HND – 10. Group Behavior

1. HND – 10. Group Behavior Lim SeiKee @ cK

2. Group • Two or more individuals, interacting and interdependent, who have come together to achieve particular objectives FORMAL GROUPS A designated work group defined by the organization structure INFORMAL GROUPS Appears in response to the need for social contact

3. Command group – a group composed of the individuals who report directly to a given manager • Task group – those working together to complete a job task • Interest group – those working together to attain a specific objective with which each is concerned • Friendship group – those brought together because they share one or more common characteristics

4. Why do people join groups? • Security • Status • Self-esteem • Affiliation • Power • Goal Achievement

5. Five stage group development • Temporary group with task-specific deadline

6. Forming • Characterized by a great deal of uncertainty about the group’s purpose, structure and leadership • Uncertainty • Feelings not dealt with • Poor listening • Weaknesses covered up • Unclear objectives • Low involvement in planning

7. Storming • Characterized by intragroup conflict • Accept existence • Wider options considered • Personal feelings raised • Intragroup conflicts • More listening

8. Norming • Characterized by close relationships and cohesiveness • Methodical working • Agreed procedures • Established ground rules • Strong sense of group identity

9. Performing • When the group is fully functional • High flexibility/ability to lead process • Maximum use of energy & ability • Needs of all met • Development is a priority • High commitment, balanced team roles & shared leadership

10. Adjourning • Characterized by concern with wrapping up activities rather than task performance • Purpose fulfilled • Everyone can move on to new things • Feeling good about what's been achieved

11. Group structure • Roles • Norms • Status • Size • Cohesiveness

12. Roles • A set of expected behavior patterns attributed to someone occupying a given position in a social unit • Role identity – certain attitudes and behaviors consistent with a role. • Role perception – an individual’s view of how he or she is supposed to act in a given situation

13. Role expectations – how others believe a person should act in a given situation • Psychological contract- an unwritten agreement that sets out what management expects from the employees and vice versa • Role conflict – a situation in which an individual is confronted by divergent role expectations

14. Norms • Acceptable standards of behavior within a group that are shared by the group’s members • Common classes of norms • Conformity • Deviant workplace behavior

15. Common classes of norms • Performance norms – provide members on how hard they should work, how to get the job done, levels of output. • Appearance norms – appropriate dress, loyalty to work group/organization, when to look busy and when it’s acceptable to goof off. • Social arrangement norms – informal work groups and primarily regulate social interactions within the group. • Allocation of resources norms – cover things like pay, assignment of difficult jobs and allocations of new tools and equipment

16. Conformity – adjusting one’s behavior to align with the norms of the group • Reference groups - important groups to which individuals belong or hope to belong and with whose norms individuals are likely to conform • Deviant workplace behavior – antisocial actions by organizational members that intentionally violate established norms and that result in negative consequences for the organization, its members, or both.

17. Deviant workplace behavior

18. Status • A socially defined position or rank given to groups or group members by others • Status Characteristics Theory • Status and Norms • Status and Group Interaction • Status Inequity • Status and Culture

19. Status Characteristics Theory – differences in status characteristics create status hierarchies within groups. • People who control the outcomes of a group through their power or have the ability to control the group’s behavior • People whose contributions to a group are critical to the group’s success • Personal characteristics that are positively valued by the group such as good looks, money or intelligence

20. Status and Norms – high status members often are given more freedom to deviate from norms then other group members • Status and Group Interaction – high status members tend to speak out more, criticize more, state commands and interrupt others • Status Inequity – when inequity is perceived, it creates disequilibrium • Status and Culture – make sure you understand who and what holds status when interacting with people from a culture different from your own

21. Size • Smaller groups • Faster at completing tasks than the larger ones. • Larger groups • Better in problem solving • Good in gaining diverse input • Social Loafing – the tendency for individuals to expend less effort when working collectively than when working individually

22. Causes of social loafing • Belief that others in the group are not carrying their fair share • Dispersion of responsibility • Group performance increases with group size, but addition of new member to the group has diminishing effects on group’s productivity

23. Cohesiveness • Degree to which group members are attracted to each other and are motivated to stay in the group • Encourage group cohesiveness – • Make the group smaller • Encourage agreement with group goals • Increase the time spend together • Increase the status of the group and perceived difficulty of attaining membership in the group • Stimulate competition with other group • Give rewards to the groups rather than individual • Physically isolate the group

24. Group decision making • Groups VS the Individual • Groupthink and Groupshift • Group Decision-making Techniques

25. Groups VS the Individual • Strength • Generate more complete information and knowledge • Increased diversity of views • Higher-quality decisions • Acceptance of solution • Weaknesses • Time consuming • Conformity pressures in groups • Dominated by one or a few members • Ambiguous responsibility

26. Effectiveness and efficiency

27. GROUPTHINK • Phenomenon in which the norm for consensus overrides the realistic appraisal of alternative courses of action • Symptoms – • Having an illusion of invulnerability • Rationalizing poor decisions • Believing in the group's morality • Exercising direct pressure on others • Not expressing your true feelings • Maintaining an illusion of unanimity • Using mindguards to protect the group from negative information

28. Groupshift • A change in decision risk between the group’s decision and the individual decision that members within the group would make; can be either toward conservatism or greater risk • Greater risk can be taken because even if the decision fails, no one member can be held wholly responsible.

29. Group decision-making techniques • Interacting Groups • Brainstorming • Nominal Group Technique • Electronic Meeting

30. Interacting Groups – typical groups, in which members interact with each other face-to-face • Rely on both verbal and nonverbal communication • Brainstorming – an idea-generation process that specifically encourages any and all alternatives, while withholding any criticism of those alternatives. • Electronic Meeting – a meeting in which members interact on computers, allowing for anonymity of comments and aggregation of votes

31. Nominal Group Technique – a group decision-making method in which individual members meet face-to-face to pool their judgments in a systematic but independent fashion • Steps • Members meet as a group but, before any discussion takes place, each member independently writes down his or her ideas on the problem. • After this silent period, each member presents one idea to the group. Each member takes his/her turn, presenting a single idea until all ideas have been presented and recorded. No discussion takes place until all ideas have been recorded. • The group now discusses the ideas for clarity and evaluates them. • Each group member silently and independently rank-orders the ideas. The idea with the highest aggregate ranking determines the final decision.

33. PRESENTation Q • 1. What is a group? • 2. Why do people join groups? • 3. What are the stages of group development process? Describe. • 4. As a manager, how can you encourage group cohesiveness? • 5. Discuss groupthink and groupshift.