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A group is always made up of several factors, including but not limited to its members and its goal. We will try to give a basic overview of the different possibilities by separating groups on the basis of the following three factors:
'''Differences in cultural and geographical background'''
With differences in cultural and geographical background we mean the different origins of group members. Members coming from different continents or even only different countries have different cultural backgrounds and by that different morale ideas and understandings of various situations. The bigger these differences, the harder it is to coordinate the group. One should keep in mind though that they can also be the ground for very new ideas which may help the group achieve its goal more easily.
'''Complexity of Interaction'''
This basically means how hard it is for members to get in contact with each other. Members may be working in the same office at the same time, meaning to get in contact they just have to look up from their pc. On the other hand they may be in very different places, even continents and in very different time zones. In this case to get in contact they have to rely on communication methods like a phone or chat, or in the case of different time zones even forums and email.
'''Loss of continuity'''
This factor is mainly defined by a groups goal. With loss of continuity we refer to the fact that a group may be formed once and then work on a specific project for a very extended period or a group may be restructured continually with new members and new goals being added on the way.
If we try to give a graphical overview taking these three factors into consideration we get this graphic:
As you see we can differentiate eight different categories of groups. For CyberArmy due to it being an online community there are however only two of these categories relevant:
No matter which CyberArmy group you consider it will always have members with different cultural and geographical backgrounds and a high complexity of interaction. The only factor that separates the two categories is the loss of continuity: We have
- groups that are formed and then work on one project for an ongoing time (CyberArmy Staff, moderation, feedback analysis, …)
- groups that are formed for one specific goal and are disbanded once it is reached
As a C/O you should remember that no matter what kind of group you lead you will always be in the position to lead a group that falls at least in two of three main factors in the category with the highest difficulty.
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