Chapter 5

Groups and Organizations

Chapter Outline

• Types of Groups• Social Influence in Groups• Formal Organizations and Bureaucracies• Diversity: Race, Gender, and Class in

Organizations• Functional, Conflict, and Symbolic

Interaction: Theoretical Perspectives

 Types of Groups

• Dyad• Triad• Primary group• Secondary group

• Reference group• In-group• Out-group

Juries

• The social pressures in a jury are extremely strong, making the lone “holdout” person very unlikely.

Dyads and Triads

• Dyad - Group consisting of two people• Triad - Group consisting of three people.• Triadic segregation - The tendency for

triads to segregate into a coalition of the dyad against the isolate.

Primary and Secondary Groups

• Primary groupsGroups consisting of intimate, face-to-face interaction and relatively long-lasting relationships. 

• Secondary groupsGroups with large membership, less intimate, and less long lasting.

Primary Groups

• One of the best examples of the primary group is that consisting of parent and child.

Reference Groups

• Identification with a reference group has a significant influence on one’s identity.

Question

• Which type of group is the most important to you?

a) Primary group

b) Secondary group

Support Groups

• The impersonality of society leads many to join support groups.

Attribution Theory

1. When onlookers observe improper behavior by an outgroup member, onlookers are likely to attribute the deviance to the disposition of the wrongdoer.

2. When the same behavior is exhibited by an in-group member, the perception is that the act is due to the situation of the wrongdoer, not to the ingroup member’s inherent disposition.

Attribution Theory

3. If an out-group member is seen to perform in some laudable way, the behavior is often attributed to a variety of special circumstances, and the out-group member is seen as “the exception.”

4. An in-group member who performs in the same laudable way is given credit for a worthy personality disposition.

Social Networks

• A set of links between individuals or other social units, such as bureaucratic organizations or even entire nations.

• Numerous research studies indicate that people get jobs via their personal networks more often than through formal job listings, want ads, or placement agencies.

Social Networks• This job candidate

does a last-minute check of his resume just before being interviewed by a company representative who contacted the job candidate through a social network.

Small World Research Project

• 300 “senders” were tasked with getting a document to a complete stranger.

• 1/3 of the documents arrived with an average of 6.2 contacts.

Asch Conformity Experiment

• 1/3 to 1/2 of the subjects make a judgment contrary to objective fact and in conformity with the group. 

Milgram Obedience Studies

• 65% of subjects administered what they thought was lethal voltage on the shock machine.

• Milgram described the dilemma as a conflict between conscience and authority.

Milgram’s Setup• These photographs

show how intimidating the Milgram experiment must have been.

• This picture shows the formidable-looking shock generator.

Milgram’s Setup

• This picture shows the role player, who pretends to be getting the electric shock, being hooked up.

Milgram’s Setup

• This pictures shows an experimental subject (seated) and the experimenter (in lab coat, standing).

Milgram’s Setup• This picture shows a

subject terminating the experiment before giving the highest shock level (voltage).

• A large majority (65%) of subjects did not do this and actually went all the way to the maximum shock level.

The Iraqi Prisoners at Abu Graib: Research Predicts Reality?

• In the spring of 2004, it was revealed that American soldiers who were military police guards at Abu Graib prison in Iraq engaged in severe torture of Iraqi prisoners of war.

• The guards claimed they were following orders.• Milgram studies suggest that many ordinary

soldiers would engage in torture if they believed they were under orders to do so.

Debunking Society’s Myths• Myth:

• People are just individuals who make up their own minds about how to behave.

• Sociological perspective:• The Asch, Milgram, and simulated prison

experiments conclusively show that people are profoundly influenced by group pressure, often causing them to make up their minds contrary to fact and to deliberately cause harm.

Historic Groupthink Decisions

• The Naval High Command decided in 1941 not to prepare for the attack on Pearl Harbor by Japan.

• President Kennedy’s attempt to overthrow Cuba by launching the invasion at the Bay of Pigs in 1962.

Historic Groupthink Decisions

• President Johnson’s decision in 1967 to increase the number of U.S. troops in Vietnam.

• Decision by President Nixon’s advisers in 1972 to break into Democratic Party headquarters at the Watergate apartment complex.

Janis: Features of Groupthink

1. An illusion of invulnerability. 2. A falsely negative impression of those who are

antagonists to the group’s plans.3. Discouragement of dissenting opinion. 4. An illusion of unanimity. In the aftermath,

many victims of groupthink recall their reservations, but at the moment of decision there is a prevailing sense that the entire group is in complete agreement.

Debunking Society’s Myths

• Myth• A group of experts will solve a problem

according to their collective expertise.• Sociological perspective:

• Groupthink can lead the most qualified people to make disastrous decisions because people in groups in the United States tend to seek to consensus at all costs.

