Activity #5

Social Groups and Formal Organization

I. Objective: To be able to know the social groups and formal organization.
II. Materials: Paper, computer, Cellphone, flash drive
III. Diagram:

IV. Procedure
There are four primary sociological perspectives for studying groups: functionalist,
critical, feminist, and symbolic interactionist.
1. The functionalist perspective is a big-picture, macro-level view that looks at how
different aspects of society are intertwined. This perspective is based on the idea
that society is a well-balanced system with all parts necessary to the whole.
2. The critical perspective is another microanalytical view, one that focuses on the
genesis and growth of inequality.
3. Feminist analysis of the Occupy movement would be interested in the
connection between contemporary capitalism and patriarchy.
 4. A fourth perspective is the symbolic interactionist perspective. This method of
analyzing groups takes a micro-level view. Instead of studying the big picture, these
researchers look at the day-to-day interactions of groups. Studying these details, the
interactionist looks at issues like leadership style, communicative interactions, and
group dynamics.
V. Significant Learning
A small group is typically one where the collection of people is small enough that all
members of the group know each other and share simultaneous interaction, such as
a nuclear family, a dyad, or a triad. Georg Simmel wrote extensively about the
difference between a dyad, or two-member group, and a triad, a three-member
group. No matter what the content of the groups is—business, friendship, family,
teamwork, etc.—the dynamic or formal qualities of the groups differ simply by virtue
of the number of individuals involved. In a dyad, if one person withdraws, the group
can no longer exist. A triad has a different set of relationships. If there are three in
the group, two-against-one dynamics can develop and the potential exists for a
majority opinion on any issue. A social network is a collection of people tied
together by a specific configuration of connections. A formal organization is a large
secondary group deliberately organized to achieve its goals efficiently. Typically,
formal organizations are highly bureaucratized. The term bureaucracy refers to what
Max Weber termed “an ideal type” of formal organization. In its sociological usage,
“ideal” does not mean “best”; it refers to a general model that describes a collection
of characteristics.
VI. Conclusion
Organizations of one form or another are necessary part of our society and solve
many important needs. Organization is a dominant component of contemporary
society. They surround us; we are born in them and usually die in them. Our life
space in before is filled with them, they are just about impossible to escape. All
organization has some function to perform and some incentive for their existence
and for their operations. The goals of an organization determine the nature of its
outputs and the series of activities through which the outputs are achieved.
Groups are units of society and every human being is a member of one or more than
one group. In order to understand a particular society, it is therefore necessary to
study the behavior of the groups presents in it. Their behavior is a reflection of the
structure of the society they live in. The degree of closeness and the frequency with
which they interact among themselves will determine the type of group they belong
to.