CHAPTER 9

1. CHAPTER 9 GROUP DYNAMICS

2. The Nature of Groups • A group is two or more people who interact with each other, share certain common beliefs, and view themselves as being members of a group • Classification of groups: • Formal versus Informal • Open versus closed

3. Formal v. Informal Groups • Formal groups: • Essentially task oriented • Every employee must have at least one formal role • When employees have more than one formal role, they can serve as “linking pins”

4. Formal v. Informal Groups (cont.) • Informal groups • Arise from social interaction among organizational members • Membership is voluntary • Problems can arise if goals of informal group conflict are different from the goals of the formal group

5. Open v. Closed Groups • Open groups: • Membership changes frequently • Less able to focus on long-term issues because of their relative instability • More adaptable to changes in their surrounding environment • Have a stream of “new blood”; they bring new ideas and talents to the organization

6. Open v. Closed Groups (cont.) • Closed groups: • Relatively stable membership with well established status relationships • Better at seeing long-run implications and conducting long-range planning

7. Reasons for Forming Groups • To accomplish a task, by sharing ideas, pooling resources, and providing feedback to members • Groups may satisfy the following social needs: • Security and protection • Affiliation • Esteem and identity • Task Accomplishment

8. Interpersonal Attraction • People may join or remain in groups because of interpersonal attraction • Three key determinants of interpersonal attraction are: • Physical Distance • Psychological Distance • Similarity

9. Physical Distance • Opportunity to interact is an important determinant of attraction to others • (Principle of proximity): People who are physically closer to one another develop closer relationships than those who are farther apart

10. Psychological Distance • Figure 9.1 Refers to the restriction or the freedom of employees’ ability to interact socially in organizations • Offices can be arranged either to facilitate social interaction or to discourage it

11. Psychological Distance (cont.) • Managers can consciously structure work setting to create camaraderie or to reduce informal contacts

12. Similarity • Formal research have shown that attraction among similar people appears to be somewhat more common

13. Similarity (cont.) • (The Law of Attraction):The proportion of commonalties that people share appears to be a very strong determinant of interpersonal attraction, with the greater proportion, the greater the attraction

14. Similarity (cont.) • Individuals who possess similar attitudes and complementary needs and abilities will be highly attracted to each other

15. Similarity (cont.) • Social Exchange Theory argues that people constantly monitor rewards, costs, and the difference between rewards and costs, which they call outcomes • If rewards are greater than costs; relationship continues • If costs are greater than rewards; relationship ends

16. Stages in Group Development • There are four stages through which groups pass: • Forming: members are concerned with testing each others’ reactions to determine which actions are acceptable and unacceptable; they depend on each other for cues about what is expected in the way of contribution and personal conduct

17. Stages in Group Development (cont.) • Storming: intragroup conflict occurs, with group members wrestling with power and status relationships • Norming: feelings of cohesiveness develop, new standards and roles are adopted and opinions about task accomplishment are freely voiced; job satisfaction grows as the level of cohesiveness increases

18. Stages in Group Development (cont.) • Performing: group has established a flexible network of relationships that aids in task accomplishment • Not every group goes through these four stages in a fixed sequence • As group experiences change, it may return to an earlier stage

19. Impact of Group Properties on Performance • The presence of others • Size • Composition • Roles • Status • Norms • Cohesiveness

20. Presence of Others • Known to affect an individual’s task performance • (The Social facilitation effect): Performance is facilitated by the presence of others if the tasks are relatively simple, and well-rehearsed

21. Presence of Others (cont.) • (The Social inhibition effect): If the task is not simple, the presence of others can have a detrimental effect

22. Group Size • Size has detectable effects on group performance • Members appear to become more tolerant of authoritarian and directive leadership as size increases • Larger groups are more likely to have formalized roles and established procedures for dealing with problems

23. Group Size (cont.) • Job satisfaction is lower in larger groups, because people receive less personal attention and fewer opportunities to participate • As group size increases, productivity reaches a point of diminishing returns • Social loafing increases with group size

24. Group Composition • Influences group performance • Groups composed of highly similar individuals with common beliefs and similar abilities are likely to view a task from a single perspective • Diversified groups tend to do better on many problem-solving tasks than do homogeneous groups

25. Group Composition (cont.) • Mix of group members is important • Members who are competent should be most influential • Mixed-sex groups focus more on interpersonal relationships and are more socially conforming than members of same-sex groups

26. Group Roles • Refers to the set of expected behaviors relating to an individual’s position within a group • Expected roles: formal roles that are defined in job descriptions or manuals • Perceived roles: set of activities that an individual believes he or she is expected to perform

