GROUP STRUCTURE

• Group structure is a pattern of relationships

among members that hold the group together
and help it achieve assigned goals.

• Structure can be described in a variety of ways.

Among the more common considerations are
group size, group roles, group norms, and group
cohesiveness.
 GROUP SIZE

• Group size can vary from 2 people to a very

large number of people. Small groups of two
to ten are thought to be more effective
because each member has ample opportunity
to participate and become actively involved in
the group.
• Large groups may waste time by deciding on
processes and trying to decide who should
participate next.
 GROUP SIZE

• Group size will affect not only participation

but satisfaction as well.
• Evidence supports the notion that as the size
of the group increases, satisfaction increases
upto a certain point.
• In other words, a group of six members has
twice as many opportunities for interaction
and participation as a group of three people.
 GROUP SIZE

• Beyond 10 or 12 members, increasing the size

of the group results in decreased satisfaction.
It is increasingly difficult for members of large
groups to identify with one another and
experience cohesion
 GROUP ROLES

• In formal groups, roles are usually predetermined

and assigned to members. Each role will have
specific responsibilities and duties.
• There are, however, emergent roles that develop
naturally to meet the needs of the groups. These
emergent roles will often replace the assigned roles
as individuals begin to express themselves and
become more assertive.
• Group roles can then be classified into work roles,
maintenance roles, and blocking roles.
 GROUP ROLES

• Work roles are task-oriented activities that

involve accomplishing the group's goals. They
involve a variety of specific roles such as
initiator, informer, clarifier, summarizer, and
reality tester.
• The initiator defines problems, proposes
action, and suggests procedures.
 GROUP ROLES

• The informer role involves finding facts and giving advice

or opinions.
• Maintenance roles are social-emotional activities that
help members maintain their involvement in the group
and raise their personal commitment to the group
• Blocking roles are activities that disrupt the group. They
may take the form of dominating discussions, verbally
attacking other group members, and distracting the
group with trivial information or unnecessary humor
 GROUP ROLES

• Role ambiguity concerns the discrepancy between the sent

role and the received role.
• Group leaders often assign roles to group members in
formal groups. Group members receive roles by being
ready and willing to undertake the tasks associated with
that role.
• Ambiguity results when members are confused about the
delegation of job responsibilities. This confusion may occur
because the members do not have specific job descriptions
or because the instructions regarding the task were not
clear.
 GROUP ROLES

• Role conflict occurs when there is inconsistency

between the perceived role and role behavior.
• Inter role conflict occurs when there is conflict
between the different roles that people have. For
example, work roles and family roles often compete
with one another and cause conflict.
• Intrarole conflict occurs when individuals must
handle conflicting demands from different sources
while performing the tasks associated with the same
role.
 GROUP NORMS

• Norms are acceptable standards of behavior

within a group that are shared by the
members of the group.
• They are typically created in order to facilitate
group survival, make behavior more
predictable, avoid embarrassing situations,
and express the values of the group
 GROUP NORMS

• Each group will establish its own set of norms

that might determine anything from the
appropriate dress to how many comments to
make in a meeting.
• Groups exert pressure on members to force
them to conform to the group's standards.
• The norms often reflect the level of
commitment, motivation, and performance of
the group.
 GROUP NORMS

• Performance norms determine how quickly members

should work and how much they should produce.
They are created in an effort to determine levels of
individual effort.
• They can be very frustrating to managers because
they are not always in line with the organization's
goals.
• Members of a group may have the skill and ability to
perform at higher levels but they don't because of
the group's performance norms
 GROUP NORMS

• Reward-allocation norms determine how

rewards are bestowed upon group members.
For example, the norm of equality dictates
equal treatment of all members. Every
member shares equally so rewards are
distributed equally to everyone.
• Equity norms suggest that rewards are
distributed according to the member's
contribution.
 GROUP NORMS

• In other words, members who contribute the

most receive the largest share of the rewards.
Members may contribute through effort, skill,
or ability.
• Social responsibility norms reward on the
basis of need. Members who have special
needs therefore receive the largest share of
the reward.
 GROUP COHESIVENESS

• Cohesiveness refers to the bonding of group

members and their desire to remain part of the
group.
• Many factors influence the amount of group
cohesiveness. Generally speaking, the more difficult
it is to obtain group membership the more cohesive
the group.
• Groups also tend to become cohesive when they
are in intense competition with other groups or
face a serious external threat to survival.
 GROUP COHESIVENESS

• Smaller groups and those who spend considerable

time together also tend to be more cohesive.
• Cohesiveness in work groups has many positive
effects, including worker satisfaction,and higher
productivity.
• However, highly cohesive groups may be detrimental
to organizational performance if their goals are
misaligned with organizational goals.
 GROUP COHESIVENESS

• Highly cohesive groups may also be more

vulnerable to groupthink.
• Groupthink occurs when members of a group
exert pressure on each other to come to a
consensus in decision making.
• Groupthink results in careless judgments,
unrealistic appraisals of alternative courses of
action, and a lack of reality testing
Group Decision making:
• Many kinds of decisions are made in groups
without considering the effects that these
decisions will have on other members.

