04 Team Dynamics Flashcards
3 concepts underlying the importance of groups
- information age
- more educated and trained workers
- rate of change in work activities
4 criteria to be considered a group
- see themselves as a unit
- provide rewards to members
- actions of one affect the other
- share a common goal
The minimum number of people to be considered a unit
2
This refers to a group of people geographically close but does not meet the criteria for being a group
aggregate
8 common reasons for joining groups
- assignment
- physical proximity
- affiliation
- identification
- emotional support
- assistance
- common interests
- common goal
5 social skills involved in groups
- gain group acceptance
- increase solidarity
- be aware of group consciousness
- share group identification
- manage others’ impressions
2 primary factors affecting group performance
- group homogeneity
- group cohesiveness
This refers to the extent to which members are similar
group homogeneity
This refers to the extent to which members like and trust one another
group cohesiveness
Groups are said to be homogenous when (blank)
when they contain members who are similar in most ways
Groups with members who are more different than alike are called (blank)
heteregenous groups
Groups are said to be cohesive when (blank)
when they are committed to accomplishing a common goal and share a feeling of group pride
3 positive outcomes of homogeneous groups
- higher member satisfaction
- higher levels of communication
- lower turnover
3 positive outcomes of cohesive groups
- higher productivity levels
- higher member interaction
- higher member satisfaction
Too much cohesiveness leads to (blank)
lower group performance, as they often lose sight of organizational goals
This refers to the notion that the greater team cohesiveness, the greater the conformity of the members to team norms
rule of conformity
5 other factors affecting group performance
- stability
- isolation
- outside pressure
- group status
- group ability and confidence
True or False
Isolated groups tend to be less cohesive
false
isolated groups tend to be highly cohesive
True or False
Group status inversely affects group cohesion
false
increasing group status increases group cohesion
True or False
Groups facing external pressure tend to become highly cohesive
true
True or False
Groups with high-ability members outperform those with low-ability members
true
True or False
Groups whose members remain for long periods of time and have previously worked together perform better
stability
This refers to groups existing primarily for the benefit of their members without being officially designated by the org
informal groups
How are informal groups formed?
spontaneously, through personal relationships and special interests
2 types of informal groups
- friendship groups
- interest groups
This is a tool used to identify informal groups and networks active in an org
social network analysis
Main benefit of social network analysis
speeds up workflow due to connections that cut across formal structures
This refers to groups officially designated to serve specific organizational purposes
formal groups
True or False
Formal groups are permanent
false
they may be permanent or temporary
3 types of formal groups
- cross-functional (parallel) teams
- virtual teams
- self-managing teams
This formal group type consists of members representing different functional departments or work units
cross-functional or parallel teams
This problem occurs when members of functional units focus only on their internal function matters and minimize their interactions with other members from other functions
functional silos problem
These teams are established to deal with specific problems or opportunities
problem-solving teams
These teams examine important workplace issues
employee involvement teams
These refer to small teams discussing and developing solutions to problems related to quality and productivity
quality circles
This formal group type have members convene and work together electronically
virtual teams
3 main advantages of virtual teams
- cost-effective
- focused task-accomplishment and decision-making
- reduced emotional consideration
Main disadvantage of virtual teams
lack of personal contact that could impair work relationship and productivity
This formal group type are small teams empowered to make daily decisions
self-managing teams
Self-managing teams are a form of (blank)
job enrichment
5 main advantages of formal groups
- improved quality and productivity
- production flexibility
- quicker response to technological chanes
- reduced absenteeism and turnover
- improve work attitudes and quality of work life
3 main disadvantages of self-managing teams
- eliminates the need for first-line supervisors
- managers need to learn to deal with teams
- displaced supervisors may feel threatened
This refers to groups of people with complementary skills brought together to achieve a common purpose
teams
Teams hold themselves (blank) for their common purpose
collectively accountable
3 components of the Open Systems Model of Team Effectiveness
- inputs
- thoughtputs
- outputs
4 main advantages of teams
- make better decisions
- develop better products/services
- better information sharing
- higher employee motivation and engagement
4 main disadvantages of teams
- individuals sometimes work better/faster alone
- process losses
- Brook’s Law
- social loafing
This problem refers to resources being expended towards team development and maintenance rather than the tasks
process losses
This problem refers to team performance suffering when more members are added
Brook’s Law
This problem occurs when people exert less effort when working with teams
social loafing
A team is said to be effective when it achieves high levels in these 3 factors
- task performance
- member satisfaction
- team viability
This refers to members attaining performance goals
task performance
This refers to members believing that their participation and experiences are positive and meet personal needs
member satisfaction
This refers to members being sufficiently satisfied to continue working together
team viability
This occurs when team members accept their collective responsibility to use their skills to actively work together to achieve goals
teamwork
This refers to the creation of a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts
synergy
This refers to individual behavior being influenced by other people in a group or social setting
social facilitation theory
The positive result of social facilitation theory
extra effort when the person has the skills required for the task
The negative result of social facilitation theory
increase in social loafing and withdrawal from the group
5 common team challenges
- social loafing
- personality conflicts
- uncertain/competing goals
- poorly defined agendas
- perceptions that the team lacks progress
Who first studied social loafing?
