Social Rationale Quarter
Social Rationale Quarter (hereinafter, the Quarter) is a lecture introducing the learners to social analysis primarily through key topics related to social rationale. The Quarter is the second of four lectures of Social Quadrivium, which is the fifth of seven modules of Septem Artes Administrativi (hereinafter, the Course). The Course is designed to introduce the learners to general concepts in business administration, management, and organizational behavior.
Contents
Outline
Communication Quarter is the predecessor lecture. In the enterprise analysis series, the previous lecture is Human Perceptions Quarter.
Concepts
- Social rationale. A set of reasons or a logical basis for a course of action or a particular belief of a group of people.
- Institutions. Cultural factors that lead many organizations to have similar structures, especially those factors that might not lead to adaptive consequences.
- Group cohesiveness (also known as group cohesion or social cohesion). The extend to which members of a group support and validate one another, attracted and emotionally attached to one another, share the group's goals, and motivated toward the group.
- Norm. An acceptable standard or expectation within a group that is accepted and shared by a group's members.
- Ingroup favorism. Perspective in which one sees members of own ingroup as better than other people, and, often, people not in own group as all the same.
- Group. Two or more interacting and interdependent individuals who come together to achieve particular goals.
- Informal group. A group that is neither formally structured nor organizationally determined; such a group appears in response to the need for social contact.
- Formal group. A designated workgroup defined by an organization's structure.
- Interacting group. A typical group in which members interact with each other face to face.
- Reference group. An important group to which individuals belong or hope to belong and with whose norms individuals are likely to conform.
- Role. A set of expected behavior patterns attributed to someone occupying a given position in a social unit.
- Role ambiguity. When role expectations are not clearly understood.
- Role expectations. How others believe a person should act in a given situation.
- Role overload. Having more work to accomplish than time permits.
- Role perception. An individual's view of how he or she is supposed to act in a given situation.
- Status. A socially defined position or rank given to groups or group members by others.
- Status characteristics theory. A theory that states that differences in status characteristics create status hierarchies within groups.
- Social identity theory. Perspective that considers when and why individuals consider themselves members of groups.
- Outgroup (out-group). (1) Those people who do not belong to a specific ingroup; the inverse of an ingroup, which can mean everyone outside one's group; (2) An identified other group.
- Ingroup (in-group). An exclusive, typically small, group of people with a shared interest or identity.
- Faultiness. The perceived divisions that split groups into two or more subgroups based on individual differences such as sex, race, age, work experience, and education.
- Boundary spanning. When individuals form relationships outside their formally assigned groups.
- Diversity. The extent to which members of a group are similar to, or different from, one another.
- Deep-level diversity. Differences in values, personality, and work preferences that become more important for determining similarity as people get to know each other.
- Discrimination. Noting of a difference between things; often we refer to unfair discrimination, which means making judgments about individuals based on stereotypes regarding their demographic group. Unfair discrimination occurs when someone acts out their prejudicial attitudes toward people who are the targets of their prejudice.
- Surface-level diversity. Differences in easily perceived characteristics, such as gender, race, ethnicity, age, or disability, that do not necessarily reflect the ways people think or feel, but may activate or trigger certain stereotypes.
- Biographical characteristic. A quantifiable personal characteristic such as age, gender, income, education, socioeconomic status, family size, marital status, race, and length of tenure that are objective and easily obtained from personnel records. These characteristics are indicators of surface-level diversity.
- Race. The biological heritage (including skin color and associated traits) that people use to identify themselves.
- Cultural intelligence. Cultural awareness and sensitivity skills.
- Dominant culture. A culture that expresses the core values that are shared by a majority of the organization's members.
- National culture. The values and attitudes shared by individuals from a specific country that shape their behavior and beliefs about what is important.
- Strong culture. A culture in which the core values are intensely held and widely shared.
- Ethnicity. Social traits (such as cultural background or allegiance) that are shaped by a human population.
- Culture attribute. A quality or feature regarded as a characteristic or inherent part of culture.
- Power distance. A national culture attribute that describes the extent to which a society accepts that power in institutions and organizations is distributed unequally.
- Collectivism. A national culture attribute that describes a tight social framework in which people expect others in groups of which they are a part to look after them and protect them.
- Individualism. A national culture attribute that describes the degree to which people prefer to act as individuals rather than as members of groups.
