Group Norms

8 Key excerpts on "Group Norms"

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  Communicate!

  • Kathleen Verderber, Deanna Sellnow, Rudolph Verderber(Authors)
  • 2016(Publication Date)
  • Cengage Learning EMEA

    (Publisher)

  Healthy groups develop norms that help them achieve their goals and foster cohesiveness (Levine, 2013). Norms can be developed through formal discussions or informal group pro-cesses. Some groups choose to formulate explicit ground rules , prescribed behaviors designed to help the group meet its goals and conduct its conversations. These may include sticking to the agenda, refraining from interrupting others, keeping com-ments brief, expecting everyone to participate, focusing on issues rather than person-alities, and sharing decision making. In most groups, however, norms evolve informally. When we join a new group, we act in ways that were considered appropriate in the groups we participated in previously. When members of our new group respond positively to our actions, an informal norm is established. For example, suppose Daniel and two others show up late for a Lions Club meeting. If the latecomers are greeted with disapproving glares, then Daniel and the oth-ers will learn that this group has an on-time norm. A group may never actually discuss informal norms, but members understand what they are, behave in line with them, and educate new members about them. We sometimes find ourselves struggling to act appropriately in different groups because each seems to have different norms. This can be especially true for people who move from one country to another, as was the case for Dr. Mina Tsay, an assistant professor at Boston University who emigrated from Taiwan to the United States and maintains strong ties with groups in both countries. She describes her experiences in this chapter’s Diverse Voices feature. Photo 9.3 Most clubs follow a set of norms to keep meetings on track.

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  N6 Human Resource Management

  • H Willson-Kirsten(Author)
  • 2014(Publication Date)
  • Future Managers

    (Publisher)

  Since leadership is an interpersonal process that takes place by means of communication, good group leadership is likely to lead to success. It is highly unlikely that a group can function effectively without a capable leader who motivates the group towards goal achievement. (Leadership will be dealt with in detail in Module 4. 2.4 Group Norms Interaction within a group results in the formulation of Group Norms. A group norm is a standard of behaviour that is expected by members of a group. Norms are often referred to as rules that apply to group members. Rules may be enforced with group disciplinary measures. In extreme cases a person who violates these rules can be expelled from the group. Norms are developed over time and have two purposes: • They describe which behaviour is acceptable. • They set the limits of behaviour for group members. The continued existence of a group depends in part on whether the members keep to their norms. Groups with strong norms will be stable, long-lasting and individuals will be happy to be members of the group. Group members react to norms in three ways: • They reject the norms. • They accept all the norms and conform either by means of subjection among people who do not like to conform, but change their behaviour to fit in with the group anyway; or by means of internalisation which means that people willingly make their convictions and beliefs fit in with those of the group. • They accept the main norms and ignore those norms they consider to be less important. In an organisational setting, such individuals may help a group achieve work goals, but might not join the group for lunch in the canteen every day. Module 3 52 3. Group effectiveness The effectiveness of all groups is influenced by the extent to which they satisfy the needs of individual members, the extent to which they are allowed to play a meaningful role in helping the organisation to achieve its objectives and are cohesive.

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  Empowerment Series: Social Work with Groups

  Comprehensive Practice and Self-Care

  • Charles Zastrow, Sarah Hessenauer(Authors)
  • 2018(Publication Date)
  • Cengage Learning EMEA

    (Publisher)

  New members learn norms by talking privately with a group member they trust. They may ask questions like this: Who has the power? Is it acceptable to say or do such and such? Are there coalitions in the group? Do some members have hidden agendas? Are there personal matters that some members are sensitive about? Someone who is overweight, for example, may express discomfort with comments on dieting, and other members may indi-vidually decide not to mention dieting when the overweight person is present. Although norms are learned in a variety of ways, the most common way is through positive and negative reinforcement. Through a process of trial and error, members iden-tify which of their behaviors are accepted and rewarded by the group and which are judged inappropriate or destructive. Another way members identify norms is through “modeling,” which involves learning through observing another member’s behavior. Some norms are in the bylaws, constitution, minutes, and/or other documents of a group or organization. For example, there may be guidelines for placing an item on the agenda, the duties and responsibilities of the officers, and the decision-making procedures for resolving crucial issues. Furthermore, norms can take the form of role expectations Copyright 2019 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. 117 Understand the Importance of Group Norms, and Comprehend How Norms Are Formed that can be official or unofficial. Officially, the chair of a group is expected to call and run meetings; the secretary keeps minutes.

