Foundations of group Behavior

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Foundations of group Behavior
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Group Two or more individuals, interacting and
interdependent, who have come together to achieve
particular goals.

• Formal group-defined by org. structure
• Informal group-Neither formally structured, nor
  org. determined
• (appears out of need for a social conflict)
• Command group-Manager and his/her sub.
• Task group-Working together to complete a job
  task.
• Interest group-Working together to attain a
  specific objective with which each is concerned.
• Friendship group-Brought together to share common
  interests. (Social alliances)

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Stages of group development

• Forming Uncertainty about the purpose , testing
  the behavior. This stage ends when members think
  of themselves as a group.
• Storming (Attack) Intra group conflict
  Resistance to the group constraint, Conflict over
  the control Ends with clear hierarchy
• Norming Solidify of the group structure Close
  relations and cohesiveness Assimilated a common
  set of expectations of what defines correct
  member behavior.
• Performing-The group is fully functional, Energy
  has shifted from knowing each other to performing
  the task at a hand.
• Adjourning state- only for temporary groups.
  Includes finishing the task. Some members may be
  upbeat, and some discouraged for loosing friends.

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AN ALTERNATIVE MODEL TEMPORARY GROUPS WITH
DEADLINES

• Punctuated (interrupted) equilibrium
  modelTemporary groups go to transition from
  inertia to activity
• Phase 1 Inertia(Inactivity)
• 1.Meeting sets the group direction, a framework
  of behavior
• 2.Once set its unlikely to be changed
• 3. Transition comes at the half period ( almost
  every time)
• Phase 2 Activity
• 1. New equilibriumexecution of planes from the
  Phase 1
• 2. Last meeting burst of activity to accomplish
  the project.
• USUALY USED IN PROJECT MANAGEMENT

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SOCIOMETRYANALYZING GROUP INTERACTION

• Sociometry ( Social Network Mapping)analytical
  technique for studying group interactions.
• Sociometry seeks to find out who people like or
  dislike and with whom they would or would not
  finish the work.
• Interviews or questionnaires-results in sociogram
• KEY TERMS
• Social networks-Sets of linkages among a defined
  set of individuals
• Clusters-Groups that exist within social networks
• Prescribed clusters-Formal groups ( departments)
• Emergent clusters Informal groups
• Coalitions-clusters of individuals who
  temporarily come together to achieve a specific
  purpose.

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• Stars-Individuals with the most linkages in the
  network
• Liaisons-Individuals who connect 2 or more
  clusters but are not members of any cluster
• Bridges Individuals who serve as a links
  belonging to two clusters
• Isolates Individuals who are not connected to a
  social network.

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EXPLAINING GROUP BEHAVIOREXTERNAL CONDITIONS

• Work group is a member of an organization
  Overall strategy (differentiation, low cost
  strategy, expansion, market follower)
• Authority structures-who reports to whom
  determined by the organization
• Rules, SOP, Formal regulations
• Size and position of the organization ( Large,
  Resources, Poor, Small)
• Evaluation and reward system performance
  objectives, pay, motivation
• Organizations culture-code of dress, behavior,
  ethics, (Common perception held by the org.
  members A system of shared meaning
• Physical atmosphere-oceanic type vs. individual
  offices technology engaged

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EXPLAINING GROUP BEHAVIORINTERNAL GROUP MEMBER
RESOURCES

• Knowledge, Skills and Abilities
• Not only a sum of individuals-it depends on
• Interpersonal skills, Conflict management and
  resolution, Communication, Training and
  Development
• Personality characteristics
• Attributes that tend to have a positive
  connotation in the culture tend to be positively
  related with productivity, moral and
  cohesiveness.

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GROUP STRUCTURE VARIABLES THAT SHAPE IT

• Formal leadership
• Roles
• Norms
• Status
• Size
• Composition
• Cohesiveness

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• Formal leader every group has one
• Roles-ShakespeareAll the world is a stage
• -Set of expected behavior patterns attributed to
  someone occupying a given position in a social
  unit.
• Different roles-at work, leisure ( clubs, social
  events)
• Role identity-Certain attitudes and behaviors
  consistent with a role People shift roles
  rapidly according the situation (Stewards,
  Management)
• IN Role perception Individuals opinion about
  how he/she should act in a certain position
• OUT Role expectations-How others perceive the
  role
• Role conflict Divergent role expectations
• Experiment Prison at Stanford

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Norms and Status

• Norms acceptable standards of behavior within
  the group that are shared by the groups
  members.Every group has developed a norms
• Performance Norms-How hard they should work,
  Level of output, How to get the job done
• Appearance norms-Code of dress
• Social Arrangement Norms refers to informal
  groups social interactions, with whom to dine,
  have a party etc.
• Allocation of resources norms

