LESSON

LESSON 66

ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR

Group Behavior

8–1
 After this Lesson, you should be able to:

1. Differentiate between formal and informal groups

2. Describe how role requirements change in different situations
3. Describe how norms exert influence on an individual’s
behavior
4. Explain what determines status
5. Define social loafing and its effect on group performance
6. Identify the benefits and disadvantages of cohesive groups
7. List the strengths and weaknesses of group decision making
8. Contrast the effectiveness of interacting, brainstorming,
nominal and electronic meeting groups

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 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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 Groups

“A group consists of two or more interacting persons

who share common goals, have a stable
relationship, are somehow interdependent and
perceive that they are in fact part of a group.”

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 Groups

 The word “group” has many meanings. Generally we

use the term ‘group’ keeping in mind three main
points:
 where a number of persons are sitting or working
together. The essential thing is the physical proximity of a
number of people being together at a given time with or
without any common purpose;
 where persons are classified as belonging to an
association.
 where persons belong to an organisation. This group has
definite structure, and people in this group have a sense
of belongingness to the given organisation 8-5
 Groups

 Generally people join in groups due to various needs

and these include:
 Satisfaction of important psychological and social needs,
viz., receiving affection and attention, for attaining
belongingness.
 Achievement of goal in a smooth and easy way. By
working with others, the person performs the task well
than doing it alone.
 Getting knowledge and information on various issues
which are not available at one place .
 Getting safety and security
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 Groups

 Some important features of group include:

 One or more individuals come together and influence
each other.
 There are social interactions and relationships amongst
the individual members
 of a group.
 There exists some common motives, drives, interests,
emotions etc. amongst group members.
 There is communication among group members, both
verbal and or non-verbal.

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 Groups

 Group formation is concerned with the following:

 The manner in which the groups form
 The structures and processes of the group
 The functions of the group in different situations .

 There are mainly five stages of group development,

viz.,
 forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning.

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 Groups

 Forming is a stage which is characterised by some

confusion and uncertainty.
 Forming is actually an orientation period when members
get to know one another and share expectations about
the group.
 Storming is the stage where one can see the highest
level of disagreement and conflict.
 Members mainly voice their concern, and criticism occurs
at this stage.
 Actually in this stage interpersonal conflicts arise and
differences of opinion about the group goals also emerge.
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 Groups

 Norming is characterised by the recognition of

individual differences and shared expectations.
 Responsibilities are divided among members and the
group decides how it will evaluate the progress. If the
group resolves its conflicts, it can establish patterns of
how to get its work done.
 Performing occurs when the group has matured and
attains a feeling of cohesiveness.
 In this stage, members of the group make decision
through a rational process that is focused on relevant
goals rather than emotional issues.
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 Theories of Group Formation

 There are several theories regarding group

formation and development.
 These include classic theory, social exchange and
social identity theory

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 Theories of Group Formation

 Classic Theory: A classic theory, developed by

George Homans suggests that groups develop on
the basis of activities, interactions and sentiments
mainly.
 Basically, this theory indicates that when individuals
share common activities they will have more interaction
and will develop attitudes (either positive or negative)
toward each other. The main element is the interaction of
the individuals involved.

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 Theories of Group Formation

 Social Exchange Theory: Another important theory

is the social exchange theory which offers an
alternative explanation for group development.
 According to this theory individuals form the relationship
on the basis of implicit expectation of mutually beneficial
exchanges based on trust and felt obligation.
 It can further be said that a perception that exchange
relationships will be positive if persons are to be attracted
to and affiliate with a group.

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 Theories of Group Formation

 Social Identity Theory: Besides this, another

important theory is social identity theory which
offers explanation for group formation.
 This theory suggests that individuals get a sense of
identity and self-esteem based on their membership in
salient groups.
 The group is demographically, culturally and
organizationally based.

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 Four Types of Groups
There are generally four types of groups:
• Command, Task, Interest and Friendship

 Command group.
 This is a formal group, determined by the organization’s
hierarchal chart and composed of the individuals that
report to a particular manager.

 Task group.
 This is also a type of formal group, and the term is used to
describe those groups that have been brought together to
complete a task.
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 Social Loafing

 Social loafing is a phenomenon in social

psychology where individuals exert less effort
when working in a group than they would if
working alone.

 This theory is rooted in research conducted by

Bibb Latané, who discovered that individuals
were less likely to put forth their full effort when
working on a collective task, as compared to an
individual one. 8-16
 Social Loafing

 The amount of effort an individual puts forth is

influenced by the perceived meaningfulness of the
task at hand.
 In other words, individuals are more likely to put in effort
when they believe their contribution is necessary for
project success.

