What are group norms?

This pattern of roses is beautiful. Although it isn’t uniform it follows what could be described as a normative pattern.

Why answering the question “What are group norms” is key to success…

If you read What is a workplace? you know how the psychological space is an important part of your organizations structure.

Knowing is the first step towards being able to make the changes, that resualt in the success you deserve!

Group norms will either be helping or hindering your success

Do you know that the unwritten rules within your business and society could be preventing you getting the results you want?

As a leader and especially as a virtual leader you need to understand what group norms are and be able to apply this knowledge.

Whether or not you are actively aware how group norms affect your teams and organisation, they are there constantly working.

You are likely aware of them. They are part of the culture of your business.

Break through the road blocks…

Have you ever wondered why when implementing new rules for a team can on one occasion feel like a stroll along a beach on a warm sunny day?

Yet on another occasion it feels like you’re swimming against a ferocious current.

Understanding group norms will help answer these questions. Not only will you understand what causes these affects and differences.

Be a group norm whisperer

You might even learn how to teach some old dogs new tricks…

If you can get a handle on group norms you will be able to tell which projects are feasible and how best to implement them.

You will also have insight into which are destined to fail and how that can be overcome.

Ultimately you will be able to perceive where your energy will be spent most effectively.

The first step in answering what are group norms, is to understand what defines a group?

Groups form once there are two or more people working together to reach a common goal.

Cyclists racing in a group. — Although in competition against each other in this image. These cyclists all share a common goal and are working to achieve it using common values.

These two concepts are crucial in group formation. Also how clearly defined you make these will have an impact on how cohesive groups are in your organisation.

A team that sticks together like glue will be highly interdependent with crystal clear clarity as to their purpose.

What are norms?

Norms defined for the purpose of understanding the people in your business and how they work together are as follows:

Expected patterns of behaviour when people interact with one-another. These can be legal, but many are an unwritten social contract one adopts when joining or participating in a group.

White gummy bears in row with single red gummy bear in middle. — Norm violations stand out. Sometimes the change is required but care needs to be taken in resolution.

So you have wider societal cultural norms, norms of certain nations, businesses or even departments or smaller cliques.

Some norms are completely ingrained into us, others seem to come and go. There is also, a subtle but important distinction between a group and a team.

Your teams are more cohesive than general groups. Not only are they more cohesive but becoming a team necesitates more active participation in achieving a shared goal.

Later in this article, it will become apparent why understanding the subtle differences between the two is crucial.

It will affect what you should expect from your colleagues. Furthermore, how you should approach change management.

The tools and methods you should apply will differ depending on the situation.

I’m going to share some of the secrets and psychology of this so you can apply them directly in your business.

First, we will look at how group norms manifest themselves. Learn these and they will lead to you making larger gains when you apply the principles.

After analysing the theory, I will share some examples of how and where these theories can appear in businesses. Following the theoretical we will explore how this impacts businesses on a practical level.

Finally, we will tie everything up with how you can use these principles applying and actively apply them in your business.

Group norms and their relationship to the group

In larger society as well as across societies there are many different groups, both big and small. What is notable, is that between these groups, is that the most prevalent share similar values.

Punishing killing or physical assault and holding value in sharing and reciprocity is an example. These values seem almost inherent in all societies. Although it is important to remember that not all are the same and although there is crossover there are also distinct differences that can sometimes break the pattern.

Chagnon (1992) pointed out that the Yanomano of South America often use violence for example to settle disputes. This is not only accepted but the men are celebrated.

In Eurasia there are the Russian ‘thief in law’. This group have a codified moral standard but that outlines the set of norms they live by.

Groups start as small as your immediate family and end with greater society

Group norms can then be looked at on smaller levels in the norms of smaller, groups, societies, businesses and then friend groups, extended families and finally the immediate family.

Your business will have norms that will both compliment but also sometimes contradict the norms of both your clients and employees. However, most crucial thing to understand when regarding the group is this:

The group desires to punish norms that are not followed.

The following describes this in greater detail

‘norm violations elicit both punitive emotions like anger and outrage, and punitive behaviors like criticism, condemnation, avoidance, exclusion or even physical harm, from most people within a society, and that these attitudes and behaviors are directed at rule violators’
A Framework for the Psychology of Norms, Chandra Sekhar Sripada & Stephen Stich, 2005)

As a leader you have two key things you need to resolve for your team. You have the emotional side that needs to be satiated by a suitable punishment for the violation of the norm.

How group norm violation plays out in the real world

Sometimes in my client work I have come across issues where an employee perceives a norm violation individually. However, this doesn’t fit with the company. Or with C-suite clients when departments feud due to similar misalignment.

In these cases it is not so clear cut as having a simple framework. A lot of this comes up with work done around boundary setting and maintaining a fluid but clear position on it.

Unfortunately, those intricacies are a bit too deep for the scope of this post. However, understanding these roots will help you understand the subconscious expectations. To understand how strong these roots are set the following might surprise you…

People desire to see norm violators punished more than redemption

A study by Haidt and Sabini demonstrated that people would prefer to see somebody humiliated and punished rather than show remorse and go through a period of growth. This does not mean however, that you should be going out now to ensure that all norm violations are punished and punished with immediate effect.

However, it does make these desires an important consideration in your actions. There are often going to be many moving parts in place that you must deal with. Most of which the peoples’ ire that you are attempting to satiate have little, to no understanding of, desire to understand or should be party to that information. Pandora’s box comes to mind…

I personally find the innate desire to punish quite shocking. Even though I see it play out almost on a daily basis. I guess I might have a slightly non normative position to norm violation. Or hold the path to redemption in greater value of others.

Balancing group desires with business needs

Redemption is important because if you do not give somebody an opportunity of an out then unless dismissal is the preferred action you are just bottling up trouble for later.

I have an example of this in a business that I am working in currently that I think might be useful to share these situations can sometimes spiral into larger group problems. Sometimes you do something required within your sphere but in the larger sphere this could potentially cause backlash against yourself.

Utilising someone in or from outside your organisation with experience and understanding in these areas will help you cross the divides and cover the ground unseen.

What are the group norms in your business?

Everything described in this article will help you understand the answer to the question: What are group norms? Understanding is half the challenge. Next you need to implement this in your business.

I will be writing a future article on exercises specific to creating and fostering group norms in your business. I will also write about some specific examples of some challenges that I have worked on with clients.

The group norms perception gap…

Whenever clients want to discuss “culture issues” or group norms, the first thing required is to get a deep understanding of the leadership team is about their norms. I then work to see if this matches their expectations.

It is always interesting the contrast between what management perceive are the business group norms and what the rest of the employees return.

Here’s three questions to get you started:

What are the 3 most valued group norms that you share with greater society
What are the 3 most valued group norms that you share with your clients
What are the 3 most valued group norms that are more unique to your busines

Send me your opinions or questions. If you would like to book any remote consultancy time send a brief email with what you are looking to achieve.

I hope this helped and look forward to speaking again soon.