GROUP STRUCTURE

OVERVIEW
“Work groups are not unorganized mobs. They
have a structure that shapes the behavior of
members”

“Makes it possible to predict the behavior of a

large portion of individual behavior within
the group itself”
GROUP STRUCTURE - ROLES
“All the world’s stage, and all the men and women
are merely players”
Meaning:
Set of behavior patterns of someone occupying
a position in a social unit.

Every member plays diverse roles – on and off

the field.
ROLES (CONTD)
PLANT MANAGER – ELECTRICAL INDUSTRIES

On the job Off the Job

ELECTRICAL INDUSTRIES EMPLOYEE SON
MEMBER OF MIDDLE MANAGEMENT HUSBAND
ELECTRICAL ENGINEER FATHER
COMPANY SPOKESPERSON CITIZEN
ROLE IDENTITY
“The attitudes and behavior that are based on
the Role being performed”
 Since roles are dependent on the positions
held – attitudes change when positions
change

 Example: Union Stewards change in attitude

once promoted to supervisory positions
ROLE PERCEPTION
“One’s view on how one is supposed to act in a
given situation or for a given position”

 Based on the interpretation of our beliefs

 Beliefs/Perceptions come from
STIMULI

FRIENDS BOOKS MOVIES TELEVISION

ROLE EXPECTATIONS
“What others believe as to how you should act
in a given situation”
 Based on the role defined
 Example:
 U.S. Federal Judge: Propriety and Dignity
 Football Coach: Aggressive, Dynamic and
Inspirational
 MODES OF ROLE EXPECTATIONS
PSYCHOLOGICAL CONTRACT
An unwritten agreement between Employer
and Employee
 This gives a clear picture as to what the
Management expects from employees
ORGANIZATION EMPLOYEE
Treat employees justly Demonstrate a Good attitude
Provide acceptable working conditions Follow directions
Clearly communicate what is the day’s Show Loyalty
work
Given Feedback on how the employee is
doing
ROLE CONFLICT
“A situation in which an individual is
confronted by divergent role expectations”
 Exists when an individual’s compliance of
one role makes it difficult to comply the
other

Opportunity of relocation for better job

prospects
Positive – For Career / Difficult – For Family
ROLES - FORMAL LEADER
 THEY DERIVE THEIR POWER FROM THE
POSITIONS THEY OCCUPY

 THEY MAY OR MAY NOT ALSO BE INFORMAL

LEADERS IN THE GROUPS THEY FUNCTION
GROUP STRUCTURE - NORMS
“Golfers don’t speak while their partners are
putting on the green or the employees don’t
criticize their bosses in public”

Why?

NORMS!!!
WHAT ARE THEY?
 Norms are acceptable standards of behavior
that are shared by the group members

 They tell what is expected of you in certain

situations

 They even influence the behavior of the

group members – “Smokers are not allowed
to smoke in the office premises”
CLASSES OF NORMS
CLASSES OF NORMS RELATION TO
PERFORMANCE How hard should you
work
APPEARANCE How appropriate you
should dress
SOCIAL ARRANGEMENT On and off the job
relations with group
members
ALLOCATION OF Assignment of difficult
RESOURCES jobs, allocation of new
tools and equipments,
PAY
NORMS (CONTD)
 Conformity – Groups can place strong
pressures on individual members to change
their attitudes and behaviors

 Reference Groups – When a group’s norms

are clashing , they conform to important
groups in which they belong or hope to
belong
SOLOMON ASCH EXAMPLE OF
CARDS
Calculates the impact the pressures of
conformity have on an individuals judgment
and attitude
NORMS (CONTD)
DEVIANT WORK BEHAVIOR
“Antisocial actions by members of the group that
intentionally violate established norms”

Co-worker spreads malicious rumors about someone

A member starts yelling and screaming out of

frustration on the team members when the team is
confronted with a problem

A dental hygienist quits after constantly sexually

harassed by her employer
TYPOLOGY OF DEVIANT WORK
BEHAVIOR
GROUP STRUCTURE - STATUS
Socially defined position or rank given to groups
or group members by others