27. Group Roles (cont.) • Enacted role: a person’s actual conduct in his/her position, reflects the perceived role more than it does the expected role • Communication flaws often cause the expected role to differ from the perceived role • Role conflict: when different groups send different signals about role expectations

28. Group Roles (cont.) • Role ambiguity: when messages that evaluators send are not clear, or they give incomplete information

29. Assumed Roles in a Workgroup • Task oriented: those counted on to get the job done • People-oriented: those who are social leaders • Nay-sayers: those who oppose most proposals, thick skins, find fault with everything

30. Assumed Roles in a Workgroup (cont.) • Yea-sayers: those who counter the nay-sayers and help to circumvent the opposition • Regulars: those who are “in”, accept group values, accepted by group • Deviants: those who depart from group values

31. Assumed Roles in a Workgroup (cont.) • Isolates: “lone wolves”, depart farther than deviants • Newcomers: those who know little and need to be taken care of by others, “seen but not heard” • Old-timers: those who have been around a long time, “know the ropes”

32. Assumed Roles in a Workgroup (cont.) • Climbers: those who are expected to get ahead on basis of potential rather than ability • Cosmopolitans: those who view themselves as members of a large professional community • Locals: those who are firmly rooted in organization and community

33. Status • Refers to the social ranking or social worth accorded an individual because of the position he/she occupies in a group • Most frequently associated with formal authority

34. Status (cont.) • Status symbols provide stability to the social order, help reduce uncertainty about the appropriateness of conduct and role expectations • Provides incentives for people to strive for superior performance

35. Status (cont.) • Provides sense of identification by giving individuals information about group membership • Status incongruence: exists if all attributes of a person’s status don’t match

36. Status (cont.) • Status differences probably have an undue influence on decisions; people with top status receive more attention than those who have lower status

37. Norms • Norms are rules of conduct that are established to maintain the behavioral consistency of group members • May be written or unwritten • Deviation from norms is frequently punished by ostracism and verbal attacks

38. Norms (cont.) • Primary purpose of norms: • Give members a useful frame of reference for explaining and comprehending their group • Identify appropriate and inappropriate conduct • Ensure that members focus efforts in a particular direction

39. Norms (cont.) • Hackman’s five major characteristics of norms: • Represent the structural characteristics of the group • Apply strictly to behavior and not to private thoughts and feelings • Are developed only for behaviors that are judged to be important by majority of group members

40. Norms (cont.) • Norms usually develop slowly, but can be rapidly developed if need arises • Not all norms apply to all group members • Norms are neither good or bad; their value relates to whether or not they are directed to enhancing, rather than restricting productivity

41. Guidelines to Enforce Group Norms when they are congruent with your own goal as a group manager • Show a group member that the difference between group’s wishes and that his/her wishes is not great, and that there is little need to resist group pressures • Develop methods for rewarding employees who conform to group standards

42. Guidelines to Enforce Group Norms when they are congruent with your own goal as a group manager (cont.) • Help members to understand how their contributions help the group accomplish its purpose • Give participants a say in establishing standards

43. Guidelines to Enforce Group Norms when they are congruent with your own goal as a group manager (cont.) • Make it known that members who do not conform to the group’s standards will be removed from the team

44. Guidelines for Opposing Group Norms when they are incongruent with your goals • Recognize like-minded members and ally yourself with them • Try to establish joint opposition with like-minded members by discussing your views and plans with them • Do not give up legitimate professional preferences in order to prevent disharmony

45. Guidelines for Opposing Group Norms when they are incongruent with your goals (cont.) • Hold out against social pressures by concealing from others what you do or think • Attempt to publicize the value of cooperation and resultant rewards

46. Cohesiveness • Refers to the extent to which members are attracted to a group and desire to remain in it • Factors that induce and sustain group cohesiveness: • Similarity of attitudes and goals: interpersonal attraction will enhance cohesiveness

47. Cohesiveness (cont.) • Threats: sharing a mutual fate can lead to greater awareness of interdependence • Unit size: smaller groups tend to be more cohesive than larger ones • Reward systems: giving rewards on the basis of group performance

48. Cohesiveness (cont.) • Work unit assignments: on the basis of interpersonal attraction, similarity of values, and common goals • Isolation: work groups that are more isolated are generally more cohesive

49. Effects of Group Cohesion • Increased satisfaction • Better communication • Potential greater hostility toward outgroup members

50. Effects of Group Cohesion (cont.) • Productivity • Resistance to change: highly cohesive groups are more resistant to change than are less cohesive groups