Chapter 5- Groups And Organizations Flashcards
Social Groups
Two or more people who identify and interact with one another and adhere to certain norms and statuses
Crowd
Non-interacting group, such as an audience
Category
Those with status in common, such as ethnicity or occupation
Primary groups
Personally oriented, long term, group who enjoy a broad relationship and serve as an end
Secondary group
Goal oriented, often short term group that has a narrow scope of activities and serve as means to an end
Authoritarian leadership
Focuses on instrumental concerns and completing the task at hand
The leader decides and the members obey
Democratic leadership
Expressive
More concerned with the overall wellbeing of the group while accomplishing the task
More inclusive of members opinions
Laissez-faire leadership
Leader lets the group function on its own
Group Conformity
Solomon Asch- discovered that people are willing to compromise their own judgements to avoid being different
Milgram- people will follow orders even to the point of hurting someone else
Group Think
The tendency of group members to conform resulting in a narrow view of some issues
There is an “in-group” that feels invincible, tends to hold only one opinion, and creates boundaries between them and the out group
Social movement
When a social group is very strongly motivated by some cause
The in group will often separate clearly from the out group
Georg Simmel, Small Group Interaction
Believed that society is formed by many micro interactions that take place simultaneously
Dyad
Interaction between two individuals
Simmel believed it was the most stable interaction because each person needs to contribute equally to the group
Triad
Interaction between three individuals
Once there are more than 2 people, the group becomes unstable because people can give and take unequally from a group (relationships are exchanges)
3 Traits of Diverse Societies
Large groups turn inward for support- they form relationships in smaller groups that give support
Heterogeneous groups turn outward for support- the longer a group is in society, the more relationships it makes with the outside world
Certain groups draw certain physical boundaries
Networks
A web of weak social ties with low sense of belonging and community
Formal organizations
Large secondary groups which are organized to achieve goals efficiently
3 Types of Formal Organizations
Utilitarian- people paid for their work
Normative- pursues a goal that is morally worthwhile
Coercive- people forced to join
Origins of Bureaucracy
Max Weber
Tradition- values and beliefs passed down, limiting change
Rationality- deliberate, matter of fact calculation of the most efficient way to accomplish a task
Rationalization of society
The change from tradition to rationality as the dominant mode of human thought
Characteristics of Bureaucracy
Specialization of duties Hierarchy of levels Rules and regulations Technical competence Impersonality- individuals cannot change decisions based on their characteristic Formal, written communication
Problems of Bureaucracy
Bureaucratic alienation
Bureaucratic inefficiency and ritual isn
Bureaucratic inertia
Oligarchy
Bureaucratic Alienation
Intrinsically, humans desire to work and receive satisfaction for seeing the end result
The bureaucratic structure doesn’t give that satisfaction to the worker, and they become dehumanized
Bureaucratic inefficiency and ritualism
Because employees are bound by so many rules, they get trapped and the organizations goals are undermined
