Groups and Organizations

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 Social Group
Two or more people who identify and interact with one another.

• Not every collection of individuals forms a group.

• Many people with a status in common–women,
homeowners, soldiers, millionaires, college
graduates, and Roman Catholics–are not groups,
but categories.
 Not Quite a Social Group

• Crowd
– Temporary cluster of people
– A group can have temporary status
• A crowd can become a group, then a crowd again.
– A large gathering of people at a football game
– A crowd that begins to riot might be considered a
group.
 Primary Groups
Small social groups whose members share personal, lasting relationships.

• Traits
– Small
– Personal orientation
– Enduring
• Primary relationships
– First group experienced in life
– Irreplaceable
• Assistance of all kinds
– Emotional to financial
 Secondary Groups
A large, impersonal social group whose members pursue a specific goal
or activity.

• Traits
– Large membership
– Goal or activity orientation
– Formal and polite
• Secondary relationships
– Weak emotional ties
– Short term
• Examples
– Co-workers and political organizations
Summing Up
Primary Groups and Secondary Groups
 Group Leadership
• Two roles

– Instrumental: Task-oriented
– Expressive: People-oriented

• Three leadership styles

Sociologists also characterize leadership in terms of decision-

making styles.

– Authoritarian: Leader makes decisions; Compliance from

members
– Democratic: Member involvement
– Laissez-faire: Mainly let group function on its own
Instrumental Leadership Expressive Leadership
Instrumental leadership refer to group It refers to group leadership that focuses
leadership that emphasizes the completion on collective well-being.
of tasks.
Members look to instrumental leaders to Expensive leaders take less of an
make plans, give orders and get things interest in achieving goals than in
done. promoting the well-being of members,
raising group morale, and minimizing
tensions and conflict among members.
Instrumental leaders usually have formal, Expressive leaders, however, build
secondary relations with other group more personal, primary ties.
members.
Instrumental leaders give orders and Expressive leaders sympathy to
reward or punish members according to members going through a tough time,
their contribution to the group’s efforts. keep the group united, and lighten a
tense moment with humour .

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Instrumental Leadership Expressive Leadership
Instrumental leaders enjoy more respect Expressive leaders generally receive
from members when successful. more personal affection.

Two Types Of Leadership Linked To Gender In U.S. Families

Cultural norms bestowed instrumental Expressive leadership traditionally

leadership on men, who as fathers and belonged to women: Mothers and wives
husbands, assumed primary encourage supportive and peaceful
responsibility for earning income and relationship among family members.
make major family decisions.
One result of this division of labour was that many children had greater respect for
their fathers but closer personal ties to ties mothers. (Parsons & Bales,
1955;Maconis,1978a).

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 Authoritarian Democratic Laissez-faire
Leadership Leadership Leadership

Authoritarian leadership Democratic leadership is Laissez-faire leadership

focuses on instrumental
concerns, takes personal
change of decision making
and demands strict
compliance from
subordinates.
Although this leadership
style may win little
affection from group, a fast-
acting authoritarian leader
is appreciated in crisis.
more expressive and (a French phrase roughly
makes a point of including meaning “to leave
everyone in the decision alone”) allows the group
making process. to function more-or-less
own its on.
Although less successful This style typically is the
when crises, they leave least effective in
little time for discussion, promoting group goals
the leaders generally draw (White & Lippitt, 1953;
on the idea of all members Ridgeway, 1983).
to develop creative
solutions to problems.

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 Group Conformity

• It is one of the ways in which groups influence, the

behaviour of its members through conformity.

What is conformity?

Conformity is the process by which an individual's

attitudes, beliefs, and behaviours are influenced by
other people. This influence occurs in both small
groups and society as a whole, and it may be the
result of subtle unconscious influences, or direct and
overt social pressure.

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• People often conform from a desire to achieve a
sense of security within a group typically a group
that is of a similar age, culture, religion, or
educational status.

• Any unwillingness to conform carries with it the very

real risk of social rejection. In this respect,
conformity can be seen as a safe means of avoiding
bullying or deflecting criticism from peers.

• Conformity is often associated with adolescence and

youth culture, but it affects humans of all ages.

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 Groupthink
• It is a tendency of a group members to conform, resulting in a
narrow view of some issue. This concept was given by
L.Janis(1972, 1989)

• Groups experiencing groupthink do not consider all

alternatives and they desire unanimity at the expense of
quality decisions.

