Group Behavior and Conflict

1
Group Behavior and Conflict

• Groupmultiple members interacting to pursue
  goal(s)
• Membership rewarding
• Corresponding effects
• Common goals
• Formal versus informal
• Temporary versus permanent
• Virtual groups

2
Why People Join Groups

• Psychological Needs
• Affiliation
• Identification
• Survival Needs
• Emotional support
• Assistance or help

• Commonality
• Common interests
• Common goals
• Situational Reasons
• Physical proximity
• Assignment

3
Cohesiveness and Performance

• Cohesivenessattraction to the group
• Improves group satisfaction
• Improves performance
• Agree with group goals
• Actual working group
• Cohesion commitment to task

4
Group Cohesiveness

• Group Homogeneity
• Homogeneous versus heterogeneous
• Slightly heterogeneous
• Stability of Membership
• Isolation
• Outside Pressure
• Group Status

5
Group Size

• Smaller groups more cohesive
• Performance and task type
• Additive taskssum group effortlarger better
• Disjunctive tasksbest individual
  performancelarger usually
• Conjunctivedivision of laborsmaller better

6
Communication Networks
Centralized
Chain
Jill Peggy Bob
Bob Jill Peggy
Circle
Open
Circle
Open
Jill Peggy Bob
Jill Peggy Bob
Jill Peggy Bob
7
Group Roles

• Role problems
• Ambiguity
• Overload or underload
• Conflicts
• Intrasender
• Intersender
• Person-role
• Interrole
• Task and maintenance orientation
• Disruptive orientation

8
Presence of Others

• Social facilitation
• Simple performance enhanced, complex performance
  inhibited
• Drive theory
• Others increases arousal
• Sources of arousal
• Mere presence
• Evaluation apprehension
• Distraction
• Social loafing
• Anonymous additive tasks
• Free rider effect
• Sucker effect
• Social compensation

9
Negative Group Functioning

• Individual dominance
• Groupthink
• Antecedents
• Cohesive group
• Insulated from external influences
• High stress
• Directive leader
• Processes
• Consensus without deliberation
• Self-censorship, mindguards, collective
  rationalization

• Members views not independent
• Public conformity
• Directive leader
• Results
• Perception of invulnerability
• Close minded
• Illusion of unanimity
• Remedies
• Open inquiry
• Outsiders
• Self-criticism
• Passive

10
Group Versus individual

• Nominal groups
• Interacting groups
• Brainstorming
• Group polarization
• Risky shift
• Depolarization
• Informational influence

11
Group Conflicts

• Thwartingkept from reaching a goal, acting, or
  violate relationship expectations
• Substantive versus emotional
• Functional/creative versus dysfunctional/destructi
  ve
• Causes
• Resource competition
• Task interdependence
• Jurisdiction ambiguity
• Personality

12
Difficult Personalities
13
Conflict Management Styles