lecture 7- social environment

Question 1

summarise why the social environment is important to consider

Answer 1

Many potential stressors arise from the social situation at work. After an initial consideration of the social factors that may make a person feel crowded (stressed), the ways in which such feelings may arise from relationships with others (peers, managers, subordinates) is discussed. Potential solutions to crowding through effective team building and through effective leadership will be propose

Question 2

define personal space/ proxemics

Answer 2

‘an area with invisible boundaries surrounding a person’s body into which intruders may not come’ (Sommer, 1969)

Question 3

define Interpersonal distance - hall 1996

Answer 3

Hall (1966) describes 4 main zones which ‘communicate’ the nature of the relationship:-

i) intimate - for very good friends 0-18in;
ii) personal - for those familiar with each other/on good terms 1.5 – 4 ft;
iii) social - for previously unacquainted individuals 4 – 12 ft; and
iv) public distances - for formal situations 12 – 25 ft.

Question 4

how is orientation and eye contact linked to personal space

Answer 4

Orientation and Eye contact:- Corner to corner or face to face preferred for casual conversation. Side by side for cooperative work. Distanced face to face for competitive situations. Interaction of angle and distance.

Question 5

define territoriality

Answer 5

Perceived, attempted, or actual control of a physical object or space. Animal acquisition, physical marking and defence of territory. Humans use symbolic markers, or indicators, to prevent intrusions – and personalise to establish their identity.

Question 6

what are the 3 types of territory Altman (1975)

Answer 6

• Primary territory:- that owned by the individual on a permanent basis. and under their perceived control. Extensions of the self, e.g. your home, your room, your neighbourhood, even your country. Personalising.
• Public territory:- free access areas, belonging to nobody, e.g. place on a beach, seats on public transport. First-come-first-served. Personal possessions as markers.

And our interest at work:
• Secondary territory:- that owned by the individual on a temporary basis. Does not have exclusive rights to it, e.g. office space at work, desk in classroom, chair in pub. Semi-public areas.

Question 7

define crowding

Answer 7

constrains our behaviour

• disturbs our equilibrium
• loss of personal control

an invasion of personal space and/or territoriality

Question 8

what are Schmidt and Keating (1979) types of crowding

Answer 8

cognitive control (degree of understanding the situation), behavioural control (degree of constraints on actions), and decisional control (degree of choice available).
• stimulus overload
Social and informational overload. Actual amount in relation to preferred amount.
Need for (psychological) Privacy

Question 9

what factors affect crowding

Answer 9

Many variables – who we are, how we feel at the time, who is the other person, etc – determine whether we are crowded.  Cognitive appraisal of the situation.
Culture
Gender
Age
Personality
Cooperative and Competitive Tasks

Question 10

wht is social density of the work environment

Answer 10

‘Office Landscaping’ is an attempt to create privacy in open plan offices. Dividers/ screening/partitions. Balance between individual privacy needs, perceived status and prestige, and social contact. Freedom from unwanted intrusion and freedom to determine the time and place of communication. Social facilitation/Optimum level of density for interactive purposes?

also –> other individuals

Question 11

how can relationships with peers in the workgroups/ teams affect perceptions of crowding

Answer 11

‘Crowding’ a result of poor relationships with peers/work colleagues.
Stress from Bullying and Harassment
But most (often contradictory) work in the team building area, much related to whether:

Question 12

what is heterogeneity

Answer 12

diversity

Question 13

what is homeogenity

Answer 13

(of appearance, personality, ability, manner, age, status, etc. is conducive to performance - through everybody working together in a ‘group cohesive’ – rather than ‘group conflict’ - way.

Question 14

what factors affect heterogeneity and homogeneity

Answer 14

Tajfel’s Social Identity theory and the factors affecting the ‘ingroup’ and ‘outgroup’?
Groupthink ?

Question 15

how can we improve Compatibility of interpersonal needs within the group

Answer 15

. Stress-reducing if socially/mutually supportive. (French and Caplan, 1972). Schutz (1978), with his
Fundamental Interpersonal Relations Orientation (FIRO) measure discusses interpersonal needs relating to how much a person
Wants (W) from others or Expresses (E) to others with respect to:-
Inclusion /Control/ Affection

Question 16

what are the Task-orientated roles within teams

Answer 16

Task-orientated roles (behaviour patterns) within the team. Regardless of actual functional responsibilities, a mix of team roles so that one person initiates things, another coordinates, another summarizes, etc. (Belbin (1996) or Margerison and McCann (1990).

