Organizational behavior unit 3: Group Behavior Anna University syllabus

1. Organizational Behavior
Unit 3: Group Behavior
Presented by,
Ganesha Pandian. N

2. Content
• Organization Structure
• Formation
• Groups in Organization
• Influence
• Group Dynamics
• Emergence of informal
leaders and working norms
• Team Building
• Interpersonal relations
• Communication
• Control

3. Organization structure - Meaning
• Refers to the hierarchal order in the
organization
• Organization structure is more like the
“Division of labor” and “span of control”
principles proposed by management.
• Organization structure – Position, power and
authority

4. Features of Good organization structure
1. Simplicity
2. Flexibility
3. Clear line of authority
4. Application of ultimate
responsibility
5. Proper delegation of
authority
1. Minimum possible
managerial levels
2. Principles of unit of
command and direction
3. Proper emphasis on staff
4. Provision for top
management

5. Types of Organization Structure
1. Line organization – direct authority
2. Line and Staff organization – staff who are
specializes in a specific function
3. Functional Organization – based on the
functional division
4. Divisional structure – Unit division basis
5. Project organization – tasks oriented and kind of
matrix organization

6. Groups - Definitions
• It is defined as two or more individuals, interact and
interdependent in achieving the particular objective
• Formal groups – formed by organization structure
• Informal groups – naturally formed group in the
environmental settings

7. Different classification of groups
• Command Group – determined by organization and
subordinate need to report managers
• Task group – formed for the purpose of task accomplishment
and towards the goals
• Interest group – the people are there for the attainment of
common goals in interest
• Friendship group – group share one or more common
characteristics

8. Why do people join groups?
1. Security
2. Status
3. Self – esteem
4. Affiliation
5. Power
6. Goal attainment

9. Stages of Group Development
• The groups – formed with five steps
• The model of group formation were
explained using the five-stage model of
group development

10. The five stage model
Stage 1 • Forming
Stage 2 • Storming
Stage 3 • Norming
Stage 4 • Performing
Stage 5 • Adjourning

11. An Alternative model: For temporary
groups
• Punctuated equilibrium Model
1. First meeting sets the direction
2. Transition after the first meeting
3. Major changes in the group
4. Second phase of the meeting
5. Final meeting in the group

12. Sociometry
• Also called as social network mapping
• An analytical technique for studying group interaction
Sociogram: a diagram represents the preferable social interaction
Social networks: A specific set of linkages among a defined set of
individuals
Clusters: Group that exists within social networks
Prescribed clusters: formal groups formed by organization
Contd…

13. Contd…
• Emergent cluster: informal and unofficial groups
• Coalitions: clusters of individuals come together to achieve the
common goal
• Cliques: friendship group
• Stars: Individuals having high network
• Liaisons: individuals connect two or more clusters and not a
member of any clusters
• Bridges: Individuals serve as linkages
• Isolates: individuals who are not connected to any of group

14. Group structure
• Group structure and the behavior will influence the
individual behavior
• Individual behavior will be contributing for the high
performance of the group.
• There are many structural variables that include: formal
leadership, roles, norms, group status, group size,
composition of the group and the degree of group
cohesiveness

15. 1. Formal leadership – the leaders are typically identified with the
title for the leader. Effect of the leader on the group will
influences
2. Roles – roles are the set of expected behavior patterns
attributed to someone in the given position
3. Role identity – certain attitudes and behaviors consistent with
a role
4. Role perception – an individual’s view on the role and how to
behave on the role
5. Role expectation – how others believe that an individual
should behave in the role

16. • Psychological contract – unwritten law that both
the employer and employee expected to behave
in given situation
• Role conflict – A situation in which an individual
is confronted with the divergent role
expectations.

17. Group Norms
• Norms are the acceptable form of standards of
behavior within a group that are shared by the group’s
member.
Common classes of norms:
1. Performance norms
2. Appearance norms
3. Social arrangement norms
4. Allocation of resource norms

18. Conformity an reference group
• Conformity: Adjusting one’s behavior to
the group’s norms
• Reference group: important groups that
an individual belong or hope to belong.

19. • Status: a socially defined position or rank given to group or
group members by others
• Social loafing/size: the tendency for individuals to expand less
effort when working collectively than when working
individually
• Group demography: the degree to which the member of group
share a common demographic attribute
• Cohorts: individuals in the group having common
characteristics

20. Cohesiveness
• It is the degree to which the group
members are attracted to each other
and wishes to stay in the group

21. Group decision making
• Group decision making is the act of choice
between the best alternative course of action.
• It is a participatory process involves more
than an individual in decision making process.
• The decision making might be structured or
unstructured one

22. Nature of group decision making
• The active interaction will be there among the group
members
• At the closing, the group members come to the consensus
in making one decision
• All the members need to abide by the decision and are
jointly responsible
• The conflicting opinion might be expected in the group and
they should be managed effectively

