INFLUENCE OF GROUPS ON INDIVIDUAL BEHAVIORS

INTRODUCTION
Man is a social animal and always stay with people and wants to become a member of group E.g. Group of friends, family and play groups other social groups. Groups put pressure on individual particular way. Negative Pressure E.g. An individual is pressurized by group to eat non-veg or drink an alcohol even if they do not Positive Pressure Eg. An individual is pressurized by his group of family members to study well and work hard like it. to think ,feel and act in a

Groups in Organization
Organization can not work without groups Its a common belief that group activity increases the organizational efficiency and effectiveness. Eg. Quality management, increasing productivity and marketing etc. Sometimes group working creates more complex difficulties than individual working Eg. Giving task to achieve a sales target to an individual and same task to the group creats more difficulties.

EFFECT OF GROUP ON INDIVIDUAL

1.Social Facilitation 2.Social Loafing 3.Group Polarization 4.Group Think 5.Escalation of Commitment

SOCIAL FACILITATION
It is tendency for the performance to improve or decline others Either good or bad performance due to presence of others eg. Giving a presentation in classroom with group members or alone in front of the mirror at home creates different performance. in response to the presence of

POSITIVE EFFECTS OF SOCIAL FACILITATION

Simple and routine tasks performed in presence of others are quick and accurate. Eg. 1. Giving lecture by teacher at the presence of group of students, 2. Preparing a bhel puri or pani puri in front of the group of customers, 3. dealing with customer complaints in call centre etc.

NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF SOCIAL FACILITATION

When work is complex and requires close attention then the presence of group will affect the performance negatively . Eg. Writing a paper in exam when paper is tough Doing study before one day of the examination Repairing a machine Driving car by a begginer

1. DRIVE THEORY
It creates the stimulation due to presence of others It creates most dominant performance Eg. Highly skilled person ( teacher in teaching, accountant in accounting, driver in driving, dancer and singer in dancing and singing) perform best in presence of others Unskilled person ( workers in the organization) creates in correct dominant responses in presence of others. It interferes with the individual performance , if it is not well learned and correct Eg. Giving a speech by a person who is not skilled in it. This person always feel group is interfering his performance.

EVALUATION APPREHENSION
It is a concern that an individual shows for the opinion of others about his performance It is an evaluation of an individual by a group of people An individual is too much concerned about what others are thinking of him or her It creates fear in the mind of individual of being evaluated negatively by others (Group) Due to fear individual take lot of efforts to look good in front of others.

Eg. Suppose one individual can not speak english language fluently but he is too much concerned about what others will think of him or her( Affects individual Performance) Hence if he speaks any wrong word or incorrect language and others laugh at him or her creates the fear in the mind of an individual ( Negative Evaluation) Hence that individual take a great efforts to speak english fluently to look good in front of the others.

DISTRACTION CONFLICT MODEL

Presence of others create conflicts between paying attention to others as well as to the task

SOCIAL LOAFING
It is a Reduction in motivation and efforts when individuals work collectively in a group compared to them when they work individually or as independent co-workers Larger the size of group , lesser the contribution of group members Eg. In large family , the task delegated to each individual is smaller as compared to the small family. It happens amongAdults Childrens Women men

WHY SOCIAL LOAFING OCCURS?

1. Need to put physical efforts 2. No measures of contribution 3. Unfair work division 4. Lack of contribution from other members 5.Sucker effect- one person is working and others are not i.e. being fooled by others 6.Selfish motives- self interest-getting most for themselves by putting less efforts.

CONTD..
7. Contribution does not matter- due to large group people engage in social loafing because they feel that presence of others make their contribution less needed 8. Diffusion of responsibility- people feel less responsible due to large groups because they feel that they easily hide in the crowd 9. Contribution less needed-due to large group , people feel that their contribution is less needed 10.Cultural factors-individualistic culture is more likely to engage in social loafing than collectivistic culture.

REDUCING SOCIAL LOAFING

It has a very bad impact on group performance , hence needs to be reduced in following ways 1.Accountability- giving responsibility to each individual in a group and answerable for their performance 2.Commitment- increase individual commitment for task completion 3.Value of task- increase the value of task performed by the groups 4.Unique contribution- develop the believe that their contribution is unique and important for best group performance

GROUP POLARIZATION
Decision-making
Risky Shiftgroups take more risk than individual
Cautious Shiftgroups take more cautious than individuals

Above two shifts are part of Polarization

WHY POLARIZATION OCCURS?

1. Socio-cultural factors-- group members wants to avoid leaving bad impression on group members hence they show that they are accepting the views of others. 2. Feeling of responsibility- individuals feel that they are not only responsible for decisions and outcomes, other group members are also responsible. Hence they support the decision which is accepted by most of the group members even if they personally do not like it.

GROUP THINK
A deterioration of mental efficiency, reality testing and moral judgment that results from in-group pressure It occurs in highly cohesive group Once the group think is developed , it is difficult to change it even if others tell the group that it is a wrong decision because now they are committed to it. E.g.In a group of 10 individuals, 7 individuals decide to go to a tour on hill-station in winter season and even though remaining 3 individuals do not feel that it is a right decision they support it as majority of individuals support that decision.

SYMPTOMS OF GROUP THINK

Illusion of invulnerability- ignore danger signals, become positive and take extreme risks Collective rationalization- members overlook the information which does not supports group thinking Unquestioned morality- members thinking is that they are ethical and moral and everyone else thinking is wrong. Excessive negative stereotyping- rivals are not taken seriously as they think that they are worthless

CONTD.
Strong conformity pressure- every group member should follow what is decided by the majority of group members Self-censorship of dissenting ideas- unacceptable ideas are not expressed by group members and they do not make arguments. They keep their ideas to themselves. Illusion of an unanimity- illusion about that everyone agrees with the judgment Self-appointed mind gaurds- members close their mind to negative and threatening information

ESCALATION OF COMMITMENT
Increasing commitment towards the bad decision even if leads to a loss Tendency to get trapped in bad decision Problems1. Admission of mistake- individual knows his decision leads to a negative outcome and he is responsible for initiation decision. They do not accept the mistake. Hence keep on doing the same mistake. 2. Self-justification- justify their previous judgments and losses. They feel that the ends will justify the means

CONTD
1.Selective perception- pay more attention to the information that justifies their decision and rejects which does not, it leads to escalation 2.Social pressure- society admires people who face the difficulties. They try to fulfill the expectations of the society

THANK YOU