Chapter 5.1-5.2- Groups and Organizations Flashcards
What is the importance of various types of groups to social life? Can you describe the operation of large, formal organizations?
What is a Social Group?
two or more people who identify with and interact with one another
What is a Primary Group?
a small social group whose members share personal and lasting relationships
What is a Secondary Group?
a larger and impersonal social group whose members pursue a specific goal or activity
What is Instrumental Leadership?
group leadership that focuses on the completion of tasks
What is Expressive Leadership?
group leadership that focuses on the group’s well-being
What is Authoritarian Leadership?
“take charge” style that demands obedience
What is Democratic Leadership?
includes everyone in decision making
What is Laissez-faire Leadership?
lets the group function mostly on its own
What did research from Asch, Milgram, and Janis show about group members?
group members often seek agreement and may pressure one another toward conformity
What is Groupthink?
tendency of group members to conform, resulting in a narrow view of some issue
What is a Reference Group?
social group that serves as a point of reference in making evaluations and decisions
What is an In-group?
social group towards which a member feels respect and loyalty
What is an Out-group?
social group towards which a person feels a sense of competition or opposition
How did Georg Simmel describe the Dyad and Triad?
Dyad: social group with 2 members; intense but unstable.
Triad: social group with 3 members; more stable but can exclude one member and become a dyad
What did Peter Blau claim?
- larger groups turn inward
- diverse groups turn outward
- physically segregated groups turn inward
What is a Network?
web of weak social ties (little common identity and limited interaction)
What does Social Media refer to?
technology that links people in social networks that extend around the world
What are Formal Organizations?
large secondary groups organized to achieve their goals efficiently
What are Utilitarian Organizations? and give an example.
pay people for their efforts
ex: business, gov agency
What are Normative Organizations? and give an example.
have goals that people consider worthwhile
ex: voluntary organizations
What are Coercive Organizations? and give an example.
organizations people are forced to join
ex: prison, mental hospital
What is an Organizational Environment?
factors outside an organization that affect its operation
What are the 5 factors involved in Organizational Environment?
- technology
- political and economic trends
- current events
- population patterns
- other organizations
What is the Dominant type of Organization in Modern Societies? and who pointed this out?
Bureaucracy; Max Weber
What are the 6 things Bureaucracy is based on?
- specializations
- heriarchy of positions
- rules and regulations
- technical competence
- impersonality
- formal, written communications
What are some Problems of Bureaucracy?
- bureaucratic alienation
- bureaucratic inefficiency and ritualism
- bureaucratic inertia
- oligarchy (rule of the many by the few)
What is Bureaucratic Ritualism?
a focus on rules and regulations to the point of undermining an organization’s goals
What is Bureaucratic Inertia?
tendency of bureaucratic organizations to perpetuate themselves
