Group Processes and Structure

This book integrates what is known about group processes and the structures they produce. It examines the interrelations of processes and structures in the contexts of group development, group stability, orderly change in the group, and disintegration of the group. The processes and structures considered are attraction and consensus; prestige, power, and economic reward distribution; authority, trust, and influence; and justice in the allocation of members to tasks and economic rewards to members. The theory developed is related to conformity, deviance, and social control. Social-psychological theories of individual behavior are used in formulating the integration of processes and structures. Cognitive balance, reinforcement, exchange, and external status theories are used in developing the formulation.