Book: Small Group Communication: Forming & Sustaining Teams 

Linabary, J.R. (Ed.). (2021). Small group communication: Forming and sustaining teams. Pressbooks. https://pressbooks.pub/smallgroup/

Establishing and Maintaining Group Norms

Brilhart and Galanes (1998) divide norms into two categories. General norms “direct the behavior of the group as a whole” (130). Meeting times, how meetings run, and the division of tasks are all examples of general norms that groups form and maintain. These norms establish the generally accepted rules of behavior for all group members. The second category of norms is role-specific norms. Role-specific norms “concern individual members with particular roles, such as the designated leader” (130). 

CHARACTERISTICS OF GROUP NORMS

A work group norm

According to Hackman (1996), workgroup norms may be characterized by at least five factors:

1. Norms summarize and simplify group influence processes. They denote the processes by which groups regulate and regularize member behavior.
2. Norms apply only to behavior, not to private thoughts and feelings. Although norms may be based on thoughts and feelings, they cannot govern them. That is, private acceptance of group norms is unnecessary—only public compliance is needed.
3. Norms are generally developed only for behaviors that are viewed as important by most group members.
4. Norms usually develop gradually, but the process can be quickened if members wish. Norms usually are developed by group members as the need arises, such as when a situation occurs that requires new ground rules for members to protect group integrity.
5. All norms do not apply to all members. Some norms, for example, apply only to young initiates (such as getting the coffee), whereas others are based on seniority, sex, race, or economic class.

FUNCTIONS OF GROUP NORMS

In general, workgroup norms serve four functions in organizational settings (Feldman, 1984):

1. Norms facilitate group survival. When a group is under threat, norms provide a basis for ensuring goal-directed behavior and rejecting deviant behavior that is not purposeful to the group. This is essentially a “circle the wagons” phenomenon.
2. Norms simplify expected behaviors. Norms tell group members what is expected of them—what is acceptable and unacceptable—and allow members to anticipate the behaviors of their fellow group members and to anticipate the positive or negative consequences of their own behavior.
3. Norms help avoid embarrassing situations. By identifying acceptable and unacceptable behaviors, norms tell group members when a behavior or topic is damaging to another member. For example, a norm against swearing signals group members that such action would be hurtful to someone in the group and should be avoided.
4. Norms help identify the group and express its central values to others. Norms concerning clothes, language, mannerisms, and so forth help tell others who belongs to the group and, in some cases, what the group stands for. Norms often serve as rallying points for group members.

REFERENCES

• Ahuja, M. K., & Galvin, J. E. (2003). Socialization in virtual groups. Journal of Management 29(2), 161-185.
• Brilhart, J., & Galanes, G. (1998). Group discussion. McGraw-Hill.
• Ellis, D. G., & Fisher, B. A. (1994). Small group decision making: Communication and the group process, (4th ed.). McGraw-Hill.
• Feldman, D. (1984). The development and enforcement of group norms. Academy of Management Review, 9(1), 47–53.
• Hackman, J. (1996). Group influences on individuals. In M. D. Dunnette (Ed.), Handbook of Industrial and Organizational Psychology (2^nd Edition). Nicholas Brealey Publishing.
• Hargie, O. (2011). Skilled interpersonal interaction: Research, theory, and practice (5th ed.). Routledge.

AUTHORS & ATTRIBUTION

The introduction to “Definition of Norms” in this chapter is adapted from Chapter 10 “Groups Communication” from Survey of Communication Study by Laura K. Hawn and Scott T. Paynton. This content is available under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.

The sections “Characteristics of Group Norms” and “Functions of Group Norms” in this chapter were adapted from Black, J.S., & Bright, D.S. (2019). Organizational behavior. OpenStax. https://openstax.org/books/organizational-behavior/. Access the full chapter for free here. The content is available under a Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 license.

The sections “Socializing Group Members” and “Pressure to Conform” are adapted from “Small Group Dynamics” in the book Communication in the Real World from the University of Minnesota. The book is adapted from a work produced and distributed under a Creative Commons license (CC BY-NC-SA) by a publisher who has requested that they and the original author not receive attribution. This work is made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.