Lecturer: Dr. P. Mamle Tetteh, Department of Sociology ... · Group cohesiveness can be a mixed...

College of Education

School of Continuing and Distance Education 2014/2015 – 2016/2017

Lecturer: Dr. P. Mamle Tetteh, Department of Sociology Contact Information: [email protected]

Session Overview

• Groups do not spring into existence fully formed and ‘ready for business’. Rather they pass through several stages of development enroute to complete or full existence.

• The relevant question here is how do groups emerge or how does group structure emerge? How do groups develop? Do all human groups go through predictable stages in its development? We shall seek to answer these questions as we seek to outline the trajectory of group development.

SOCI 324: Groups, Organisations and the Individual Slide 2

Session Outline

The key topics to be covered in the session are as follows:

• Stages of Group Development

• The development and relative permanence of group structure

• Essential pillars for group development- Norms, roles, status and cohesiveness


Reading List

• Read Chapter eleven of the required text and the article on this session posted on Sakai


STAGES OF GROUP DEVELOPMENT Topic One


Stages of Group Development

• FORMING: The initial stage where the group takes shape. Ground rules are established and members become acquainted with each other and the groups’ goals.

• STORMING: Here, members compete for attractive roles and positions within the group. Considerable intra-group conflict may occur.

• NORMING: Here, members develop a common perspective about how the group will operate. Shared rules are adopted and feelings of attachment to the group intensify (group cohesiveness).

• PERFORMING: Here, the group concentrates on carrying out its major tasks and shared goals.

• ADJOURNING: Once goals have been attained, members may have no reason for remaining in groups – thus, they disband. In some cases however, the attraction to the group remains and persist.

Though these patterns (stages) are accurate for many groups, it is not universal. All groups are unique and their development may not necessarily follow this pattern strictly – some may omit or skip some of the processes. The important point however that, whatever the process is, it is just to help us understand the stages of group development.


THE RELATIVE PERMANENCE OF GROUP STRUCTURE

Topic Two


The Relative Permanence of Group Structure

• Relative Permanency of Group Structure: Once a group structure emerges, it becomes somewhat independent of group members. Thus, even when the membership of the group changes, the structure tends to remain the same once it has emerged. For example, people may leave a church, a corporate institution, a board or committee etc, but these institutions remain and continue to function. In other words, a group tends to outlive its members.


DEVELOPMENT OF GROUP STRUCTURE: ROLES

Topic Three


DEVELOPMENT OF GROUP STRUCTURE

• Group structure basically refers to the regular stable patterns of behavior between members.

• Usually group structure develops quickly but changes slowly.

• Certain factors or pillars are crucial blocks in determining a group’s structure. These are ROLES, NORMS, STATUS and COHESIVENESS.

• We shall look at the components of each of these variable and understand how they contribute to the development of group structure.


Group Structure: Roles

• Roles refer to shared expectations in a group about how particular people are supposed to behave. In other words, it refers to the clusters of feelings of socially defined expectations that individuals in a given situation are supposed to fulfill.

• A considerable degree of differentiation must exist with individuals in a group performing different tasks or roles for any group to function effectively. That is, a kind of division of labour is needed in groups because all members cannot do the same things if the group must achieve its goals and objectives. Some people must lead and others must follow.

• Roles are assigned sometimes in a formal or specific manner. In others words, the division of labour and role differentiation evolves through the interaction of group members – the situation where leaders emerge.


Role Distinctions

• Two common role distinctions can be drawn namely: (a) the group task specialist (task oriented roles) and (b) the social-emotional specialist (relations-oriented roles). Here, the individual focuses on reducing interpersonal friction and is in charge of maintaining good relations between members.

• Whereas norms specify how all group members should act, roles specify how people who occupy certain positions in the group should behave. A boss and an employee occupy different positions in a company and are expected to behave differently in this regard. So also is the case of parents and children in a family. People’s specific roles define their behavior.


Roles: Benefits and Challenges

• Roles are very helpful first in the sense that they clarify the responsibilities and obligations of group members. When members of a group follow clearly defined roles, they tend to be satisfied and perform better, increasing productivity. Secondly, roles help members of the group know what to expect from each other. Thus, roles help shape the thoughts and behavior of group members.

• There are however potential costs/challenges with roles. These include role ambiguity which refers to the uncertainty experienced about what one is expected to do especially in situations that the person is new to. If you come a position you are new to and not familiar with, say a head of department, board chairman, minister of state, member of parliament, a husband or wife or even a parent, it may be quite hectic adjusting to your new role and what you must do may not be very clear to you at the beginning. You may need some time to learn the roles of your new position. Also role conflict, where you have to play multiple roles concurrently.