Question 17

what are the roles in belbins team role inventory + mergerison and mcanns representing roles

Answer 17

Following Belbin’s Team Role Inventory with equivalent M and M role in brackets:-
1. Implementor

2. Coordinator (M and M Controller-Inspector)
3. Shaper (M and M Thruster-Organiser)
4. Plant (M and M Creator-Innovator)
5. Resource Investigator (M and M Explorer-Promoter)
6. Monitor Evaluator (M and M Assessor-Developer)
7. Team Worker
8. Completer Finisher (M and M Concluder-Producer)
9. Specialist

M and M also have the roles of Upholder-Maintainer, Reporter-Adviser and Linker

Question 18

what can result from poor relationships with leaders

Answer 18

Crowding’ a result of poor relationships with leaders.

Question 19

what are the studys/ theories about People Oriented or Task Oriented Leader Behaviours

Answer 19

Ohio State Leadership Studies (1940’s)
Michigan Leadership Studies (Likert, 1950’s)
Democratic and Autocratic (Gastil, 1994)
Transformational and Transactional Leders
HSE Management Competencies for Reducing Stress at Work (2009)

Contingency Theories
Blake and Mouton’s (1964) Managerial Grid
Fiedler (1967) and his Least Preferred Co-worker (LPC) Scale
Hershey and Blanchard’s Situational Theory’ (1982)

Question 20

describe Ohio State Leadership Studies (1940’s)

Answer 20

Ohio State Leadership Studies (1940’s) using the Leader Behaviour Description Questionnaire (LBDQ) came up with 2 underlying styles:

‘Consideration’ – the extent to which the leader demonstrates trust of subordinates, respect for their ideas, and consideration of their feelings

‘Initiating Structure’ – the extent to which the leader defines their own and others’ roles towards goal attainment.

Question 21

describe Michigan Leadership Studies (Likert, 1950’s)

Answer 21

2 Michigan Leadership Studies (Likert, 1950’s) on effective and ineffective leaders. Again 2 styles:

‘Employee-oriented’
‘Task Oriented’
Variations/combinations, for example, such as ‘exploitative authorative’ / ‘benevolent authoritative’ or ‘consultative systems’ / ‘participatory systems’

Question 22

describe Democratic and Autocratic (Gastil, 1994)

Answer 22

How far the leader

i) distributes responsibility
ii) empowers and
iii) aids deliberation

Question 23

describe Transformational and Transactional Leaders

Answer 23

Leders (Bass, 1985 using the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) ).
Transactional - contingent reward, management by exception
Transformational - charisma, individual consideration, intellectual stimulation, vision

Question 24

describe HSE Management Competencies for Reducing Stress at Work (2009)

Answer 24

Empowerment
Participative approach
Development
Accessible/Visible
Health and Safety
Feedback
Managing Conflict
Expressing and Managing Own Emotions
Acting with Integrity
Friendly Style
Communication
Taking Responsibility
Knowledge of Job
Empathy
Seeking Advice

Question 25

describe Contingency Theories

Answer 25

A key criticism of the above theories/methods is that they do not take account of different leadership behaviours being more or less appropriate depending upon the aspects of the work situation at the time
Other theories/methods consider these contingencies.

Question 26

describe Blake and Mouton’s (1964) Managerial Grid

Answer 26

6.2.1 Blake and Mouton’s (1964) Managerial Grid
Considered various combinations of ‘concern for people’ and ‘concern for production’.
Indifferent/impoverished 1.1
Accommodating/country club 1.9
Dictatorial/produce or perish 9.1
Team 9/9
Status quo/middle-of –the road 5/5
Attempted to relate to Theory X and Theory Y views of the workforce, implying different styles for different situations

Question 27

describe Fiedler (1967) and his Least Preferred Co-worker (LPC) Scale

Answer 27

High LPC similar to ‘consideration’: low LPC similar to ‘initiating structure’. Most appropriate depends on:
Leader- member relations
Task Structure
Position power
When all are high or all are low, a low LPC seems best. High LPC desirable when in moderately favourable situations.

Question 28

describe Vroom and Jago (1988) Leader Participation Model

Answer 28

Styles from Autocratic > Consultative > Group.

More participative if subordinates committed, no time pressure, decision information unclear

Question 29

describe Hershey and Blanchard’s Situational Theory’ (1982)

Answer 29

Delegating, Participating, Selling and Telling depending upon the maturity of the subordinates. Tell the less mature