CHAPTER 9 FOUNDATIONS OF GROUP BEHAVIOR Defining and Classifying Groups Group two or more individuals interacting and independent who have come together to achieve particular objectives Formal Group One defined by the organizations structure with designated work assignments establishing tasks Informal Group neither formally structured or organizationally determined they appear in response to the needs for social contact Why Do People Form Groups Social Identity Theory our tendency to take personal pride or offense for the accomplishments of a group i e sports teams In group Favoritism We see members of our in group as better than other people People not in our group are all the same paints the way for stereotyping Characteristics that make a social identity important to a person similarity distinctiveness status and uncertainty reduction membership in a group helps people understand who they are and how they fit into the world The Five Stage Model Five Stage Group Development Model Characterizes groups as preceding through the distinct stages of 1 Forming characterized by uncertainty about the group s purpose structure and leadership this stage is complete when members begin to think of themselves as part of the group 2 Storming Intragroup conflict where members accept existence of a group resist the constraints it imposes on individuality 3 Norming Close relationships develop and the group demonstrates cohesiveness tasks at hand 4 Performing Getting to know and understand each other to perform the 5 Adjourning not applicable for permanent work groups For wrapping up activities and preparing to disband Alternative Model For Temporary Groups with Deadlines Punctuated Equilibrium Model A set of phases that temporary groups go through that involves transitions between inertia and activity 1 First meeting sets the groups direction 2 This first phase of group activity is one of inertia 3 A transition takes place exactly when the group has taken up it s allotted time 4 This transition initiates major changes 5 A second phase of inertia follows the transition 6 The group s last meeting is characterized by markedly accelerated activity Group Properties Roles Norms Status Size Cohesiveness and Diversity Group Property 1 Roles Role A set of expected behavior patterns attributed to someone occupying a given position in a social unit Role Perception an individual s view of how he she is supposed to act in a given situation Role Expectation how others believe a person should act in a given situation Psychological Contact an unwritten agreement that sets out what management expects from an employee and vice versa Role Conflict a situation in which an individual is confronted by a divergent role expectation Zimbardo s Prison Experiment made up pretend jail cell in Stanford basement assigned mentally healthy people to two separate roles of prisoner and guards Eventually those groups began to actually take on those roles too seriously Group Property 2 Norms Norms acceptable standards of behavior within a group that are shared by the group s members Performance norm most common provides explicit cues about how hard members should work what level of output that should be how to get the job done level of tardiness appropriate etc Others are appearance norms social arrangement norms and resource allocation norms Hawthorne Studies Examined relationship between physical environment and productivity Experiment 1 increase and decrease light level both increased output Experiment 2 small group of women singled out in a work environment from all the other women Because they felt they were given special attention their output increased Experiment 3 Groups conformed to a norm output when put together Conformity the adjustment of one s behavior to align with the norms of the group Reference groups important groups to which individuals belong or hope to belong and with whose norms individuals are likely to conform Deviant Work Place Behavior voluntary behavior that violates significant organizational norms and in so doing threatens of the well being of the organizations or its members also called anti social behavior or workplace instability Group Property 3 Status Status a socially defined position or rank given to groups or group members by others Status Characteristics Theory a theory that states that differences in status characteristics create status hierarchy within groups derives from one of three sources the power a person wields over others a person s ability to contribute to a group s goals and an individual s personal characteristics High status people tend to have more freedom to deviate from the norm ex athletes actors activities High Status Interaction High status people tend to be more assertive in group Status Inequity group members must believe the status hierarchy is equitable Group Property 4 Size The size of the group affects the group s overall behavior Social Loafing tendency for individual s to expend less effort when working collectively than alone Group Property 5 Cohesiveness Cohesiveness the degree to which group members are attracted to each other and are motivated to stay in the group Group Property 6 Diversity Diversity the extent to which members of a group are similar to or different from one another Group Decision Making Groups vs The Individual Strengths of group decision making groups generate more complete information and knowledge through increased diversity of views which leads to increased acceptance of a solution Weaknesses time consuming conformity pressures can be dominated by one or a few members and suffer from ambiguous responsibility Group Think and Group Shift or Group Polarization Group Think a phenomenon in which the norm for consensus overrides the realist appraisal of alternative courses of action Group Shift a change between a group s decision and an individual decision that a member within the group would make the shift can be toward either conservatism or greater risk but it generally is towards a more extreme version of the group s original position Group Decision Making Techniques Interacting Groups typical groups in which members interact with each other face to face Brainstorming an idea generation process that specifically encourages any and all alternatives while withholding criticism of those alternatives not efficient Nominal Group Technique a group decision making method in which individual members meet face to face to pool their judgment in a
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