Social environment Flashcards
Crowding, teams and leaders
How do we design social environment at work?
- part of job design/
- want to prevent stress.
Crowding = subjective - could be crowded by one person you dislike.
- density - could be in a busy crowd but enjoy it.
Many potential stressors arise from social situations.
Consideration for factors that make a person feel crowded and how feelings arise from peer/manager/subordinate relationships.
- potential solutions through effective team building and leadership.
Personal space
“Area with invisible boundaries” - Sommer, 1996.
Interpersonal distance (Hall, 1966): 4 main zones which communicate the nature of the relationships:
- INTIMATE (approx 0-45cm/18inches) - very good friends.
- PERSONAL (1.5-4ft) - familiar, on good terms.
- SOCIAL (4-12ft) - previously unacquainted individuals.
- PUBLIC DISTANCES (12-25ft) - formal situations.
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.
Territoriality
Animal acquisition, physical marking and defence of territory.
Humans use symbolic indicators to prevent intrusion and personalise to establish identity.
- eg. photos on work desk, sign on bedroom door.
Altman (1975) 3 types:
- primary territory = owned on a permanent basis, under our perceived control - extensions of self (eg. home, neighbourhood).
- public = free access areas, belonging to nobody (eg. place on beach, seats on train next to you).
- secondary (interest at work) = owned on a temp basis; no exclusive rights (eg. office space at work, desk in class); semi-public areas.
Crowding-invasion of PS of/and T
Constrains behaviour; disturbs equilibrium.
Loss of personal control (Schmidt & Keating, 1979): normal distribution bell curve (arousal/performance).
- cognitive control = degree of understanding situations.
- behavioural control = degree of constraints on actions.
- decisional control = degree of choice available.
Stimulus overloading - social and informational.
- actual amount in relation to preferred amount.
Need for psychological privacy.
Privacy (not feeling crowded)
The selective control of access to the self.
Interpersonal privacy: social interaction management.
Factors affecting crowding
- Cognitive appraisal of the situation.
- Who we are, how we feel, other people.
Individual differences:
- the task - competitive vs. cooperative.
- physical environment - social density and office landscaping (eg. attempt to create privacy in open plan offices with dividers) - balance between individual privacy and social needs.
- social environment - relations with peers and leaders.
Improving relations with others
Team building - how we put people together to get on.
Leadership.
Relationships with peers/team building
Crowding as a result of poor relationships.
Stress from bullying/harassment.
Mostly related to hetero/homogeneity.
Relationships with peers: Heterogeneity (diversity) or homogeneity
(of appearance, personality, ability etc).
Through everyone working in a “group cohesive” rather than conflict way.
Tajfel’s social identity theory (1979) and factors affecting ingroup and outgroup?
- proposed that groups which people belonged to were an important source of pride and self-esteem.
Groupthink - need a little heterogeneity to avoid this.
Relationships with peers: compatibility of interpersonal needs
Within the group: stress reducing if socially/mutually supportive (French & Caplan, 1972).
Shutz (1978): 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.
- would be most effect to associate those who like to be included/controlled/want affection with those who like to offer it.
Relationships with peers: task oriented roles (behaviour patters) within the team
Regardless of functional responsibility, mix of team roles, so one:
- initiates
- another coordinates
- one summarises etc.
Belbin (1996):
- implementor
- coordinator
- shaper
- plant
- resource investigator
- monitor evaluator
- team worker
- completer finisher
- specialist
Margerison & McCann (1990): have similar.
+ upholder-maintainer, reporter-advisor, linker.
Relationships with leaders
Crowding is a result of poor relationships with leaders.
Relationships with leaders: people oriented or task oriented leader behaviours - Ohio state leadership studies (1940s)
Using leader behaviour description questionnaire (LBDQ) came up with 2 underlying styles:
- consideration: the extent to which leader demonstrates trust of subordinates, respect for ideas and consideration of feelings.
- initiating structure: “getting the job done” - extent leader defines own and others’ roles towards goals attainment.
Relationships with leaders: people oriented or task oriented leader behaviours - Michigan leadership studies (Likert, 1950s)
On effect and ineffective leaders - 2 styles:
- employee-oriented.
- task-oriented: variations/combinations - eg. “exploitative authoritative” or “consultative systems”.
Relationships with leaders: people oriented or task oriented leader behaviours - Democratic and autocratic (Gastil, 1994)
How far the leader:
- distributes responsibility.
- empowers.
- aids deliberation.
