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SOCIOLOGY Richard T. Schaefer

Groups and Organizations

6

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6. Groups and Organizations

• Understanding Groups

• Understanding Organizations

• Case Study: Bureaucracy and the Space Shuttle Columbia

• The Changing Workplace

• Social Policy and Organizations

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Understanding Groups

– Group: any number of people with similar norms, values, and expectations who interact with one another on a regular basis

– Primary and Secondary Groups•Primary Group: small group with

intimate, face-to-face association and cooperation

•Secondary Group: formal, impersonal groups with little social intimacy or mutual understanding

• Types of Groups

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Understanding Groups

Table 6-1. Comparison of Primary and Secondary Groups

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Understanding Groups

• In-groups: any groups or categories to which people feel they belong

•Out-groups: any groups or categories to which people feel they do not belong

• Types of Groups– In-Groups and Out-Groups

Conflict between in-groups and out-groups can turn violent on a personal as well as political level.

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Understanding Groups

• Any group that individuals use as standard for evaluating their own behavior

• Types of Groups– Reference Groups

• Reference groups set and enforce standards of conduct and belief

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– Size of a Group• Smaller groups have

greater interaction opportunities

Understanding Groups

– Dyad: a two-member group

– Triad: a three-member group

• Studying Small Groups– Small Group: group small enough for

all members to interact simultaneously

Coalitions: temporary or permanent alliances geared toward common goal

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– Groupthink

Understanding Groups

• Collective pressure to conform to the predominant line of thought

• Coalitions– Temporary or permanent alliances

geared toward common goal

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• Formal Organizations and Bureaucracies

Understanding Organizations

– Formal Organization: special-purpose group designed and structured for maximum efficiency

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• Characteristics of a Bureaucracy– Bureaucracy: component of formal

organization that uses rules and hierarchical ranking to achieve efficiency

Understanding Organizations

– Ideal Type Bureaucracy• Division of labor• Hierarchy of authority

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• Characteristics of a Bureaucracy– Division of labor

•Alienation: condition of estrangement or dissociation from the surrounding society

•Trained Incapacity: workers become so specialized that they develop blind spots and fail to notice obvious problems

Understanding Organizations

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• Written rulesand regulations

• Employment based on technicalqualifications

Understanding Organizations

• Characteristics of a Bureaucracy– Hierarchy of Authority

Goal Displacement: overzealous conformity to official regulations

Peter Principle: every employee within a hierarchy tends to rise to his or her level of incompetence (Peter and Jull 1969)

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Understanding Organizations

Table 6-2. Characteristics of a Bureaucracy

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Understanding Organizations

•Bureaucratization: process by which group, organization, or social movement becomes increasingly bureaucratic

• Characteristics of a Bureaucracy– Bureaucratization as Process

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Understanding Organizations

• Iron Law of Oligarchy: describes how even a democratic organization will eventually develop into a bureaucracy ruled by a few (called an oligarchy)

• Characteristics of a Bureaucracy– Oligarchy: Rule by a Few

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Understanding Organizations

– Classical Theory: also known as Scientific Management Approach); workers motivated almost entirely by economic rewards

– Human Relations Approach: role of people, communication and participation within a bureaucracy emphasized

• Bureaucracy and Organizational Culture

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Understanding Organizations

– Organizations established on basis of common interest• Members volunteer or even pay to

participate• “Formal organizations” and “voluntary

organizations” not mutually exclusive

• Voluntary Associations

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Understanding Organizations

Figure 6-1. Membership in Voluntary Associations in the United States

Sources: J. Davis and Smith 2001:347

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Case Study: Bureaucracy and the Space Shuttle Columbia

– Accident Investigation Board identified two causes• Foam struck spacecraft’s wing during liftoff• NASA’s bureaucratic organizational culture

• In February, 2003, space shuttle Columbia disintegrated as it reentered earth’s atmosphere

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The Changing Workplace

– Formal organizations experimenting with new ways of getting the job done since late 20th century• Collective decision

making• Minimal hierarchy• Work teams

• Organizational Restructuring

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The Changing Workplace

– Employees who work full- or part-time at home rather than in an outside office

– Number of telecommuters increased from 8.5 million in 1995 to 28 million in 2001 (Donald B. Davis and Polonko 2001)

• Telecommuting

Telecommuting may move society further along the continuum from Gemeinschaft to Gesellschaft

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The Changing Workplace

– E-mail efficient, rapidly communicated, and democratic• Gives an organization the benefit of

experiences and views of more of its workforce

• Does not convey body language• Leaves permanent record• Can be monitored

• Electronic Communication

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Social Policy and Organizations

• What diminished importance of organized labor unions?

• Have unions perhaps outlived their usefulness in a rapidly changing global economy dominated by the service industry?

• The State of the Unions– The Issue

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Social Policy and Organizations

•Labor Unions: organized workers sharing either the same skill or the same employer

– The experience of unions varies widely in different countries

• The State of the Unions– The Setting

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Social Policy and Organizations

1. Changes in type of industry2. Growth in part-time jobs3. The legal system4. Globalization5. Employer offensive6. Union rigidity and bureaucratization

• The State of the Unions–The Setting

•Reasons given for decline of labor unions:

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Social Policy and Organizations

• Marxists and functionalists view unions as logical response to emergence of impersonal, large-scale, formal, and often alienating organizations

• Conflict theorists note the longer union leaders are in office the less responsive they are to the needs and demands of the rank and file

• Many union employees encounter role conflict

• The State of the Unions– Sociological Insights

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Social Policy and Organizations

• Major barrier to union growth exists in 21 states with so-called right to work laws

• Debate over campaign finance reform in Congress in 2001 raised question of whether labor unions should use dues to support a particular candidate or promote a position

• The State of the Unions– Policy Initiatives

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Social Policy and Organizations

Figure 6-2. Union Membershipin the United States