Download Chapter 5 Groups and organizations

Chapter 5
Groups and organizations
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Social Groups
Group Characteristics and Dynamics
Formal Organizations in Global
Perspective
Alternative Forms of Organization
Organizations in the Future
Social Groups
A collection of two or more people who:
 Interact frequently.
 Share a sense of belonging.
 Have a feeling of interdependence.
Types of Groups
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Primary and Secondary
Ingroups and Outgroups
Reference Groups
Cooley’s Primary and Secondary
Groups
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Primary group - small group whose members
engage in face-to-face, emotion-based
interactions.
Secondary group - larger group in which
members engage in impersonal relationships
for a limited period of time.
Sumner’s Ingroups and Outgroups
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Groups set boundaries between insiders and
outsiders.
Distinguishing between ingroups and
outgroups helps us establish our identity.
May encourage group cohesiveness, but may
also promote classism, racism, sexism and
ageism.
Group Size
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Size is one of the most important features of a
group.
As size increases, communication patterns
between group members change.
Larger groups typically have more formalized
leadership structures.
Group Leadership Styles
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Authoritarian leaders - often criticized for
fostering intergroup hostility.
Democratic leaders - praised for supportive
behavior and blamed for being indecisive in a
crisis.
Laissez-faire leaders - do not provide active
leadership.
Research on Group Conformity
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Asch - demonstrated that people will bow to
social pressure in small group settings.
Milgram - obedience to authority may be more
common than most of us would like to believe.
Pryor and McKinney - suggest a relationship
between group conformity and harassment.
Groupthink
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Members of groups limit their opinions to focus
on consensus.
Members of a group arrive at a decision that
individual members believe is unwise.
1986 challenger tragedy has been cited as an
example of this process.
Etzioni’s Classification of Formal
Organizations
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Normative organizations are joined
voluntarily. (political parties, religious
organizations and social clubs)
Coercive organizations are associations
people are forced to join. (prisons)
Utilitarian organizations provide rewards.
(colleges and universities, the workplace)
Weber’s Ideal Characteristics of
Bureaucracy
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Division of Labor
Hierarchy of Authority
Rules and Regulations
Qualification-Based Employment
Impersonality
Shortcomings of Bureaucracy
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Inefficiency and Rigidity
Resistance to Change
Perpetuation of Race, Class, and Gender
Inequalities
Alternative Forms of Organization
“Humanizing” the bureaucracy:
1. Greater sharing of power and responsibility.
2. Encouragement of participants to share their
ideas and try new approaches.
3. Efforts to reduce the number of people in
dead-end jobs and to help people meet family
responsibilities.
Organizational Structure in Japan
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Lifetime employment - workers were (until
recently), guaranteed permanent employment
after an initial probationary period.
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Quality circles—small workgroups that meet
regularly with managers to discuss the group’s
performance and working conditions.