Chapter 6: Groups and Organizations

Chapter 6: Groups and Organizations

Groups and Organizations • Understanding Groups • Understanding Organizations • Case Study: Bureaucracy and the Space Shuttle Columbia • Voluntary Associations • The Changing Workplace • Social Policy and Organizations: The State of the Unions

Types of Groups • Group: any number of people with similar norms, values, and expectations who interact on a regular basis • 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 • 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 • Conflict between in-groups and out-groups can turn violent on a personal as well as political level

Types of Groups • Reference group: any group thatindividuals use as standard for evaluating their own behavior • Reference groups set and enforce standards of conduct and belief • Often two or more reference groups influence us at the same time • Coalitions: temporary or permanent alliances geared toward common goal

Table 6-1: Comparison of Primary and Secondary Groups

Studying Small Groups • Smallgroup: group small enough for all members to interact simultaneously • Size of a Group • Smaller groups have greater interaction opportunities • Dyad: a two-member group • Triad: a three-member group

Studying Small Groups • Groupthink: collective pressure to conform to predominant line of thought • High-level government leaders and advisers particularly prone to groupthink • Outside facilitators can help avoid groupthink

Research in Action • 6-1: Decision Making in the Jury Room • Have you ever served on a jury? • Were you aware of jurors who made up their minds early in the trial, despite the judge’s instructions? • Did you experience stress from being exposed to graphic images of violence and bloodshed? • Is a jury a typical small group? • Would a large group be more effective than a small group in determining a defendant’s guilt or innocence?

Formal Organizations and Bureaucracies • Formal organization: group designed for a special-purpose and structured for maximum efficiency • In U.S., formal organizations fulfill enormous variety of personal and societal needs • Ascribed statuses can influence how we see ourselves within formal organizations

Characteristics of a Bureaucracy • Bureaucracy: component of formal organization that uses rules and hierarchical ranking to achieve efficiency • Ideal type bureaucracy: (Weber) construct or model for evaluating specific cases • Weber emphasized basic similarity of structure and process found in dissimilar enterprises of religion, government, education, and business

Characteristics of a Bureaucracy • Ideal type bureaucracy • Division of labor • Hierarchy of authority • Written rules and regulations • Impersonality • Employment based on technical qualifications

Characteristics of a Bureaucracy • Division of labor • Specialized experts perform specific tasks • Fragmentation of work can remove connection workers have to overall objective of the bureaucracy • 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

Characteristics of a Bureaucracy • Hierarchy of Authority • Each position is under the supervision of a higher authority • Written rules and regulations • Rules and regulations ensures uniform performance of every task • Provide sense of continuity • Goal displacement: when rules and regulations can overshadow larger goals of an organization and become dysfunctional

Characteristics of a Bureaucracy • Impersonality • Bureaucratic norms dictate that officials perform duties without personal consideration to people as individuals • Employment based on technical qualifications • Peter Principle: every employee within a hierarchy tends to rise to his or her level of incompetence (Peter and Jull 1969)

Characteristics of a Bureaucracy • Bureaucratization as Process • Bureaucratization: process by which group, organization, or social movement becomes increasingly bureaucratic • Can take place within small group settings • Oligarchy: Rule by a Few • Iron Law of Oligarchy: even a democratic organization eventually develops into a bureaucracy ruled by a few

Table 6-2: Characteristics of a Bureaucracy

Sociology in the Global Community • 6-2: McDonald’s and the Worldwide Bureaucratization of Society • Do you patronize McDonald’s and other fast-food establishments? • What features of these restaurants do you appreciate? • Do you have any complaints about them? • Analyze life at your college using Weber’s model of bureaucracy. • What elements of McDonaldization do you see? • Do you wish life were less McDonaldized?

Bureaucracy and Organizational Culture • Classical theory: (also known as Scientific Management Approach) workers are motivated almost entirely by economic rewards • Human relations approach: role of people, communication, and participation within a bureaucracy emphasized • Difficult to research because of Hawthorne effect

Case Study: Bureaucracy and the Space Shuttle Columbia • In February, 2003, space shuttle Columbia disintegrated as it reentered earth’s atmosphere • Accident Investigation Board found causes • Foam struck spacecraft’s wing during liftoff • Foam labeled as a maintenance problem and not a safety issue • NASA’s bureaucratic organizational culture • Condemned “acceptable risk” attitude

Voluntary Associations • Voluntary association: organization established based on common interests with members who volunteer or pay to participate • More than 456,000 voluntary associations in U.S. • Largely segregated by gender • Importance of associations increasingly being recognized

Figure 6-1: Membership in Voluntary Associationsin the United States Source: J. Davis and Smith 2001:347.

Research in Action • 6-3: Hired Guns • What do you think of the trend toward the temporary employment of skilled workers? • How might it affect the value you place on a college education? • Besides the growing dominance of service industries and information systems, what other factors might be contributing to the trend toward temporary employment of skilled workers?

Organizational Restructuring • Formal organizations experimenting with new ways of getting the job done since late 20th century • Collective decision making • Minimal hierarchy • Project teams and task forces • Fostered growing number of independent consultants and outside contractors who labor off site

Telecommuting • Telecommuters: 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 50 million in 2005 • Telecommuting may move society further along the continuum from Gemeinschaft to Gesellschaft • Could pull fathers and mothers back into the home

Electronic Communication • E-mail efficient, rapidly communicated, and democratic • Does not convey body language, leaves a permanent record, and can be monitored • Electronic communication contributes significantly to fragmentation of work

The State of the Unions • The Issue • What diminished importance of organized labor unions? • Membership dropped from 39% of private sector workers in 1954 to 12.5% in 2005 • Have unions perhaps outlived their usefulness in a rapidly changing global economy dominated by the service industry?

The State of the Unions • The Setting • Labor unions: organized workers sharing either the same skill or the same employer • Reasons given for decline of labor unions • Changes in the type of industry • Growth in part-time jobs • Legal system • Globalization • Employer offensives • Union rigidity and bureaucratization

The State of the Unions • Sociological Insights • 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 • Policy Initiatives • U.S. unique in allowing employers to actively oppose employee’s right to organize • Major barrier to union growth exists in 22 states with right-to-work laws • Union power waning on the national level • In Europe, labor unions tend to play major role in political elections • Debate in Congress raised question whether unions should use dues to support political candidate or position

Figure 6-2: Union Membership in the United States Source: Hirsch and Macpherson 2006.

Figure 6-3: Union Membership in the United States Note: “Right to work” means that legally, workers cannot be required to join a union or pay union dues. Source: Developed by the author based on data from Bureau of Labor Statistics 2005; National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation 2007.

Chapter 6: Groups and Organizations