Chapter 9 Group two or more individuals interacting and interdependent who have come together to achieve particular objectives Formal group a designated work group defined by an organization s structure Members engage in behavior directed toward organizational goals Informal group a group that is neither formally structured nor organizationally determined such a group appears in response to the need for social contact Further subclassify groups Command group a group composed of the individuals who report directly to a given manager ex principal and school teachers Task group people working together to complete a job task Interest group people working together to attain a specific objective with which each is concerned ex employees who seek improved working conditions Friendship group people brought together because they share one or more common characteristics Social Identity Theory perspective that considers when and why individuals consider themselves members of groups People have emotional reactions to the failure and success of their group because their self esteem gets tied in People can define themselves depending on the organizations you are a part of Help us understand who we are and where we fit in with other people Ingroup favoritism perspective in which we see members of our ingroup as better than other people and people not in our group as all the same Biggest downside of our social tendencies because it paves the way for stereotyping People develop a social identity due to several characteristics Similarity people with the same values or characteristics have higher levels of group identification Distinctiveness more likely to notice identities that show how they are different from other groups ex two women in a work group full of men Status use to identify oneself and increase their self esteem Uncertainty reduction when membership in a group helps people understand who they are and how they fit into the world Five Stage Group Development Model Characterizes groups as proceeding through the distinct stages of forming storming norming performing and adjourning 1 Forming first stage in group development characterized by uncertainty determines what types of behaviors are acceptable 2 Storming characterized by intragroup conflict where members accept the group but resist the constraints it imposes on individuality 3 Norming characterized by close relationships and cohesiveness strong sense of group 4 Performing group is fully functional and accepted and group energy has moved to identity performing the task at hand 5 Adjourning stage characterized by concern with wrapping up activities rather than task performance preparation for disbanding Groups can be experiencing multiple stages at once such as storming and performing while others can be at the performing stage and regress Alternative Model for Temporary Groups Called Punctuated Equilibrium Model 1 First meeting to set group direction 2 Group activity sets momentum 3 Transition takes place group is halfway through allotted time 4 Major changes occur 5 Second phase of momentum occurs after transitioning 6 Groups last meeting which usually comes with accelerated activity Group Property 1 Roles A set of expected behavior patterns attributed to someone occupying a given position in a social unit Consumer expected to play a number of roles in their work family life and social life Different groups impose different role requirements on individuals Role Perception an individual s view of how he or she is supposed to act in a given situation Engage in certain types of behavior based on how we believe we are suppose to behave Learn perceptions from stimuli around us ex friends and family Role Expectations how others believe a person should act in a given situation Look at role expectation through the perspective of psychological contract an unwritten agreement that sets out what management expects from an employee and vice versa This agreement sets out mutual expectations and defines expectations for every role Role Conflict a situation in which an individual is confronted by divergent role expectations where one role requirement may make it difficult to comply with another Group Property 2 Norms Acceptable standards of behavior within a group that are shared by the group s members Influence members behavior with a minimum of external controls Different norms for different groups communities or societies but everyone has them Most common is a performance norm providing explicit cues about how hard members should work and what the level of output should be Other types like appearance norm dress codes and unspoken rules of when to look busy as well as social arrangement norms who to sit with at lunch and resource allocation norms assignment of difficult jobs and distribution of pay Hawthorne Studies Concluded that Worker s behavior and sentiments were closely related That group influences were significant in affecting individual behavior That standards were highly effective in establishing output That money was less a factor in determining worker output than were group standards sentiments and security Workers desired to be accepted by the group making them susceptible to conforming 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 workplace behavior voluntary behavior that violates significant organizational norms and in doing so threatens the well being of the organization or its members also called antisocial behavior or workplace incivility Group Property 3 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 hierarchies within groups Status tends to derive from one of three sources 1 The power a person wields over others 2 A person s ability to contribute to a group s goals 3 An individual s personal characteristics High status individuals are given more room to deviate from norms than other group members Better able to resist conformity pressures and social pressure exerted by low status people Tend to be more assertive and speak out more often Group Property 4 Size The size of the group affects the group s overall behavior Smaller groups are fast at completing tasks and that individuals perform better while large groups
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