Chapter 7 Foundations of Group Behavior
CHAPTER 7 - FOUNDATIONS OF GROUP BEHAVIOR
CHAPTER OBJECTIVES
After reading this chapter, students should be able to:
1. Differentiate between formal and informal groups.
2. Explain why people join groups.
3. Describe how role requirements change in different situations.
4. Explain the importance of the Hawthorne studies.
5. Describe the importance of the Asch studies.
6. Identify the implications of social loafing.
7. Outline the benefits and disadvantages of cohesive groups.
8. Explain the effect of diversity on group performance.
9. Contrast groupthink and groupshift.
LECTURE OUTLINE
I.
II.
DEFINING AND CLASSIFYING GROUPS
A. Definition
1. A group is defined as two or more individuals, interacting and interdependent, who come
together to achieve particular objectives. Groups can be either formal or informal.
a) By formal, we mean a group that is defined by the organization’s structure, with
designated work assignments establishing tasks and work groups.
b) In formal groups the behaviors that one should engage in are stipulated by and
directed toward organizational goals.
c) In contrast, informal groups are alliances that are neither structured nor
organizationally determined. In the work environment these groups form naturally as
responses to the need for social contact.
2. Subclassify groups into command, task, interest, or friendship categories.
a) Command and task groups are dictated by the formal organization, whereas interest
and friendship groups are informal alliances.
b) The command group is determined by the organizational chart.
c) Task groups, also organizationally determined, represent persons working together to
complete a job.
(1) A task group’s boundaries are not limited to its immediate hierarchical superior.
(2) All command groups are also task groups, but the reverse need not be true.
d) Groups may affiliate to attain a specific objective. This is an interest group.
e) Friendship groups often develop because the individual members have one or more
common characteristics or social allegiances.
3. Informal groups provide a very important function by satisfying their members’ social
needs.
4. Exhibit 7-1 summarizes the most popular reasons why people join a group.
BASIC GROUP CONCEPTS
A. Groups have a structure that shapes the behavior of their members.
B. Roles
1. Laura Campbell is a buyer with Marks & Spencer, the large British retailer. Her job
requires her to play a number of roles; that is, to engage in a set of expected behavior
patterns that are attributed to occupying a given position in a social unit.
2. Like Laura Campbell, we all are required to play a number of roles, and our behavior
varies with the role we’re playing.
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3. The understanding of role behavior would be dramatically simplified if each of us chose
one role and played it regularly and consistently.
a) We are required to play diverse roles, both on and off our jobs.
b) Different groups impose different role requirements on people.
4. Role research conclusions:
a) People play multiple roles.
b) People learn roles from the stimuli around them: friends, books, movies, television.
c) People have the ability to shift roles rapidly when they recognize that the situation
and its demands clearly require major changes.
d) People often experience role conflict when compliance with one role requirement is
at odds with another.
5. What is the value of a knowledge of roles?
a) It helps to think in terms of what group they’re predominantly identifying with at the
time and what behaviors would be expected of them in that role.
b) It allows the manager to more accurately predict the employee’s behavior.
C. Norms
1. Norms are acceptable standards of behavior within a group that are shared by the group’s
members.
2. Each group will establish its own set of norms.
3. Probably the most widespread norms—and the ones with which managers tend to be
most concerned—deal with performance-related processes.
a) Work groups typically provide their members with explicit cues on how hard they
should work, how to get the job done, their level of output, appropriate
communication channels, and the like.
b) These norms are extremely powerful in affecting an individual employee’s
performance.
4. A key point about norms is that groups exert pressure to bring members’ behavior into
conformity with the group’s standards.
5. The Hawthorne studies
a) Full-scale appreciation of the importance norms play in influencing worker behavior
did not occur until the early 1930s.
b) This enlightenment grew out of a series of studies undertaken at Western Electric
Company’s Hawthorne Works in Chicago between 1924 and 1932.
(1) Initiated by Western Electric officials.
(2) Later overseen by Harvard professor Elton Mayo.
c) The Hawthorne studies concluded that a worker’s behavior and sentiments were
closely related. Group influences were significant in affecting individual behavior.
Group standards were highly effective in establishing individual worker output, and
money was less of a factor in determining worker output than were group standards,
sentiments, and security.
d) The Hawthorne researchers began by examining the relation between the physical
environment and productivity.
(1) Illumination and other aspects of working conditions were manipulated.
(2) Initial findings contradicted anticipated results.
e) Results varied but in no case were the increase or decrease in output in proportion to
the increase or decrease in illumination.