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  Small Groups and Political Behavior

  A Study of Leadership

  • Sidney Verba(Author)
  • 2015(Publication Date)
  • Princeton University Press

    (Publisher)

  18 The last qualification is significant for developing valid measures of the existence of norms. The expectations of the group mem- bers cannot always be measured directly—e.g., if they are asked to describe what behaviors a group member ought to manifest, they may give lip service to a standard to which conformity is not actually expected. The existence of some form of group punishment for deviance is a useful clue to the existence of actual norms. One of the difficulties in relating this definition of norms to small group studies is that most small group studies do not deal with norms as expectations. We have discussed in the previous chapter the fact that a group role—i.e., a set of norms ie Homans, op.cit., p. 123. Similarly, Bates and Cloyd define norms as ". . . evaluations of anticipated behavior consciously snared by the group members." Alan P. Bates and Jerry S. Cloyd, "Toward the Development of Operations for Defining Group Norms and Member Roles," Sociometry, 19 (1956), pp. 26-39. 192 Group Norms associated with a particular status in the group—is defined in small group studies not as a set of expectations but as an orderly pattern of behaviors. Similarly, small group studies that deal with pressures to conform within groups deal with conformity not to group expectations but to certain average characteristics of the group—average group performance, average qualities of group members, or average opinion of group members. Thus, the studies of the pressure of group opinion upon the opinion of the members deal with the average opinion of the group members, not with member expectations of conformity to these opinions. A field study by James March, designed to test the Ho- mans hypothesis that group leaders conform to the norms of the group more than other members, illustrates some of the difficulties in defining norms as population averages rather than as expectations. 17 March studied the League of Women Voters in Connecticut.

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  Group Dynamics

  • Donelson Forsyth(Author)
  • 2018(Publication Date)
  • Cengage Learning EMEA

    (Publisher)

  Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. 6 -1 N O R M S The survivors of the crash needed to coordinate their actions if they were to stay alive. With food, water, and shelter severely limited, they were forced to interact with and rely on each other con-tinually, and any errant action on the part of one person would disturb and even endanger several other people. So, members began to abide by a set of unstated rules that defined how the group would sleep at night, what types of duties each healthy individual was expected to perform, and how food and water were to be apportioned. These consensual, regulatory standards are norms . 6-1a The Nature of Social Norms Norms are a fundamental element of social structure; the group ’ s rules of order (Fine, 2012). As group standards, they provide direction and motivation, organize social interactions, and make other people ’ s responses predictable and meaningful. Both simple behaviors, such as choice of clothing, manners, and conversational pleasantries, and more complex social processes, such as fairness, morality, and justice — are based on norms. Each group member is restrained to a degree by norms, but each member also benefits from the order that norms provide. How people speak, dress, and interact are determined by norms that define conventional behavior within that society. But each group within that society may adopt its own unique nor-mative standards. For example, in one group it may be appropriate to interrupt others when they are talking, to arrive late and leave meetings early, and to dress informally. In another group, such behaviors would be considered inappropriate violations of Group Norms of dress and decorum.

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  Culture Trumps Everything

  The Unexpected Truth About The Ways Environment Changes Biology, Psychology, And Behavior

  • Gustavo R. Grodnitzky(Author)
  • 2014(Publication Date)
  • Gustavo Grodnitzky, PLLC

    (Publisher)

  Behavioral norms are the fertile ground in which we plant the seeds of organizational culture. In subsequent chapters, I will identify and discuss the behaviors that serve as the seeds of organizational culture to be planted within the fertile ground of behavioral norms. However, before I discuss the seeds to be planted, it is important to understand that we must prepare the soil through the selection of the appropriate behavioral norms. There are several types of behavioral norms; the most critical in a business environment are social norms and business norms.

  Social Norms vs. Business Norms

  We live in two worlds: one of social norms and another of business norms. Traditionally, business norms are used in business, and social norms are used in social settings. When business norms and social norms collide, social norms get pushed out. This is because business norms tend to be more precise than social norms, and particularly in business settings, people prefer clarity and have difficulty tolerating ambiguity.

