Chapter 09 Outline MGMT 3720-1.docx - 1 Chapter 9...

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Chapter 9: Foundations of Group Behavior
**These notes are used to clarify key topics and point you to issues to consider as you go through the textbook. You
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L
EARNING
O
BJECTIVES
After studying this chapter, students should be able to:
 Distinguish between the different types of groups.
 Describe the punctuated-equilibrium model of group development.
 Show how role requirements change in different situations.
 Demonstrate how norms exert influence on an individual’s behavior.
 Show how status and size differences affect group performance.
 Describe how issues of cohesiveness and diversity can be integrated for group
effectiveness.
C
HAPTER
O
UTLINE
I. Defining and Classifying Groups
A. Definition
1. A group is defined as two or more individuals, interacting and interdependent, who
have come together to achieve particular objectives.
- There are three important defining characteristics of a group: 1) the existence
of common activities, 2) the existence of interactions, and 3) the existence of a
sense of belonging.
o Common activities : the people must be assembled to pursue a common
goal. They must share a common activity or task. They have a
common interest or need!
o Interactions : The people must have contact with each other. They
must have voluntary interactions and two-way communications.
o Sense of Belonging : People must be convinced that they are part of
something bigger. They must believe that they share their values,
norms, attitudes, and expectations and that the other people will be
there for them.
 A group is only a group if they possess all three characteristics!
2. Groups can be either formal or informal.

a. Formal groups —those defined by the organization’s structure, with designated
work assignments establishing tasks.
b. Informal groups —alliances that are neither formally structured nor
organizationally determined.
B. Social Identity
1. Our tendency to take personal pride or offense for the accomplishments of a group is
the territory of social identity theory .
2. Social identity theory proposes that people have emotional reactions to the failure or
success of their group because their self-esteem gets tied into the performance of the
group.
3. Social identities help us understand who we are and where we fit in with other people,
but they can have a negative side as well.
C. Ingroups and Outgroups
1. Ingroup favoritism occurs when we see members of our group as better than other
people, and people not in our group as all the same.
2. Recent research suggests that people with low openness and/or low agreeableness are
more susceptible to ingroup favoritism.
3. Whenever there is an ingroup, there is, by necessity, an outgroup , which is
sometimes everyone else, but is usually an identified group known by the ingroup’s
members.