• Highly cohesive groups are much more likely to engage in

groupthink, because their cohesiveness often correlates with
unspoken understanding and the ability to work together with
minimal explanations.

• The closer group members are in outlook, the less likely they
are to raise questions that might break their cohesion.
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 Group Conformity Studies
• Asch’s research
– Willingness to compromise our own
judgments
– Line experiment
• Milgram’s research
– Role authority plays
– Following orders
• Janis’s research
– Negative side of groupthink
Figure 7.1
Cards Used in Asch’s Experiment in Group Conformity
In Asch’s experiment, subjects were asked to match the line on Card 1 to one of the lines on Card 2. Many subjects agreed with the wrong answers given by
others in their group.
Source: Asch (1952).
 Reference Group
A social group that serves as a point of reference in making evaluations and decisions

• Stouffer’s research
– We compare ourselves in relation to specific
reference groups.
• In-groups and out-groups
– Loyalty to in-group
– Opposition to out-groups
 Group Size

• The dyad
– A two-member group
– Very intimate, but unstable given its size
• The triad
– A three-member group
– More stable than a dyad and more types of
interaction are possible
Figure 7.2
Group Size and Relationships
As the number of people in a group increases, the number of relationships that link them increases much faster. By the time six or seven people
share a conversation, the group usually divides into two. Why are relationships in smaller groups typically more intense?
Source: Created by the author.
 Social Diversity:
Race, Class, and Gender
• Large groups turn inward.
– Members have relationships between themselves.
• Heterogeneous groups turn outward.
– Diverse membership promotes interaction with outsiders.
• Physical boundaries create social boundaries.
– If segregation of groups takes place, the chances for contact
are limited.
• Networks
– Web of weak social ties, people we know of or who know of
us
 Formal Organizations
Large secondary groups organized to achieve goals efficiently; date back thousands of
years.

• Utilitarian
– Material rewards for members
• Normative
– Voluntary organizations
– Ties to personal morality
• Coercive
– Punishment or treatment
– Total institutions
Summing Up
Small Groups and Formal Organizations
 Bureaucracy
An organizational model rationally designed to perform tasks efficiently

• Max Weber’s six elements to promote

organizational efficiency:
– Specialization of duties
– Hierarchy of offices
– Rules and regulations
– Technical competence
– Impersonality
– Formal, written communications
 Organizational Environment
• Factors outside an organization that affect its
operation:
– Economic and political trends
– Current events
– Populations patterns
– Other organizations
• Informal side of bureaucracy
– In part, informality comes from the personalities of
organizational leaders.
 Problems of Bureaucracies
• Bureaucratic alienation
– Potential to dehumanize individuals
• Bureaucratic inefficiency and ritualism
– Preoccupation with rules, interferes with meeting goals
• Bureaucratic inertia
– Perpetuation of the organization

Oligarchy: The rule of the many by the few

• Helps distance officials from the public.
• Michels: Concentrates power and threatens democracy
 The Evolution of Formal Organizations
Scientific Management

Application of scientific principles to the operation

of a business or large organization
1. Identify tasks and time needed for tasks
2. Analyze to perform tasks more efficiently
3. Provide incentives for worker efficiency
 New Challenges
to Formal Organizations
• Race and gender
– Pattern of exclusion
– “Female advantage”
• Japanese organizations
– Value cooperation
– Organizational loyalty
• Changing nature of work
– Information-based organizations
– Creative autonomy, competitive work teams, flatter
organization, and greater flexibility
Figure 7.4
Two Organizational Models
The conventional model of bureaucratic organizations has a pyramid shape, with a clear chain of command. Orders flow from the top down, and reports of
performance flow from the bottom up. Such organizations have extensive rules and regulations, and their workers have highly specialized jobs. More open
and flexible organizations have a flatter shape, more like a football. With fewer levels in the hierarchy, responsibility for generating ideas and making
decisions is shared throughout the organization. Many workers do their jobs in teams and have a broad knowledge of the entire organization’s operation.
Source: Created by the author.
 McDonaldization of Society

• Efficiency: Do it quickly
• Predictability: Use set formulas
• Uniformity: Leave nothing to chance
• Control: Humans are most unreliable factor

Each principle limits human creativity, choice, and

freedom.
Weber: Rational systems are efficient but
dehumanizing.
 Future of Organizations:
Opposing Trends

• Movement toward more creative freedom

for highly skilled information workers
• Movement toward increased supervision
and discipline for less skilled service workers