Risky Shift

• Groups weigh risk differently than individuals.

• Most but not all group discussion leads to greater risk-taking.

• As groups get larger, trends in risk-taking are amplified.

Deindividuation

• Streaking illustrates how the group can provide the persons in it with deindividuation, or merging of self with group.

Formal Organizations

• Develop cultures and routine practices.• People conform to expected patterns of

behavior. • Can be tools for innovation, depending on

the organization’s values and purpose.

Types of Organizations.

• Normative (service, charitable organizations)

• Coercive (prisons)• Utilitarian (corporations)

Weber: Characteristics of Bureaucracy

• Division of labor and specialization• Hierarchy of authority• Rules and regulations• Impersonal relationships• Career ladders• Efficiency

Bureaucracy’s Other Face

• Informal structures ignore, change, or bypass formal structure and rules.

• Subcultures develop when people try to humanize an impersonal organization.

• The informal culture can become exclusionary.

Problems of Bureaucracies

• Risky shift• Groupthink• Ritualism • Alienation

Challenger Disaster• The horror of the

explosion of the space shuttle Challenger in 1986 is seen in the faces of the observers here.

• Sociologist Diane Vaughan attributes the disaster to an ill-formed launch decision in the bureaucracy of NASA based on group interaction phenomena.

McDonaldization of Society

• Efficiency - things move from start to finish in a streamlined path.

• Calculability - emphasis on quantitative aspects of products sold.

The McDonaldization of Society

• Predictability - products are the same no matter when or where they are purchased.

• Control - behavior is reduced to a series of machinelike actions.

McDonaldization of Society• Evidence of the

“McDonaldization of society” can be seen everywhere.

• Shopping malls, food courts, sports stadiums, even cruise ships reflect this trend toward standardization.

Diversity in Organizations

• Organizations perpetuate inequality of race-ethnicity, gender and social class.

• Minorities are less likely to get promoted and more likely to get fired.

Diversity in Organizations

• Few organizational boards and executive committees contain minorities and women, as does this one.

Debunking Society’s Myths• Myth:

• Programs designed to enhance the number of women and minorities in organizational leadership are no longer needed because discriminatory barriers have been removed.

• Sociological perspective:• Research continues to find significant

differences in the promotion rates for women and minorities in most settings.

Theoretical Perspectives on Organizations

Functionalist Theory

Central FocusPositive functions

contribute to unity and stability

Relationship of individual to organization

Individuals are like parts of a machine.

Theoretical Perspectives on Organizations

Conflict Theory

Central FocusHierarchical nature of

bureaucracy encourages conflict

Relationship of individual to organization

Individuals are subordinate to systems of power

Theoretical Perspectives on Organizations

Symbolic Interaction Theory

Central FocusStresses the role of self in

the bureaucracy

Relationship of individual to organization

Interaction between superiors and subordinates forms the structure of the

organization

Question• According to ________, the hierarchical nature

of bureaucracy encourages conflict between superior and subordinate, men and women, and people of different racial or class backgrounds.

a) the conflict perspectiveb) the symbolic interactionist perspectivec) the functionalist perspectived) the evolutionary perspective

Answer: a

• According to the conflict perspective, the hierarchical nature of bureaucracy encourages conflict between superior and subordinate, men and women, and people of different racial or class backgrounds.

Quick Quiz

1. What did Simmel called the tendency for triads to segregate into a pair and an isolate?

a) tertius gaudens

b) dyadic segregation

c) triadic segregation

d) coalition of the isolate

Answer: c

• Simmel called the tendency for triads to segregate into a pair and an isolate a triadic segregation.

2. A set of links between individuals or between other social units is defined as a:

a) secondary groups

b) social network

c) primary group

d) social category

Answer: b

• A set of links between individuals or between other social units is defined as a social network.

3. In a classic study known as the Asch Conformity Experiment, Solomon Asch showed that:a) most people conform when an

authority figure demands obedienceb) most people would proclaim their

willingness to aid a stranger in needc) significant gender difference is evident

in patterns of conformityd) simple facts cannot withstand the

distorting pressure of group influence

Answer: d

• In a classic study known as the Asch Conformity Experiment, Solomon Asch showed that simple facts cannot withstand the distorting pressure of group influence.

4. Which of the following statements is true regarding the Milgram obedience studies?a) When the learner complained of a heart

condition, less than 10% of the subjects delivered the maximum shock level

b) Class background and racial/ethnicdifferences had no effect on compliancerate.

c) In the first experiment, only 20% ofthe subjects went all the way to 450 volts

d) Women were found to be more humanethan men.

Answer: b

• The statement, class background and racial/ethnic differences had no effect on compliance rates, is true regarding the Milgram obedience studies.

5. A married couple is an example of a dyad.

a) a. True

b) b. False

Answer: True

• A married couple is an example of a dyad.