Chapter 9 Flashcards
Formal Group
a work group defined by organisational structure
Command Group
group composed of people who report directly to a manager
Task Group
composed of people working and aiming at completion of a task
> Command groups are also task groups, but not necessarily vice versa.
Informal Group
is not formally structured, formed by the needs of social contacts
Interest Group
people working together to achieve some objective, but at the same time each and every single member is concerned about the issue/aim
Friendship Group
people who share one or more common features/characteristics
Reasons to join a group
security, status, self-esteem, affiliation, power and goal-achievement.
Five-Stage model
> An alternative model for temporary groups with deadlines. Punctuated-equilibrium model
Stage 1. Forming: orientation, testing, dependence. Members come together to form a group.
Stage 2. Storming: conflict, emotionality, and resistance to influences and task requirements. Members become hostile and combative. Leadership is formed during this stage.
Stage 3. Norming: in-group feeling and cohesiveness develops, new standards evolve, new
roles adopted. Members accept roles and behaviours of others.
Stage 4. Performing: the group becomes a functional instrument for dealing with tasks and present reality. Members have established norms and are able to diagnose problems and come up with solutions.
Stage 5. Adjourning: the group ends its existence, closure. For temporary groups, it is a stage when members prepare for group dissolution.
4 Critiques on Five-Stage Equilibrum Model
- What makes an effective group is more complex than the model suggests
- Groups do not have to go through all the stages, they may jump e.g. from 1st to 4thstage
- Stages may go simultaneously
- The model ignores organisational context
Punctuated-equilibrium model (6 stages)
Stages:
- Setting the group’s direction
- First phase of group activity – inertia (inactivity, apathy, lethargy)
- At the end of first phase a transition takes place (group has already used ½ its time)
- Transition leads to major changes
- Second phase of inertia follows transition
- Group’s last meeting can be described as accelerated activity
> The model does not apply to all groups, but only those which work temporarily and have a set deadline to complete work.
Group properties: Roles
a set of expected behaviours ascribed to a person occupying a particular position in a social unit (e.g. one can have a role of student, son/daughter, (boyfriend, worker, etc.) Zimbardo’s Prison Experiment shows that people quickly learn/assume roles, sometimes through stereotypes and information that mass media and other parties disseminate.
Role Identity
situation when attitudes and behaviours are consistent with a role
Role Perception
person’s vision on how he/she should behave in a certain circumstances
Role Expectations
how other people believe one should behave in a certain situation
Role conflict
takes place when one is forced to take on two different and incompatible roles at the same time and as a result he/she faces conflicting role expectations
Deviant workplace behaviour
intentional behaviours that violate organizational norms, which threatens the members and well-being of an organization (e.g. wasting resources, sabotage properties, spreading rumours, sexual harassment). Individuals who belong to a group are more likely to engage in deviant behaviours.
Why is Status important?
Status is important because it can play the role of a motivator and due to inconsistencies between perceived and self-status it can have behavioural consequences.
The Status Characteristics Theory states that there are 3 sources of status:
- The power a person wields over others
- A person’s ability to contribute to a group’s goals
- An individual’s personal characteristics
4 correlations between status and norms.
- people of higher status are allowed for more deviations from norms and are more resistant to conformity phenomenon.
- There is also a tendency for high status people to be more assertive and to be more active in group interactions.
- Due to differences in status between group members, a group’s work can suffer – people of lower status could contribute greatly to a group’s work if it wasn’t for their passiveness in group’s discussions.
- Moreover, it is important for group members to think of others in a group as people of comparable, equitable status. E.g. hiring through relationship, contacts - differences in status creates tensions.
Impact of Groupsize
the size of the group affects it’s functioning. Smaller groups tend to be faster, but larger groups are better for complex problem-solving issues. General rule may be that large groups can put more diverse input, but smaller groups do it more productive.
social loafing
This concept states that individuals try less when working in a group than when working individually.
Preventing social loaving? (4)
To prevent this phenomenon the following tactics can be used:
- set group goals,
- increase competition within a group,
- set an evaluation plan – peers evaluate peers,
- distribute group rewards.
What can encourage group cohesiveness?
Smaller groups, consensus on common goals, more time spent tighter by group members, enhance the group’s status, encourage competition with other groups, reward group, not just members, physically isolate the group.
PROs GROUP DECISION MAKING (4)
- Generate more complete information and knowledge
- More inputs to the decision making process
- Enhance diversity of views – more perspectives, more solutions
- Increased acceptance of a solution
CONs GROUP DECISION MAKING (4)
- Time consuming
- Conformity phenomenon hinters the decision making process
- Decision may be dominated by individual(s) in a group
- Ambiguous responsibility, collective responsibility
Effectiveness groups vs individuals
When we take into account accuracy, group decision making is better, when speed is the concern, then individual decision making is more effective, In terms of creativity, groups will also bring more to the table.
Efficiency groups vs individuals
It takes longer for a group to make a decision than it does for an individual.
There are two phenomena that can take place in group decision -making: groupthink and groupshift
4 signs of groupthink:
- Self-censorship of ideas that deviate from the apparent group consensus.
- Direct pressure to conform placed on any member who questions the group’s consensus.
- Rationalising warnings that might challenge the group’s assumptions.
- Groupthink does not characterise all groups. It happens more often when the group’s identity and cohesiveness is high. Also groups that have a negative self image are more threatened by groupthink.
4 Remedies of groupthink:
- Monitoring the size of the group. The bigger group, the more probable the occurrence of groupthink.
- At least one group member should be assigned the role of Devil’s advocate. This should be a different person for each meeting.
- Leaders should be impartial and should encourage different opinions and views.
- Using techniques that stimulate discussion.
Groupshift
a phenomenon in which the initial positions of individual group members become exaggerated because of the interactions of the group. Group opinions are more conservative than individual’s. There are risky shifts and cautious shifts. More often, the shift is towards greater risk. The best explanation for that is that group diffuses responsibility and the accountability objects are not clearly defined and that’s why members dare to take riskier decisions.
Nominal group technique (NGT)
a decision making method for use amongst groups of many sizes who want to make their decision quickly, as by a vote, but where everyone’s opinions are taken into account. Discussion and interpersonal communication are limited. NGT outperforms brainstorming.
4 Steps in NGT:
- Silent generation of ideas - members meet and write down individually ideas on a sheet of paper.
- Sharing ideas - each group member presents one idea to the group members. There are turns until all ideas are shared.
- Group discussion – the group discusses ideas and clarifies them.
- Voting and ranking – each member ranks ideas. The idea with the biggest amount of votes wins.
Global consequences:
Cultural differences affect status. It is important to know the role of status in a given culture. Social loafing is consistent with individualistic cultures/societies, not with collective ones. Group diversity (especially ethnical and cultural) can lead to increased conflict and low group morale. However, if they survive initial conflicts over time diverse groups perform better.
