SOCIOLOGY Richard T. Schaefer

1. SOCIOLOGY Richard T. Schaefer 6 Groups and Organizations

2. 6. Groups and Organizations • Understanding Groups • Understanding Organizations • Case Study: Bureaucracy and the Space Shuttle Columbia • The Changing Workplace • Social Policy and Organizations

3. Understanding Groups • Types of 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

4. Understanding Groups Table 6-1. Comparison of Primary and Secondary Groups

5. Understanding Groups • Types of Groups • In-Groups and Out-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.

6. Understanding Groups • Types of Groups • Reference Groups • Any group that individuals use as standard for evaluating their own behavior • Reference groups set and enforce standards of conduct and belief

7. Understanding Groups • Studying Small Groups • Dyad: a two-member group • Triad: a three-member group • Small Group: group small enough for all members to interact simultaneously • Size of a Group • Smaller groups havegreater interaction opportunities Coalitions: temporary or permanent alliances geared toward common goal

8. Understanding Groups • Coalitions • Collective pressure to conform to the predominant line of thought • Temporary or permanent alliances geared toward common goal • Groupthink

9. Understanding Organizations • Formal Organizations and Bureaucracies • Formal Organization: special-purpose group designed and structured for maximum efficiency

10. Understanding Organizations • Characteristics of a Bureaucracy • Bureaucracy: component of formal organization that uses rules and hierarchical ranking to achieve efficiency • Ideal Type Bureaucracy • Division of labor • Hierarchy of authority

11. Understanding Organizations • 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

12. Understanding Organizations • Characteristics of a Bureaucracy • Hierarchy of Authority • Written rulesand regulations • Employment based on technicalqualifications GoalDisplacement: overzealous conformity to official regulations PeterPrinciple: every employee within a hierarchy tends to rise to his or her level of incompetence (Peter and Jull 1969)

13. Understanding Organizations Table 6-2. Characteristics of a Bureaucracy

14. Understanding Organizations • Characteristics of a Bureaucracy • Bureaucratization as Process • Bureaucratization: process by which group, organization, or social movement becomes increasingly bureaucratic

15. Understanding Organizations • Characteristics of a Bureaucracy • Oligarchy: Rule by a Few • Iron Law of Oligarchy: describes how even a democratic organization will eventually develop into a bureaucracy ruled by a few (called an oligarchy)

16. Understanding Organizations • Bureaucracy and Organizational Culture • 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

17. Understanding Organizations • Voluntary Associations • Organizations established on basis of common interest • Members volunteer or even pay to participate • “Formal organizations” and “voluntary organizations” not mutually exclusive

18. Understanding Organizations Figure 6-1. Membership in Voluntary Associations in the United States Sources: J. Davis and Smith 2001:347

19. Case Study: Bureaucracy and the Space Shuttle Columbia • In February, 2003, space shuttle Columbia disintegrated as it reentered earth’s atmosphere • Accident Investigation Board identified two causes • Foam struck spacecraft’s wing during liftoff • NASA’s bureaucratic organizational culture

20. The Changing Workplace • Organizational Restructuring • Formal organizations experimenting with new ways of getting the job done since late 20th century • Collective decisionmaking • Minimal hierarchy • Work teams

21. The Changing Workplace • Telecommuting • 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 may move society further along the continuum from Gemeinschaft to Gesellschaft

22. The Changing Workplace • Electronic Communication • 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

23. Social Policy and Organizations • The State of the Unions • The Issue • What diminished importance of organized labor unions? • Have unions perhaps outlived their usefulness in a rapidly changing global economy dominated by the service industry?

24. Social Policy and Organizations • The State of the Unions • The Setting • Labor Unions: organized workers sharing either the same skill or the same employer • The experience of unions varies widely in different countries

25. Social Policy and Organizations • The State of the Unions • The Setting • Reasons given for decline of labor unions: • Changes in type of industry • Growth in part-time jobs • The legal system • Globalization • Employer offensive • Union rigidity and bureaucratization

26. Social Policy and Organizations • 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

27. Social Policy and Organizations • The State of the Unions • Policy Initiatives • 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

28. Social Policy and Organizations Figure 6-2. Union Membership in the United States