 Vague attempts to be egalitarian

 No success to build a classless society
 Even the smallest groups develop roles, rights
and rituals to differentiate its members
 Status acts as a motivator
“There is always a difference between one’s
perception upon one’s own status and other’s
perception on that very status”
STATUS AND NORMS
Status has had effects on the power of norms

 High status people are given more freedom

to deviate from norms

 They are better able to resist conformity

pressures
STATUS (CONTD)
 Status equity: Refers to matching the status
with the ability of the employee holding it

 If A is selected for promotion because he/she

is better prepared comparing B, then equity
is maintained.
 If B is selected only because she is the
daughter of the CEO, then disequilibrium
occurs
STATUS AND CULTURE
Importance of status does vary among cultures

“An American manager not understanding that

office space is no measure of a Japanese
executive’s position is likely to
unintentionally offend his Japanese
counterpart, affecting their interpersonal
relation”
GROUP STRUCTURE – SIZE
 Size affects the overall behavior of the group

 Smaller groups are faster in completing

tasks, than larger groups

 In case of problem solving and fact finding,

larger groups are more effective
SIZE (CONTD)
Social Loafing
 The tendency of individuals to expend less effort
when working collectively than when working
individually
 When the performance of members as a group
cannot be accurately measured as in case of
individuals, their efficiency reduces

Conclusions
Odd number groups are preferable to Even
Groups made up of 5 or 7 can extract benefits of
both small and big groups
GROUP STRUCTURE -
COMPOSITION
 Heterogeneous groups are preferable

 Diversity simulates conflict that leads to

improved decision making

 However, Heterogeneous groups have more

difficulty in learning to work with each other
COMPOSITION (CONTD)
Group Demography
The degree to which members of a group share a common
demographic attribute, such as age, gender, race, educational
level, or length of service in the organization, and the impact
of this attribute on the turnover

Cohorts
Groups and organizations are composed of cohorts.
If a group of members are born on 1970, they belong to the same
age. This means they all have faced common experiences
The Logic: Turnover will be high from members of a group who
are from dissimilar circumstances, because communication
would be difficult
GROUP STRUCTURE -
COHESIVENESS
Degree to which group members are attracted to each
other and are motivated to stay in a group
How to increase group cohesiveness
 Make the group smaller
 Encourage the agreement with group goals
 Increase the time members spend together
 Increase group status and admission difficulty
 Stimulate competition with other groups
 Give rewards to the group and not individuals
 Physically isolate the group
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN GROUP
COHESIVENESS, PERFORMANCE
NORMS AND PRODUCTIVITY
GROUP PROCESSES
Synergy
An action of two or more substances that
results in an effect that is different from
the individual summation of the
substances

Social facilitation effect

The tendency for performance to improve
or decline in response to the presence of
others
DEVELOPING GROUP PROCESS AWARENESS
 Level 1: Task awareness: getting the job done

 Level 2: Structural awareness: having clear objectives,

plans and time schedule

 Level 3: Role awareness: having a co-ordinator and a mix of

challengers, doers, thinkers and supporters.

 Level 4: Behavioral awareness: reaching consensus by

listening, developing other people’s ideas, give and take
behavior.