DEVELOPMENT OF GROUP STRUCTURE: NORMS

Topic Four


Group Structure: Norms

• Norms refer to the standards of behavior and belief established and enforced by the group. It could also refer to the rules, implicit or explicit, established various groups to regulate the behavior of group members.

• Norms can be prescriptive (indicating what individuals should do) or proscriptive (indicating what individuals cannot do). It is imperative that members follow group norms if a group is to function well or survive.

• Adherence to group norms is a basic requirement for joining or remaining in a group. The power of norms to shape a behavior becomes clear when we violate them too often. If the individual goes against group goals, she can be shunned or expelled from the group.

• Social norms increase conformity and reduce deviance in groups.


DEVELOPMENT OF GROUP STRUCTURE: STATUS

Topic Four


Group Structure: Status

• The third aspect of group structure is its status system, which reflects the distribution of power among group member or a persons’ position of social rank within a group. Each group member has a status and each status has certain characteristics.

• Status can be ascribed (inherent in a person – socio-economic class) –lineage age, gender wealth, education, position occupation etc. or achieved (deriving from a person’s role performance in the group or professional achievement).

• A person’s position defines his contribution and thus his power or importance in a group. While everyone belonging to a group has a role, not all roles are equal with respect to prestige or status.


DEVELOPMENT OF GROUP STRUCTURE: COHESIVENESS

Topic Four


Group Structure: Cohesiveness

• Cohesiveness according to Festinger (1951) is a “result of all the forces that cause members to be in a group”.

• Holtz (2004) defines it is ‘the qualities of a group that bind members together and promote liking between members.

• Cohesiveness generally could be said to be the overall level of attraction of the members to a group.


Factors that promote Cohesiveness

• The initiation severity effect- which implies that the greater the cost of getting into a group to begin with, the higher the members attraction to it. Thus, suffering leads to liking – the harder we work for a thing, the higher our evaluation of it.

• Groups facing an external threat or severe competition are generally higher in cohesiveness than those not confronting such conditions. Such competition leads group members to pull together to resist the opponent.

• Threats make members realize that the group represents their best chance of survival. It also makes groups more aware of their in-group identity.

• Groups that have a history of successes are generally more cohesive than those that do not.

• Groups that are relatively small tend to be higher in cohesiveness than those very large, because there is more interaction in smaller groups.


Factors that Promote Cohesiveness

•Rewards can also increase cohesiveness, especially if they are material.

•Groups with a pleasant, warm accepting feeling or atmosphere may more likely be cohesive than one in which these are absent.

•The extent to which a group accomplishes the goals for which it was formed also influences the level of its cohesiveness. Nothing is quite as attractive as a winning team..

•A group’s attractiveness may also be influence by the nature of its leadership. In some societies ( eg. USA) people are attracted to groups with democratic participatory form of leadership. However, in other societies or cultural backgrounds, other forms of leadership may be preferred.

•Member similarity (binds) and diversity (helps the group adapt to changes. Though diversity can lead to conflicts, it can be controlled by educating members of their similarities and differences and encouraging tolerance and improved social skills). But too much may get in the way of group performance – as members seeking to maintain good relationship among group members leave out important issues regarding task performance.


Session Summary

• In this session we identified roles, norms, status and cohesiveness as important variables necessary for any groups effective functioning. Status can be ascribed or achieved. People occupy different statuses in groups, differences created by the unique role or contributions a member makes to a groups goal.

• The concept of cohesiveness and several factors that influence cohesiveness in a group have been explained. Group cohesiveness can be a mixed blessing though. Too much or too little cohesiveness both create problems within a group. When there is too little cohesiveness, there is little consensus and cooperation among group members to achieve group goals. High levels of cohesiveness can also lead to pleasant but unproductive interactions among group members


Sample Question

• ‘Group cohesiveness is a bane more than a blessing’. How justifiable is this statement?


References

• Robert, B. and Branscombe, N. (2012). Social Psychology. 13th Edition. Pearson Education, Inc.

• Aronson, E., Wilson, T. & Akert, R. (2007) Social Psychology. 6th Edition. Pearson Education Inc.

• Aronson, E., Wilson, T. & Akert, R. (2010) Social Psychology. 7th Edition. Pearson Education Inc.


Lecturer: Dr. P. Mamle Tetteh, Department of Sociology ... · Group cohesiveness can be a mixed...

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