Flashcards
OCL - Group Dynamics
Cards in this deck (46)
- 1Formal Group vs Informal Group?Formal Group: Defined by organization's structure. Designated work assignments. Directed towards org's goals.
Informal Group: natural formations. Appear in response to need for social contact. Interactions deeply affect their behaviour and performance. - 2Stages of Group DevelopmentForming, Storming, Norming, Performing
(Adjourning)
Generally, group becomes more effective as it progresses over 4 stages. BUT group can develop at different rates. Strong sense of purpose: rapidly achieve high perf. and improve over time. Less sense of purpose: see their perf worsen over time.
Groups can also regress to previous stages. - 3FormingUncertainty about group's purpose, structure and leadership.
"Test the water" to determine what type of behaviours are acceptable.
Completed when members have begun to think of themselves as a group - 4StormingIntragroup conflict: accepts existence of group but resists the constraints it imposes on the individuality.
Conflict over who will control the group
Complete when there's a clear hierarchy of leadership within the group - 5NormingGroup demonstrates cohesiveness: strong sense of group identity and camaraderie
Complete when group structure solidifies and group assimilated a common set of expectations of what defines correct member behaviors - 6PerformingStructure is fully functional and accepted. Group energy has moved from getting to know on another to performing the task at hand.
This is the last stage for permanent groups - 7AdjourningFor temporary committees, teams, task forces
For wrapping up activities and preparing to disband. Some group members might be upbeat and bask on group's accomplishments while others might be depressed over the loss of camaraderie and friendship. - 8Group Properties DefinitionProperties shape members' behavior and help explain and predict individual behavior within the group, as well as the performance of the group itself
- 9Group Properties ExamplesRoles, Norms, Status, Size, Cohesiveness and Diversity
- 10Roles DefinitionSet of expected behavior patterns attributed to someone occupying a given position in a social unit. Different groups impose different role requirements on individuals. Some roles can be compatible and other can create conflict.
Understanding behaviour means grasping the role a person is currently playing. Role requirements change in different situations - 11Role Perception DefinitionAn individual's view of how she/he is suppose to act in a given situation
Ex: doctors using tv shows, internship programs - 12Role ExpectationsThe way others believe you should act in a given context. "Psychological contract".
Ex: Management vs employees. (know how each other is suppose to act)
Violation of the "contract": leads to greater intention to quit, lower levels of productivity, increases level of theft and greater work withdrawal - 13Role ConflictSituation in which an individual is confronted by divergent role expectations. Ex: occurs between work life and family life.
Ex 2: can occur during M&A: torn between identities. - 14Norms Definition + 4 Types + 2 TypesAcceptable standards of behavior shared by their members that express what they ought and ought not to do under certain circumstances.
Different groups, communities, societies have different norms, but they ALL have them.
1) Performance Norms, 2) Appearance Norms, 3) Social Arrangement Norms, 4) Resource Allocation Norms. A) Descriptive Norms (what others do, you'll be more likely to do: clap at end of concert) B) What ought to be done (whisper in a library) - 15Performance NormsExplicit cues how hard members should work, what the level of output should be, what level of tardiness is acceptable etc.
- 16Appearance NormsDress code, when to look busy etc.
- 17Social Arrangement Normswhom to eat lunch with, whether to find friendships on/off the job,
- 18Resource Allocation NormsAssignment of difficult jobs, distribution of resources,
- 19What can group norms press us to do? (1)Press us toward CONFORMITY: we desire to be one in the group, so we avoid to being visibly difference.
Conformity is higher in collectivist culture but still powerful in individualistic countries.
People conform to the most important group they belong to, or hope to belong to. This group is called the Reference Group.
All groups do not impose equal conformity pressures on their members. - 20Conformity DefinitionAdjustment of one's behavior to align with norms of the group. As a member of the group, you desire acceptance. You'll be more susceptible to conform to the groups' norms.
- 21What can group norms press us to do? (2)Groups exert tremendous pressure for uniformity among members which often results in deviance (Deviant Workplace Behavior)
Ex: leaving early, gossiping, sexual harassment, lying, stealing, working slower. - 22What can group norms and conformity press us to do? (3)Groupthink! People strive for consensus and will set aside their own personal beliefs or adopt the opinion of the rest of the group. The norm for consensus overrides the realistic appraisal or alternative courses of action.
