Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Chapter 8
Types of Groups
2
How Groups are formed?
3
Role Concepts
Role:
Role The typical behavior that
characterizes a person in a specific
social context.
Role Expectations:
Expectations The behaviors
expected of someone in a particular
role.
Role Ambiguity:
Ambiguity Confusion arising from
not knowing what one is expected to do
as the holder of a role.
Role Differentiation:
Differentiation The tendency for
various specialized roles to emerge as
groups develop. 4
Cards Used in Asch’s Study
5
Status
The relative prestige, social position, or
rank given to groups or individuals by
others.
Formal Status: The prestige one has by
virtue of his or her official position in an
organization.
Status Symbols: Objects reflecting the
position of any individual within an
organization’s hierarchy of power.
Informal Status: The prestige accorded
individuals with certain characteristics that
are not formally recognized by the 6
Group Cohesiveness
The strength of group members’
desires to remain a part of the
group.
Influencing factors:
Severity of initiation
Conditions of high external
threat or competition
Time spent together
Group size
History of success 7
Social Loafing
8
Overcoming Social Loafing
Make each performer
identifiable
Make work tasks more
important and
interesting
Reward individuals for
contributing to their
group’s performance
Use punishment
threats
9
Group Decision Making
Strengths Weaknesses
More complete More time
information consuming
Increased Increased
responsibility
10
Group Decision Making
(cont’d)
11
Beware: Teams Aren’t Always
the Answer
Three tests to see if a team fits the situation:
Is the work complex and is there a need for
different perspectives?
Does the work create a common purpose or
interdependent tasks?
12