INTRODUCTION TO SMALL GROUP BEHAVIOR - OB

This chapter has discussed the concept of the small group and has illustrated the importance of the small group within the broader topic of organizational behavior. Small group has been defined as a collection of interacting individuals who have common goals, similar values, and a structure of relationships. Groups come in a variety of forms, depending on the classification schema utilized.

The problem of defining the size of a small group is particularly troublesome. Because of their uniqueness, dyads and triads are considered special cases. Consequently, the main body of small-group theory that we discussed was related to groups of four or more, up to some theoretical limit where personal interaction is no longer possible.

One of the more important characteristics discussed is the nature of normative behavior in groups. An extremely complex relationship exists among such factors as group norms, conformity, cohesiveness, and group performance. Since performance is a manager’s primary concern, care has been taken to examine this interrelationship in detail and specific examples given of ways in which knowledge of this process has been used by the managers of organizations.

No discussion of small group behavior is complete without an analysis of the structures that inevitably develop in the group context. For this reason, role relations have been examined, including clarity, ambiguity, and conflict, along with the extremely relevant topic of status. In all cases, care has been taken to report the hard research data that have developed with respect to these topics.

One is too familiar with the fact that the role expectations and status hierarchies exist in all kinds of groups. A careful reading of the research should help to understand why this is true and even necessary for proper group functioning. Recent attention has been given to other topics involving group interaction. One of the important areas has to do with the effectiveness of groups as problem solvers. After the discussion the pros and cons of individual versus group problem solving, guidelines were offered for effectively using a combined interacting-nominal group process.

Remarks on sociometry and interaction process analysis were included as methods of understanding group behavior. There are other methods of analyzing interpersonal behavior. Particular methods were selected primarily for purposes of illustration – to show that there are indeed systematic techniques for gaining insights into small-group phenomena.