(1) Researchers introduced a control group. An experimental group was presented
with varying intensity of illumination, while the controlled unit worked under a
constant illumination intensity.
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f) Again, the results were bewildering. Output rose for both the control and the
experimental groups whether light was raised or lowered.
(1) The Hawthorne researchers concluded that illumination intensity was only a
minor influence among the many influences on an employee’s productivity.
g) A second set of experiments was performed in the relay assembly test room at
Western Electric.
(1) A small group of women was isolated from the main work group so that their
behavior could be more carefully observed.
(2) They went about their job of assembling telephones, the only significant
difference was the placement in the room of a research assistant who acted as an
observer keeping records of output, rejects, working conditions, and describing
everything that happened in a daily log.
(3) Observations over a multiyear period found that this small group’s output
increased steadily.
(4) The number of personal absences and those due to sickness were approximately
one third of those recorded by women in the regular production department.
(5) What became evident was that this group’s performance was significantly
influenced by its status of being a “special” group.
h) A third study in the bank wiring observation room was introduced to ascertain the
effect of a sophisticated wage incentive plan.
(1) The assumption was that individual workers would maximize their productivity
when they saw that it was directly related to economic rewards.
(2) The most important finding of this study was that employees did not individually
maximize their outputs.
(3) Output became controlled by a group norm that determined what was a proper
day’s work.
(a) Output was not only restricted, but individual workers gave erroneous
reports.
i) The group was operating well below its capability.
(1) Members were afraid that if they significantly increased their output, the unit
incentive rate would be cut, the expected daily output would be increased, layoffs
might occur, or slower workers would be reprimanded.
(2) The group established its idea of a fair output—neither too much nor too little.
j) The norms the group established included a number of “don’ts.”
(1) Don’t be a rate-buster, turning out too much work.
(2) Don’t be a chiseler, turning out too little work.
(3) Don’t be a squealer on any of your peers.
k) How did the group enforce these norms? Their methods were neither gentle nor
subtle.
(1) They included sarcasm, name-calling, ridicule, and even physical punches on the
upper arms of members who violated the group’s norms.
(2) Members would also ostracize individuals whose behavior was against the
group’s interest.
D. Conformity and the Asch Studies.
1. Group members want acceptance by the group.
a) Evidence from the now-classic studies undertaken by Solomon Asch, shows that
groups can place strong pressures on individual members to change their attitudes
and behaviors to conform to the group’s standard.
2. Study design
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a) Asch made up groups of seven or eight people who sat in a classroom and were asked
to compare two cards held by the experimenter.
b) One card had one line, the other had three lines of varying length.
(1) See Exhibit 7-2.
c) The object was to announce aloud which of the three lines matched the single line.
(1) The difference in line length was quite obvious; under ordinary conditions,
subjects made less than one percent errors.
d) But what happens if all the members in the group begin to give incorrect answers?
e) The experiment began with several sets of matching exercises. All the subjects gave
the right answers. On the third set, however, the first subject gave an obviously
wrong answer.
f) Asch demonstrated that over many experiments and many trials, subjects conformed
in about 35 percent of the trials; that is, the subjects gave answers they knew were
wrong but were consistent with the replies of other group members.
g) The results suggest that there are group norms that press us toward conformity.
E. Cohesiveness
1. Groups differ in their cohesiveness; that is, the degree to which members are attracted to
each other and are motivated to stay in the group.
a) Cohesiveness is important because it has been found to be related to the group’s
productivity.
2. The relationship of cohesiveness and productivity depends on the performance-related
norms established by the group.
a) The more cohesive the group, the more its members will follow its goals.
b) See summary of results in Exhibit 7-3.
3. What can you do as a manager if you want to encourage group cohesiveness?
a) Make the group smaller.
b) Encourage agreement with group goals.
c) Increase the time members spend together.
d) Increase the status of the group and the perceived difficulty of attaining membership
in the group.
e) Stimulate competition with other groups.
f) Give rewards to the group rather than to members.
g) Physically isolate the group.
F. Size
1. Size affects group behavior.
a) Smaller groups complete tasks faster than larger ones.
b) If the group is engaged in problem solving, however, large groups consistently get
better marks than their smaller counterparts.
c) Large groups—with a dozen or more members—are good for gaining diverse input.
(1) If the goal of the group is fact finding, larger groups should be more effective.
d) Smaller groups are better at doing something productive with that input.
(1) Groups of approximately seven members tend to be more effective for taking
action.
2. Social loafing is the tendency for individuals to expend less effort when working
collectively than when working individually.
