humanbeh chapter 12 informal and formal groups
TRANSCRIPT
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Organizational Behavior (OB)
Informal and Formal Groups
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Group Dynamics
Social process by which people interact face-
to-face in small groups
Types Formalestablished by the organization and
which have a public identity and goal to
achieve Informalemerge on the basis of common
interests, proximity and friendships
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Differences between Informal and
Formal Organizations
Basis of Comparison Informal
Organization
Formal
Organization
General nature Unofficial Official
Major concepts Power and politics Authority andresponsibility
Primary focus Person Position
Source of leader
power
Given by group Delegated by
managementGuidelines for
behavior
Norms Rules and policies
Sources of control Sanctions Rewards and
penalties
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Informal Leaders
Employee with the largest amount of status inthe informal organization
Informal groups overlap
A group can have multiple informal leaders
One primary leader has more influence thanothers
Leaders can be identified by their distinctivebehaviors
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Monitoring Informal Organizations
Network charts:Focus on either interpersonal
feelings expressed among individuals or actual
behaviors exhibited
Determines who trusts whom and selects an
individual to negotiate a satisfactory compromise
on an issue
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Guidelines for Influencing Informal
Organizations
Accept and understand them
Identify various levels of attitudes andbehaviors within them
Consider possible effects on informal systemswhen taking any kind of action
Integrate the interests of informal groups with
those of the formal organization Keep formal activities from unnecessarily
threatening them
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Formal Groups: Committees
Group in which members who have theauthority to handle a problem meet to
address and resolve it
Groups authority is expressed in terms of onevote for each member
Limitation - People are unable to make
adjustments from their normal work roles andrelationships
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Systems View of Effective Committees
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Potential Outcomes of Formal Group
Processes
Support for decisions
Quality of decisions and problem solving
improves
Individual development
Social facilitation: Members try harder to
contribute on a task just because other people are
around
Conformity: Members are alert to the perceived
expectations and norms of the majority
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Consensus
Group engages in widespread input gathering,
which results in a shared level of
understanding
Consensus-oriented members can and will
support the decision made
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Weaknesses of Committees
Groupthink: Tendency of a tightly knit groupto bring individual thinking in line with the
groups thinking
Symptoms Self-censorship of critical thoughts
Rationalizing their actions
Illusion of invulnerability, unanimity, and morality
Reliance on self-appointed mind-guards
Stereotyping others outside the group
Pressure on dissidents to conform to the group
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Weaknesses of Committees
Polarization: Individuals bring to the grouptheir strong predispositions toward a topic
Risky shift:Willingness to take chances with
organizational resources as a group than theywould as individuals
Group decisions dilute and thin out
responsibility Social loafers: Individual members who shirk responsibility
with justifications
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Weaknesses of Committees
Escalating commitment: Persevering inadvocating a course of action despite rational
evidence that it will result in failure
Selective perception results in confirmation bias Ego needs of the decision makers affect decisions
Admiration of leaders who are risk takers
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Weaknesses of Committees
Other related problems Linearity bias - Propensity to make overly simple
cause-effect conclusions
Egocentrism - Temptation to overemphasize our
own importance while forcing a decision Framing bias - Temptation to be overly influenced
by how the problem was presented
Self-confidence bias - Premature belief that thebest solution has already been uncovered
Anti-statistical bias - Reluctance to examinerelevant statistical information and give themweight
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Weaknesses of Committees
Overcome through: Proper group structures to be selected
Group size is an important factor
Various leadership roles to be played Devils advocate: Guardians of clear and moral
thinking who provide constructive criticism
Red teaming: Subset of a group:
Challenges underlying assumptions
Takes an adversarys viewpoint
Proposes scenarios that have not been considered
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