 The Collective Effort Model (CEM) is a theoretical

framework used to explain social loafing.
 It proposes that social loafing tendency is determined by
two factors: the chance of team members receiving
personal credit and the meaningfulness of the task.
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 Group Structure

• Role:
– Role or the typical part played by an individual
group member in accordance with the
expectations of other members from him.
• Norms:
– Norms are the rules and mutual expectations that
develop within the group.
– Norms have profound effect on members’
behaviour as it ensures conformity among them
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 Group Structure
• Status:
– Status is the relative prestige or social position
given to groups or individuals by others.

• Group cohesiveness:
– It refers to the degree of attraction to the group
members for each other and the “we feeling”
among the members. Without proper group
structure, group can not function properly in any
situation.
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 Roles
To engage in a set of expected behavior patterns
that are attributed to occupying a given position
in a social unit:
• Role Identity
o attitudes and behaviors consistent with a role
• Role Perception
o our view of how we’re supposed to act in a given
situation

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 Roles

• Role Expectations
 how others believe you should act in a given situation

• Psychological contract
 an unwritten agreement between employees and
employer setting out mutual expectations

• Role conflict
 when an individual finds that compliance with one role
requirement may make it more difficult to comply with
another
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 Norms
• Acceptable standards of behavior within a
group that are shared by the group’s members
 Tell members of a group what they ought and
ought not to do under certain circumstances

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 Status
• A socially defined position or rank given to
groups or group members by others

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 What Determines Status?
• The power a person wields over others
• A person’s ability to contribute to a group’s
goals
• An individual’s personal characteristics

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 Impact of Status
• High-status members of groups often are
given more freedom to deviate from norms
• Interaction among members of groups is
influenced by status
• When inequity is perceived, it results in
various types of corrective behavior
• Cultural differences affect status

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 How Size Affects a Group
• Smaller groups are faster at completing tasks
• Individuals perform better in smaller groups
• Large groups are consistently better at
problem solving
• Social loafing - tendency to expend less effort
in a group than as an individual

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 Cohesiveness

• The degree to which members of the group

are attracted to each other and motivated
to stay in the group
– Related to the group’s productivity

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Relationship of Cohesiveness
to Productivity

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 How Can Managers
Encourage Cohesiveness?
1. Make the group smaller
2. Encourage agreement with group goals
3. Increase the time spent together
4. Increase the status and perceived difficulty of
group membership
5. Stimulate competition with other groups
6. Give rewards to the group rather than to individual
members
7. Physically isolate the group

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

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 Effectiveness & Efficiency
• Effectiveness:
 Accuracy – group is better than average individual but
worse than 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: some major symptoms
Symptoms of defective
Groupthink
decision-making
• – Incomplete
Illusion survey of alternatives
of invulnerability
– Incomplete survey of objectives
• Collective rationalization
– Failure to examine the risks of the favored alternative
• Belief in the morality of the group
– Poor information search
• Stereotyping ofinoutgroups
– Selective bias processing available information
• Direct pressure
– Failure on dissenters
to reassess alternatives
• – Failure to work out contingency plans
Self-censorship
• Illusion of unanimity
• Mindguards
 Groupthink occurs
most often when
• A clear group identity exists
• Members hold a positive image of their group
that they want to protect
• The group perceives a
collective threat to this
positive image

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 Minimizing Groupthink
• Limit group size to 10 or less
• Encourage group leaders to actively seek input
from all members and avoid expressing their
own opinions, especially in the early stages of
deliberation
• Appoint a “devil’s advocate”

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 Groupshift
• Decision of the group reflects the dominant
decision-making norm that develops during
the group’s discussion
• Exaggerates the initial
position of the
members and more
often to greater risk

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Group Decision-Making Techniques
• Reduce common problems with:
– Brainstorming – technique to encourage any and
all alternatives while withholding any criticism of
the alternatives
– Nominal group technique – restricts discussion
during the process to encourage independent
thinking
– Electronic meetings – use computers to
anonymously give honest input

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 Performance Implications for Managers

• Positive relationship between role perception

and performance
• Norms help explain behavior
• Status inequities adversely impact productivity
and performance
• Set group size based on task at hand
• Cohesiveness can influence productivity

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 Satisfaction Implication for Managers

• High congruence between boss and employee

on perception of job shows significant
association with employee satisfaction
• Satisfaction is greater when job minimizes
interaction with individuals of lower status
• Larger groups are associated with lower
satisfaction

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Thank

You