CHAPTER 8: FOUNDATIONS OF GROUP BEHAVIOR

A group is defineas two or more individuals, interacting and interdependent, who have come
together to achieve particular objectives. This is where the ability of a person will be able to show
because you’ll be able to meet different kinds of personality with different person. Groups are classified
into formal and informal. Formal defined by the organization’s structure which include command and
task while informal neither formally structured nor organizationally determined which includes interest
and friendship.

But why do people join groups? It’s because of security, status, self-esteem, affiliation, power
and goal achievement. Security, people feel stronger, have fewer self-doubts, and more resistant to
threats when they are part of a group. Status, inclusion in a group that is viewed as important by others
provides recognition and status for its members. Self-esteem, groups can provide people with feelings of
self-worth. That is, in addition to conveying status to those outside the group, membership can also give
increased feelings of worth to the group members themselves. Affiliation, groups can fulfill social needs.
People enjoy the regular interaction that comes with group membership. Power, what cannot be
achieved individually often becomes possible through group action. There is power in numbers. And
lastly, Goal Achievement, there are times when it takes more than one person to accomplish a particular
task, there is a need to pool talents, knowledge, or power in order to complete a job. In such instances,
management will reply on the use of a formal group.

There are five stage model of group development which includes forming, storming, norming,
performing and adjourning. First stage is forming, characterized by much uncertainty about the group’s
purpose, structure and leadership. Second stage is storming, this means members accept the existence
of the group but resist the constraints it imposes on individuality, there is conflict over who will control
the group and hierarchy of leadership becomes clear. Third stage is norming, it is where close
relationships develop and the group demonstrates cohesiveness, strong sense of group identity and
camaraderie. Fourth stage is performing, structure at this point is fully functional and accepted, this is
the last stage for permanent work groups. Last stage is adjourning, for temporary groups; this is a
preparation for disbanding. Generally, a group becomes more effective as it progresses through the first
4 stages. Under some conditions, high levels of conflict may be conducive to high group performance.
So, stage 2 might outperform stage 3 and 4. Some stages can go on simultaneously --- like storming and
performing.

The group properties are roles, a set of expected behavior patterns attributed to someone
occupying a given position in a social unit. These include role perception, role expectations,
psychological contract, and role conflict. Second group properties are norms, this means acceptable
standards of behavior within a group that are shared by the group’s members. These include
performance norms, appearance norms, and social arrangement norms, and resource allocation norms.
Third is status, a socially defined position or rank given to groups or group members by others. Next
group properties is size, smaller groups are faster at completing than larger ones. This is because
individuals perform better in smaller groups than in larger ones. Like in problem solving, larger groups
consistently get better marks than their smaller counterparts. And the last one is cohesiveness, it is the
degree to which group members are attracted to each other and are motivated to stay in the group. It
affected by time spent together by the group members, size which refers to the smaller, the more
cohesive and external threats in which the relationship between cohesiveness, and productivity depends
on the group’s performance related norms.

In a group decision making, it is a groupthink, a phenomenon in which the norm for consensus
overrides the realistic appraisal of alternative courses of action. Managers can minimize groupthink by
monitoring group size- more than 10 members are groupthink starts to take stronger effect. Group
leaders must play an impartial role, group leaders must actively seek input from all members and avoid
expressing their own opinions, 1 group member must play the devil’s advocate and lastly, the group can
first talk about that dangers or risks inherent in a decision rather than the possible gains. In a group
decision, the techniques could be interacting groups, brainstorming, nominal group technique and
electronic meeting.

CHAPTER 12: POWER AND POLITICS

Power and politics are two face of a single coin. They move parallel together. Power refers to
the possession of authority and influence over others. There are two facets of power which includes
potential, which means power does not need to be actualized to be effective. Other factor is
dependency, it is based on the available alternatives and their desirability; most important aspects. For
example, the greater B’s dependence on A, the greater A’s power in the relationship. Because a person
can have power over you only if he or she controls something you desire.

There are positive and negative faces of power in action. Positive includes leading, influencing,
selling and persuading. Negative includes coercing, forcing, hurting and crushing. The bases of power are
coercive, reward, legitimate, expert and referent. Coercive power is a power base dependent on fear.
Reward power compliance achieved based on the ability to distribute rewards that others view as
valuable. Legitimate power, the power a person receives as a result of his or her position in the formal
hierarchy of an organization. Expert power influences based on special skills or knowledge. While
referent power influence based on possession by an individual of desirable resources or personal traits.
Expert and referent power, consequence of power is commitment. Legitimate and reward power,
consequence of power is compliance. And coercive power, consequence of power is resistance.

How do managers acquire the power needed for leadership? First is power tactics, it is used to
translate power bases into specific actions that influence others. It is more immediate than power
bases, and can result in the accumulation of a power base. There are nine influence tactics, these are
legitimacy, rational persuasion, inspirational appeals, consultation, exchange, personal appeals,
ingratiation, pressure and coalitions. In influence tactic effectiveness, the most effective are rational
persuasion, inspirational appeals, and consultation, while least effective is pressure. Combining tactics
increase effectiveness. Direction, sequencing, individual skill, and organizational culture modify
effectiveness. Sexual harassment is defined as any unwanted activity of a sexual nature that affects an
individual’s employment and creates a hostile work environment. The ways that managers can protect
themselves and their employees are: Make sure an active policy defines what constitutes sexual
harassment, informs employees they can be fired for sexually harassing another employee and
establishes procedures for how complains can be made. Ensure employees that they will not encounter
retaliation if they issue a complaint.
 Politics occur when employees convert power into action. It attempts to influence others using
discretionary behaviors to promote personal objectives. And politics may be good or bad for the
organization. Organizational politics, activities not required as part of one’s formal role in the
organization, but that influence, or attempt to influence, the distribution of advantages and
disadvantages within the organization. It includes, outside of job requirements and requires the use of
power. Legitimacy of political behaviors based on sticking the implied rules. Legitimate means normal
everyday politics which include complaining. Illegitimate means hardball activities such as sabotage,
whistle-blowing, and symbolic protests.

Politics arise in organizations because of conflicting interests, limited resources, ambiguity in

decision making. Politicking means twisting facts to support one’s own goals and interests. There are
individual factors contributing to political behavior, these includes traits that encourage political action
and situational influences leading to illegitimate political actions.