9 - Foundation of Group Behavior

• A group is defined as two or more individuals, interacting and interdependent, who have come together to achieve particular objectives
• A formal group is a designated work group defined by an organization’s structure.
• Informal group is a group that is neither formally structured nor organizationally determined; such a group appears in response to the need for social contact.
• The social identity theory is a perspective that considers when and why individuals consider themselves members of groups.
• Ingroup favoritism is a perspective in which we see members of our ingroup as better than other people, and people not in our group as all the same.
• Characteristics that make Social Identity important:

  • Similarity
  • Distinctiveness
  • Status
  • Uncertainty Reduction
• The five-stage group-development model The five distinct stages groups go through: forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning.
• The forming stage is characterized by a great deal of uncertainty about the group’s purpose, structure, and leadership.
• The storming stage is one of intragroup conflict. Members accept the existence of the group but resist the constraints it imposes on individuality.
• The norming stage is characterized by close relationships and cohesiveness. This stage is only complete when the group structure solidifies and the group has assimilated a common set of expectations of what defines correct member behavior.
• The performing stage is the stage in which the group is fully functional.
• The adjourning stage is characterized by concern with wrapping up activities rather than task performance.
• The punctuated-equilibrium model is a set of phases that temporary groups go through that involves transitions between inertia and activity.
• Group Properties:

  • Roles
  • Norms
  • Status
  • Size
  • Cohesiveness
  • Diversity
• The role is a set of expected behavior patterns attributed to someone occupying a given position in a social unit.
• Role perception is an individual’s view of how he or she is supposed to act in a given situation.
• Role expectations refers to how others believe a person should act in a given situation.
• Role conflict is a situation in which an individual is confronted by divergent role expectations.
• Psychological contract is an unwritten agreement that sets out what management expects from an employee and vice versa.
• Norms are acceptable standards of behavior within a group that are shared by the group’s members.
• Conformity is the adjustment of one’s behavior to align with the norms of the group.
• Reference groups are important groups to which individuals belong or hope to belong and with whose norms individuals are likely to conform.
• Deviant workplace behaviors is a voluntary behavior that violates significant organizational norms and, in so doing, threatens the well being of the organization or its members. Also called antisocial behavior or workplace incivility.
• Status is a socially defined positionor rank given to groups or group members by others.
• Status characteristics theory is a theory that states that differences in status characteristics create status hierarchies within groups.
• Social loafing is the tendency for individuals to expend less effort when working collectively than when working individually.
• Cohesiveness is the degree to which members are attracted to each other and motivated to stay in the group.
• A diversity in the group’s membership is the degree to which members of the group are similar to, or different from, one another.
• Groupthink is a phenomenon in which the norm for consensus overrides the realistic appraisal of alternative courses of action.
• Groupshift is the change between a group’s decision and an individual decision that a member within the group would make; the shift can be toward either conservatism or greater risk but it generally is toward a more extreme version of the group’s original position.
• Interacting groups are typical groups in which members interact with each other face to face.
• Brainstorming is an idea-generation process that specifically encourages any and all alternatives while withholding any criticism of those alternatives.
• Nominal group technique is a group decision-making method in which individual members meet face to face to pool their judgments in a systematic but independent fashion.
• Electronic meeting is a meeting in which members interact on computers, allowing for anonymity of comments and aggregation of votes.