Human Behavior in Organizations: Session 9

Human Behavior in Organizations
Session 9
Groups
• A group is defined as two or more individuals, interacting and

interdependent, who have come together to achieve
particular objectives.
• Groups can be either formal or informal.
– Formal groups: those defined by the organization’s

structure.
– Informal groups: alliances that are neither formally

structured nor organizationally determined.
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Why do people form groups?
• Social identity theory: considers when and why individuals

consider themselves members of groups.
– Social identities help us understand who we are and where we

fit in with people.
– People have emotional reactions to the failure or success of
their group because their self-esteem gets tied into the
performance of the group.
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Ingroups and Outgroups
– Ingroup favoritism occurs when we see members of our group

as better than other people, and people not in our group as all
the same.
– Recent research suggests that people with low openness and/or
low agreeableness are more susceptible to ingroup favoritism.
– Whenever there is an ingroup, there is by necessity an outgroup,
which is sometimes everyone else, but is usually an identified
group known by the ingroup’s members.
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Social Identity Threat
– Ingroups and outgroups pave the way for social identity

threat, which is akin to stereotype threat.
– Individuals believe they will be personally negatively

evaluated due to their association with a devalued group,
and they may lose confidence and performance
effectiveness.
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Tuckman’s Five Stage Model
Punctuated Equilibrium Model
Groups do not progress linearly from one step to the next, but alternate between
periods of inertia and bursts of energy.
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Group Properties: Roles
• Role: a set of expected behavior patterns attributed to

someone occupying a given position in a social unit.
– Role perception: one’s perception of how to act in a given

situation.
– Role expectations: how others believe one should act in a

given situation.
• Psychological contract
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Role conflict
Situation in which an individual faces divergent role

expectations.
– We can experience interrole conflict when the

expectations of our different, separate groups are in
opposition.
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• Role Play and Assimilation
– Philip Zimbardo’s prison experiment.

• Participants easily and rapidly assumed roles
that were very different from their inherent
personalities.
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Group Properties: Norms
• Norms – acceptable standards of behavior within a group that

are shared by the group’s members.
– Performance norms
– Appearance norms
– Social arrangement norms
– Resource allocation norms
• The Hawthorne Studies

Conformity
In about 37% of the trials; the subjects gave answers that they knew
were wrong but that were consistent with the replies of other group
members
Reference groups
• Individuals conform to the important groups to which they belong or hope to

belong.
• However, all groups do not impose equal conformity pressures on their

members.
• Important groups are referred to as reference groups.
• The reference group is characterized as one where the person is aware of the
others; the person defines himself or herself as a member, or would like to be
a member; and the person feels that the group members are significant to
him/her.
Group Properties: Status
• Status – a socially defined position or rank given to groups or

group members by others.
– Status characteristics theory – differences in status
characteristics create status hierarchies within groups.
• Status is derived from one of three sources:
The power a person wields over others.
A person’s ability to contribute to a group’s goals.
An individual’s personal characteristics.

• Status and Norms
– High status individuals often have more freedom to deviate
from norms.
• Status and Group Interaction
– High status people are often more assertive.
• Status Inequity
– Perceived inequity creates disequilibrium and can lead to
resentment and corrective behavior.
• Status and Stigmatization
– Stigma by association.
Group Properties: Size
• Group size affects the group’s overall behavior.
– Large groups are good for gaining diverse input.

– Smaller groups are better doing something with input.
– Social loafing – the tendency for individuals to expend less

effort when working collectively than alone.
Group Properties: Diversity
• Diversity – the degree to which members of the group are

similar to, or different from, one another.
• Increases group conflict especially in the short term.
• Culturally and demographically diverse groups may perform

better over time.
– Over time, diversity may help them be more open-minded
and creative.
• Faultlines
Groupthink
Situations in which group pressures for conformity deter the

group from critically appraising unusual, minority, or
unpopular views.
The Abilene paradox
• The paradox was first described by management expert Jerry B Harvey
and developed in his book "Meditations on Management".
• Paradox in which a group of people collectively decide on a course of
action that none of them really want to take but say they do because they
think it's best for the team.
• It arises when people believe it would be wrong to challenge what
appears to be the team or team leader's will or when people think their
own views are unimportant.
• It is closely related to the concept of Groupthink where everyone puts
group concerns above individual concerns.

Group Cohesion
• Interpersonal attraction binding group members together;
enables groups to exercise effective control over the members
• Groups with High Cohesiveness:
• demonstrate lower tension and anxiety
• demonstrate less variation in productivity
• demonstrate better member satisfaction, commitment and

communication
Cohesiveness and Work-Related Tension
Implications for Managers
• Recognize that groups can dramatically affect individual

behavior in organizations, to either positive or negative
effect. Therefore, pay special attention to roles, norms, and
cohesion—to understand how these are operating within a
group is to understand how the group is likely to behave.
• To decrease the possibility of deviant workplace activities,

ensure that group norms do not support antisocial behavior.
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Implications for Managers
• Pay attention to the status aspect of groups. Because lower-status people

tend to participate less in group discussions, groups with high status
differences are likely to inhibit input from lower-status members and
reduce their potential.
• Use larger groups for fact-finding activities and smaller groups for action-
taking tasks. With larger groups, provide measures of individual
performance.
9-24

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Human Behavior in Organizations

• A group is defined as two or more individuals, interacting and

• Groups can be either formal or informal.

– Formal groups: those defined by the organization’s

– Informal groups: alliances that are neither formally

• Social identity theory: considers when and why individuals

– Social identities help us understand who we are and where we

– Ingroup favoritism occurs when we see members of our group

– Ingroups and outgroups pave the way for social identity

– Individuals believe they will be personally negatively

• Role: a set of expected behavior patterns attributed to

– Role perception: one’s perception of how to act in a given

– Role expectations: how others believe one should act in a

Situation in which an individual faces divergent role

– We can experience interrole conflict when the

– Philip Zimbardo’s prison experiment.

• Norms – acceptable standards of behavior within a group that

• The Hawthorne Studies

• Individuals conform to the important groups to which they belong or hope to

• However, all groups do not impose equal conformity pressures on their

• Important groups are referred to as reference groups.

• Status – a socially defined position or rank given to groups or

An individual’s personal characteristics.

• Group size affects the group’s overall behavior.

– Large groups are good for gaining diverse input.

– Social loafing – the tendency for individuals to expend less

• Diversity – the degree to which members of the group are

• Culturally and demographically diverse groups may perform

Situations in which group pressures for conformity deter the

and developed in his book "Meditations on Management".

• Paradox in which a group of people collectively decide on a course of

think it's best for the team.

• It arises when people believe it would be wrong to challenge what

own views are unimportant.

• It is closely related to the concept of Groupthink where everyone puts

group concerns above individual concerns.

• Interpersonal attraction binding group members together;

enables groups to exercise effective control over the members

• Groups with High Cohesiveness:

• demonstrate lower tension and anxiety

• demonstrate less variation in productivity

• demonstrate better member satisfaction, commitment and

• Recognize that groups can dramatically affect individual

• To decrease the possibility of deviant workplace activities,

• Pay attention to the status aspect of groups. Because lower-status people

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