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• Conformity Adjusting once behavior to align with
  the norms of the group
• Reference group-Important group to which
  individuals belong or hope to belong.
• Aspiration group tendency for the future, wish
  to belong to
• Rejection groups ( Dissociative) group

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Status

• Status-socially defined position or rank given to
  groups or group members by others
• Important factor in understanding human behavior
  in a society that is not egalitarian.
• Status and norms-High status members are given
  the right to more deviant behavior and less
• Status and culture The importance of status
  vary between cultures
• Japan size of the office plays no role, UK
  family genealogy
• SIZE - Social Loafing (hang out)Negative
  Synergy, the tendency of people to expend less
  effort then working collectively(pull the rope
• COHESIVENESS-Motivation of the group members to
  interact

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Group Processes

• Synergy An action of two or more things,
  people, or organizations, especially when the
  result is greater than the sum of their
  individual effects or capabilities
• Social Loafing (hang out)Negative Synergy
• Social Facilitation Effect Tendency to improve
  /decline performance in response to the presence
  of others
• Simple, routine tasks improve
• Complicated, intellectual tasks-decline

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Group Process II( Tasks)

• Task requirements moderates the size of the group
  (Oil company Large task force for initial
  investigation, small task force for
  implementation)
• Tasks Simple.Routine, Standardized, SOP can be
  applied
• Complex.. Non-routine ( Requires
  interaction)

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Group Decision Making-Decision making is a
process by which managers respond to
opportunities and threats by analyzing options
and making determinations about specific
organizational goals and courses of action.

• Strengths
• More Complete Information and knowledge to be
  processes
• Accumulated experience and combined skills
• Less likely to fall to biases
• Diversity of views
• Correct errors
• Weaknesses
• Time consuming
• Conformity pressures ( Kennedy)
• Might be dominated by one or few members
• Ambiguous( Unclear) responsibility

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• Effectiveness and efficiency
• Criteria for effectiveness
• Accuracybetter
• Qualityhigher
• Speedlower results
• Creativitybetter results then individual DM
• Criteria for efficiency
• Time, Quality of data
• Time less Efficient, Data Quality more efficient
• Summary Groups are an excellent vehicle in the
  decision making process Breadth and Depth of
  information

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GROUPTHINK AND GROUPSHIFT BYPRODUCTS OF GROUP
DECISION MAKING

• Groupthink- unanimity calls for consensus and
  overrides the realistic appraisal of alternative
• Symptoms
• Illusion of invulnerability
• Pressure to conform
• Opposing ideas dismissed
• Members rationalize any resistance to the
  assumptions they have made
• Direct pressures on those who express doubts
• Members with different points of view seek to
  avoid conflicts
• Illusion of unanimity ( harmony)
• HOW TO MINIMIZE?
• Group leaders with impartial role
• Devils advocate

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Groupshift

• A change in decision risk between the groups
  decision that members within the group would
  make
• More conservative
• Greater risk
• Significant shift in members attitudes may
  arise.
• Group behavior defines NORMS.
• They may lead to restrictions or to greater
  risks.

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GROUP DECISION MAKING TECHNIQUES

• Interacting groups meet regularly and discuss
• Brain storming
• Electronic meeting
• Anonymity Honesty Speed
• Delphi techniques

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Brainstorming

• Idea generation process which encourages any
  alternatives, while withholding any criticism.
• When to use it? For creative generation of
  diverse ideas or options
• How to use it?Once it begins the process itself
  stimulates subsequent ideas
• Brainstorming rules
• 1.It may be used without clear ground rules
• 2. No evaluation of discussion
• 3.All ideas are recorded
• 4.The process continues until idea stream comes
  to a trickle (filter)

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Nominal Group Conference (Techniques)

• Silent generation independent
• Each member presents his/ her ideas
• Group classification finding similarities
• Group discuss ideas dir clarity and evaluates
  them
• Voting and ranking / Each group silently
  rank-orders the ideas
• Leader collects all the rankings and combines
  them into a group ranking of the ideas
• Discussion of results-preparing for action

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Devil's advocacy and Dialectical Inquiry

• Devil's advocacy is a critical analysis of
  preferred alternative, made in response to
  challenges raised by a group member who, playing
  the role of devil's advocate, defends unpopular
  or opposing alternatives for the sake of the
  argument.
• Orangina- Should start a new product line-Jafa?
• Dialectical inquiry goes one step further. Two
  groups are assigned to a problem , and each group
  is responsible for the evaluating alternatives.

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Problem to be solved

• Banking firm wants to expand through Macedonia
• 1) On line SWOT
• 2) Physical presence-Branches
• Use the devils advocacy technique to solve the
  problem

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Nominal technique

• Alkaloid a.d. Skopje, one of the largest
  industries is considering future development
• There are some ideas about
• expanding internationally on new markets
• expanding through market penetration on current
  markets
• expanding through establishment of a new product
  lines, related or not with the current product
  mix.
• Use the nominal technique to develop possible
  alternatives