- 23When is Groupthink more likely to happen? Give 3 examplesSituation where group members are very similar to one another and hold a positive image of their group
Situation where a powerful and charismatic leader commands the group.
Situation when the group is under extreme stress - 24How can we prevent and minimize Groupthink? Give 7 examples1) Break the group in smaller teams (10 or less), they will feel more personal responsibility if the group succeeds
2) Encourage and assign a "devil's advocate", overtly challenging the majority position and offer divergent perspectives
3) Seek input from all members
4) Leaders should avoid expressing their own opinions too early on, doesn't need to always be the "decision maker"
5) Get impartial opinions by an outside members
6) First talk about possible dangers and risks associated to the decision before talking about the gain (this makes the group more likely to gain an objective evaluation)
7) use exercises that stimulate active
discussion of diverse alternatives without threatening the group or intensifying
identity protection - 25Status DefinitionA socially defined position or rank given to groups or group members by others.
It is a significant motivator. There is major behavioural consequences when individuals perceive a disparity between what their believe their status and what others perceive it to be. - 26Where does status derive from? Give 3 reasons1) The power a person wields over others: people who control the outcomes, tend to be perceived as high status
2) A person's ability to contribute to a group's goal/who's contribution is critical to the group (example: Kobe Bryant who have a higher "power" over deciding players than some coaches
3) An individual's personal characteristics: who's characteristics are positively valued by the group has typically higher status than someone who has fewer valued attributes (Ex: intelligence, salary, net worth, friendly personality...) - 27High Status Individuals: ... 3 Examples1) Tend to be more assertive (having/showing confident)
2) Are often given more freedom to deviate from norms (ex: doctors that resist administrative decisions made by lower ranking insurance company employees)
3) Are better able to resist and disregard conformity pressures (since he doesn't need/care about the group's social rewards) - 28What are the effects of status inequity on the group?1) It inhibits diversity of ideas and creativity: lower status members tend to participate less and failure to utilize them can lower group overall performance
2) Can create disequilibrium and can lead to resentment
3) Large difference in status within a group is also associated with poorer individual performance, lower health, higher intention to leave the group - 29How does group size affect group performance?Smaller Groups (7>): faster at completing tasks than larger ones. Individual performance is better
Larger Group (12+): better at problem solving, good for gaining diverse input, good at fact finding.
SOCIAL LOAFING: tendency for individuals to expend less efforts when working collectively than alone. There's a negative correlation between group size and individual efforts. - 30What causes Social Loafing?A belief that others don't carry fair share. Dispersion of responsibility, "free riders".
The larger the group, the greater the free-rider effect. - 31Give 7 ways to prevent/reduce Social Loafing1) Set group goals so group has a common purpose to strive toward
2) Peer evaluations to evaluate each person's contribution
3) Select members with high motivation
4) Make individuals feel like their contribution is necessary
5) Group rewards based in part on each members unique contribution
6) Make the tasks more challenging
7) By assigning each person a somewhat different task
Ultimately, managers should attack the free-rider problem by attempting to broaden the individual's concept of self-interest. This can possibly be done through creating, communicating, and maintaining a strong organizational culture - 32Cohesiveness Definition and ReasonsDegree to which members are attracted to one another and motivated to stay in a group.
Reasons: members spend a lot of time together, small size facilitates high interactions, external threats can bring them together, similar attitudes, past success - 33Why and How to encourage cohesiveness?Why:
Those who are attracted to a group presumably want it to succeed and thus work hard at helping it obtain its goals. Indeed, highly cohesive groups are more effective at achieving their goals than are uncohesive groups. Relationship between cohesiveness and performance norms (quality, output, cooperation with outsiders) Higher P.N and C, higher performance.
How:
1) Make the group smaller
2) Encourage agreement with group goals, create a clear path to goals
3) Increase time members spend together
4) Increase group status and difficulty of attaining membership
5) Stimulate competition with other groups
6) Give reward to group rather than individual
7) physically isolate the group - 34Advantages and Limitations of cohesivenessAdvantages: shared values, group loyalty, familiarity of group members, effective communication
Limitations: lowered productivity, lack of creativity, lack of innovation - 35Diversity DefinitionDegree to which members are similar to, or different from one another.
