1. GROUPS AND ORGANIZATIONS6
GROUPS AND ORGANIZATIONS

2. Chapter Outline 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
--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 Types of Groups In-Groups
--In-groups are any groups or categories to which people feel they belong.
Out-Group
--Out-groups are any groups or categories to which people feel they do not belong.
Reference Groups
--Reference Groups are any groups that individuals use as a standard for evaluating themselves and their own behavior.

6. 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).

7. 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.

8. UnderstandingOrganizations
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

9. 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.

10. 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.

11. 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.

12. Understanding Organizations
Voluntary Associations
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.

13. Technology’s Impact on the Workplace
Telecommuting
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.

14. 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.

15. 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.

16. Social Policy and Organizations
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?

17. 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...

18. 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

19. 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.

20. 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.