Organizations are
populated with different individuals and personalities
holding differing attitudes, values, and perspectives.
Individuals likely do not share the goals of the
organization or emphasize personal objectives above those of
the organization. What is the "social glue" that integrates
individuals into a cohesive, functioning, collaborative
enterprise?
Norms and Organizational Culture
What would happen if:
-
A student stood up right
now in class and sang the "Start Spangle Banner?"
-
I walked into the
classroom and for 30 minutes said and did absolutely
nothing?.
-
At the grocery store
check out counter you pushed your cart to the head of a long
line to get out faster?
-
Talking to someone you
do not know, the person positioned himself right in your
face?
Why?
Norm - a shared
expectation or belief about behavior; as customs norms are
typically not written or stated, but assumed. Important
norms are called mores.
One doesn't normally
just sing the National Anthem in class. Professors are
expected to do something. We don't cut lines. We respect
another's distance in conversations. And, when these
expectations are violated by someone else, we respond,
usually with punitive action to re-establish the expected
"social order." Our behavior is governed by social norms.
Sharif (1936) group norm
experiment: Sharif flashed a stationary point of light on a
screen. An autokinetic effect causes the stationary light
point to seem as if it moved. Subjects were asked to plot
the light's movement and, then, were asked to join a group
and plot the light's movement as a group. Although each
individually had a personal estimate, over time individuals
in a group reached agreement on movement (often different
from their own estimates) for a light point that did not
move.
Time
Permitting: Break into groups and answer these
questions:
- Are norms useful?
- Can you think of norms that
persist even when they are dysfunctional?
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Norms function to reduce
uncertainty in social situations as to how to behave and
have an integrating effect on individuals to produce
collaboration.
