Group Influence

Group

A group can be defined as two or more humans who interact with one another, accept
expectations and obligations as members of the group, and share a common identity. By this
definition, society can be viewed as a large group, though most social groups are
considerably smaller.

Types of groups

 Common bond groups: Social groups based on the attachments between group
members (member similarity, likability of fellow group members)
 Common identity groups: Social groups based on the attachment of group identity
(music groups, sports team).

Different groups help us meet different human needs

 Affiliate – to belong to and connect with others

 Achieve – to gain social identity

Group Behavior

“Group behavior” refers to the ways people behave in large- or small-group situations. People
join groups for a multitude of reasons, most frequently because membership satisfies a need
of the individual. Group membership can provide companionship, survival and security,
affiliation status, power and control, and achievement.

Requirements that contribute to recognition of a group

 Interdependence—Individual members must depend, to some degree, on the output

of the collective members.
 Social interaction—Accomplishing a goal requires some form of verbal or nonverbal
communication among members.
 Perception of a group—All members of the collective must agree they are part of the
group.
 Commonality of purpose—All members of the collective come together to attain a
common goal.
 Favoritism—Members of the same group tend to be positively prejudiced toward
other members and discriminate in their favor.

How Groups Influence Individual Behavior

Individual behavior and decision making can be influenced by the presence of others. There
are both positive and negative implications of group influence on individual behavior. For
example, group influence can often be useful in the context of work settings, team sports, and
political activism. However, the influence of groups on the individual can also generate
negative behaviors.

While there are many ways a group can influence behavior, we will focus on three key
phenomena:

 Groupthink: Groupthink is a psychological phenomenon that occurs within a group

of people, in which the desire for harmony or conformity in the group results in an
incorrect or deviant decision-making outcome.

 Groupshift: Groupshift is the phenomenon in which the initial positions of individual

members of a group are exaggerated toward a more extreme position.

 Deindividuation: Deindividuation is a loss of one’s individuality. Instead of acting as

individuals, people experiencing deindividuation become lost in a group

Social Loafing:
Social loafing refers to the reduced efforts of individuals who act as part of a group rather
than alone”. Individuals within a group put less than 100% effort because of a lack of
motivation.
Explanation: Social loafing refers to a psychological phenomenon which has brought
forward a different side of human resource. It states that the employees working in a group,
underperform a given task in comparison to their potential, ultimately hindering the group
performance. This is because they develop a casual attitude towards the assigned
responsibilities by putting in their least contribution and thus, relying upon the efforts of
other team members.
Example: Ringlemann Effect: Rope pulling study…as the number of group members
increased, performance of individuals decreased.
Theories
o Social Impact Theory: suggests that when individuals work collectively, social
influence is diffused across group members, and each additional group member has
less influence as group size increases.
o Arousal Reduction: follows a drive, which suggests that working collectively
reduces arousal, thereby reducing performance on simple tasks but enhancing
performance on complex tasks.
o Evaluation Approaches: suggest that evaluation may eliminate social loafing if the
participants inputs are identifiable and if there is a standard with which these inputs
can be compared.
o Dispensability of Effort: suggests that working collectively reduces effort because
people feel their input is not essential to a quality group product.

Causes
Following are the causes of social loafing
 Complex Goals: The individuals usually give up when they feel that the goals set by
the management are robust and impossible to achieve.
 Easily Achievable Goals: If the goals set are simple enough and does not pose any
challenge for the employees, they tend to feel demotivated. Thus, showing minimal
interest in achieving them.
 Goal Value: If the team members feel that the goals or objectives laid for them have
no significance and won’t add any value to the organizational objectives; they will try
to slack off from the given task.
 Lack of Motivation: The demotivated workforce is another primary reason for social
loafing where the employees are not charged up to fulfil the given responsibility.
 Large Group Size: At times, the group or team consist of more number of
individuals than required. Therefore, surplus members tend to become unproductive
and waste their time in social loafing.
 Sense of Inferiority: The team members who are less skilled or average performers
are sometimes put in the group of super achievers. This will develop an inferiority
complex, resulting in average employees depending upon the efficient team members
for task accomplishment
 Lowered Sense of Efficacy: When individuals feel that their efforts are undervalued
or ignored, they find it better to escape from their responsibilities through social
loafing.
 Meagre Sense of Responsibility: If the employees are not made individually
accountable for the given task, they would be reluctant of their duties and
responsibilities.
Effects