3. A common stereotype about groups is that the sense of team spirit spurs individual effort
and enhances the group’s overall productivity.
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Chapter 7 Foundations of Group Behavior
4. But in the late 1920s, a German psychologist named Ringelmann discovered that groups
of three people exerted a force only two-and-a-half times the average individual
performance.
a) Groups of eight collectively achieved less than four times the solo rate.
5. Social loafing may be due to a belief that others in the group are not carrying their fair
share.
G. Composition
1. Most group activities require a variety of skills and knowledge.
2. Heterogeneous groups—those composed of dissimilar individuals—are more likely to
have diverse abilities and information and are more effective than homogeneous groups.
3. When a group is heterogeneous in terms of gender, personalities, opinions, abilities,
skills, and perspectives, there is an increased probability that the group will possess the
needed characteristics to complete its tasks effectively.
a) There may be more conflict.
4. The evidence indicates that racial or national differences interfere with group processes,
at least in the short term.
a) These difficulties seem to dissipate with time.
b) The differences disappear after about three months.
5. Group demography occurs when members of a group share a common demographic
attribute such as age, sex, race, educational level.
a) Groups and organizations are composed of cohorts—a group of individuals who hold
a common attribute.
b) Group demography suggests that attributes such as age or the date that someone joins
a specific work group or organization should help predict turnover.
(1) The logic states that turnover will be greater among those with dissimilar
experiences because communication is more difficult, conflict and power
struggles are more likely—and severe when they occur, and this in turns leads to
less-attractive group membership and voluntary turnover.
H. Status
1. Status is a prestige grading, position, or rank within a group.
a) It may be formally imposed by a group.
b) More often, we deal with status in an informal sense.
c) Informal status is not necessarily less important than the formal variety.
2. Status has been shown to have some interesting effects on the power of norms and
pressure to conform.
a) High-status members often are given more freedom to deviate from norms than are
other group members.
b) High-status people also are better able to resist conformity pressures than their lowerstatus peers.
c) These findings explain why many star athletes, famous actors, top-performing
salespeople, and outstanding academics seem oblivious to appearance or to the social
norms that constrain others.
3. It’s important for group members to believe that the status hierarchy is equitable.
a) Any perceived inequity creates disequilibrium resulting in various types of corrective
behavior.
4. The trappings that go with formal positions are also important elements in maintaining
equity.
a) Inequity between the perceived ranking of an individual and the status accouterments
generates status incongruence.
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5. Even though members of groups generally agree among themselves on status criteria and
hence tend to rank individuals fairly closely, conflict can arise when individuals move
between groups whose status criteria are different or when groups are formed of
individuals with heterogeneous backgrounds.
III. GROUP DECISION MAKING
A. The belief that two heads are better than one has long been accepted as a basic component of
North American and many other countries’ legal systems.
1. It has expanded to the point that today many decisions in organizations are made by
groups, teams, or committees.
B. The Individual versus the Group
1. A major plus of individual decision making is speed.
2. Individual decisions have clear accountability.
3. Individual decisions tend to convey consistent values.
a) Although individuals are not perfectly consistent in their decision making, they do
tend to be more consistent than groups.
4. Groups generate more complete information and knowledge.
5. Groups can bring heterogeneity to the decision process.
6. A group will almost always outperform even the best individual with higher-quality
decisions.
7. Groups lead to increased acceptance of a solution.
a) Many decisions fail after the final choice is made because people don’t accept the
solution.
8. Which is better? It depends.
a) Individuals are preferred when the decision is relatively unimportant and does not
require subordinate commitment to its success.
b) Similarly, individuals should make the decision when they have sufficient
information and when subordinates will be committed to the outcome.
9. The choice comes down to weighing effectiveness against efficiency.
a) In terms of effectiveness, groups are superior.
b) Individuals are more efficient than groups.
C. Groupthink and Groupshift are byproducts of group decision making
1. Groupthink
a) Groupthink is the phenomenon that occurs when group members become so
enamored of seeking concurrence that the norm for consensus overrides the realistic
appraisal of alternative courses of action and the full expression of deviant, minority,
or unpopular views.
b) It describes a deterioration in an individual’s mental efficiency, reality testing, and
moral judgment as a result of group pressures.
2. Symptoms of groupthink
a) Group members rationalize any resistance to the assumptions they’ve made.
b) Members pressure any doubters to support the alternative favored by the majority.
c) To give the appearance of group consensus, doubters keep silent about misgivings
and even minimize to themselves the importance of their doubts.
d) The group interprets members’ silence as a “yes” vote for the majority.