- Long-term orientation. A national culture attribute that emphasizes the future, thrift, and persistence.
- Short-term orientation. A national culture attribute that emphasizes the present and accepts change.
- Masculinity. A national culture attribute that describes the extent to which the culture favors traditional masculine work roles of achievement, power, and control. Societal values are characterized by assertiveness and materialism.
- Femininity. A national culture attribute that indicates little differentiation between male and female roles; a high rating indicates that women are treated as the equals of men in all aspects of the society.
- Uncertainty avoidance. A national culture attribute that describes the extent to which a society feels threatened by uncertain and ambiguous situations and tries to avoid them.
- Preconceived attitude. An attitude that someone has already had about representatives of some group without learning about their actual characteristics.
- Prejudice. A preconceived belief, opinion, or judgment toward a person or a group of people.
- Stereotyping. Judging someone on the basis of a perception of the group to which that person belongs.
- Cultural attitude. An attitude that someone has toward own and other cultures.
- Parochialism. Viewing the world solely through your own perspectives, leading to an inability to recognize differences between people.
- Geocentric attitude. A world-oriented view that focuses on using the best approaches and people from around the globe.
- Ethnocentric attitude. The parochial belief that the best work approaches and practices are those of the home country.
- Polycentric attitude. The view that the managers in the host country know the best work approaches and practices for running their businesses.
- Conflict. (1) Perceived incompatible differences that result in interference or opposition; (2) A process that begins when one party perceives that another party has negatively affected, or is about to negatively affect, something that the first party cares about.
- Traditional view of conflict. The view that all conflict is bad and must be avoided.
- Human relations view of conflict. The view that conflict is a natural and inevitable outcome in any group.
- Interactionist view of conflict. The view that some conflict is necessary for a group to perform effectively.
- Conflict process. A process that has five stages: (1) conflict potential, potential opposition or incompatibility, (2) cognition and personalization, (3) intentions, (4) behavior, and (5) outcomes.
- Conflict potential. Latent qualities or abilities that may be developed and lead to a conflict.
- Dyadic conflict. Conflict that occurs between two people usually on personal grounds.
- Intergroup conflict. Conflict that occurs between different groups or teams.
- Interrole conflict. A situation in which the expectations of an individual's different, separate groups are in opposition.
- Intragroup conflict. Conflict that occurs within a group or team.
- Process conflict. A conflict over how work gets done.
- Relationship conflict. A conflict based on interpersonal relationships.
- Role conflict. A conflict that occurs because of divergent role expectations.
- Task conflict. A conflict over content and goals of the work.
- Conflict personalization. A situation in the conflict process in which one or more parties feel or perceive that the conflict exists. is a perception issue, second step of the Conflict Process.
- Felt conflict. Emotional involvement in a conflict that creates anxiety, tenseness, frustration, or hostility.
- Perceived conflict. Awareness by one or more parties of the existence of conditions that create opportunities for conflict to arise.
- Conflict intention. One's aim, plan, or intention for conflict process and its outcomes.
- Collaborating. A situation in which the parties to a conflict each desire to satisfy fully the concerns of all parties.
- Competing. A desire to satisfy one's interests, regardless of the impact on the other party of the conflict.
- Compromising. A situation in which each party to a conflict is willing to give up something.
- Accommodating. The willingness of one party in a conflict to place the opponent's interests above his or her own.
- Smoothing. Emphasizing areas of agreement rather than areas of difference in order to ease the tensions and de-escalade the conflict in order to decrease it in extent, volume, or scope.
- Avoiding. The desire to withdraw from or suppress a conflict.
- Conflict outcome. An outcome from a conflict process.
- Functional conflict. A conflict that supports the goals of the group and improves its performance.
- Dysfunctional conflict. A conflict that prevents a group from achieving its goals.
- Conflict management. Handling a conflict.
- Conflict resolution. Conflict management intended to resolve the conflict.
- Conflict stimulation. Conflict management intended to create new conflicts or intensify the existing ones.
- Emotional intelligence. The ability to detect and to manage emotional cues and information.
- Emotional dissonance. Inconsistencies between the emotions people feel and the emotions they project.
- Surface acting. Hiding one's inner feelings and forgoing emotional expressions in response to display rules.
- Deep acting. Trying to modify one's true inner feelings based on display rules.