• Some people try to impose their own decisions

on the group, while others want all members to
participate or share in the decision making
process.
• Does anyone make a decision and carry it out
without checking with other group members
(self authorized)? For example, one person
decides on the topic to be discussed and
immediately begins to talk about it. What effect
does this have on other group members?

• Does the group drift from topic to topic? Who

topic-jumps? Do you see any reason for this in
the group’s interactions?
• Who supports other members’ suggestions or
decisions? Does this support result in the two members
deciding the topic or activity for the group? How does
this affect the other group members?
• Is there any evidence of a majority pushing a decision
through over other members’ objections? Do they call
for a vote? Is there any attempt to get all members
participating in a decision? What effect does this seem
to have on the group?
• Does anyone make any contributions that do not
receive any kind of response or recognition? What
effect does this have on the member?
 Approaches to Group Decision Making

• Autocratic decision making:

• Here, the leader makes a decision by himself
or herself or independently. This approach is
fast and often effective, particularly when the
leader is competent person. The method is
highly useful in times of crisis.
 Approaches to Group Decision Making

• Expert member soliciting:

• In this method, advice of an individual who is
expert in the concerned area is obtained and
decision is then made. Where the persons
involved in deem making do not possess
adequate knowledge about the subject, this
method is appropriate.
 Approaches to Group Decision Making

• Consultative decision making:

• This approach involves obtaining inputs from
those responsible for and affected by the
decision and then making a decision
independently. To the extent that decision
makers obtain inputs from others, this
approach is an improvement
 Approaches to Group Decision Making

• Minority control:
• This approach involves allowing a small
number of people in the group to make a
decision. This method is desirable when there
is a crisis demanding immediate action and
when only a small number of members have
the requisite knowledge about the matter.
 Approaches to Group Decision Making

• Consensus:
• This approach involves finding a proposal
acceptable to all members. This is a ‘win-win'
situation. This approach has an advantage in
the sense that all the group members are
committed to the decision.
Group Decision Making
Techniques
• Brain Storming
• BS is a technique used to overcome the
pressures for conformity in the interesting group
that retard the development of alternatives.

• It uses idea generation process which specifically

encourages creative alternatives against their
criticism.
• No criticism are allowed then alternatives are
taken up for discussion and further analysis.

• Thus a brain storming session generates mere

ideas which helps in arriving at an effective
group discussion.
• Nominal Group Technique
• The term Nominal means that in such a group
decision, discussions or interpersonal
communications are restricted.
• Though the group members are physically
present in a committee meeting they do act
independently.
• These steps are taken when a problem is
analyzed.
1. Members meet as a group but each member
act as an individual , writes down his/her ideas.
2. Each member of the group present one idea
when he finds his turn.
3. No discussion takes place until all ideas have
been noted.
4. Discussion regarding various alternatives or
ideas are held and evaluated.
5. The ideas drawn from the discussion are
ordered according to their performance.
6. The highest aggregate ranking determines the
final decision.
The main advantage of nominal group
technique is that though the members form a
group to meet formally, there is no restriction for
their independent technique as in interacting
group.
• Electronic Meeting
• The recent approach for group decision making
is that the use of highly developed and
sophisticated computer technology along with
nominal group technique.
• The electronic meeting concept is simple that
up to 50 people can sit around and type their
ideas and responses onto their computer screen.
• However individual comments are valued and
also displayed on the screen.

• Anonymity, honesty and speed add feathers to

electronic meeting. It allows the members to
be honest without penalizing them.
• Delphi Technique
• It is very popular in the recent times for long
range to recasting.
• No decision technique will ever be able to
predict the future completely, as Delphi
technique seems to be as good as a crystal.
• Today numerous organisations, business,
education government and the military are
using the Delphi technique. Delphi technique
works as 
• A group is formed but the members are not in
face to face interactions, thus avoiding the
expenses of bringing them together.
• Each member is asked to make anonymous
predictions into the problem, the panel is
charged with.
• Each panel member then receives composite
feedback from ideas expressed by other
members. The reasons are listed anonymously
but mostly just a composite figure is used.
• On the basis of feedback another round of
anonymous input are made.

• These iterations take place for a determined

number of times until the composite
feedbacks remain the same, which means
everyone is sticking to his or her own position.