Including
A team must include and exclude, just like a person must breathe in and out. Interestingly, ‘including’ consists of two processes which are mutually dependent:
The team, as a team (in the context of an organisation), belongs to its members. It is a formal act (employment contract, ID card, etc.), generally preceded by a selection process. It is not insignificant whether, in this process, the entire team was involved, or only part of it, whether only the leader, or no one at all. As a group, you belong to a team if all the other group members identify you as a member of this group. This means that the new member of the group is recognised as one of their own (“He/she is one of us!”). How does this recognition become established? An asymmetry can be observed here. In a social psychological context, belonging is created spontaneously by most people through similarities. It is easiest to observe this within youth cliques. They listen to the same music, they dress the same. It is a drama, therefore, when the insignia of sameness cannot be reached, i.e. expensive designer clothing. It is very possible that heavy obstacles can impede the recognition of sameness. Therefore, the subject of diversity in organisations is also prominently discussed. When employees become more and more diverse (language, culture, origin, interests, work, style, gender), conscious activities are required to establish an ’us’ feeling in new and different ways. These two different forms of inclusion lead to each team consisting of the formal team (job chart) and an informal team (belonging).