- 36How does diversity influence group performance?(-) Appears to increase group conflict, especially at the early stages: lower group morale, increases dropouts, group is less cohesive. There can be conflicting norms for decision making.
(+) Can provide an opportunity to solve problem in unique ways
Surface level diversity (age, gender, nationality) may lead to greater openness, may sub-consciously cue team members to be more open minded in their views. - 37How to offset problems linked to diversityAppropriate organizational support and leadership might offset problems:
Focus on task, encourage group learning, enhance group discussions of group issues.
Difficult in short term. If can weather the difference, over time diversity may help them to be more open minded, creative and to do better. BUT even positive effects are unlikely to be especially strong. - 38S & W of Group Decision MakingStrengths: Generate more complete information and knowledge by aggregating resources of several individual. Better diversity of views (more approaches and alternative). Higher acceptance of solutions (members who participate in decision will more likely support and encourage others to accept it)
Weaknesses: time consuming as it takes longer to reach an agreement, conformity pressures (desire to be accepted), can be dominated solely by 1 or few members (if those are low ability members, overall effectiveness will suffer), suffer from ambiguous responsibility (resp. of single members are diluted), internal conflicts - 39Quality of Group Decision MakingEffectiveness (extent to which decision contributes to achieving the specific purpose)
Speed: individual
If creativity is important: group
Degree of acceptance the final solution achieves: group
Efficiency (extent to which decision enables to develop active agent’s operational skills to respond same needs)
Group decision consumes more work hours than individual tackling same problem alone. Except if there's a comparable quantity of diverse input needed.(ind. will need more time to talk to many people and review so many files)
In deciding whether to use groups, then, managers must assess whether increases
in effectiveness are more than enough to offset the reductions in efficiency
Consistency (extent to which decision enables (or hinders) future interactions with same reactive agent) - 40By-products of Group Decision MakingGroupthink: situations in which
group pressures for conformity deter the group from critically appraising unusual,
minority, or unpopular views
Groupshift/polarization: describes the way group members tend to exaggerate
the initial positions they hold when discussing a given set of alternatives and
arriving at a solution. (being more risky or more conservative in their solution) - 41Why does Groupshift or Polarization occur1) Members become more comfortable with each other and thus more willing to express extreme versions of their original positions
2) Group diffuses responsibilities. Free's single members accountability from group's final choice, so more extreme positions can be taken
3) Take on extreme positions to prove they are different from the outgroup
4) Extreme -> to show how committed they are to the cause vs. Moderate -> to show how reasonable and cautious they are - 426 Situations that can occur in groups1) Conformity
2) Cohesiveness
3) Deviance
4) Social Loafing
5) Group Think
6) Polarization - 43Group-Decision Making Techniques1) Interacting
2) Brainstorming
3) Nominal Group Technique
2) Brainstorming: encouraging any and all alternatives while withholding criticism
(!): Research consistently shows individuals working alone generate more ideas
than a group in a brainstorming session (When people are generating ideas in a group, many are talking at
once, which blocks the thought process and eventually impedes the sharing of
ideas. ) - 44Interacting Techniques (GDM)ace to face and rely on both verbal and nonverbal
interaction to communicate
(-) interacting
groups often censor themselves and pressure individual members toward
conformity of opinion.
(+) good for achieving commitment to a solution and develops grp cohesiveness - 45Brainstorming TechniqueBrainstorming can overcome the pressures for conformity that dampen
creativity by encouraging any and all alternatives while withholding criticism
(!): Research consistently shows individuals working alone generate more ideas
than a group in a brainstorming session (When people are generating ideas in a group, many are talking at once, which blocks the thought process and eventually impedes the sharing of ideas. )
(+) develops
group cohesiveness and high task orientation - 46Nominal Group TechniqueRestricts discussion or interpersonal communication
during the decision-making process. Group
members are all physically present, as in a traditional committee meeting, but
they operate independently.
All write ideas on paper, presents them (no judging) then members ranks them in silent by themselves
(+) permits a
group to meet formally but does not restrict independent thinking
(+) inexpensive means
for generating a large number of ideas,
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- Flashcards on OCL - Group Dynamics, created by Bénédicte Réhaul on 23/12/2015.
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- Bénédicte Réhaul
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