- Mindfulness. Objectively and deliberately evaluating the emotional situation in the moment.
Roles
- Third party. An individual or group besides the two "parties" primarily involved in a situation, especially a dispute.
- Arbitrator. A third party to a negotiation who has the authority to dictate an agreement.
- Conciliator. A trusted third party who provides an informal communication link between the negotiator and the opponent.
- Mediator. A neutral third party who facilitates a negotiated solution by using reasoning, persuasion, and suggestions for alternatives.
- Social service provider. The government, private, and non-profit organization that is engaged in creating more effective organizations, building stronger communities, and promoting equality and opportunity.
Methods
- Change support analysis. An evaluation of the stakeholder support of the and, vice versa, the resistance to this change.
- Restraining force. A force that hinders movement from the existing equilibrium (Kurt Lewin).
- Driving force. A force that directs behavior away from status quo (Kurt Lewin).
- Conflict-resolution strategy. A policy behind a conflict-resolution technique to be chosen in order to resolve the conflict.
- Withdraw and avoid. The conflict-resolution strategy behind conflict-resolution techniques such as avoidance techniques that involve retreating from an actual or potential conflict situation; postponing the issue to be better prepared, to be resolved by others, and/or to fade with time.
- Smooth, de-escalade or accommodate. The conflict-resolution strategy behind conflict-resolution techniques that involve (a) emphasizing areas of agreement rather than areas of difference, (b) decreasing the conflict in extent, volume, or scope, and/or (c) conceding one's position to the needs of others to maintain harmony and relationships.
- Compromise and reconcile. The conflict-resolution strategy behind conflict-resolution techniques that involve searching for solutions that bring some degree of satisfaction to all parties in order to temporarily or partially resolve the conflict.
- Force and direct. The conflict-resolution strategy behind conflict-resolution techniques that involve pushing one's viewpoint at the expense of others; offering only win-lose solutions, usually enforced through a power position to resolve an emergency.
- Collaborate and problem solve. The conflict-resolution strategy behind conflict-resolution techniques that involve incorporating multiple viewpoints and insights from differing perspectives; requires a cooperative attitude and open dialogue that typically leads to consensus and commitment.
- Means, motive, and opportunity. A common summation of the three aspects of an action; legally, that summation must be established before guilt can possibly be determined in a criminal proceeding.
- Avoidance technique. An established way of avoiding an action, blame, change, and/or decision.
Avoidance technique Action-avoidance technique - Overconforming (over-conforming). An action-avoidance technique based on the practice of strict and even notorious following the rules and regulations.
- Buck passing (or passing the buck). An action-avoidance technique based on the practice of shifting or transferring the responsibility for the execution of a task or decision to someone else, as well as the act of attributing to another person or group, one's own responsibility. It is often used to refer to a strategy in power politics whereby a state tries to get another state to deter or possibly fight an aggressor state while it remains on the sidelines.
- Playing dumb. An action-avoidance technique based on the practice of avoiding the execution of an unwanted task or decision by falsely pleading ignorance and/or inability.
- Stretching. (1) A physical exercise to deliberately stretch a specific muscle or muscle group in order to check and/or improve the muscle's functionality; (2) An action-avoidance technique based on the practice of prolonging the execution of a task and/or decision so that one person appears to be occupied; (3) A method to increase value of one's work through extending its length. For instance, a 4-month job would be valued more than a two-week task, so turning a two-week task into a 4-month job typically increases its value.
- Stalling (stalling tactic). An action-avoidance technique based on the practice of doing something different from executing a target task intentionally in order to delay taking action or prevent someone from executing the target task for a period of time. Meaningless activity may also help one to appear more or less supportive publicly while doing little or nothing privately.
Blame-avoidance technique - Buffing. A blame-avoidance technique based on the practice of rigorously documenting activity to project an image of competence and thoroughness.
- Playing safe. A blame-avoidance technique based on the practice of evading situations that may reflect unfavorably. It includes taking on only projects with a high probability of success, having risky decisions approved by superiors, qualifying expressions of judgment, and taking neutral positions in conflicts.
- Justifying. A blame-avoidance technique based on the practice of developing explanations that lessen one's responsibility for a negative outcome and/or apologizing to demonstrate remorse, or both.
- Scapegoating. A blame-avoidance technique based on the practice of placing the blame for a negative outcome on external factors that are not entirely blameworthy.
