GROUPS AND ORGANIZATIONS
Types of groups
Group leadership
Types of leadership
Formal organizations and bureaucracy
Voluntary associations
Humanizing corporate culture
Groups & Types of Groups
• In sociology, a group can be defined as two or more humans that interact with one
another, accept expectations and obligations as members of the group, and share a
common identity.
• Types of Groups
Primary group
Secondary group
Group Leadership
• One element is always present in groups; leadership.
• A leader is someone who, largely by virtue of certain personality
characteristics, is consistently able to influence the behavior of others.
Types of Leadership
1. Bureaucratic leader (focus on the rules and procedures to manage teams and
projects. This is a classic style of leadership and is used quite a lot in organizations
that don't encourage innovation and change and by leaders who may be insecure
and uncertain in what their role may be).
2. Charismatic leader (The Charismatic Leader gathers followers through impression
of personality and charm, rather than any form of external power or authority).
3. Autocratic (The autocratic leadership style allows managers to make decisions
alone without the input of others. Managers possess total authority and impose their
will on employees).
4. Democratic (A democratic leadership style is an open approach to leading, where
decision making is shared and the views of a team or group are valued and
contribute to the vison, goals and decision that are made ).
5. Laissez-faire leadership is a type of leadership style in which leaders are hands-
off and allow group members to make the decisions. Researchers have found that
this is generally the leadership style that leads to the lowest productivity among
group members. (A laissez-faire leader lacks direct supervision of employees and
fails to provide regular feedback to those under his supervision).
6. The people-oriented (This style of leadership is the opposite of task-oriented
leadership because the leader is participating directly with the employees
throughout the process. The leader is involved in every aspect of the work and is
there to offer ideas, advice, and support to his or her employees.
7. Task-oriented (Task-oriented leaders have several characteristics that help
make sure that things get done in a manner that is both proficient and on time
every time. These managers usually create clear, easy-to-follow work schedules
with specific requirements and deadlines.
8. The Servant leader (Servant leadership is a philosophy and set of practices that
enriches the lives of individuals, builds better organizations and ultimately creates
a more just and caring world).
9. The transaction leader (Managers using the transactional leadership style
receive certain tasks to perform and provide rewards or punishments to team
members based on performance results).
10) Transformation leader (The transformational leadership style depends on
high levels of communication from management to meet goals. Leaders motivate
employees and enhance productivity and efficiency through communication and
high visibility. This style of leadership requires the involvement of management to
meet goals).
Formal organizations and bureaucracy
Formal organizations, secondary groups designed to
achieve clear objectives, have become a central
feature of contemporary life.
Early examples of formal organizations were
associations and the army.
With industrialization, secondary groups became
more common.
Formal organizations, especially as they increase in
size, tend to develop into bureaucracies.
Max Weber identified the essential characteristics of bureaucracies, which
help these organizations reach their goals, as well as grow and endure. These
include the following:
• a hierarchy where assignments flow downward and accountability flows
• a division of labor
• written rules
• written communications and records
• impersonality
Weber's characteristics of bureaucracy describe an ideal type—a complex
characteristics based on many specific examples. The real nature of
bureaucracy often differs from its ideal image.
Voluntary associations
Voluntary associations are groups made up of volunteers who have organized on the
basis of some mutual interest.
All voluntary associations have one or more of the following functions:
• to advance the particular interests they represent (e.g., youth in Scouting
programs).
• to offer people an identity and, for some, a sense of purpose in life.
• to help govern the nation and maintain social order (e.g., Red Cross disaster aid).
Some voluntary associations have the following functions:
• to mediate between the government and the individual.
• to train people in organizational skills so they can climb the occupational ladder.
• to help bring disadvantaged groups into the political mainstream.
• to challenge society's definitions of what is “normal” and socially acceptable.
Voluntary associations represent no single interest or purpose. The idea of
mutual interest is characteristic of all voluntary associations; a shared interest in
some view or activity is the tie that binds members together.
The motivation for joining a group differs widely among its members, from the
expression of strong beliefs to the cultivation of personal contacts.
Humanizing corporate culture
Humanizing a work setting refers to efforts to organize the workplace in such a
way that it develops rather than impedes human potential.
• More human work settings are ones in which (a) access to opportunities is
based on ability and contributions rather than personal characteristics; (b)
power is more equally distributed; and (c) rules are less rigid and decision
making more open.
• There is nothing inherent in bureaucracies that makes them insensitive to
people’s needs or prevents them from becoming more human.
• Corporate attempts to make work organizations more humane include the
following:
• work teams; within these groups workers are able to establish primary
relationships with other workers so that their identities are tied up with their
group; the group's success becomes the individual's success.
Corporate day care facilities at work; these ease the strain on
parents, leading to reduced turnover, less absenteeism, and shorter
maternity leaves.
Employee stock ownership where employees own some stock; this
does not mean that working conditions and employee-
management relations are friction free because profitability still is
the key.
Quality circles; these are small groups of workers and a manager
or two who meet regularly to try and improve the quality of the
work setting and the product. This is an example of a business fad
(fashion).
The cooperative is an alternative to bureaucracy; these are
collectives owned by members who collectively make decisions,
determine goals, evaluate resources, set salaries, and assign work
tasks. The economic results of cooperatives have been mixed; some
are more profitable than private organizations, some are less.
Conflict theorists point out that the basic relationship between
workers and owners is confrontational regardless of how the work
organization is structured. Their basic interests are fundamentally
opposed.
