The Homan's Model outlines factors that influence required and emergent group behaviors in organizations. It identifies background factors, personal systems, organizational culture, technology/layout, and reward systems as influencing what is required by the organization versus what emerges from employee interactions and attitudes. These emergent behaviors can impact productivity, satisfaction, and individual growth, and may be positively or negatively influenced by the factors described in the model.

1. The Homan’s Model: Making Sense
of Group Behaviour

2. Background factors
Personal systems
External status
Organisational culture
Technology/ Layout
Reward system
Required system
Activities
Interaction
Attitudes
Emergent
systems
Activities
Interactions
Attitudes
Consequences
Productivity
Satisfaction
Individual growth/
Development
Often causes modification in
Often causes modification in
Lead to
Lead to

3. Two central ideas: What’s ‘required’ by the
organisation and what ‘emerges’
 Required activities e.g. tasks to be done
 Required interactions e.g. who needs to be talked with
e.g. purchasing manager
 Required attitudes e.g. ‘ Quality first’

4. But people are social animals . . . what you
get is rarely what you planned for
 Get behaviour not necessarily congruent with what we
want . . it. . .emerges . . .
 And this emergent system has great influence on group
and organisational performance
 May be positive – or – negative

5. But what connects, and influence what the
‘required’ and the ‘emergent’?
 The ‘Personal system’
 External status
 Organisation culture
 Technology and layout
 Reward system

6. The Personal system
 What individuals bring to the situation
 Age
 Personality
 Attitudes
 Education
 Experience

7. External Status
 The individual’s position or status in other settings e.g.
the profession
 Social, sporting, community
 Higher external social status, higher status accorded by
the group in the organisation
 e.g. representative rugby player

8. Technology and layout
 Technology is a major determinant of behaviour
 Equipment
 Work flows
 Hours worked e.g. shifts
 Interactions
 Timing/pace/flow of work

9. Reward system
 The organisation’s formal reward system infuences what
is required and what emerges
 May be positive or negative
 Pay
 Recogntion

10. The consequences of all this for the
emergent system
 Productivity
 Satisfaction
 Development and growth

11. And so? Consequences? For whom?
 Organisations are social as well as economic entities
 Inhabited by ‘actors’ who have social as well as
economic agendas
 Managers need to understand the social dimensions of
the organisations they manage
 Relationship building and maintenance are crucial to
achieving performance
 All behaviour is purposeful; but it might be directed at
purposes not shared or aligned with the organisation