PERCEPTION AND GROUP BEHAVIOR:Characteristics of Groups, Individual and Group Behavior

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Human Relations MGMT611

Lesson 05

PERCEPTION AND GROUP BEHAVIOR

What is Group?

· Two or more individuals who interact with one another, share goals and norms and have a

subjective awareness as me, myself' we and "ourselves".

· The organizations are using the word team for the groups now a day. So a group/team is "two or

more people interacting to achieve an objective". This definition has three major components

Objective

Interaction

Projective

Characteristics of Groups

The following statements are characteristics of the groups.

Its members share common goals.

They engage in frequent interaction.

They define themselves as members.

They are defined by others as belonging to the group.

They feel the group to be rewarding.

How groups help organizations

· Groups are good for people.

· Groups can improve creativity.

· Groups can make better decisions.

· Groups can increase commitments to action.

· Groups help control their members.

· Groups help offset large organization size.

Importance of Groups in Organizations

Global organizations continue to focus on teams.

· Groups are a major means of increasing productivity.

· The use of group decision making in organizations is emerging in importance. It has long been

recognized that team participation in decision making results in better decisions, with more

commitment to their implementations.

· Managers are evaluated on the result of their departments as a whole.

· It is common knowledge that groups are the backbone of the organizations because of the systems

effect in which each group/department is affected by at least one other group and each department

affects the performance of the total organization.

Why do People Join Group

· People join groups for a variety of reasons. Some group members are motivated by task concerns

and others are motivated by interpersonal attraction to other group members.

Group Synergy

Support and Commitment

Interpersonal Needs

Group Synergy

Group synergy refers to the idea that two heads (or more) are better than one. You may have also

heard the phrase,

"The whole is greater than the sum of its parts, which also refers to group synergy.

Simply, groups are often capable of producing higher quality work and better decisions can be

taken as compared to an individual working alone.

Human Relations MGMT611

Support and Commitment

· A group may be more willing to take on a large project than would an individual. In addition to its

increased ability to do work, the group can provide encouragement and support to its members

while working on a big project.

Interpersonal Needs

Individuals often join a group to meet their interpersonal needs.

William Schutz has identified three such needs: inclusion, control, and affection.

Inclusion is the need to establish identity with others.

Control is the need to exercise leadership outlets for this need. Some individuals do not want to be

a leader. For them, groups provide the necessary control over aspects of their lives.

Affection is the need to develop relationships with people. Groups are an excellent way to make

friends and establish relationships.

Types of groups

· Groups form to accomplish some objective. The objective may be to complete some kind of task

or may be to promote the interpersonal relationships between the group members. Many groups,

however, fulfill both of these functions.

· Primary group

· Secondary group

· Reference group

· In-group

· Out-group

· Social Group

· Work Group

· Contrived or Emergent Groups

Primary groups

· Groups consisting of intimate, face-to-face interaction and relatively long-lasting relationships.

· Expressive needs intimacy, companionship and emotional support, provided by primary groups.

Secondary groups

· Groups with large membership, less intimate and less long lasting.

Reference groups

· Serve as a standard evaluating values, attitudes, and behaviors.

In-group

· An in-group is a social group towards which an individual feels loyalty and respect, usually due to

membership in the group. This loyalty often manifests itself as an ingroup bias. Commonly

encountered ingroups include family members, people of the same race or religion.

Out- group

· An out-group is a social group towards which an individual feels contempt, opposition, or a desire

to compete. Members of out-groups may be subject to out-group homogeneity biases, and

generally people tend to privilege ingroup members over out-group members in many situations.

Social Groups

· While all groups will have both social and task dimensions, some groups are predominantly social

in their orientation. Examples of these groups would be families and social clubs. These groups

provide for our safety and solidarity needs and they help us to develop self- esteem.

Human Relations MGMT611

Work Groups

· Work groups function to complete a particular task. In a work group, the task dimension is

emphasized. The members pool their expertise to accomplish the task. Examples of this would be

workplaces, campus organizations, or juries.

Emergent Groups

· Some groups form spontaneously, such as a group of friends. Other groups are contrived, that is,

they are formed for a specific purpose. Organized clubs, social groups, or committees are contrived

groups.

Roles in Groups

· Every member of a group plays a certain role within that group.

· Some roles relate to the task aspect of the group, while others promote social interaction.

· A third set of roles are self-centered and can be destructive for the group.

Task-Oriented Roles

These are several roles which relate to the completion of the groups task:

· Initiator-contributor: Generates new ideas.

· Information-seeker: Asks for information about the task.

· Opinion-seeker: Asks for the input from the group about its values.

· Information-giver: Offers facts or generalization to the group.

· Opinion-giver: States his or her beliefs about a group issue.

· Elaborator Explains Ideas: within the group offers examples to clarify ideas.

· Coordinator: shows the relationships between ideas.

· Orienter: Shifts the direction of the groups discussion.

· Evaluator-critic: Measures group's actions against some objective standard.

· Energizer: Stimulates the group to a higher level of activity.

· Procedural technician: Performs logistical functions for the group.

· Recorder: Keeps a record of group actions.

Social Roles

Groups also have members who play certain social roles:

· Encourager: Praises the ideas of others.

· Harmonizer: Mediates differences between group members.

· Compromiser: Moves group to another position that is favored by all group members.

· Gatekeeper/expediter: Keeps communication channels open.

· Standard Setter: Suggests standards or criteria for the achievement.

· Group observer: Keeps records of group activities and uses this information to offer feedback to

the group.

· Follower: Goes along with the group and accepts the group's ideas.

Individualistic Roles

These roles place the group member above the group and are destructive to the group.

· Aggressor: Attacks other group members, deflates the status of others, and other aggressive

behavior.

· Blocker: Resists movement by the group.

· Recognition seeker: Calls attention to himself or herself.

· Self-confessor Seeks to disclose non group related feelings opinions.

· Dominator: Asserts control over the group by manipulating the other group members.

· Help seek to gain the sympathy of the group.

· Special interest pleader: Uses stereotypes to assert his or her owns prejudices.

Human Relations MGMT611

Individual and Group Behavior

· Effective management requires an understanding of some systematic elements of human behavior,

your own and that of others.

· Directing, motivating, and influencing people within and outside your organization are key aspects

of leadership.

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