Foundations of group behavior

Copyright ©2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 8-1
Essentials of
Organizational Behavior, 10/e
Stephen P. Robbins & Timothy A. Judge
Chapter 8
Foundations of Group
Behavior

After studying this chapter, you
should be able to:
1. Define group and differentiate between types of
groups.
2. Identify the five stages of group development.
3. List and define the five properties of groups.
4. Demonstrate how norms and status exert influence
on an individual’s behavior.
5. Contrast the strengths and weaknesses of group
decision making.
6. Evaluate evidence for cultural differences in group
status and social loafing as well as the effects of
diversity in groups.

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

Four Types of Groups
Formal Groups
• Command – determined
by the organization chart
• Task – working together
to complete a job task
Informal Groups
• Interest – affiliate to
attain a specific objective
of shared interest
• Friendship – members
have one or more
common characteristics

Why Do People Join Groups?
• Security
• Status
• Self-esteem
• Affiliation
• Power
• Goal achievement

The Five-Stage Model
of Group Development

Key Points & Critique
of Five-Stage Model
• Group Effectiveness:
 Generally groups are more effective as they progress
 Reasons for this are complex
• Group Conflict:
 Some groups need conflict, most productive in Stage II
• Blurred Stages:
 Stages not always sequential
 Multiple stages may be taken simultaneously
 May regress a stage

Group Properties
• Roles
• Norms
• Status
• Size
• Cohesiveness

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

Group Property 2: Norms
Acceptable standards of behavior within a
group that are shared by the group’s
members
• Powerful means of
influencing behavior
• Performance Norms

Lessons from
the Hawthorne Studies
• Productivity increased because groups
were paid attention to by the observers –
not because of changes in environment
• Workers in groups do not maximize
individual economic rewards
• Group standards are set and enforced by
the group itself

Conformity
• Reference Groups:
 Groups in which a person is aware of other
members, defines self as a member, believes group
members to be significant
 Individuals try to conform to norms of these groups
• Asch Studies
 Members desire to avoid being visibly different
 Members with differing opinions feel extensive
pressure to align with others
 Level of conformity has declined since 1950s

Deviant Workplace Behavior
Voluntary behavior that violates significant
organizational norms and, in doing so,
threatens the well-being of the organization
or its members
• Is likely to flourish when:
 Supported by group norms
 People are in groups

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

Impact of Status
• High-status members:
 Often have more freedom to deviate from norms
 Are better able to resist conformity pressures
• Interaction among members of groups
is influenced by status
 High status people are more assertive
 Low status members may not participate
 Group creativity may suffer

Group Property 4: Size
• 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

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

Group Property 5:
Cohesiveness
The degree to which
members of the group are
attracted to each other and
motivated to stay in the
group
• Performance-related norms are the
moderating variable for
productivity and cohesiveness
• High cohesiveness with high norms
gives higher productivity

Encouraging 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

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

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

Groupthink Symptoms
A deterioration of individual’s mental
efficiency, reality testing, and moral
judgments as a result of group pressures
Occurs when members:
 Rationalize away resistance to assumptions
 Pressure doubters to support the majority
 Doubters keep silent/minimize their misgivings
 Interprets silence as a “yes” vote

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”

Groupshift
• Group discussions lead
members to assume
new, more extreme,
positions
• Groups often take
positions of greater risk
• May be due to diffused
responsibility

Group Decision-Making
Techniques
Interacting groups meet face-to-face and
rely on verbal and non-verbal interactions to
communicate
Brainstorming
 Generates a list of creative alternatives
 Problem: production blocking
Nominal Group Technique (NGT)
 Restricts discussion during the decision-making
process to encourage independent thinking

Global Implications
Cultural differences affect the
importance, display, and derivation of
status.
Social loafing occurs mostly in individualistic
cultures motivated by self-interest.
Diversity leads to greater conflict but the
surface-level recognition may make
members more open-minded and
accepting – leading to better decisions.

Implications for Managers
• Positive relationship between role
perception and performance evaluation
• Group norms can affect individual
performance either positively or negatively
• Status inequities adversely impact
productivity and performance
• Group size impacts effectiveness
• Cohesiveness can influence productivity

Keep in Mind…
• Group norms, roles, and identities have
powerful affects on individual behavior
• Conformity can be a problem: have leaders
minimize initial inputs
• Group decision making is not always better
than individual decision making

Summary
1. Defined group and differentiated between types of
groups.
2. Identified the five stages of group development.
3. Listed and defined the five properties of groups.
4. Demonstrated how norms and status exert influence on
an individual’s behavior.
5. Contrasted the strengths and weaknesses of group
decision making.
6. Evaluated evidence for cultural differences in group
status and social loafing as well as the effects of
diversity in groups.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
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photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior
written permission of the publisher. Printed in the
United States of America.

Foundations of group behavior

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Foundations of group behavior