23. Group decision making process
• Problem identification
Step 1:
• Problem Diagnosis
Step 2:
• Solution alternatives
Step 3:
• Evaluation of alternatives
Step 4:
• Framing a decision
Step 5:
• Follow-up action
Step 6:

24. Group decision making techniques
1. Interacting groups
2. Brainstorming
3. Nominal group technique
4. Electronic meeting
5. Delphi technique

25. Advantages and Disadvantages
1. Large amount of ideas
2. Good decision making
3. Different perspectives
4. Time consuming
5. Not easy to arrive at consensus
6. Sometimes lead to conflicting
situations

26. Importance of teams
• Organizations restructure themselves
as teams and become more and more
effective and efficient in better
utilization of employee talents

27. Difference between the work group
and work team
• Work group – primarily interact and share the
information and make decisions to help each other in
group and member to perform in their area of
responsibility.
• Work team – the individual efforts result in a
performance that is greater than the sum of the
individual efforts and inputs - positive synergy

28. Four types of teams
1. Problem solving teams – group of 5 to 12 employees meet for few
hours in a week to discuss the ways to improve the performance of
business
2. Self managed teams – group of few employees take responsibility on
their own and perform the action interdependent.
3. Cross functional teams – formed with the people from different
hierarchical level come together to accomplish a task – tasks force and
committee
4. Virtual teams – they are ties together with the technology dispersed in
the organization physically come together to accomplish a common
goal.

29. Is team needed – check before
implementation
• The cost of team management should be less
than the benefits reaped from the teams
• Does the aggregate efforts needed for this
task?
• The task need the experts from various field
of interest

30. Creating effective teams
• Key components in creating effective teams
1. Work design
2. Team’s composition
3. Resources and contextual influences
4. Process variables

31. Team effectiveness model
1. Work design
Autonomy
Skill variety
Task identity
Task significance
2. Composition
Ability
Personality
Roles and diversity
Size and flexibility
Preference for teamwork
Contd…

32. 3. Context
Adequate resources
Leadership
Performance
evaluation and
rewards
4. Process
Common purpose
Specific goals
Team efficacy
Conflict
Social loafing

33. Individuals into team players
• There are more lone performers than the team players
• But the challenge in the business context need team and
team players for effective team
Shaping team players
1. Selection
2. Training
3. Rewards

34. Contemporary issues in managing
teams
• Three issues relating to managing teams
1. How do team facilitate the adoption of TQM
2. What are the implications of work diversity on
teams?
3. How does management re-energize a stagnant
teams

35. Communication
• 70% of cases poor communication causes the
interpersonal conflict
• Communication – reading, writing, speaking,
and listening
• Communication is defined as the
understanding and transference of meaning

36. Functions of communication
• Four major functions of communications are
1. Control - to control member behavior
2. Motivation – expectation and performance
3. Emotional expression – expression feeling
and fulfillment
4. Information – facilitates decision making

37. Communication process
• A process or flow
• A blockage in the flow or the process creates the
problem in communication
Communication Model
Source Encoding Channel Decoding Receiver
Feedback

38. Communication Process
• It is the step by step process breakdown
between the sender and the receiver, the
message being transferred and
understood
1. Encoding: process of converting the
message into symbolic form
Contd…

39. • Message – subject matter that need to be
communicated
• Channel – the medium through which a
communication message travels
• Decoding – retranslating a sender’s communication
message
• Feedback loop – the misunderstandings of messages
were checked with the sender

40. Barriers to Effective communication
• Filtering – refers to a sender manipulation of information –
present to receiver
• Selective perception – Selective to the information
• Information overload – too much information bombardment
• Defensiveness – feels attacked or when making sarcastic
remarks
• Language – limited to linguistic symbols - use of Jargons
should be made careful
• Communication Apprehension – unnecessary tension and
anxiety

41. Communication Fundamentals
• Communication can flow vertically or Horizontally
• The Vertical flow is further divided into the upward and
downward movement
• Lateral communications – communication happens
among the peer group members.

42. Communication networks
• These are the channels though which the
message flows.
• Formal networks – Tasks related
communication that flow the authority chain
• Informal networks – free to move in any
direction – grapevine communication

43. Non – Verbal communication
• Messages conveyed through the body
movements, signals and facial
expressions are called “Non Verbal
Communication”

44. Cross cultural communication
• Communication barrier – across the
different culture and so the cross cultural
communication gains significance
• Cultural context – high context (rely
heavily on non verbal) and low context
(rely heavily on verbal communication)

45. Cultural guide
1. We should assume the cultural differences until
observing similarity
2. Description is what matter – not analysis,
interpretation or judgment
3. Empathize the emotions
4. Interpretation can be assumed and tested for validity
– but caution need to be taken.

46. Electronic communication
• Electronic communication is transfer of
images, voice, signal, video or any form
of data as encoded into the channel
medium and then decoded at the
receiver end.
• Telephone, e-mail, TV, Computers, FAX
machine and so on .