Ob ch3

Organization behavior (OB)
BAIS 331
Chapter 3
Group Behavior in organizations
Yaschilal Shitaye,AAUsc

Chapter three
 Group dynamics
 Two or more people in social interaction---must
have some influence on each other.
 Has stable structure
 Share common goals
 Members perceive themselves as being a group

Types of groups
 Formal: Deliberately formed by the
organization to accomplish specific tasks &
achieve goals….
 command group
 Task group
 Examples: departments, task force, committees …
 Informal groups: develop naturally among an
organization’s personnel…….
 Interest group
 Friendship group

Reasons for joining a group
 To satisfy mutual interest and goals
 To achieve security (there is safety in
number)
 To fill social needs (Edir, Mahiber)
 To fill need for self-esteem
 STAGES OF GROUP DEV’T
 FORMING, STORMING, NORMING, PERFROMING,
ADJOURNING………

Stages of group development

Stages of group dev’t
 Forming: characterized by a great deal of
uncertainty about the groups purpose,
structure, and leadership
 Storming: group members experience
conflict with one another
 Members accept the existence of the group but
resist on some aspects
 Do we have common goals and objectives?
 Do we agree on roles and responsiblities?

Stages of group
dev’t,cont’d
 Norming: if the group resolve interpersonal
conflict, they reach norming stage
 Strong sense of group identity is established
 The group develops norms
 Complete when the group structure solidifies
 Performing: The group structure is fully
functional
 Group energy perform the task at hand
 Adjourning: apply only for temporary groups
 The group prepares to split up
 Attention is directed toward wrapping up activities
rather than task performance.

Teams
 A team is smaller number of people with
complementary skills who are committed to a
common purpose, performance goals, and
approach for which they hold themselves
mutually accountable.
 A group of people who work well together
 The interactions within teams revolve around a deeper
dependence on one another than the interactions
within groups.
 Goal interdependence---have shared vision
 Out come interdependence --- share in the rewards
that the team earns.
 Task interdependence ---

Teams, cont’d
 Can vary in their purpose or goal
 Duration of a team tends to either permanent
or temporary
 Membership can be functional/cross
functional
 Can be either supervised or self managed
 Virtual teams: uses computer technology to link
physically dispersed members in order to achieve
a common goal.

X-cs of an effective team
 Clear purpose: Every one accepted the vision,
mission, goal & task
 Informality: the climate tends to be informal,
comfortable, and relaxed.
 Participation: there is much discussion, and
every one is encouraged to participate
 Civilized disagreement: there is disagreement ,…
but shows no sign of avoiding,/suppressing
conflict.
 Consensus decision—to avoid formal voting
 Shared leadership

Characteristics of poor team
 Refuse to share
 Depend too much on the leader
 Fail to follow through on decision
 Hide conflict
 Fail at conflict resolution
 Form subgroups

Team effectiveness

Size and social LOAFING
 Social loafing: the tendency of individuals to
expend less effort when working collectively
than when working individually.
 Having a greater number of members is beneficial
for management and project teams but not for
teams engaged in production tasks.

Relationship

Increasing group cohesiveness

Power, politics, and conflict
 Power: is the ability to get some one else to
do something you want done or the ability to
make things happen or get things done the
way you want.
 In short (the ability to get what one wants)
 Essence of power is control over other.
 Power can be seen as the ability to resist the
influence attempts of others.

Types of power
 Organizational Power
 Legitimate power: power that a person receives
as a result of his or her position in the hierarchy.
 Given by some body
 Reward power : based on an ability to control
rewards that the target wants
 the ability to bestow or restrict awards,
 Coercive power: Based on an ability to cause an
unpleasant experience of the target
 the power to enforce compliance

Types of power cont’d
 Personal Power
 Expert power : due to ones possession of special
information or expertise/knowledge.
 Referent power: Influence based on possession by an
individual of the desirable resources or personal
traits.
 Develops out of admiration of another.
 When a leader draws on personal sources of power,
such as expert power and referent power, a stronger
emotional bond can be created with the employee,
boosting affective commitment.

Types of power

Continuum of responses to
power

McClelland’s two faces of
power: positive & Negative
 Positive: Power used to create motivation or
to accomplish group goals.
 Negative Power: Power used for personal
gain.

Kanter’s symbols of power
 Ability to intercede for some one in trouble: an
individual who can pull some one out of a jam
has power
 Ability to get placements for favored employees
 Exceeding budget limitations
 Procuring above average raises for employees
 Getting item on the agenda at meetings
 Access to early information
 Having top managers seek out their opinions

Politics: power in action
 Use of power to influence in organization.
 When employees in organization convert their
power into action………..
 Lobbying others to get them to vote with you on
a particular decision is engaging in organizational
politics.
 Those with good political skills have the ability to
use their bases of power effectively.