3. The above symptoms lead to a number of decision-making deficiencies, which follow:
a) Incomplete assessment of the problem
b) Poor information search
c) Selective bias in processing information
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Chapter 7 Foundations of Group Behavior
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
d) Limited development of alternatives
e) Incomplete assessment of alternatives
f) Failure to examine risks of preferred choice
g) Failure to reappraise initially rejected alternatives
Studies of decision making in U.S. government agencies have found deficient outcomes
were frequently preceded by symptoms of groupthink.
Evidence suggests that not all groups are equally vulnerable to groupthink.
a) Researchers have focused on five variables:
(1) The group’s cohesiveness
(2) Its leader’s behavior
(3) Its insulation from outsiders
(4) Time pressures
(5) Failure to follow methodical decision-making procedures
To minimize the influence of groupthink, note the following:
a) Highly cohesive groups have more discussion and bring out more information than
do loose groups but also discourage dissent.
b) An open leadership style: include encouraging member participation, refraining from
stating one’s opinion at the beginning of the meeting. Encourage divergent opinions
from all group members, and emphasize the importance of reaching a wise decision.
c) Do not allow the group to detach itself from external sources.
d) Downplay time constraints.
e) Encourage the use of methodical decision-making procedures.
Groupshift
a) A shift is toward an extreme position.
(1) In the direction of a predisposition of a team member.
(2) Most frequently toward greater risk.
b) Discussion leads to a significant shift in the positions of members toward a more
extreme position in the direction toward which they were already leaning before the
discussion.
c) The groupshift can be viewed as a special case of groupthink.
(1) The decision of the group reflects the dominant decision-making norm.
Explanations for the phenomenon follow:
a) Discussion creates familiarization among the members, increasing boldness and
daring.
b) The group diffuses responsibility, freeing any single member from accountability.
How does one use the findings on groupshift?
a) Recognize that group decisions exaggerate the initial position of the individual
members.
b) The shift is more often to be toward greater risk.
c) The shift is a function of the members’ prediscussion inclinations.
D. Selecting the Best Group Decision-Making Technique
1. The most common form of group decision making takes place in face-to-face interacting
groups.
2. 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.
a) Brainstorming is meant to overcome pressures for conformity.
b) It does so by utilizing an idea-generation process that specifically encourages any and
all alternatives while withholding any criticism of those alternatives.
c) Typical brainstorming session
(1) A half-dozen to a dozen people sit around a table.
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(2) The group leader states the problem clearly.
(3) Members then “freewheel” as many alternatives as they can in a given length of
time.
(4) No criticism is allowed, and all the alternatives are recorded for later discussion
and analysis.
(5) Group members are encouraged to “think the unusual.”
d) Brainstorming, however, is merely a process for generating ideas.
3. Nominal Group Technique
a) The nominal group restricts discussion or interpersonal communication during the
decision-making process.
b) Group members are all physically present, but operate independently.
c) Members meet as a group, but, before any discussion takes place, each member
independently writes down his or her ideas on the problem.
d) This silent period is followed by each member presenting one idea to the group.
(1) No discussion takes place until all ideas have been recorded.
e) The group then discusses the ideas for clarity and evaluates them.
f) Each group member silently and independently ranks the ideas. The final decision is
determined by the idea with the highest aggregate ranking.
g) Chief advantage: permits the group to meet formally but does not restrict independent
thinking.
4. Electronic Meeting
a) This is the most recent approach to group decision making.
(1) Blends the nominal group technique with sophisticated computer technology.
b) Up to fifty people sit around a horseshoe-shaped table, empty except for a series of
computer terminals.
c) Issues are presented to participants, and they type their responses onto their computer
screen.
d) Individual comments, as well as aggregate votes, are displayed on a projection screen
in the room.
e) The major advantages of electronic meetings are anonymity, honesty, and speed.
(1) Participants can anonymously type any message they want, and it flashes on the
screen for all to see.
(2) It also allows people to be brutally honest without penalty.
(3) It is fast.
IV. IMPLICATIONS FOR MANAGERS
1. In order to accomplish work tasks, the individuals who make up an organization are
typically united into various work groups.
a) Group behavior is not merely the summation of the individual behavior of its
members. The group itself adds an additional dimension to its members’ behavior.
2. Knowledge of the role that a person is attempting to enact can make it easier for us to
deal with the person, for we have insight into her expected behavior patterns.
a) Knowledge of a job incumbent’s role makes it easier for others to work with her, for
she should behave in ways consistent with others’ expectations.
