Foundations of Group

Behavior
CHAPTER 9

Copyright
Copyright ©2010
©2010 Pearson
Pearson Education,
Education, Inc.
Inc. Publishing
Publishing as
as Prentice
Prentice Hall
Hall
 Groups
Two or more individuals, interacting and
interdependent, who come together to achieve
particular objectives

Formal
• Defined by the organization’s
structure
Informal
• Neither formally structured nor
organizationally determined

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 Social identity theory
• Perspective that considers when and why individuals consider
themself members of the group.

• People have emotional reactions to the failure or success of their

group because their self-esteem gets tied into the group’s
performance.

• Identities help people understand who they are and where they fit
in with other people.

• When a group is devalued or disrespected, ones social identity

might feel threatened.

• People develop many identities through the course of their lives.

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 Social identity theory
• We develop identities through:
• Relational identification: when we contact with others because
of our roles.
• Collective identification: connecting with the aggregate
characteristics of the group.

• Identity with respect to organization is the one aspect of

work related identities.
• Identification with work groups is stronger than with the
organization.

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 Ingroups and outgroups

In group favoritism Outgroup

• When we see members • Inverse of an ingroup,
of our ingroup as better which can mean
than other people, and everyone outside the
people not in our group group but is more
as all the same. usually an identified
other group.

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 The Five-Stage Model of Group
Development

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 Group Property 1: Roles

The set of expected behavior patterns that are attributed to occupying a

given position in a social unit

•Role Identity – role’s associated attitudes and behaviors

•Role Perception – our view of how we’re supposed to act in a
given situation
•Role Expectations – how others believe you should act in a given
situation
•Role Conflict – conflict experienced when multiple roles are
incompatible

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 Group Property 2: Norms

Acceptable standards of behavior within a group that are shared by

the group’s members

Conformity: adjustment of ones behavior to align with groups norms

Reference Groups: groups that individual belong or hope to belong or

with whose norms individuals are likely to conform

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 Group Property 3: Status
A socially defined position given to groups or group members by
others

According to status characteristics theory status is determined by:

• The power a person wields over others
• A person’s ability to contribute to a group’s goals
• An individual’s personal characteristics, valued by the
group members e.g. intelligence, money, personality.

•High-status members have more freedom to deviate from

norms and they are better able to resist conformity pressures.

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 Group Property 4: Size and dynamics

• Smaller groups are faster at completing tasks – members perform

better
• Large groups are consistently better at problem solving

• Social Loafing - tendency to expend less effort working in a group

than as an individual

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 Social Loafing

Causes: Prevention:
• Equity theory – unequal • Set common group goals
distribution of work • Increase inter-group
• Diffusion of competition
responsibility – clouded • Engage in peer evaluation
relationship between • Distribute group rewards
individual inputs and based on members’
group output individual contributions

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 Group Property 5: Cohesiveness
The degree to which members of the group are attracted to each
other and motivated to stay in the group

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 Encouraging Cohesiveness

Make the group smaller

Encourage agreement with group goals
Increase the time spent together
Increase the status and perceived difficulty of group
membership
Stimulate competition with other groups
Give rewards to the group rather than to individual
members
Physically isolate the group

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 Group Property 6: Diversity

• The extent to which the members of the group are similar to,
or different from, one another
• Increases conflict in the early stages of group’s tenure.
• Lowers group moral and raises dropout rates.
• Surface level diversity alerts people about deep level diversity.
• Incorporating inclusiveness reduces stress and dissatisfaction.

• Faultiness: The perceived division that splits group into two or

more sub groups based on surface level diversity like gender,
age, experience, education.

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 Group Decision Making

Strengths Weaknesses
• Generate more complete • Takes longer
information and knowledge • Conformity pressures
• Increased diversity of views • Discussions can be dominated
• Increased acceptance of a by one or a few members
solution • Ambiguous responsibility for
the final outcome

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 Group Decision Making
Effectiveness & Efficiency
•Accuracy – group is better than average individual but they
are less accurate than the judgment of the most accurate
group member
•Speed – individuals are faster
•Creativity – groups are better
•Degree of Acceptance – groups are better
•Efficiency: Groups are generally less efficient

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 Groupthink
When the group pressure for conformity deters the group from
critically appraising unusual, minority or unpopular views.

Occurs when:
• There is a clear group identity
• Members hold a positive image of the group which they want to
protect
• There is a collective threat to positive image of the group
Minimizing Groupthink:
• Limit group size (≤10)
• Encourage group leaders to actively seek input from all members and
avoid expressing their own opinions
• Appoint a “devil’s advocate”, challenging majority positions and
offering divergent perspectives

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 Groupshift
• Groupshift is the change between a group’s decision and an
individual decision that a member of the group makes:
• The shift can be either towards conservatism or greater risk
• But it is generally towards the more extreme version of the group’s
original position.

• Group discussions lead members to assume, more extreme,

positions
• Groups often take positions of greater risk or caution
• May be due to diffused responsibility
• People may take extreme positions to show how different they
are from outgroups.

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 Group Decision-Making Techniques

Interacting groups
•Typical groups in which members meet face-to-face and rely
on verbal and non-verbal interactions to communicate.
Brainstorming
• Generates a list of creative alternatives while withholding
criticism
• Problem: Production blocking
Nominal Group Technique (NGT)
• Restricts discussion during the decision-making process to
encourage independent thinking
• Group members physically present but operate
independently.

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