- Misrepresenting. A blame-avoidance technique based on the practice of manipulation of information by distortion, embellishment, deception, selective presentation, or obfuscation.
Change-avoidance technique - Prevention. A change-avoidance technique based on the practice of trying to prevent a threatening change from occurring.
- Self-protection. A change-avoidance technique based on the practice of acting in ways to protect one's self-interest during change by guarding information or other resources.
Decision-avoidance technique - Pause. A decision-avoidance technique based on the practice of
- Additional information request. A decision-avoidance technique based on the practice of
- Additional consideration request.
- Additional approval request. A decision-avoidance technique based on the practice of
- Future consideration promise. A decision-avoidance technique based on the practice of
- Partial agreement. A decision-avoidance technique based on the practice of
- Understanding expression. A decision-avoidance technique based on the practice of
- Conflict-management technique. An established procedure, either a conflict-resolution or conflict-stimulation technique, for conflict management.
Purpose Category Conflict-management technique Resolution technique Withdraw and avoid - Conflict avoidance. Withdrawal from or suppression of the conflict.
Smooth, de-escalade or accommodate - Smoothing. Playing down differences while emphasizing common interests and areas of agreement between the conflicting parties.
- De-escalating. Decreasing the conflict in extent, volume, or scope especially through smoothing.
- Accommodating. Conceding one's position to the needs of others to maintain harmony and relationships.
- Conflict crashing. Expansion of the resources can create a win-win solution especially when a conflict is caused by the scarcity of a resource (for example, money, promotion, opportunities, office space, etc.).
Compromise and reconcile - Compromise. Each party to the conflict gives up something of value.
- Engaging a third party.
- Distributive bargaining.
- Engaging a conciliator.
Force and direct - Authoritative conflict-resolution. In a formal setting, an authority may use its powers to resolve the conflict and then communicate its desires to the parties involved.
- Engaging an arbitrator.
Collaborate and problem solve - Problem solving. Face-to-face meeting of the conflicting parties for the purpose of identifying the problem and resolving it through open discussion.
- Integrative bargaining.
- Engaging a mediator.
- Superordinate goal setting. Creating a shared goal that cannot be attained without the cooperation of each of the conflicting parties.
- Improving the human variables. Using behavioral change techniques such as human relations training to alter attitudes and behaviors that cause conflict.
- Improving the structural variables. Changing the formal organization structure and the interaction patterns of conflicting parties through job redesign, transfers, creation of coordinating positions, and the like.
Conflict-stimulation technique - Provocative communication. Using ambiguous or threatening messages to increase conflict levels.
- Bringing in outsiders. Adding employees to a group whose backgrounds, values, attitudes, or managerial styles differ from those of present members.
- Stressing the structure. Realigning workgroups, altering rules and regulations, increasing interdependence, and making similar structural changes to disrupt the status quo.
- Appointing a devil's advocate. Designating a critic to purposely argue against the majority positions held by the group.
- Conflict-resolution technique. An established way of resolving the conflict.
- Conflict-stimulation technique. An established way of stimulating the conflict.
Instruments
- Group development. A model that describes the process of developing a group.
- Forming stage. The first stage of group development in which people join the group and then define the group's purpose, structure, and leadership.
- Storming stage. The second stage of group development, characterized by intragroup conflict.
- Norming stage. The third stage of group development, characterized by close relationships and cohesiveness.
- Performing stage. The fourth stage of group development when the group is fully functional and works on group task.
- Adjourning stage. The fifth stage of group development for temporary groups during which group members are concerned with wrapping up activities rather than task performance.
- Punctuated-equilibrium model. A set of phases that temporary groups go through that involves transitions between inertia and activity.
- Punctuated equilibrium. The hypothesis that evolutionary development is marked by isolated episodes of rapid speciation between long periods of little or no change.
Practices
- Three sciences contribute to studies of social rationale:
- Social psychology. An area of psychology that blends concepts from psychology and sociology to focus on the influence of people on one other.
- Sociology. The study of people in relation to their social environment and culture.
- Anthropology. The study of societies to learn about human beings and their activities.
- GLOBE project (Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness project) is the research project that studies cross-cultural leadership behaviors.
User Experience Quarter is the successor lecture. In the enterprise analysis series, the next lecture is Regulatory Сompliance Quarter.
