According to Bain & Co Partners Paul Rogers and Todd Senturia, “we human beings don’t always make good decisions. Our rational judgment is influenced not only by passions and emotions but also by built-in biases such as overconfidence in our own abilities.”
They go on to explain how “one big factor affecting the quality of decisions is whether a decision involves a group. Group dynamics can lead otherwise sensible individuals to make (or agree to) decisions they might not come to on their own.” (Rogers & Senturia, December 2013).
Group norms are the standards that largely govern behavior within a group and all groups have some system of norms that govern behavior. A normless group would be chaotic and anarchic because there would be no boundaries for proper behavior. Once established, norms retain their influence for a substantial period of time. (Parks, 2011)
They go on to explain how “one big factor affecting the quality of decisions is whether a decision involves a group. Group dynamics can lead otherwise sensible individuals to make (or agree to) decisions they might not come to on their own.” (Rogers & Senturia, December 2013).
Group norms are the standards that largely govern behavior within a group and all groups have some system of norms that govern behavior. A normless group would be chaotic and anarchic because there would be no boundaries for proper behavior. Once established, norms retain their influence for a substantial period of time. (Parks, 2011)
group conflict
Conflict is pretty much inevitable when you work with others. People have different viewpoints and under the right set of circumstances, those differences escalate to conflict (Mindtools, 2013).
In the book The Cult Phenomenon, authors offer that “although group cohesion can have positive effects on the life of the group, its intensity can sometimes have a negative impact. Group members' actions and interactions are also shaped by their groups' norms -- consensual standards that describe what behaviors should and should not be performed in a given contact. Some group members may become intransigent with regard to those who demonstrate deviant behaviour. Consequently, the slightest nonconformist behaviour may lead to sanctions” (Kropveld & Pelland, 2006).
In Bain & Company’s February Insights, Partners explain how emotions, biases, and habits – often times elements co-contributors to norms—impact decision-making. We are prisoners of emotions, habits and biases. We choose A rather than B for reasons that we often don’t understand. These pitfalls can ensnare individuals who are making decisions; they can also cause groups to go astray. (Rogers, Carse, & Senturia, February, 2013)
The challenge in groups is that each individual's norms may be different. The use of cooperative learning is mostly suggested to increase group functioning and performance. From the perspective of a classroom setting, Phipps describe cooperative learning as "the ability of individuals to function well as a group -- that is, to have effective group skills. Group skills include such things as setting common goals and norms, understanding leadership roles in educational groups and processing progress in these areas while at the same time working through the conflicts that will arise. Of course, a comprehensive understanding of group dynamics and leadership would be optimal, but some basic knowledge can really help students along." READ MORE
In the book The Cult Phenomenon, authors offer that “although group cohesion can have positive effects on the life of the group, its intensity can sometimes have a negative impact. Group members' actions and interactions are also shaped by their groups' norms -- consensual standards that describe what behaviors should and should not be performed in a given contact. Some group members may become intransigent with regard to those who demonstrate deviant behaviour. Consequently, the slightest nonconformist behaviour may lead to sanctions” (Kropveld & Pelland, 2006).
In Bain & Company’s February Insights, Partners explain how emotions, biases, and habits – often times elements co-contributors to norms—impact decision-making. We are prisoners of emotions, habits and biases. We choose A rather than B for reasons that we often don’t understand. These pitfalls can ensnare individuals who are making decisions; they can also cause groups to go astray. (Rogers, Carse, & Senturia, February, 2013)
The challenge in groups is that each individual's norms may be different. The use of cooperative learning is mostly suggested to increase group functioning and performance. From the perspective of a classroom setting, Phipps describe cooperative learning as "the ability of individuals to function well as a group -- that is, to have effective group skills. Group skills include such things as setting common goals and norms, understanding leadership roles in educational groups and processing progress in these areas while at the same time working through the conflicts that will arise. Of course, a comprehensive understanding of group dynamics and leadership would be optimal, but some basic knowledge can really help students along." READ MORE
science of norms: mathematical representation
The Return Potential Model and Game Theory provide a slightly more economic conceptualization of norms, suggesting individuals can calculate the cost or benefit behind possible behavioral outcomes. Under these theoretical frameworks, choosing to obey or violate norms becomes a more deliberate, quantifiable decision.
The point with the greatest y-coordinate is called the point of maximum return, as it represents the amount of behavior the group likes the best. Label d represents the range of tolerable behavior, or the amount of action the group finds acceptable.
The intensity of the norm tells how much the group cares about the norm, or how much group affect is at stake to be won or lost. It is represented in the Return Potential Model by the total amount of area subsumed by the curve, regardless of whether the area is positive or negative.
A norm gives a person a rule of thumb for how they should behave. However, a rational person only acts according to the rule if it is optimal for them. The situation can be described as follows. A norm gives an expectation of how other people act in a given situation (macro). A person acts optimally given the expectation (micro). For a norm to be stable, people's actions must reconstitute the expectation without change (micro-macro feedback loop). A set of such correct stable expectations is known as a Nash equilibrium. Thus, a stable norm must constitute a Nash equilibrium.
Deviance is defined as "nonconformity to a set of norms that are accepted by a significant number of people in a community or society. More simply put, if group members do not follow a norm, they become labeled as a deviant. In the sociological literature, this can often lead to them being considered outcasts of society. What is considered “normal” is relative to the location of the culture in which the social interaction is taking place." (Wikipedia)
The point with the greatest y-coordinate is called the point of maximum return, as it represents the amount of behavior the group likes the best. Label d represents the range of tolerable behavior, or the amount of action the group finds acceptable.
The intensity of the norm tells how much the group cares about the norm, or how much group affect is at stake to be won or lost. It is represented in the Return Potential Model by the total amount of area subsumed by the curve, regardless of whether the area is positive or negative.
A norm gives a person a rule of thumb for how they should behave. However, a rational person only acts according to the rule if it is optimal for them. The situation can be described as follows. A norm gives an expectation of how other people act in a given situation (macro). A person acts optimally given the expectation (micro). For a norm to be stable, people's actions must reconstitute the expectation without change (micro-macro feedback loop). A set of such correct stable expectations is known as a Nash equilibrium. Thus, a stable norm must constitute a Nash equilibrium.
Deviance is defined as "nonconformity to a set of norms that are accepted by a significant number of people in a community or society. More simply put, if group members do not follow a norm, they become labeled as a deviant. In the sociological literature, this can often lead to them being considered outcasts of society. What is considered “normal” is relative to the location of the culture in which the social interaction is taking place." (Wikipedia)