SOCIOLOGY NOTES - CT1

• SOCIAL RELATIONS IN INDUSTRY

• Internal relations
- formal
- informal
- mixed
• External relations
INTERNAL RELATIONS

- Interpersonal relations among individuals directly connected with an industry.

- If these individuals belong to a single industry, then these relations are called internal relations.
- These relations exits between the owner, manager, and labour of that industry.
- These are of three types- formal, informal, and mixed.

Formal relations

- Relations based on the position of the people working in the industry.

- Personal relations are excluded.
- Formal relations are functional and are determined on the basis on hierarchical order of positions
of individual working in an industry.
- Example- relation between manager and employee.

Informal relations

- Personal relations between the people working in an industry are called informal industry.
- Such relations are based on personal likes, dislikes, language, attitude etc.
- Such relations sometimes form fractions or groups in the factory.
- Example- relation between two labours who are friends, relation between labours working
together under a conspiracy against the forehead etc.

Mixed or socio-technical relations

- Neither purely formal, nor purely informal.

- Such relations are partly connected with the industry and partly personal.
- Such relations occur between individuals when they are performing their duty in the industry.
- For example- labours singing song when they lift some super heavy load.

EXTERNAL RELATIONS

- Apart from internal relations, an industry has to maintain its relations with other industrial units,
factories, government agencies, educational organisations and other social groups. Such
relations are called external relations.
- From governmental agencies, the industry may seek financial help, get legal licenses etc.
- From various colleges it may employ various students to work in it.
- Industry has to maintain proper relations with the various various agencies in the society which
provide cover against all the illegal and anti-social activities that it does.

• GROUPS
A group is an aggregation of people who interact with each other consciously to achieve a common
objective. The members are mutually interdependent and they are aware that they are part of a
group.
Any aggregation of people must posses the following to be called a group-
- INTERACTION WITH MEMBERS- The members of a group should interact with each other on
a regular basis for a long period of time depending on the nature of group and task.
- AWARENESS- The members of the group should be aware of each other and that they belong
the a group.
- GROUP IDENTITY- The members of the group should see there identity as united.
- COMMON OBJECTIVE- The members of the group should work together to achieve a common
goal and everyone should be aware of their responsibilities and achievement of the goal should
be a matter of concern for every member.

GROUP BEHAVIOUR

Group behaviour is a social activity is a social process by which the members of a group respond
to each other and perform their respective roles.

• AIS MODEL BY GEORGE HOMANS

Working of small groups is based on three elements-
- Activity - It is the task that people perform. For e.g.. walking, running, assembling a machine etc.
- Interactions - It is the behaviour that occur between people while performing task. It may be
between two or more individuals. It may be verbal or non-verbal
- Sentiments- It is the feeling that an individual develops for the other. Unlike interaction and
activity, sentiments are not directly visible. It can be positive, negative or neutral.
This model says that members of a group interact with each other to perform their activities not
only because they are in physical proximity but also to achieve their common objectives. The key
element is the interaction due to which they perform activities and develop sentiments for each
other.

GROUP DYNAMICS

- The social process by which people interact face to face in small groups is called social
dynamics. The group is formed on the basis of language, interests, religion etc.
- These small groups emerge out of formal relations and are more humane and homely as
compared to the formal ones.
- The membership of such informal group is voluntary.
- To group forms its standard norms and behaviour and appoints a leader to control its functioning.
The leader appointed is informal and is not recognised by formal organisations.
- The behaviour of such group is quite complex as being informal, it doesn't follows rigid rules and
regulations based on authority-responsibility relationships.

CAUSES OF EMERGENCE OF GROUPS

- DESIRE FOR SOCIALISATION- To remove loneliness, man forms groups to form social
relations. Such relations can be very helpful in future for him, for e.g., in getting job or financial
aid, etc .
- GOAL ACHIEVEMENT- People engaged in similar work face similar kinds of problem. To
manage the efficiently, they form group.
- MONOTONOUS JOBS- People get bored when they do same routine work. To release mental
pressure, they form informal groups at their workplace.
- SECURITY- There is strength in numbers. When a man is in a group, he feels more secured
than that he would feel when he is alone. Also, this helps in dealing with management
arbitrariness.
- SOURCE OF INFORMATION- By forming informal groups, people share informations easily and
speedily because informal communication is much faster than formal communication. Also the
hesitation in contacting personally is removed when the same person is in a group.
- INNOVATION AND CREATIVITY- In a group, idea by an individual can be experimented by all
the members belonging to that group. Hence, a group acts like a breeding ground for
innovations.

