Organizational Behavior, 17e

Implications for Managers

• Recognize that groups can dramatically affect individual behavior in ­organizations, to either positive or negative effect. Therefore, pay special attention to roles, norms, and cohesion—to understand how these are ­operating within a group is to understand how the group is likely to behave.

• To decrease the possibility of deviant workplace activities, ensure that group norms do not support antisocial behavior.

• Pay attention to the status aspect of groups. Because lower-status people tend to participate less in group discussions, groups with high status differences are likely to inhibit input from lower-status members and reduce their potential.

• Use larger groups for fact-finding activities and smaller groups for ­action-taking ...