humanbeh chapter 12 informal and formal groups

7/21/2019 HUMANBEH Chapter 12 Informal and Formal Groups

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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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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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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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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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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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humanbeh chapter 12 informal and formal groups

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