Key Social Skills Managers Need for Building Social Capital
found 15 reasons why managers fail in the face of rapid change. The top two reasons were "ineffective communication skills/practices" and "poor work relationships/interpersonal skills
Group
two or more freely interacting people who share collective norms and goals and have a common identity
-size of a group is limited by the possibilities of mutual interaction and mutual awareness
ex. A total department, a union, or a whole organization woul
Four Sociological Criteria of a Group
1 - Two or more freely interacting individuals
2 - Collective norms
3 - Collective goals
4 - Common identity
Formal Group
group is formed by a manager to help the organization accomplish its goals
Formal groups typically wear such labels as work group, project team, committee, corporate board, or task force.
Informal Group
exists when the members' overriding purpose of getting together is friendship
Formal Groups Fulfill Organizational and Individual Functions
Social Networking Site (SNS)
A Web site that provides a virtual community for people interested in a particular subject or just to "hang out" together. Members create their own online "profile" with biographical data, pictures, likes, dislikes and any other information they choose to
Tuckman's Five-Stage Theory of Group Development
A word of caution is in order. Somewhat akin to Maslow's need hierarchy theory, Tuckman's theory has been repeated and taught so often and for so long that many have come to view it as documented fact, not merely a theory. Even today, it is good to rememb
Tuckman's Five-Stage Theory of Group Development Process
Stage 1: Forming
Ice breaking stage
Group members tend to be uncertain and anxious about their roles, the people in charge and the group's goals
Mutual trust is low
prior experience between members of the group can create friction
there is a good deal of
group cohesiveness
defined as the "we feeling" that binds members of a group together
A search committee has been created at ABC University to hire a new dean of College of Business. During which stage of the group development process would the search committee address role agreements and working as a team?
A - Storming
B - Performing
C -
D - Norming
Extending the Tuckman Model: Group Decay
Groups were observed actually shifting into reverse once Tuckman's "performing" stage was reached, in what the researchers called group decay
De-norming
As the project evolves, there is a natural erosion of standards of conduct. Group members drift in dif
Feedback
Interpersonal feedback increases as the group develops through successive stages.
Interpersonal feedback becomes more specific as the group develops.
As the group develops, positive feedback increases and negative feedback decreases.
The credibility of pe
Deadlines
Uncertain or shifting deadlines are a fact of life in many organizations. Interdependent organizational units and groups may keep each other waiting, may suddenly move deadlines forward or back, or may create deadlines that are known to be earlier than is
Leadership Styles
Leadership behavior that is active, aggressive, directive, structured, and task-oriented seems to have favorable results early in the group's history. However, when those behaviors are maintained throughout the life of the group, they seem to have a negat
Roles
-expected behaviors for a given position
-sets of behaviors that persons expect of occupants of a position
Role theory
attempts to explain how these social expectations influence employee behavior
A Role Episode
consists of a snapshot of the ongoing interaction between two people. In any given role episode, there is a role sender and a focal person who is expected to act out the role. Within a broader social context, one may be simultaneously a role sender and a
Role overload
Occurs when "the sum total of what role senders expect of the focal person far exceeds what he or she is able to do.
Role conflict
Experienced when "different members of the role set expect different things of the focal person
also may be experienced when internalized values, ethics, or personal standards collide with others' expectations.
role conflict and role ambiguity were associ
Role ambiguity
occurs when "members of the role set fail to communicate to the focal person expectations they have or information needed to perform the role, either because they do not have the information or because they deliberately withhold it
people experience role
Norms
an attitude, opinion, feeling, or action�shared by two or more people� that guides their behavior
help organizational members determine right from wrong and good from bad
groups where the norm was to express prejudices, condone discrimination, and laugh a
Ostracism
Rejection by group members
Norms - How they are Developed
1 - Explicit statements by supervisors or co-workers. For instance, a group leader might explicitly set norms about not drinking (alcohol) at lunch. (See Real World/Real People.)