 Level 5: Emotional awareness: being on the same emotional

wavelength, expressing feelings honestly and openly
EFFECTS OF GROUP PROCESSES

=
GROUP TASKS
 Decision-making
 Large groups facilitate the pooling of information
about complex tasks.
 Smaller groups are better suited to coordinating
and facilitating the implementation of complex
tasks.
 Simple, routine standardized tasks reduce the
requirement that group processes be effective in
order for the group to perform well.
GROUP DECISION
MAKING
 OVERVIEW
“Many decisions in the organizations all over the
world are made by groups, teams and committees”

Question? - - - - -
“Does that imply that group decisions are preferable
to those made by an individual alone”?
Answer – Depends on a number of factors
STRENGTHS OF GROUP
DECISION MAKING
 Generate more information
 Bring more input
 Offer increased diversity of views
 Opportunity for more approaches and
alternatives
 Outperforms even the best individual
 Increased acceptance of Solution
WEAKNESSES OF GROUP
DECISION MAKING
 Time consuming compared to individuals

 Conformity pressures

 Some members want to be treated as ASSETS

 Dominated by one or two members

EFFECTIVENESS AND
EFFICIENCY OF GROUPS
 Meaning of Effectiveness in Groups
 Degree of Acceptance a Solution achieves
 Meaning of Efficiency in Groups
 At what cost (all factors), the decision is made
 Groups make better decisions, but at the cost of
time
 Groups are more effective, but less efficient
comparing individuals
 Exception: Analyzing data from diverse sources to
come to a solution
SUMMARY IN GROUP DECISION
MAKING

“If the group is comprised of more

individuals with diverse backgrounds,
the alternatives generated should be
more extensive, and the analysis
more critical”
GROUP DECISION MAKING
TECHNIQUES
1- INTERACTING GROUPS
 Most common form
 Members meet face to face
 However, members censor their opinions
after being pressurized by the acceptance of
other opinions
 In order to overcome pressures of conformity
(acceptance), BRAINSTORMING is used
2 – BRAINSTORMING
How does it take place?
 Half a dozen people sit around a table
 Group leader states the problem clearly
 Members give as many alternatives as they
can, if appealing enough are taken for future
 Members asked to think “the unusual”
 This generates ideas from everybody
3 – NOMINAL GROUPS
 No discussion takes place
 Group members work independently
 Each member presents his/her idea to the group
 Group then discusses ideas for clarity
 Each group member ranks each idea

This permits groups to meet together, and work

independently at the same time
4 – ELECTRONIC GROUP
MEANING
 Up to 50 members sit around a horse shoe
table
 Series of computer terminals in front of them
 Issues are presented on screen, and members
type their responses
 Finally, individual comments and aggregate
votes are displayed on screen
ADVANTAGES OF ELECTRONIC
GROUP
 Participants can anonymously type any
message
 Members can be brutally honest
 Unnecessary “chit chat in between” can be
avoided
 Many can talk at once, instead of stepping on
other’s toes
“Future of group meetings will undoubtedly
need this technology”
CHOOSING THE BEST
TECHNIQUE
Each has its PROS and CONS
 Choice is based on
 Which criteria you want to emphasize
 Cost benefit – Trade off

Technique Used for

Interacting Building group cohesiveness
Brainstorming Keep social pressures to minimum
Nominal Inexpensive way to generate many ideas
Electronic Process ideas fast
GROUP THINKING
“Members might feel like speaking, but decide
against it. Sometimes because of shyness.
Mostly because of pressures”

 Members are more charmed to seek

acceptance
 Do not appraise alternative courses of action

“Occurs in groups that already have a positive

image about them: Example: NASA”
CONSEQUENCES
 Deterioration in
 Mental efficiency
 Reality Testing
 Moral judgments

 Symptoms
 They try reducing any resistance
 Apply direct pressure to those who express doubts
 If someone doesn’t speak, his/her answer is YES
MEASURES TO MINIMIZE GROUP
THINKING
 Monitor Group size

 Leaders should be impartial

 Appoint one member to play “DEVIL’s

ADVOCATE”

 Make members first focus on negatives

GROUP SHIFTING
 Special case of Group Thinking

 Final Decision is reflected by the dominant

decision making norm

 Out of conservative members that focus on

greater caution, (vs) aggressive members
that focus on greater risk; decision comes
out of the dominant decision making body
 CONTRIBUTED BY

FAIZAN
RAGESH
VIPIN
ARVIND
HAMSA
11/4/21