1. ORGANIZING SOCIAL LIFE The Sociological Perspective2
part
ORGANIZING SOCIAL LIFE
The Sociological Perspective
McGraw-Hill
© 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

2. GROUPS AND ORGANIZATIONS6
GROUPS AND ORGANIZATIONS
Understanding Groups
Understanding Organizations
Organizational Change
Technology’s Impact on the Workplace
Social Policy and Organizations: The State of the Unions

3. Understanding Groups Types of Groups Group
A number of people with similar norms, values, and expectations who interact with one another on a regular basis.
Examples of groups are:
fraternities
dance companies
Clubs
tenants’ associations

4. Understanding Groups Types of Groups Primary Group Secondary Group
This term refers to a small group characterized by intimate, face-to-face association and cooperation.
Secondary Group
This term refers to formal, impersonal groups in which there is little social intimacy or mutual understanding.

5. Understanding Groups Primary Group Secondary Group
Table 6.1: Comparison of Primary and Secondary Groups
Primary Group Secondary Group
Generally small Usually large
Relatively long Relatively short duration,
period of interaction often temporary
Intimate, face-to-face Little social intimacy
association or mutual understanding
Some emotional Relationships generally
depth in relationships superficial
Cooperative, friendly More formal and impersonal

6. Understanding Groups Types of Groups In-Groups Out-Groups
In-groups are any groups or categories to which people feel they belong.
Out-Groups
Out-groups are any groups or categories to which people feel they do not belong.

7. Understanding Groups Studying Small Groups Small Groups
Small groups are groups small enough for all members to interact simultaneously (to talk with one another or at least be well acquainted).

8. Understanding Groups Focus Groups
10–15 people assembled by a researcher to discuss a predetermined topic, such as a new product or a need in the community.
Developed by Robert Merton and colleagues at Columbia University

9. Understanding Groups Reference Groups
A reference group is any group that individuals use as a standard for evaluating their own behavior.
Reference groups set and enforce standards of conduct and belief
Reference groups serve as a standard against which people can evaluate themselves and others.

10. Understanding Groups Studying Small Groups Size of Group
Smaller groups have greater interaction opportunities.
Dyad: A two-member group.
Triad: A three-member group.
Coalition: A temporary or permanent alliance geared toward a common goal.

11. Understanding Organizations
Formal Organizations and Bureaucracies
Formal Organization
A formal organization is a special-purpose group designed and structured for maximum efficiency.
Examples of formal organizations:
the U.S. Post Office
McDonald’s restaurants
the Boston Pops
this college

12. Understanding Organizations
Coalitions
An alliance geared towards a common goal
-The effects of group size and coalitions
Survivor

13. Understanding Organizations
Characteristics of a Bureaucracy
Bureaucracy
A bureaucracy is a component of formal organization in which rules and hierarchical ranking are used to achieve efficiency.
Ideal Type Bureaucracy
This term indicates a construct or model serving as a measuring rod against which specific cases can be evaluated.

14. Understanding Organizations
Formal Organizations and Bureaucracies
A formal organization is a group designed for a special purpose, structured for efficiency.
U.S. Postal Service
McDonald’s
Your college or university

15. Understanding Organizations
Table 6.2: Characteristics of a Bureaucracy
Negative Consequence
Characteristic Positive Consequence For the Individual For the Organization
Division of labor Produces efficiency in Produces trained Produces a narrow large-scale corporation incapacity perspective
Hierarchy of authority Clarifies who is in Deprives employees Permits concealment of command of a voice in decision mistakes
making
Written rules and Let workers know what Stifle initiative and Lead to goal
regulations is expected of them imagination displacement
Impersonality Reduces bias Contributes to feelings Discourages loyalty to of alienation company
Employment based on Discourages favoritism Discourages ambition Fosters Peter principle
technical qualifications and reduces petty to improve oneself
rivalries elsewhere

16. Understanding Organizations
Characteristics of a Bureaucracy
Bureaucratization
Bureaucratization is the process by which a group, organization, or social movement becomes increasingly bureaucratic.
Oligarchy
An oligarchy is a bureaucracy ruled by a few.

