Organization Behaviour
What is a Group
Definitions of the word group vary, but many stress one key consideration: relationships among the members. Thus, “a group is a collection of individuals who have relations to one another” (Cartwright & Zander, 1968, p. 46); “a group is a social unit which consists of a number of individuals who stand in (more or less) definite status and role relationships to one another” (Sherif & Sherif, 1956, p. 144); and a group is “a bounded set of patterned relations among members” (Arrow, McGrath, & Berdahl, 2000, p. 34). A group can range in size from two members to thousands of members. Very small collectives, such as dyads (two members) and triads (three members) are groups, but so are very large collections of people, such as mobs, crowds, and congregations (Simmel, 1902).
Group structure: The underlying pattern of roles, norms, and relations among members that organizes groups.
Role: A coherent set of behaviors expected of people who occupy specific positions within a group.
Norm: A consensual and often implicit standard that describes what behaviors should and should not be performed in a given context.
Group cohesion The strength of the bonds linking individuals to and in the group.
Entitativity As described by Donald Campbell, the extent to which an assemblage of individuals is perceived to be a group rather than an aggregation of independent, unrelated individuals; the quality of being an entity.
Types of Groups
Primary group: A small, long-term group, such as families and friendship cliques, characterized by face-to-face interaction, solidarity, and high levels of member-to-group interdependence and identification; Charles Cooley believed such groups serve as the primary source of socialization for members by shaping their attitudes, values, and social orientation. Primary groups are primary in the sense that they give the individual his earliest and completest experience of social unity, and also in the sense that
Definitions of the word group vary, but many stress one key consideration: relationships among the members. Thus, “a group is a collection of individuals who have relations to one another” (Cartwright & Zander, 1968, p. 46); “a group is a social unit which consists of a number of individuals who stand in (more or less) definite status and role relationships to one another” (Sherif & Sherif, 1956, p. 144); and a group is “a bounded set of patterned relations among members” (Arrow, McGrath, & Berdahl, 2000, p. 34). A group can range in size from two members to thousands of members. Very small collectives, such as dyads (two members) and triads (three members) are groups, but so are very large collections of people, such as mobs, crowds, and congregations (Simmel, 1902).
Group structure: The underlying pattern of roles, norms, and relations among members that organizes groups.
Role: A coherent set of behaviors expected of people who occupy specific positions within a group.
Norm: A consensual and often implicit standard that describes what behaviors should and should not be performed in a given context.
Group cohesion The strength of the bonds linking individuals to and in the group.
Entitativity As described by Donald Campbell, the extent to which an assemblage of individuals is perceived to be a group rather than an aggregation of independent, unrelated individuals; the quality of being an entity.
Types of Groups
Primary group: A small, long-term group, such as families and friendship cliques, characterized by face-to-face interaction, solidarity, and high levels of member-to-group interdependence and identification; Charles Cooley believed such groups serve as the primary source of socialization for members by shaping their attitudes, values, and social orientation. Primary groups are primary in the sense that they give the individual his earliest and completest experience of social unity, and also in the sense that
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