 Leads to Poor Team Spirit: If few members become lazy and reluctant, making the
least contribution in the group, the whole team feels demotivated and demoralized.
 Portrays Negativity: The escaping attitude of social loafers spread negativity in the
whole group. It thus brings down team performance and productivity.
 Hinders Development: The growth of the organization gradually falls if social
loafing continues for a long time.
 Causes Wastage of Resources: The human resource involves cost, and because of
social loafing, the employees become futile for the organization.
 Demotivates Hard Working Team Members: Due to free-riders effect and sucker
effect, the performing team members get demoralized. Hence they too try to slack off
from the assigned task considering it as a burden.
 Affects Decision Making: Without proper input from all the group members, the
group’s decision making efficiency diminishes.

Competition and Conflict

Conflict between individuals, between groups, and even between individuals and the social
groups they belong to is a common part of our social worlds
We compete with other students to get better grades. Businesses engage in competitive
practices, sometimes in a very assertive manner, to gain market share. We compete to gain
rewards for ourselves and for those with whom we are connected, and doing so sometimes
involves trying to prevent the other parties from being able to gain the limited rewards for
themselves.

Social Facilitation:

Social facilitation refers to the finding that people sometimes perform better on tasks when
others are around. People sometimes perform better in the presence of others than when they
are alone.
Or
Social facilitation can be defined as ‘an improvement in performance produced by the mere
presence of others’.
There are two types of social facilitation: co-action effects and audience effect.
1. Co-action effects
2. Audience effects
Perceived fairness in groups
Perceived fairness is based off of 3 clear but distinct rules.

 Distributive Justice- refers to individuals' judgmenats about whether they are

receiving a fair share of available rewards- a share proportionate to their
contribution...
 Procedural Justice-refers to individual’s judgments concerning the fairness of the
precedures used to distribute available rewards among group members....
 Transactional Justice-refers to the extent to which persons who distribute rewards
explain or justify their decisions and show considerateness and courtesy to those who
receive the rewards

Perceptions
Perceptions are centered on rewards

 An increase in work/contribution should equal and increase in rewards.

 Procedures concerning courteous treatment rather than the rewards themselves.

Example:
In a family of 5, mother, father and 3 sons...

 Oldest son- average grades but paise is readily given for anything above average.
 Middle child- average grades but no praise for above average work.
 Youngest son- good grades, no praise for excellence but negative reaction for average
work.

Each child's perceptions of fairness are going to be completely different. The oldest, getting
praised for almost anything positive will learn that skating by is good enough. The middle
child will learn that above average work doesn't get them any farther anyway, so there is no
need to go above and beyond. The youngest child will learn that while their best doesn't get
praise, doing worse than their best will have a negative reaction so they will do their best all
the time.

Group Decision Making

Decision-making is the process whereby a final but best choice is made among the
alternatives available. It is the process of making choices by identifying a decision, gathering
information, and assessing alternative resolutions.
Group decision making (also known as collaborative decision making) is a situation faced
when individuals collectively make a choice from the alternatives before them. This decision
is no longer attributable to any single individual who is a member of the group.
Types of Decision Making
i. Consensus Mode: When all member of the group agree to the decision arrived at, it is
called ‘consensus’.
 ii. Majority Vote: If majority of the group members agree to the decision arrived at, it is
called ‘majority vote’.

Characteristics:
Following are the characteristics of decision-making:

1. Decision making is based on rational thinking.

2. Decision-making is aimed to achieve organizational goals.
3. It involves the evaluation of various alternatives available. The selection of best
alternative will be made only when pros and cons of all of them are discussed and
evaluated.
4. Decision making is the process of selecting the best among alternatives available.
5. Decision making is the end product because it is preceded by discussion and
deliberations
6. It also involves certain commitment. Management is committed to every decision it
takes.
Nature of Decision-Making:
A decision is always related to some problem, difficulty or conflict. Decisions help in solving
problems or resolving conflicts. There are always differences of opinions, judgments, etc.
Managerial decision helps in maintaining group effectiveness. All problems may not require
decision- making but merely the supply of information may be sufficient. For example, when
will different groups report for re-orientation? The supply of information about training
programme may be enough

