Download Groups And Formal Organizations

Groups And Formal
Organizations
Chapter 6
Primary and Secondary Groups
• Group
– Composed of people who share several
features
•
•
•
•
Contact
Share thoughts and behavior
Are considerate to one another
Common goals and/or interests
Primary and Secondary Groups
• Social category – people who share a
social characteristic
– (e.g. high school juniors)
• Social Aggregate – people who happen to
be in the same place at the same time
• Neither are groups but may form them
Primary Groups
• Primary Group
– Composed of people who are emotionally
close, know one another well, and seek one
another’s company
– “We”
• Primary Relationships
– Intimate, personal, caring, and fulfilling
• Primary Groups are the MOST important
for socialization! Why?
Primary Group Development
• Factors:
– Size
– Face-to-face contact
– Continuous contact
– Social environment
Primary Group Functions
• Emotional Support
• Socialization
• Encouragement of Conformity
Secondary Groups
• Secondary Group – impersonal and goal
oriented
– E.g.??
• Secondary relationships – people who
only share elements of their lives for a
specific time and to accomplish a specific
goal
• Can be ruined by personal relationships
Other Groups
• Reference Groups
– People we use to evaluate ourselves and
acquire attitudes, values, beliefs, and norms
– E.g.??
– You do NOT have to be a member of the
group.
– Can be negative or positive
• How?
In-Group vs. Out-Group
In-Group
Out-Group
Requires Extreme
Loyalty
A group opposite of an
In-Group that causes
negative feelings
They
We
Where can In-Groups and Out-Groups be found?
What Types of boundaries exist?
How are barriers/boundaries maintained?
Social Networks
• These are our webs of social networks
• Who would be included?
• What is the purpose/function of social
networks?
– Sense of belonging or purpose
– Support (help or advice)
– Mentors
Social Interaction
• Cooperation
– A form of interaction in which individuals or
groups combine their efforts to reach some
goal
• Conflict
– Groups or individuals that work against one
another for a larger share of the rewards
– What are these benefits?
• Cooperation, unity, attention to social inequality,
and change
Social Interaction
• “All men, or most men, wish what is noble
but choose what is profitable; and while it
is noble to render a service not with an
eye to receiving one in return, it is
profitable to receive one. One ought,
therefore, if one can, to return the
equivalent of services received, and to do
so willingly.”
Social Exchange
• Social interaction in which one person
voluntarily does something for another,
expecting something in return
– Examples?
Social Interaction
• Coercion – when groups or individuals are
forced to give in to the wishes of other
groups or individuals ??
• Conformity – behaving like we are
“supposed to”
– How important is this in our lives?
– Solomon Asch experiment
• Group think – when decisions are based
on conformity and pressure
Theories of Social Interaction
• Functionalist
– support conformity
• Conflict Theorist
– Coercion
• Symbolic Interactionism
– Social exchange
Formal Organizations
• - a group formed to achieve one or more
long-term goals
– E.G.??
• Bureaucracies – formal organizations
based on rationality and efficiency
Characteristics of a Bureaucracy
• Specialized division of labor
– How is our district organized?
• Hierarchy
– Power – ability to control the behavior of others
– Authority – exercising of legitimate power
• A system of rules and procedures
• Written records of work and activities.
• Promotion on the basis of merit and
qualifications.
Analysis of a Bureaucracy
• Max Weber believed a bureaucracy to be
efficient in meeting the needs of others.
• Advantages?
– Rationalization – mind-set emphasizing
knowledge, reason, and planning
• Are bureaucracies a measure of fair
treatment or not?
Informal Organization
• -groups within a formal organization in
which personal relationships are guided by
norms, rituals, and sentiments
– E.g. the Hawthorne Study
Iron Law of Oligarchy
• A process of taking power for personal
use.
• - power increasingly tends to become
more and more concentrated in the hands
of fewer and fewer members of any
organization.
– Cause by the want to remain in power
Oligarchy Encouragement
• Hierarchy is required in an organization
• Advantages at the top allow for
consolidation
• Members “give in” to the leaders