3. Norms control group member behavior by establishing standards of right or wrong.
a) Knowing the norms of a given group can help us explain the attitudes and behaviors
of its members.
4. Should managers seek cohesive groups? Our answer is a qualified “Yes.”
a) The qualification lies in the degree of alignment between the group and the organization’s goals.
5. The implications of the social loafing effect on work groups are significant.
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Chapter 7 Foundations of Group Behavior
a) When managers use collective work situations to enhance morale and teamwork, they
must also provide means by which individual efforts can be identified.
b) This conclusion is consistent with individualistic cultures, such as the United States
and Canada, which are dominated by self-interest.
(1) It is not consistent with collective societies in which individuals are motivated by
in-group goals.
6. To increase the performance of work groups, you should try to choose individuals as
members who can bring a diverse perspective to problems and issues.
a) This may cause conflict in the short term.
b) As members learn to work with their differences, group performance will improve.
7. Status inequities within a group divert activity away from goal accomplishment and
direct it toward resolving the inequities.
a) When inequities exist, group members reduce their work effort, attempt to undermine
the activities of those members with higher status, or pursue similar dysfunctional behaviors.
8. Finally, if managers use group decision making, they should particularly try to minimize
groupthink.
SUMMARY
1. A group is defined as two or more individuals, interacting and interdependent, who come together to
achieve particular objectives. Groups can be either formal or informal. By formal, we mean a group
that is defined by the organization’s structure, with designated work assignments establishing tasks
and work groups. In contrast, informal groups are alliances that are neither structured nor
organizationally determined. In the work environment these groups form naturally as a response to
the need for social contact. Groups can also be subclassifed into command, task, interest, or
friendship categories.
2. The reasons people join groups is summarized in Exhibit 7-1.
3. We all play different roles in groups and those role requirements change in different situations.
Research shows that people play multiple roles, people learn roles from the stimuli around them, and
that people have the ability to shift roles rapidly when they recognize that the situation and its
demands clearly require major changes.
4. The Hawthorne studies revealed the importance of norms. Norms are acceptable standards of
behavior within a group that are shared by the group’s members. Each group will establish its own set
of norms. A key about norms is that groups exert pressure to bring members’ behavior into
conformity with the group’s standards. Full-scale appreciation of the importance norms play in
influencing worker behavior did not occur until the early 1930s. This enlightenment grew out of a
series of studies undertaken at Western Electric Company’s Hawthorne Works in Chicago between
1924 and 1932.
5. Studies by Solomon Asch showed that group members want acceptance by the group, and just how
powerful that need is. Evidence from the now-classic studies undertaken by Asch, shows that groups
can place strong pressures on individual members to change their attitudes and behaviors to conform
to the group’s standard.
6. Social loafing is the tendency for individuals to expend less effort when working collectively than
when working individually. A common stereotype about groups is that the sense of team spirit spurs
individual effort and enhances the group’s overall productivity. But in the late 1920s, a German
psychologist named Ringelmann discovered that groups of three people exerted a force only two-anda-half times the average individual performance. Groups of eight collectively achieved less than four
times the solo rate.
7. Groups differ in their cohesiveness; that is, the degree to which members are attracted to each other
and are motivated to stay in the group. The relationship of cohesiveness and productivity depends on
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Part III Groups in the Organization
the performance-related norms established by the group. The more cohesive the group, the more its
members will follow its goals. See summary of results in Exhibit 7-3.
8. The composition of the group has an effect on its performance, specifically the diversity of the group.
Heterogeneous groups are more likely to have diverse abilities and information and are more effective
than homogeneous groups. When a group is heterogeneous in terms of gender, personalities,
opinions, abilities, skills, and perspectives, there is an increased probability that the group will
possess the needed characteristics to complete its tasks effectively.
9. Groupthink occurs when group members become so enamored of seeking concurrence that the norm
for consensus overrides the realistic appraisal of alternative courses of action and the full expression
of deviant, minority, or unpopular views. The groupshift can be viewed as a special case of
groupthink. The decision of the group reflects the dominant decision-making norm. It is often a shift
toward an extreme position.
10. Managers have a variety of group decision-making techniques at their disposal. The most common
form of group decision making takes place in face-to-face interacting groups. 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. The nominal group technique is similar to
brainstorming but it restricts discussion or interpersonal communication during the decision-making
process. Electronic meetings are a recent approach to group decision making and is a nonface-to-face
technique. It blends the nominal group technique with sophisticated computer technology.
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