leader and group.

Room IV

Landmark Works

1953

Group Dynamics: Research and Theory

Landmark Work

Room V

In the Discourse

This theory sits in the The Group Era era of the map: Leadership can be learned; leader–group relations. Not apart from the group but part of the group — any member can lead.

Room VI

In Practice

Manage cohesion and norms as directly as you manage tasks.

Diagnose the leader-group relationship, not just the leader.

Room VII

Reflection Gallery

What do your group's norms permit that its values prohibit?

How cohesive is your team — and around what, exactly?

Room VIII

Sources & Further Reading

Cartwright, D., & Zander, A. (Eds.). (1953). Group Dynamics: Research and Theory. Evanston, IL: Row, Peterson. Google Scholar ↗
Festinger, L., Schachter, S., & Back, K. (1950). Social Pressures in Informal Groups. Harper. Google Scholar ↗

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