Social Groups and Formal Organizations

1
Social Groups and Formal Organizations

• Social Groups
• Group Dynamics
• Bureaucracy
• The Corporation

2
Social Groups

• We become who we are because of our membership in
  human groups.

• Aggregateindividuals who temporarily share the
  same physical space but who do not see themselves
  belonging together.
• A groupthink of themselves as belonging
  together, and they interact with one another.

3
Primary Groups

• Primary relationships
• First group experienced in life
• Irreplaceable
• Security
• Traits
• Small
• Personal orientation
• Enduring
• Assistance of all kinds
• Emotional to financial

4
Secondary Groups

• Secondary relationships
• Weak emotional ties between persons
• Short term
• Traits
• Large membership
• Goal or activity orientation
• Formal and polite
• Examples
• Co-workers
• Political organizations

5
Group Leadership

• Two roles
• Instrumental
• Task oriented
• Expressive
• People oriented
• Three decision making styles
• Authoritarian
• Leader makes decisions Compliance from members
• Democratic
• Member involvement
• Laissez-faire
• Mainly let group function on its own

6
Group Conformity

• Asch peer pressure
• Milgram obey authority
• Janis group think
• Illusion of invulnerability
• Collective rationalization
• Belief in inherent morality
• Stereotyped views of out-groups
• Direct pressure on dissenters
• Self-censorship
• Illusion of unanimity
• Self-appointed mindguards

7
Reference Groups

• A social group that serves as a point of
  reference in making evaluations and decisions
• INGROUPS and OUTGROUPS
• Loyalty to INGROUP
• Opposition to OUTGROUPS

8
Effects of Group Size

• The dyad
• A two member group
• Very intimate, but unstable given its size
• The triad
• A three member group
• More stable than a dyad and more types of
  interaction is possible

9
Types of Secondary Groups

• Voluntary Organization
• Formal Organization
• Utilitarian
• Normative
• Coercive

10
Bureaucracy

• Rational model designed to perform complex tasks
  efficiently
• Max Webers characteristics of bureaucracy
• Specialization of duties
• Hierarchy of offices
• Rules and regulations
• Technical competence
• Impersonality
• Formal, written communications

11
Scientific Management

• Application of scientific principles to the
  running of a business or large organization
• Identify tasks and time needed for tasks
• Analyze to perform tasks more efficiently
• Provide incentives for worker efficiency

12
McDonaldization of Society

• Efficiency
• Calculability
• Uniformity and Predictability
• Control through Automation
• Ritzers criticisms

13
The Corporation

• Who gets ahead in a large corporation?
• Corporate Culture
• Multi-nationals
• Good citizen

14
Problems of a Bureaucracy

• Bureaucratic alienation
• Bureaucratic inefficiency and ritualism
• Bureaucratic inertia
• Oligarchy

15
New Challenges for Formal Organizations

• Race and gender
• Pattern of exclusion
• Female advantage
• Japanese Organizations
• Value cooperation
• Organizational loyalty
• Changing nature of work
• Information-based organizations