Steps of decision making process

Following are the steps
Step 1: Identify the decision
The first step is to identify the need to make a decision. Try to clearly define the nature of the
decision you must make. This first step is very important.
Step 2: Gather relevant information
The second step is to collect some pertinent information before you make your decision: what
information is needed, the best sources of information, and how to get it. This step involves
both internal and external “work.” Some information is internal: you’ll seek it through a
process of self-assessment. Other information is external: you’ll find it online, in books, from
other people, and from other sources.
Step 3: Identify the alternatives
As you collect information, you will probably identify several possible paths of action, or
alternatives. You can also use your imagination and additional information to construct new
alternatives. In this step, you will list all possible and desirable alternatives.
Step 4: Weigh the evidence
Draw on your information and emotions to imagine what it would be like if you carried out
each of the alternatives to the end. Evaluate whether the need identified in Step 1 would be
met or resolved through the use of each alternative. As you go through this difficult internal
process, you’ll begin to favor certain alternatives: those that seem to have a higher potential
for reaching your goal. Finally, place the alternatives in a priority order, based upon your own
value system.
Step 5: Choose among alternatives
Once you have weighed all the evidence, you are ready to select the alternative that seems to
be best one for you. You may even choose a combination of alternatives. Your choice in Step
5 may very likely be the same or similar to the alternative you placed at the top of your list at
the end of Step 4.
Step 6: Take action
You’re now ready to take some positive action by beginning to implement the alternative you
chose in Step 5.
Step 7: Review your decision & its consequences
In this final step, consider the results of your decision and evaluate whether or not it has
resolved the need you identified in Step 1. If the decision has not met the identified need, you
may want to repeat certain steps of the process to make a new decision. For example, you
might want to gather more detailed or somewhat different information or explore additional
alternatives.
How Do Groups Make Decisions
 Group Size: The ideal size is 5 to 7 members for effective decision making. The
group should not be too large or too small.
 Group Composition: If the group has higher status of some group members, in
terms of background or expertise, it influences the other group members opinions.
 Unanimity of Group Consensus: A united group exerts greater pressure to confirm
than a group divided by dissension (disagreement).
 The Risky Shift: People tend to make more risky decision as a group, rather than as
an individual.

Techniques of Group Decision-Making

i. Brainstorming Originally adopted by Alex Osborn in 1938 in an American
Company. According to him, brainstorming means using the brain to storm the
problem.  Four Basic Guidelines: 1) Generate as many ideas as possible. 2) Be
creative, freewheeling, & imaginative. 3) Build upon piggybank, extend or combine
earlier ideas. 4) Withhold criticism of others’ ideas.
ii. Nominal Group Technique: A nominal group exists in name only, & the members
have minimal interaction prior to making decisions.

iii. Delphi Technique “Delphi” is a place, where the ancient Greeks used to pray for
information about the future.In this technique, members selected are experts, &
 scattered over large distances, having no face-to-face interaction for decision-making.
The effectiveness of the technique depends on the adequate time, participants’
expertise, communication skills, & motivation of the members.

iv. Consensus Mapping: It begins with developing ideas by a task sub-group. The
facilitators encourage participants to further develop clusters of ideas. The ideas so
generated are developed & narrowed in smaller number of ideas. They are
consolidated into a representative structure called ‘strawman map’, which is further
narrowed down to arrive at a mutually acceptable solution.

What are the Flaws of Group Decision Making Processes?

 Uncommitted Decisions: One major purpose of group decision making is to make

better informed decisions, but in practice this rarely occurs. Individual members of a
group, rarely put much thought process or effort when making decisions
 Delays: One of the major group decision making problems is slow reaction. Group
decision-making bases itself on mutual discussions and arriving at a consensus or
voting, which invariably takes time.
 Groupthink: Groupthink is a psychological phenomenon that occurs within a group
of people, in which the desire for harmony or conformity in the group results in an
incorrect or deviant decision-making outcome.
 Group Polarization: Another of the major flaws of group decision making is the
propensity of group polarization. In situations where groupthink does not develop, the
group invariably polarizes into two groups, each side holding on to one extreme end
of the possible solutions, and the majority or most vocal position wins the day. Rarely
does the group sit together and take a median path. This makes the group decision
more risky than individual decisions.