MGMT Study Guide for Final Exam

​ A(n) ​ (a)   is a designated work group defined by an organization's structure. You are required to work with the people in the organization.

A(n) ​ (b)   is a group not defined by an organization's structure; such a group appears in response to other needs. You decide who you want to spend your time with after work hours.

• formal group
• informal group

Explain the parts of social identity theory.

• Similarity

• Rank or standing of someone or something.

• Social identity theory

• The perspective that considers when and why individuals consider themselves members of groups. Some people join groups because they have similar values or are distinct.

• Distinctiveness

• Who we are and our unique identity.

• Uncertainty reduction

• Different from other groups.

• Status

• Values and beliefs.

A set of phases that temporary groups go through that involves transitions between inactivity and activity.

• Reference groups

• Punctuated-equilibrium model

• Status characteristics theory

• Group cohesiveness

Group Property 1: Roles

• Role perception

• A set of expected behavior patterns attributed to someone occupying a given position in a social unit.

• Role conflict

• A situation in which an individual is confronted by divergent role expectations. Having different roles that compete with one another.

• Role expectations

• How others believe a person should act in a given situation. Expectations based on the nature or type of job they may have.

• Role

• An individual's view of how to act in a given situation. What a person thinks they are expected to do based on a task they are given.

​ (a)   is a situation in which the expectations of an individual's different, separate groups are in opposition. The conflict between one particular role that you play.

​ (b)   is the conflict within one particular role that you play (e.g. a parent who has a play to attend for their child and who is also an employee who has a presentation to conduct).

• Interrole conflict
• Intra-role conflict

Acceptable standards of behavior within a group that are shared by the group's members (acceptable/ unacceptable behaviors).

• Norms

• Conformity

• Social loafing

• Status

Group Property 2: Types of Norms

• Social arrangement norms

• Money, job, or equipment; any resource needed within an organization.

• Conformity

• Lack of quality; a group paper done by 6 students and the paper does not flow due to the different writing styles.

• Appearance norms

• Based on how one dresses.

• Performance norms

• The adjustment of one's behavior to align with the norms of the group.

• Resource allocation norms

• Friendships; the group regulates interaction between its members.

The tendency for individuals to expend less effort when working collectively than when working individually. Piggybacking off of other's ideas and not contributing.

• Norms

• Social loafing

• Conformity

• Status

​ (a)   is the shared bond driving group members to work together and stay in the group.

​ (b)   is getting along with your group members; members that are attracted to the group and its goals.

• Cohesion
• Group cohesiveness

Group vs Individual decision-making

• Brainstorming

• Thinking like the group based on conformity from the group. Avoiding being outcasted due to a difference in opinion. (e.g. 5 for A / 1 for B)

• Interacting groups

• A group decision-making method in which members meet to pool their judgements in a systematic but independent fashion.

• Groupshift (polarization)

• The tendency to shift our opinions to a more extreme position; tendency for a group to make decisions that are more extreme than the initial inclination of its members.

• Groupthink

• Typical groups in which members interact with each other, relying on both verbal and nonverbal communication.

• Nominal group technique

• An idea generation process that specifically encourages any criticism of those alternatives.