Etzioni’s power analysis
 Coercive power: influencing members by
forcing them to do something under threat of
punishment, or through fear intimidation
 Utilitarian power: influencing members by
providing them with rewards and benefits
 Normative power: Influencing members by
using knowledge that they want very much to
belong to the organization and by letting
them know that what they are expected to do
is the “right” thing to do

Etzioni’s types of Membership
 Alientaive membership: the members have
hostile, negative feelings about being in the
organization. They don’t want to be there.
 Ex: prison
 Calculative membership: members weigh the
benefits and limitations of belonging to the
organization:
 Ex: business
 Moral membership: members have such positive
feelings about organizational membership that
they are willing to deny their own needs
 Ex: Volunteer association (ex: Anti-Malaria
association)

Etzioni cont’d
Types of membership
Types of
power
alienative Calculative Moral
Coercive X
Utilitarian X
Normative X

Walter Nord postulate of power
 Organizations are composed of coalitions
that compete with one another for resources,
energy and influence
 Various coalitions will seek to protect their
interest and position of influence.
 The unequal distribution of power itself has
dehumanizing effects
 The exercise of power with in organizations is
one very crucial aspect of the exercise of
power with in the larger social system.

Power cont’d
 Dependency: the key to power
 Dependency is increased when the resource you
control is important, scarce, and can’t be
substituted.

Organization Politics
 Individuals and groups seek to obtain and use power
to influence the goal and objectives of the
organization to further their own interest.
 It is the management of influence to obtain ends not
sanctioned by the organization or obtain sanctioned
ends through non sanctioned means and the art of
creative compromise among competing interests.
 Those activities that are outside one’s formal role
(i.e., not part of one’s specific job duties), and that
influence, or try to influence, the distribution of
advantages and disadvantages within the
organization

Areas relevance to politics
 Resources: direct relationship b/n the amount
of politics and how critical and scarce the
resources.
 Decision: Especially if it is ambiguous
 Goals: more ambiguous and complex the
goals become, the more politics
 Technology and external environment: more
complex the internal technology and
turbulent external env’t more politics
 Change: planned/ unplanned………

Politics….cont’d
 Condition that threaten the status of the
powerful or encourage the efforts of those
wishing to increase their power base will
stimulate the intensity of organizational
politics and increase the proportion of
decision making behaviors that can be
classified as political as opposed to rational.

Types of political activity
 Attacking or blaming others: to avoid responsibility for failure
 Using information: Making important people feel good
 Building support for ideas: Joining with other people to
create a powerful group.
 Praising others: Making important people feel good
 Building coalitions: Joining with other people to create a
powerful group.
 Associating with influential people: Building support
networks.
 Creating obligations: Doing favors for others so they will owe
you favors later.

Conflict
 Any situation in which incompatible goals,
attitudes, emotions, or behaviors leads to
disagreement or opposition b/n two or more
parties.
 The increasing diversity of the workforce…
potential incompatibility and conflict……..
 Increasing competition ……..conflict
 Conflict management skills are a major
predictor of managerial success

Transitions in conflict
thoughts
 Traditional view: all conflicts are bad/mal-functional
 Synonymous with violence, destruction, and
irrationality
 The Human Relation View: Conflict is natural in
all organizations and groups
 Inevitable and accept; can’t be eliminated
 May benefit group performance
 The interactionist View: Encourage conflict
 Static and non responsive to change
 Maintain an on going minimum level of conflict

Functional and
Dysfunctional conflict
 Functional C.: Contributes to individual’s
/groups/organization’s performance
 Bring about a greater awareness of problems; enhance
the search for solution
 Task C.: relates to the content and goals of the work
 Process C.: relates to how the work gets done
 Dysfunctional: works to the group’s or
organization disadvantage
 Relationship C.: focuses to how the work gets done

Functional and Dysfunctional
conflict

Conflict….cont’d
 Positive consequences:
 Leads to new ideas
 Stimulate creativity
 Motivates change
 Promotes organizational vitality
 Helps individuals and groups establish identities
 Serve as a safe valve to indicate problems
 Negative consequences:
 Diverts energy from work
 Threatens psychological well being
 Waste resources
 Creates a negative climate
 Breaks down group cohesion
 Can increase hostility and aggressive behaviours

Managing conflict
 Goal of conflict management:
 To prevent dysfunctional conflict from occurring
and encouraging healthy conflict that stimulates
innovation and performance.
 Indirect:
 Development of super ordinate goal
 Expanding resources
 Changing, transferring, and re assigning personnel
 Enhance communication across orgn boundaries
 Identify common enemy

Managing conflict cont’d
 Direct:
 Distributive= zero sum game (win-lose)
 Integrative= Win –Win
 Competing (forcing)= win- lose
 Collaborating(problem solving)= win-win
 Avoiding= lose –lose
 Accommodating (yielding)= lose-win
 Compromising= searching for a middle ground

Styles of Conflict Resolution
Figure13-5

Direct conflict mgt
approach

Influence tactics
1. Rational persuasion: Using facts and data
to make a logical or rational presentation of
ideas.
2. Inspirational appeals: Appealing to values,
ideals, and goals when making a request.
3. Consultation: Getting others involved to
support one’s objectives.
4. Ingratiation: Using flattery, creating
goodwill, and being friendly prior to making
a request.

Influence tactics…cont’d
5. Personal appeals. Appealing to loyalty and
friendship when asking for something.
6. Exchange. Offering favors or benefits in exchange
for support.
7. Coalition tactics. Getting the support of other
people to provide backing when making a request.
8. Pressure. Using demands, threats, and reminders
to get someone to do something.
9. Legitimating tactics. Claiming the authority or
right to make a request, or showing that it supports
organizational goals or policies

Influence Tactics and Their
Effectiveness
Figure

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