2 - Critical events in the group's history. At times there is a critical eve
Norms - Why they are Enforced
-Help the group or organization survive
-Clarify or simplify behavioral expectations
-Help individuals avoid embarrassing situations
-Clarify the group's or organization's central values and/or unique identity
Task roles
enable the work group to define, clarify, and pursue a common purpose
keep the group on track
Maintenance roles
foster supportive and constructive interpersonal relationships
keep the group together
Functional Roles Preformed by Group Members
Roles that are not always performed when needed, such as those of coordinator, evaluator, and gatekeeper, can be performed in a timely manner by the formal leader or assigned to other members.
The task roles of initiator, orienter, and energizer are espec
Bob's role in his work group is to promote greater understanding through examples or explanation of implications. Bob's role can be described as a(n):
A - Initiator
B - Elaborator
C - Coordinator
D - Energizer
B - Elaborator
Group Size
Within a contingency management framework group size depends on the manager's objective for the group.
If a high-quality decision is the main objective, then a three- to five-member group would be appropriate
If the objective is to generate creative ideas
Mathematical Modeling Approach
Involves building a mathematical model around certain desired outcomes of group action such as decision quality. Due to differing assumptions and statistical techniques, the results of this research are inconclusive
Laboratory Simulation Approach
based on the assumption that group behavior needs to be observed firsthand in controlled laboratory settings
It would be difficult, at least with respect to decision quality, to justify groups larger than five members.... Of course, to meet needs other th
Women Face an Uphill Battle in Mixed-Gender Task Groups
women overcome the effects of weaker handshakes, such that on average they do not receive lower interview performance ratings from interviewers, and that women may actually benefit more than do men if they present a strong and complete grip when they shak
Behavioral Categories of Sexual Harassment
out of seven female veterans of Afghanistan or Iraq who visit a Veterans Affairs center for medical care report being a victim of sexual assault or harassment during military duty
sexual harassment compounded by ethnic discrimination. Women experienced mo
Sexual Harassment - What exactly is?
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) says that unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature constitute sexual harassment when submission to such conduct is made a condition of
The Asch Effect
the distortion of individual judgment by a unanimous but incorrect opposition
"perception test"
Only 20% of Asch's subjects remained entirely independent; 80% yielded to the pressures of group opinion at least once! And 58% knuckled under to the "immoral
Blind Conformity
Robert I Sutton, a professor of management science at Stanford University, recently offered this blistering assessment of blind conformity:
Mindless imitation is among the most dangerous and widespread forms of management idiocy. One of the dumbest excuse
Groupthink
a mode of thinking that people engage in when they are deeply involved in a cohesive in-group, when members' strivings for unanimity override their motivation to realistically appraise alternative courses of action
refers to a deterioration of mental effi
Symptoms of Groupthink Lead to Defective Decision Making
Symptoms of Groupthink
Invulnerability
Inherent morality
Rationalization
Stereotyped views of opposition
Self-censorship
Illusion of unanimity
Peer pressure
Mindguards
Groupthink Research and Prevention
Groups with a moderate amount of cohesiveness produce better decisions than low- or high-cohesive groups.
Highly cohesive groups victimized by groupthink make the poorest decisions, despite high confidence in those decisions
preventive measures:
1 - Each
Social Loafing
tendency for individual effort to decline as group size increases
Reasons for Social Loafing
-Equity of effort
-Loss of personal accountability
-Motivational loss due to sharing of rewards
-Coordination loss as more people perform the task
Social Loafing Theory and Research
Among the theoretical explanations for the social loafing effect are (1) equity of effort ("Everyone else is goofing off, so why shouldn't I?"), (2) loss of personal accountability ("I'm lost in the crowd, so who cares?"), (3) motivational loss due to the
Cyber Loafing
using the Internet for nonwork-related activities such as communicating with friends via e-mail and social media, Web surfing, shopping, and gaming
The Organizational Behavior class has a project that counts for 50% of the class grade. Groups of 10 have been assigned to complete it. Duane thinks that he will not have to work very hard because the group is so large. This is called _______.
A - Groupth
C - Social loafing
Dealing with Social Loafing in the Internet Age