ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the patterns of interaction in some of the main kinds of small group. A great deal of social interaction takes place in small social groups. Most research on small social groups has so far been at a less detailed and concrete level of analysis than the work on dyads. The emergence of a leadership hierarchy is characteristic of human groups too, but there are other kinds of role-differentiation as well. The hierarchical structure of groups can be analysed in terms of status differences. The affective structure develops greater or lesser degrees of cohesiveness; there may be varying degrees of consensus about the status hierarchy; there may be various amounts of conformity to norms about matters of central importance to the group. The behaviour of work-groups is thus a joint product of task-related and purely social motivation, and consists of extra social interaction superimposed on the formal interaction necessary for the job.
