group norms

Acceptable behaviour within a group. Research by Australian-born psychologist Elton Mayo found that group norms are strong enough to override individual behaviour or externally imposed norms.

The bank wiring observation room was one of a series of studies conducted by Mayo at the Western Electric Plant at Hawthorne, Chicago, in the 1940s. He discovered that groups of individuals in the workplace collectively develop spoken or unspoken rules that govern group behaviour. Individuals who do not conform to the group norms are termed deviants and are likely to be ostracized. For example, the introduction of a worker who works harder than the accepted group norm level of activity, for example, is likely to demotivate the group and be unpopular.