1/18/2011 1 Group Dynamics Organizational Behaviour Ambika Nagar Index • Introduction and rules setting • Lecture Plan for all Topics and approach to be followed • Short Exercise • Recap-OB defined and its challenges • Groups • Teams • Reading Material
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• Formal : Behaviour that team members engage in are stipulated by and directed towards organizational goals.
▫ Command Group: A group composed of the individuals who reportdirectly to a given manager
▫ Task Group: People working together to complete a job task beyondcommand relationships
• Informal: not formally structured nor organizationally determined,such a group appears in response to the need for social contact.
▫ Interest Group: People working together to attain a specific objectivewith which each is concerned
▫ Friendship Group: People brought together because they share one ormore common characteristics.
Classification contd…
Primary / Secondary
• Primary – small in size, frequent face to face contact and close intimaterelationships eg playgroup, sports team
• Secondary- Assumes impersonal nature and may be geographically distant eg. Hospital, company etc
Co-acting group – level of independence expreienced by group members-limited interdependency and cohesiveness – members relate more toeach other at the advanced stages of work processes or assignmentswhere there may be a need for cooperation and coordination.
Counteracting group- opposing aims and compete for scarce resources-struggle for power and advantage
Reference Group- possess a certain attraction and individuals join toidentify with them in some way. Hence can influence a persons’ outlook without that person being a member of it.
Why do people join groups?• Security- reduce security of “ standing alone”
• Status: Inclusion in a group that gives status and recognition
• Self Esteem-Increased self worth
• Affiliation- Social Needs
• Power- Strength in numbers
• Goal achievement- Need to pool talents, knowledge , power
Elements of Group structure• Roles and status
▫ The set of behaviours that individuals occupying specificpositions within a group are expected to perform.
▫ Different Roles performed by each person. Roles help to clarify the responsibilities and obligations of the persons belonging to agroup.
▫ Status: Social Standing or rank within a group. Depends onpower one wields over others, persons ability to contribute to agroup and personal characteristics (social characteristics theory)
• Size:▫ smaller groups faster at completing tasks than larger and
individuals perform better in smaller groups than larger. SocialLoafing- tendency for individuals to expend less effort whenworking collectively than when working individually.
▫ Reduction in effort when individuals feel that their contributioncan not be measured.
• Rules and Norms:▫ Rules within a group indicating how its members “should” or
“should not” behave- conformity, deviant workplace behaviour.▫ Norms- acceptable standards of behaviour, differ from rules as they
are informal, usually unstated and taken for granted by groupmembers
• Leaders and Followers:▫ Task leader/ initiating leader – focuses the group on goal
achievement and specific outcome eg. Clarify goals, evaluateprogress, seek and share information
▫ Socio-emotional leader / relationship or maintenance leader focuseson the emotional and social aspects of a group eg encourage andpraise others, resolve conflicts and constructing and maintaininggroup cohesion
▫ Followers: National cultures low on power distance (question theleader’s actions) would be least supportive followers and cultureshigh on power distance would be the most supportive of groupleaders efforts
• Cohesiveness: All forces or factors that bind the memberstogether. It involves 2 dimensions
▫ Task-social relates to the extent to which individuals are interested in thegoals of the group (task) or in social relationships within it (social)
▫ Individual-Group dimension- the extent to which members arecommitted to the group or to other members
MediumProductivity
ModerateProductivity
Low Productivity Moderate to Low Productivity
Cohesiveness
PerformanceNorms
Relationship between Group Cohesiveness, Performance Norms and Productivity
Groups experience some type of change as a result of member interaction.
• Communication - factual or emotional
• Group Culture- increase cohesiveness or conflict
• Decision Making- cultures and level of participation.Groupthink – when members of a highly cohesive groupare unable to evaluate each others inputs critically (Janis, 1982). Results in less than optimal decisions