  Business norms typically have sharper edges. You get what you pay for, quid pro quo, and value is always tallied in the local currency. Prompt payment for services or products is expected, if not demanded. It is a world of comparable benefits. Business norms are the behavioral norms most often associated with CEOs and organizations that care about profitability – and little else. They believe that the bottom line is the be-all and end-all in business. This belief is also often associated with both a competitive need to win at all costs and a fear of being taken advantage of, which leads to a culture where people compete rather than collaborate, are compliant rather than creative (avoiding risk), and watch out for themselves rather than for their team or the organization as a whole.

  Social norms are part of the world that includes friendly requests, social favors, and genuine interest and caring. For example, opening doors for others, giving up your seat on public transportation for an elderly person, and allowing others to go before you when merging into traffic (believe it or not, this does happen in certain parts of the country). In the world of social norms, instant payback is neither required nor expected. This creates less clarity and greater ambiguity that is more naturally accepted within the realm of social norms.

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  Received Wisdom, Kernels of Truth, and Boundary

  • Daniel J. Svyantek, Kevin T. Mahoney(Authors)
  • 2013(Publication Date)
  • Information Age Publishing

    (Publisher)

  These values can often be accepted without question by both new and long-serving members of an organization. For example, one need only consider the reality that one of the first things a new employee learns is some of the organization’s legends—perhaps how the founder worked long hours and despised formal educational and training qualifications. Legends can stay with an organization and become part of the estab-lished way of doing things. Perhaps the founder’s views about the impor-tance of education and training will stay current; on the other hand, in the course of time there may be a “culture shift” as new managers and leaders move into the organization and change the old ways. However, a number of legends continue to be important determinants of “the way we do things around here” and—as in the past—over time the organization will develop new “norms,” that is, established (normal) expected behavior patterns within the organization. A norm is an established behavior pattern that is part of a culture. And culture encompasses moral, social, and behavioral norms of an organiza-tion. The norms serve to establish the new or evolving normative “folk wisdom” within an organization (e.g., interpretations of acceptable and unacceptable behavior, understanding, guidance, and priorities for mem-bers). There are many elements that fall under the concept of organiza-tional culture and the subsequent established behavior patterns that are part of a culture. And employees receive their wisdom from all these aspects of the organization’s culture. For example, these elements often could include: • The way people dress • The way people act (both on and off the job) • The way people present themselves • The way people conduct their work

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  Essential Psychology

  • Philip Banyard, Christine Norman, Gayle Dillon, Belinda Winder, Philip Banyard, Christine Norman, Gayle Dillon, Belinda Winder(Authors)
  • 2019(Publication Date)
  • SAGE Publications Ltd

    (Publisher)

  Full membership and commitment to group goals are supposed to go together. This is best illustrated by research on group deviance (Levine, 1989). Members who do not abide by Group Norms and who show open disagreement with the rest of the group are subject to social pressure in the form of frowns and ridicule. Pressure keeps mounting until the target falls in line with the group again – or until the target is given up on as a hopeless case, and ultimately becomes marginalised by the other group members. 14.3.1 Norm formation in small groups The group dynamics introduced above describe how small groups can begin, develop and potentially end. By studying group processes, we can also understand the role of indi- vidual behaviours within the group, and how these can be synchronised to maintain the group and achieve particular outcomes. One of these processes is the establishment of Group Norms. These norms develop within the group and provide much needed orientation to individuals. Observing a dot of light in a pitch-black room, an interacting group will soon reach consensus about the distances that the light dot is moving, and then individual members will use this consensus as a basis for subsequent estimates that they give on their own – even when, in reality, the light dot is not moving at all (see Sherif’s work on the Autokinetic Effect: Sherif, 1936). Deutsch and Gerard (1955) suggested that this process is due to informational influence, which occurs when group members lack information about real- ity. They also described a second process, normative influ- ence, which has been linked to Asch’s (1951) famous line judgement experiment. When faced with the opinions of an unwavering (yet erroneous) majority in a group setting, participants often fall in line when it comes to voicing their own opinion.

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