Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from Groups in Organizations: Extending Laboratory Models
This paper focuses on task groups in organizations, while much of the research on small groups focuses on the individual. In the individual approach, the group is seen as a setting that shapes individual attitudes, attributions, and decisions. A recent chapter on Intergroup Relations (stephan, 1984: 599) exemplifies this approach: First, the level of analysis of a social psychological inquiry into intergroup relations is the individual and his or her relationships with social groups. The primary justification for focusing on the individual level of analysis is that it is the individual's perception of social reality and the processing of this information that influence individual behavior. Missing from this perspective is the study of groups qua groups and how a group interacts with its context.
An alternative focus for small group research is to look from the group boundary outward. An external perspective shifts the focus of research so that 1) the group is the level of analysis, 2) the social context of groups is examined to explain behavior, and 3) the group has an existence and purpose apart from serving as a setting and apart from the individuals who compose it (pfeffer.
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