17. Understanding Organizations
Bureaucracy and Organizational Culture
Scientific Management Approach
Workers are motivated by economic rewards.
Productivity is limited by physical restraints of the workers.
Human Relations Approach
The roles of people, communication and participation within a bureaucracy are emphasized.
Workers’ feelings, frustrations and emotional needs are the focus of this approach.

18. Understanding Organizations
Organization Chart: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (I)
Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel
NASA Advisory Council
Inspector General
Office of the Administrator
Chief Financial Officer
General Counsel
Equal Opportunity Programs
External Relations
Legislative Affairs
Human Resources and Education
Procurement
Public Affairs
Policy and Plans
Management Systems and Facilities
Safety and Mission Assurance
Headquarters Operations
Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization
STAFF
OFFICES
PROGRAM
Source: Office of the Federal Register The United States Government Manual Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, p. 586.

19. Understanding Organizations
Organization Chart: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (II)
Earth Science
Space Flight
Life and Micro- gravity Sciences and Applications
Space Science
Aero-space Technology
Goddard Space Flight Center
Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center
John F. Kennedy Space Center
George C. Marshall Space Flight Center
John C. Stennis Space Center
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Ames Research Center
Dryden Flight Research Center
Langley Research Center
John H. Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field
OFFICES
PROGRAM
CENTERS
Source: Office of the Federal Register The United States Government Manual Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, p. 586.

20. Understanding Organizations
Voluntary Associations
Organizations established on the basis of common interest, whose members volunteer or even pay to participate.
“Formal organizations” and “voluntary organizations” are not mutually exclusive.

21. Understanding Organizations
Figure 6.1: Membership in Voluntary Associations in the United States
Source: J. Davis and Smith 2001:347.

22. Organizational Change
Goal Multiplication
Goal multiplication takes place when an organization expands its purposes.
This is generally the result of changing social or economic conditions that threaten the organization’s survival.

23. Organizational Change
Goal Succession
Goal succession occurs when a group or organization has either realized or been denied its goal.
If it is to continue, it must then identify an entirely new objective.

24. Technology’s Impact on the Workplace
Telecommuting
Telecommuters are employees who work full-time or part-time at home rather than in an outside office.
Telecommuters are linked to their supervisors and colleagues through computers, phones, and fax machines.
Telecommuting may move society further along the continuum from Gemeinschaft to Gesellschaft.

25. Technology’s Impact on the Workplace
Electronic Communication
Benefits
is efficient, rapidly communicated, and democratic.
gives an organization the benefit of experiences and views of more of its workforce.

26. Technology’s Impact on the Workplace
Electronic Communication
Disadvantages
is so easy to do that it can inundate a worker with too many messages.
doesn’t convey body language which in face-to-face communication can soften insensitive phrasing and make unpleasant messages (such as a reprimand) easier to take.
leaves a permanent record which can be a problem when messages are written in a reckless and thoughtless manner.

27. Social Policy and Socialization
The State of the Unions
The Issue
What has happened to diminish the importance of organized labor unions?
Have unions perhaps outlived their usefulness in a rapidly changing global economy dominated by the service industry?

28. Social Policy and Organizations
The State of the Unions
The Setting
Labor unions consist of organized workers sharing either the same skill or the same employer.
The experience of unions varies widely in different countries.
Continued...

29. Social Policy and Organizations
The State of the Unions
The Setting
Reasons given for the decline of labor unions:
Changes in the type of industry
Growth in part-time jobs
The legal system
Globalization
Employer offensive
Union rigidity and bureaucratization

30. Social Policy and Organizations
The State of the Unions
Sociological Insights
Both Marxists and functionalists would view unions as a logical response to the emergence of impersonal, large-scale, formal, and often alienating organizations.
Conflict theorists would point out that the longer union leaders are in office the less responsive they are to the needs and demands of the rank and file and the more concerned they are with maintaining their own positions.
Many union employees encounter role conflict.

31. Social Policy and Organizations
The State of the Unions
Policy Initiatives
A major barrier to union growth exists in the 20 states that have so-called right to work laws.
Debate over campaign finance reform in Congress in 2001 raised the question of whether labor unions should be able to use dues to support a particular candidate or promote a position.

32. Social Policy and Organizations
Figure 6.2: Union Membership in the United States
Source: Developed by the author based on data from Bureau of Labor Statistics 2003: National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation