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GROUPS

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DEFINING GROUPS

Two or more individuals, interacting and independent, who have come together to achieve particular objectives.Broadly can be classified into two catagories.1.formal.2.Informal.

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"Why do groups form?" General Tendencies:

PERSONEL CHARACTERSTICS.

INTREST AND GOALS

OPPORTUNITY FOR INTERACTION.

INFLUENCE AND POWER. ( Esprit de corps.) foyals last principles,which states thePOWER OF SPIRIT OF TOGETHERNESS.

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There are number of reasons why people join groups –

1. Affiliation :Groups provide a natural way for people to gather in order to satisfy their social needs.

2 Security : By joining a group, individuals can reduce the insecurity of “standing alone.”

3 Self-esteem: If one belongs to a successful group, the self-esteem of all members may be boosted.

4 Goal Achievement, fomation of group may help accomplish goal ,individual as well as org.

5 Status( Economic reasons)

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Types of GroupsI. Formal Group

a. Command group – report directly to a managerb. Task groups – working together to complete a job taskc. Standing committee - A standing committee is a

subunit of a political or deliberative body established in a permanent fashion to aid the parent assembly in accomplishing its duties. A standing committee is usually granted jurisdiction over a particular area of legislation by the parent body.

d. Task force / ad hoc committeeII. Informal Groupa. Interest groups b. Friendship groups

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STAGES OF GROUP DEVELOPMENT

Stages of Group Development

Forming

Storming

Norming

Performing

Adjourning

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1. Forming : It is the first stage in group development, characterized by much uncertainty (about group’s purpose, structure, and leadership).

2. Storming: It is characterized by intra-group conflict. Members accept the existence of group but there is resistance to the constraints that the group imposes on individuality.

Members often show hostility towards each other and resist the leader’s control. If these conflicts are not adequately resolved, the group may even be disbanded.

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3. Norming: This stage is characterized by close relationships and cohesiveness i.e., in this stage close relationships develop and people start having strong sense of identity.

4 Performing: Structure at this point is fully functional and accepted. Group energy has moved from getting to know and understand each other to performing the task at hand.

5 Adjourning: It is the final stage when the group, after achieving the objectives for which it was created, starts to gradually dissolve itself.

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Group characteristics A definable membership

Group consciousness

A sense of shared purpose

Interdependence

Interaction

Ability to act in a unitary manner

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Importance of groups on organizations

Groups are an essential feature of the work patterns of organisations

People in groups influence each other, they may develop their own hierarchies & leaders

Group pressures can have a major influence over the behaviour of individual members & their work performance.

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Group Structure/Properties Group Structure refers to the pattern of interrelationship

that exists among the group members, and makes the group functioning orderly and predictable.

Four important aspects of group’s structure are: Formal leadership Roles. Norms. Group ststus. Group size. Composition of group Group cohesiveness.

1. ROLES – a set of expected behaviour patterns attributed

to someone occupying a position in a social unit

a. Role Identity – certain attributes and behaviours consistent with a role

b. Role Perception.:how one views his role in a group

c. Role Expectations:psychological contract.

d. Role Conflict:when confronted by divergent role expectations.

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2. NORMS

Norms: It is acceptable standards of behaviour that are shared by the group’s members.

Norms have profound effect on members’ behaviour as it ensures conformity among them.

a. Performance Norms: How hard one should work, how to get the job done, their level of output, appropriate level of tardiness etc.

b. Appearance Norms: This include things like appropriate dress, loyalty to work group etc.

c. Social Arrangement Norms: With whom group members eat lunch, friendship, social games, and like are influenced by these norms.

d. Allocations of Resource Norms: These norms can originate in the group and cover things like pay, assignment of difficult jobs, and allocation of new tools and equipment.

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3. Status: A socially defined position or rank given to groups or group members by others. People often join the core group or a renowned club because of the prestige associated with these groups.

Status tends to derive from one of three sources: the power a person wields over others; a person’s ability to contribute to a group’s goals; and an

individual’s personal characteristics. People whose contributions are critical to the group or who

control the outcomes of a group through their power tend to be perceived as high status.

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4. Group Size

: smaller groups are fast at solving tasks.

Problem solving is effectively done by a larger group.

5 Group cohesiveness:

It refers to the strength of group members’ desires to remain a part of the group. This also refers to the degree of attraction of the group members for each other and the ‘we-feeling’ among the members.

The degree of cohesiveness has been found to depend on external threats,

the difficulty in getting included in the group, the amount of time spent by the group members with each

other and the success of the group.

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Group Decision-Making Techniques

In groups, members meet face-to-face and rely on both verbal and non-verbal interaction to communicate with each other.

But these groups often repress/edit themselves and pressurize individual members toward conformity of opinion.

Brainstorming, the nominal group technique, and electronic meetings have been proposed as ways to reduce many of the problems inherent in the traditional interacting group.

Delphi Technique

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The nominal group technique restricts discussion or interpersonal communication during the decision-making process, and hence, the term “nominal”.

When any problem is presented and then the following steps are taken:

1. Members meet as a group. But before any discussion takes place, each member independently writes down his or her ideas on the problem.

2. After this silent period, each member presents one idea to the group. Each member takes his or her turn, presenting a single idea until all ideas have been presented and recorded. No discussion takes place until all ideas have been recorded.

3. The group now discusses the ideas for clarity and evaluates them.

4. Each group member silently and independently rank-orders the ideas. The ideas with the highest aggregate ranking determine the final decision.

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GROUPTHINK Groupthink occurs when a group makes faulty decisions

because group pressures lead to a deterioration of “mental efficiency, reality testing, and moral judgment”

Groups affected by groupthink ignore alternatives and tend to take irrational actions that dehumanize other groups. 

A group is especially vulnerable to groupthink when its members are similar in background,

when the group is insulated from outside opinions, and when there are no clear rules for decision making.

Groupthink occurs when groups are highly cohesive and when they are under considerable pressure to make a quality decision.

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GROUPSHIFT

The group decisions are more conservative than the individual decisions. More often, the shift is towards greater risk.

Group shift can be viewed as actually a special case of groupthink. The decision of the group reflects the dominant decision-making norm that develops during the group’s discussion.

Whether the shift in the group’s decision is towards greater caution or more risk depends on the dominant pre-discussion norm.

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Situation 1

You have just been transferred from the mumbai office to the Delhi office of your company, a national sales organization of electrical products for developers and contractors. In mumba, group members regularly called customer after a sale to ask whether the products arrived on time and whether they are satisfied. But when you moved to the Delhi office, no one seemed to make these follow-up calls. A recently hired co-worker explained that other co-workers discouraged her from making those calls. Later, another co-worker suggested that your follow-up calls were making everyone else look lazy.

Give three possible reasons why the norms in Delhi might be different from those in the mumbai office, even though the customers, products, sales commissions, and other characteristics of the workplace are almost identical.