Chapter 6 Groups and Organizations

1. Chapter 6Groups and Organizations • Social Groups • Group Characteristics and Dynamics • Formal Organizations in Global Perspective • Alternative Forms of Organization • Organizations in the Future

2. Social Groups A collection of two or more people who: • Interact frequently. • Share a sense of belonging. • Have a feeling of interdependence.

3. Types of Groups • Primary and Secondary • Ingroups and Outgroups • Reference Groups

4. Cooley’s Primary and Secondary Groups • Primary group - small group whose members engage in face-to-face, emotion-based interactions. • Secondary group - larger group in which members engage in impersonal relationships for a limited period of time.

5. Sumner’s Ingroups and Outgroups • Groups set boundaries between insiders and outsiders. • Distinguishing between ingroups and outgroups helps us establish our identity. • May encourage group cohesiveness, but may also promote classism, racism, sexism and ageism.

6. Group Size • Size is one of the most important features of a group. • As size increases, communication patterns between group members change. • Larger groups typically have more formalized leadership structures.

7. Group Leadership Styles • Authoritarian leaders - often criticized for fostering intergroup hostility. • Democratic leaders - praised for supportive behavior and blamed for being indecisive in a crisis. • Laissez-faire leaders - do not provide active leadership.

8. Research on Group Conformity • Asch - demonstrated that people will bow to social pressure in small group settings. • Milgram - obedience to authority may be more common than most of us would like to believe. • Pryor and McKinney - suggest a relationship between group conformity and harassment.

9. Groupthink • Members of groups limit their opinions to focus on consensus. • Members of a group arrive at a decision that individual members believe is unwise. • 1986 challenger tragedy has been cited as an example of this process.

10. Etzioni’s Classification of Formal Organizations • Normative organizations are joined voluntarily. (political parties, religious organizations and social clubs) • Coercive organizations are associations people are forced to join. (prisons) • Utilitarian organizations provide rewards. (colleges and universities, the workplace)

11. Weber’s Ideal Characteristics of Bureaucracy • Division of Labor • Hierarchy of Authority • Rules and Regulations • Qualification-Based Employment • Impersonality

12. Shortcomings of Bureaucracy • Inefficiency and Rigidity • Resistance to Change • Perpetuation of Race, Class, and Gender Inequalities

13. Alternative Forms of Organization “Humanizing” the bureaucracy: • Greater sharing of power and responsibility. • Encouragement of participants to share their ideas and try new approaches. • Efforts to reduce the number of people in dead‑end jobs and to help people meet family responsibilities.

14. Organizational Structure in Japan • Lifetime employment - workers were (until recently), guaranteed permanent employment after an initial probationary period. • Quality circles—small workgroups that meet regularly with managers to discuss the group’s performance and working conditions.