Chapter 7 - Foundations of Group Behaviour PDF

Chapter 8 Foundations of Group Behaviour A. Groups: Features of a Group: It is a Combination of two or more individuals who are motivated to come closer to achieve common and shared goals through integrated efforts. Members contribute different inputs and they agree and disagree through interaction...

Chapter 8 Foundations of Group Behaviour A. Groups: Features of a Group: It is a Combination of two or more individuals who are motivated to come closer to achieve common and shared goals through integrated efforts. Members contribute different inputs and they agree and disagree through interactions Characteristics of Effective Groups:  Groups should have relaxed and informal atmosphere  Purpose should be formulated, understood and accepted by members  Members should listen and participate in task-related discussions  Members should express ideas without hesitation and pressure-conceived notions  Conflicts and disagreements should be regarding the task not people  Decisions based on agreement and not majority voting  Group roles should be determined and assigned. B. Why Groups in Organizations? Factors for development of Groups:  Groups provide security to the members from others in society and environment.  Empowers members and some people can exhibit leadership skills  Groups provide the benefit of synergy  Organizational goals cannot be achieved by individuals, it requires Group efforts.  People possess enhanced status and self-esteem as a member of a group  Members can satisfy their social needs by interacting in a group.  Group relations create, build and maintain power.  Group decisions are better than individual decisions Advantages of Groups: Enhance organizational productivity, greater efficiency, collaborative effort, balanced decisions that involve less risk, share information, more realistic objectives and strategies, support the members, meet organizational needs with less cost and resources. Disadvantages of Groups: conflict between individual and organizational goals, social loafing, Inequity in contributions hamper group relations, dissimilar opinions may lead to indecisions, members do not feel responsibility, less risky decisions to safeguard group interests C. Types of Groups 1. Formal Group: Formed due to official job structure and job relationship in an organization. 2. Informal Group: Formed to satisfy social needs by people with common interests, aptitudes, values, opinions, etc. 3. Command Group: Formed by the superior and his subordinates. 4. Task Group: Formed by people working together to accomplish a particular task. 5. Interest Group: Formed by people with common interests 6. Friendship Group: Formed by people with common characteristics 7. Primary Group: Formed by people with feeling of comradeship, loyalty and values. 8. Coalitions: Formed by individuals from different groups into an ad hoc group in order to achieve a specific task. Coalition is dissolved after goal for which it is formed is attained. D. Stages of Group Formation and Development: Tuckman’s Five Stage Model: 1. Forming: Unclear purpose, guidance and direction. There is uncertainty and confusion. 2. Storming: Conflict and confrontation due to confusion over hierarchy, relationship, purpose and direction. Power struggle 3. Norming: Clear roles and responsibilities. Agreement and consensus 4. Peforming: Development of relationships. Focus towards functioning and performing the tasks to attain group goals. 5. Adjourning: Temporary groups are adjourned after completing their tasks. Members feel loss of friendship and effective leadership E. Groups at Workplace I. Formal Groups: They are formed officially and relatively permanent. They get changed when there are changes in organization structure, job structure, job design, etc. External factors affecting Formal Groups: They include Line of command, Organizational structure, Nature of work, Areas and levels of decision-making, Formal regulations, Composition of Human resources: Attitude of employees towards working together influences size and cohesiveness of group, Performance appraisal and reward system, Job design, Customer needs, Organizational crisis, Organizational strategies, Company resources, and Organizational culture II. Informal Groups: Formed out of social needs, interaction and psychological factors. It is outside the officially prescribed relationships, structures, and responsibilities of the organization. Reasons for formation of Informal Groups: They include social relations, insignificant role in formal groups, recognition for achievement, failure to abide by formal rules, release frustration, techno-structure of job, low work pressure, tall organization structure. Types by Mayo and Lambard:  Natural: Formed naturally without predetermined structure  Family: Consists of regular members who influence each other  Organized: Highly structured with an acknowledged leader Types by Styles:  Apathetic group: Unaccepted leadership, disunity and conflict  Erratic group: Absence of control, inconsistent behaviour  Strategic group: Organized, consistent and planned  Conservative group: Cooperation, collaboration and unity Advantages:They include Collaborative effort, Employee satisfaction, Efficient employee performance, Norms of behavior, Protection to members, Effective communication, Effective HR management, and Improved productivity. Disadvantages:They include challenge formal authority and leadership, role conflict, miscommunication, resistance to change and conformity. F. Group Structure 1. Group norms: They are acceptable standards of behaviour within a group and vary from group to group.Some common norms include achieving high performances, improving productivity, etc.Common norms also include appearance norms and social norms. 2. Roles: It is a set of expected behaviour patterns attributed to someone occupying a given position in a social unit.Different roles expect different kinds of behaviour . Person should have the ability to shift roles when the situation demands and this requires changing attitude. Individuals perform roles based on their own perception of the role functions. Belief of others regarding the role performance by the role incumbent is called role expectation. When an individual is confronted with contradicting expectations from the role it leads to ambiguity. When an individual is confronted with divergent expectations of two role it leads to conflict 3. Group Cohesiveness: It is the degree to which group members are attracted to each other and are inspired and motivated to stay in the group. It is high when members closely interact, group is small, there are common goals, there is competition with other groups, and there is aim to increase group status. It influences productivity. 4. Social Loafing: Some members do not contribute in the group environment and rely on the efforts of others for achievement of goals.It reduces group output. This can be avoided by clear assignment of tasks and roles and measurement of individual performance. 5. Loss of Individuality: May occur die to intensive group activity with no proper direction and purpose. People lose sense of accountability and responsibility. People resort to social loafing and immoral acts 6. Group Leadership: Leaders make significant impression on the members in exerting their resources towards organizational goals. Leader is expected to balance members, management and informal group. Efficient leader is required for effective working of the group. Leadership styles should depend upon situational requirements 7. Group Status: Status depends upon the type of priority or position given by the society to the group members. Members get high or low status based on their authority and performance 8. Group Size: Large groups perform certain activities more efficiently such as problem-solving investigation and inquiry. Small groups perform certain activities more efficiently such as decision making. 9. Group Composition: Groups are formed with people with unified or diversified skills and characteristics. Modern organizations prefer diversified groups as they bring variety of information useful for organizational strategies, make creative decisions and perform creativity demanding tasks effectively G. Communication Networks in Groups Types of Communication: 1. Downward communication: Flows from higher to lower level in organizational hierarchy. It is from superior to subordinate. 2. Upward communication: Flows from lower to higher level in organizational hierarchy. Necessary for suggestions, lodging complaints, opinion surveys, etc. Communication Network: They are patterns of flow of information. 1. Formal Networks: They are vertical, follow authority chain and limited to task related communication.Main patterns are chain, wheel and star networks. 2. Informal Networks: They are not controlled by management. Satisfies social needs of employees