• BUREAUCRACY
MAX WEBER
He was a german sociologist who contributed to the theory of bureaucracy. He was a scholar who
was trained in law, economics, history and philosophy. He defined three types of legitimate
authority-
- RATIONAL-LEGAL AUTHORITY - People obey the person because he is in a legally established
position or rank in military, government, or business organisation. Ex- IS, IPS, military general
etc.
- TRADITIONAL AUTHORITY - People obey the person because he is from a particular class or
family or has traditionally occupied a authority possessing position. Ex- Son of a king, royal
family
- CHARISMATIC AUTHORITY - People obey a person because they believe that the person has
some magical or super powers. Ex- Baba Ram Rahim, Salman Khan etc.

WHAT IS BUREAUCRACY
Bureaucracy is defined as a system of organisation and management where roles, tasks,
responsibility, accountability and positions of people are clearly defined according to a formal
authority.
Traditionally, the term bureaucracy is used to represent-
- state administration or governmental organisations.
- officials who runs this administration
- rational organisation which is in accordance with Weber’s type of structure.

FEATURES OF BUREAUCRACY
- DIVISION OF WORK AND SPECIALISATION - There is high degree of distribution of work
between various departments. This is to specialisation of work.
- HIERARCHY OF POSITIONS - There is hierarchy of authority on the organisation. Each lower
position is under control by a higher position, just like a pyramid.
- RULES AND REGULATIONS - There are fixed rules and regulations due ensures
standardisation of operations and decisions and equal treatment to everybody.
- IMPERSONAL CONDUCT- Everything goes by rules and regulations. There is no place for
emotions and sentiments in bureaucracy.
- STAFFING- Bureaucrats are employed for a fixed service period as per the rules and regulations
and they are given salary monthly as per their position.
- TECHNICAL COMPETENCE - Bureaucrats are employed on the basis of their technical
competence and they are given promotions on the basis of their performance and qualifications.
- OFFICIAL RECORDS - The decisions, actions and performance of the bureaucrats are formally
noted safely by extensive filing system for future reference. This eliminates the loopholes which
may occur in oral communication.

TYPES OF BUREAUCRACY
- Weberian bureaucracy- As written above.
- Professional bureaucracy - Ex- hospitals, various professional firms. Professionals in various
areas are employed to provide best service to its clients. It is decentralised and professionals are
free to take decisions on their level regarding the services to be provided to the clients.

MERITS OF BUREAUCRACY
- DISTRIBUTION OF AUTHORITY AND SPECIALISATION - Tasks as distributed between various
departments and this leads to specialisation of work.
- UNIFORMITY - Since everything goes by rules and regulations, there is consistency and
uniformity in the working bureaucracy.
- RATIONALITY - Since there are fixed rules and regulations, the bureaucrats take rational
decisions and don't go by their personal taste and sentiments.
- PREDICTABILITY - Since rules and regulations are already laid out, one can predict the
behaviour of an employee under different situations.
- EFFICIENCY - As specific tasks are assigned to specific departments, this leads to the
specialisation of work which increased the efficiency of the working of the organisation.
- IMPARTIALITY - The officials are bound by the rules and regulations and can’t provide personal
favours to anybody.

DEMERITS OF BUREAUCRACY
- The rules may be followed on paper rather than in sprit. Also there may be misinterpretation of
rules by the officials. Red tapism is the result of such demerit.
- It does not consider informal organisation and interpersonal relations.
- Bureaucracy discourages innovation as everyone is expected to behave in a certain manner.
- Every individual has his/her goals and their way of achieving them may create conflict with the
existing rules and regulations.
- Goal displacement takes place in bureaucracy. Officials may give rules and regulations or
secondary goals higher priority over their primary objectives.
- The bureaucratic structure is tall and consists of several layers. Thus communication form the
topmost to lowest level takes time.
- Bureaucratic structure is not effective in turbulent or dynamic environment conditions. It can’t
change itself under fast changing environment.