Ch 9

Question 1

group

Answer 1

two or more individuals, interacting and interdependent, who have come together to achieve particular objectives.

Question 2

formal group

Answer 2

A designated workgroup defined by an organization’s structure.

Question 3

informal group

Answer 3

A group that is neither formally structured nor organizationally determined; such a group appears in response to the need for social contact.

Question 4

social identity theory

Answer 4

Perspective that considers when and why individuals consider themselves members of groups.

Question 5

ingroup favoritism

Answer 5

Perspective in which we see members of our ingroup as better than other people, and people not in our group as all the same.

Question 6

outgroup

Answer 6

The inverse of an ingroup, which can mean everyone outside the group, but more usually an identified other group.

Question 7

punctuated-equilibrium model

Answer 7

A set of phases that temporary groups go through that involves transitions between inertia and activity.

Question 8

role

Answer 8

A set of expected behavior patterns attributed to someone occupying a given position in a social unit.

Question 9

role perception

Answer 9

An individual’s view of how he or she is supposed to act in a given situation.

Question 10

role expectations

Answer 10

How others believe a person should act in a given situation.

Question 11

psychological contract

Answer 11

An unwritten agreement that sets out what management expects from an employee and vice versa.

Question 12

role conflict

Answer 12

A situation in which an individual is confronted by divergent role expectations.

Question 13

interrole conflict

Answer 13

A situation in which the expectations of an individual’s different, separate groups are in opposition.

Question 14

norms

Answer 14

Acceptable standards of behavior within a group that are shared by the group’s members.

Question 15

conformity

Answer 15

The adjustment of one’s behavior to align with the norms of the group.

Question 16

reference groups

Answer 16

Important groups to which individuals belong or hope to belong and with whose norms individuals are likely to conform.

Question 17

deviant workplace behavior

Answer 17

Voluntary behavior that violates significant organizational norms and, in so doing, threatens the well-being of the organization or its members. also called antisocial behavior or workplace incivility.

Question 18

status

Answer 18

A socially defined position or rank given to groups or group members by others.

Question 19

status characteristics theory

Answer 19

A theory that states that differences in status characteristics create status hierarchies within groups.

Question 20

social loafing

Answer 20

The tendency for individuals to expend less effort when working collectively than when working individually.

Question 21

cohesiveness

Answer 21

The degree to which group members are attracted to each other and are motivated to stay in the group.

Question 22

diversity

Answer 22

The extent to which members of a group are similar to, or different from one another.

Question 23

fault lines

Answer 23

The perceived divisions that split groups into two or more subgroups based on individual differences such as sex, race, age, work experience, and education.

Question 24

group think

Answer 24

A phenomenon in which norm of consensus overrides the realistic appraisal of alternative courses of action.

Question 25

groupshift

Answer 25

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 toward a more extreme version of the group’s original position.

Question 26

interacting groups

Answer 26

Typical groups in which members interact with each other face to face.

Question 27

brainstorming

Answer 27

An idea-generation process that specifically encourages any and all alternatives while withholding any criticism of those alternatives.

Question 28

nominal group technique

Answer 28

A group decision-making method in which individual members meet face to face to pool their judgments in a systematic but independent fashion.