GROUPS
CHAPTER 9
@ZURAIDAH MOHAMED ISA/UiTM KEDAH/2008
Organizational Behavior (OB)
Defined
• The study of the actions of people at work
• The focus of OB
– Individual behaviors
• Personality, perception, learning, and motivation
– Group behaviors
• Norms, roles, team-and conflict
• The goals of OB
– To explain
– To predict behavior
Why People Join Groups
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Security
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Status
•
Self-esteem
•
Affiliation
•
Power
•
Goal achievement
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Reduce the insecurity of “standing alone”; feel stronger, fewer selfdoubts, and more resistant to threats
Inclusion in a group viewed by outsiders as important; provides
recognition and status
Provides feelings of self-worth to group members, in addition to
conveying status to outsiders
Fulfills social needs. Enjoys regular interaction; can be primary source
for fulfilling need for affiliation
What cannot be achieved individually often becomes possible; power in
numbers
Some tasks require more than one person; need to pool talents,
knowledge, or power to complete the job. In such instances,
management may rely on the use of a formal group
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Defining and Classifying Groups
Group(s)
Two or more individuals interacting and
interdependent, who have come together
to achieve particular objectives.
Formal Group
Informal Group
A designated work
group defined by the
organization’s structure.
A group that is neither
formally structured now
organizationally determined;
appears in response to the
need for social contact.
Defining and Classifying Groups
(cont’d)
Command Group
Task Group
A group composed of
the individuals who
report directly to a
given manager.
Those working together
to complete a job or task.
Interest Group
Friendship Group
Those working together
to attain a specific
objective with which
each is concerned.
Those brought together
because they share one
or more common
characteristics.
Norms
Norms are acceptable standards shared by
the members of a group.
• Dress/attire
• Effort/performance
• Loyalty/commitment
• Attitude/manners
• Conformity/peer pressure
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Norms
1. Acceptable standards of behavior within a
group that are adopted and shared by the
group’s members
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Influence the group's behavior with a minimum of
external controls
Exert pressure upon members to bring their
behavior into conformity with the standards of the
group; individuals do desire to conform to group
standards and norms (Ash study)
Performance norms are most important
Cohesiveness
The degree to which group members are
attracted to each other and are motivated
to stay in the group.
• Time spent together
• Shared experiences
• Number of members and diversity
EXHIBIT 12–3
Relationship between group cohesiveness, performance norms, and productivity.
Copyright 2001
Prentice Hall Publishing
Supervision Today, 3/e
Stephen P. Robbins and David A. De Cenzo
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Group Structure - Cohesiveness
Cohesiveness
Degree to which group members are attracted to
each other and are motivated to stay in the group.
Increasing group cohesiveness:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Make the group smaller.
Encourage agreement with group goals.
Increase time members spend together.
Increase group status and admission difficultly.
Stimulate competition with other groups.
Give rewards to the group, not individuals.
Physically isolate the group.
Sources of Cohesion
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Group Formation Factors
Difficulty of Entry
Group Size
Threat
Previous Successes
Reward Systems
Stability of Membership
Relationship Between Group
Cohesiveness, Performance Norms,
and Productivity
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How groups make decision
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Decision by lack of response
Decision by authority rule
Decision by minority
Decision by majority rule
Decision by consensus
Decision by unsnimity
Potential Assets of Group Decision
Making
• Greater sum total of knowledge and info
• Greater number of approaches to the
problem
• Better understanding
• Increased acceptance of final decision
Potential Liabilities of Group Decision
Making
• Social pressure to conform
• Individual domination
• Time spend
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Techniques Used to Improve Group Decisions
• Brainstorming
• The nominal group technique
• Delphi technique
What is brainstorming?
• Brainstorming is a means of generating ideas.
• Brainstorming can be used to identify
alternatives, obtain a complete list of items and
to solve problems.
• There are a variety of brainstorming techniques.
• The common principle of brainstorming is to set
aside the restrictive thinking processes so that
many ideas can be generated.
RULES
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No criticism of ideas
Go for large quantities of ideas
Build on each others ideas
Encourage wild and exaggerated ideas
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Why use brainstorming techniques?
• Brainstorming can:
– break through traditional thinking about a
problem.
– generate new ways of thinking.
– provide an environment for building on new
ideas.
– reduce the tendency to prematurely discard
new ideas.
– facilitate team building.
– encourage team problem solving.
Brainstorming is not a structured
meeting
• Brainstorming is:
– Idea generation
– Issue generation
– Divergent
thinking
– Open format
Structured meeting is:
– Fixed agenda
– Chairperson
– Minutes
– Action items
A brainstorming technique
 Present the problem or opportunity for which
brainstorming is being applied
 Allocate 3-5 minutes to write on the post-it notes as many
ideas as possible – one idea per note
 Each person quickly writes their thoughts onto the post-it
notes regardless of how impractical, outrageous,
extreme, crazy they may be (do not filter the ideas)
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Affinity analysis
 Each person in turn sticks their post-it notes on the
whiteboard, putting their note near to an idea that is
similar to theirs. This should result in clusters of post-it
notes representing similar ideas.
 Review the ideas by cluster. For each type of idea ask
the group “How could we make this work?” Discuss each
variation of the idea and refine to develop a possible
solution.
Summary and future action
 Write up a summary of each type of idea/solution
presented.
 Determine an action plan for working through the ideas.
 The action plan may be to test or further research the
alternatives identified to select a shortlist of the most
suitable solutions for further evaluation.
The Nominal Group
Technique
• Nominal Group Techniques Defined
– A technique to improve group decision
making that brings people together in a very
structured meeting that does not allow of
much verbal communication. The group
decision is a mathematically pooled outcome
of individual votes
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The Nominal Group Technique
One or more small
groups sit at tables of 4-5
people
The problem is defined as
fully as possible to the
group
Participants are instructed to silently write
down all possible solutions that occur to them.
Creativity is encouraged
The leader conducts a “round-robin”
collection and recording of ideas. One idea
at a time is taken from each person until all
ideas are exhausted
Ideas can be rank ordered
within the groups, results
compared and the best ideas
chosen
Ideas are discussed
expanded on, clarified and
evaluated by the group(s)
Strengths of NGT
• NGT provides structured output that can be
analyzed at an individual level
• The NGT process results in high respondent
involvement and commitment
• The process of identifying and scoring problem
themes makes it possible to study both intraand inter-group differences
Weaknesses of NGT
• The major disadvantage of NGT relates to
sampling. Because participants have to agree to
come to a central meeting location, attempts at
probability sampling are met by a serious level
of non-response
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Definition
• The Delphi Technique is a method
for gathering opinions from a
group of geographically dispersed
experts to reach a consensus
through the use of multiple
questionnaires without holding a
group meeting.
Issue Selection
Panel Selection
Development and Distribution of
Questionnaire
Collect and Analyze Results
Yes
Consensus?
No
Prepare New
Questionnaire
Some advantages…
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Does not require face-to-face meetings.
Convenient to participant.
Distance is not a factor.
Inexpensive.
Free of social pressure.
Focus stays on issue at hand.
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Some Disadvantages…
• May eliminate extreme positions and force
middle-of-the-road consensus.
• Requires skill in written communication.
• Results are limited.
• More time consuming and requires full
commitment from participants.
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