Max Ringleman
4 possible reasons for social loafing
- individual contributions are less noticeable
- free riding
- the sucker effect
- felt dispensability
This refers to the desire to benefit from the efforts of others
free riding
Free riding is likely to occur when members believe that (blank)
their own contributions cannot be identified
This refers to members reducing their effort to match the low level they expect from others
the sucker effect
This refers to members feeling dispensable when more able team members are available or when they believe their efforts are redundant
felt dispensability
How to minimize social loafing?
make individual performance more visible
True or False
Smaller teams are better
true
2 reasons why smaller teams are better
- less time needed to coordinate roles and resolve differences
- less time needed to develop member involvement, thus higher commitment
Effective team members possess these 5 specific competencies
- cooperating
- coordinating
- conflict resolving
- comforting
- communicating
3 advantages of a diverse team composition
- better for creatively solving complex problems
- broader knowledge base
- better representation of team’s constituents
3 disadvantages of a diverse team composition
- requires more time to be a high-performing team
- more susceptible to faultlines
- increased risk of dysfunctional conflict
5 stages of team development according to Bruce Tuckman
- forming
- storming
- norming
- performing
- adjourning
True or False
Bruce Tuckman’s stages of team development is unidirectional
false
teams may regress to earlier stages
[Tuckman’s Stages of Team Development]
This stage is a period of testing and orienting members
forming stage
[Tuckman’s Stages of Team Development]
This stage is a period of high emotionality and tension marked by interpersonal conflicts
storming stage
[Tuckman’s Stages of Team Development]
What are the 2 reasons why conflicts arise in the storming stage?
- members become more proactive
- members compete for team roles
[Tuckman’s Stages of Team Development]
This stage is where members come together as a coordinated unit as roles are established and a common team-based model is formed
norming stage
[Tuckman’s Stages of Team Development]
This stage is where members learn to efficiently coordinate and resolve conflicts
performing stage
[Tuckman’s Stages of Team Development]
This stage occurs when the team is about to disband and members shift their attention away from task to relationship orientation
adjourning stage
This is a process consisting of formal activities intended to improve the development and functioning of a work team
teambuilding
Teambuilding begins with a (blank)
sound diagnosis of the team’s health
This refers to informal rules and shared expectations established by teams to regulate member behaviors
team norms
This conveys expectations about how hard team members should work and what the team should accomplish
performance norms
3 ways how norms develop
- initial team experiences
- critical events in team’s history
- experience/values members bring to the team
5 types of team norms
- ethics norms
- organizational and personal pride norms
- high-achievement norms
- support and helpfulness norms
- improvement and change norms
5 ways to prevent/change dysfunctional team norms
- state desired norms at the forming stage
- select members with preferred values
- discuss counterproductive norms
- reward behaviors representing desired norms
- disband teams with dysfunctional norms
4 constraints to team decision making
- time constraints
- evaluation apprehension
- peer pressure to conform
- groupthink
This refers to the tendency of cohesive group members to lose critical evaluative capabilities
groupthink
Why does groupthink occur?
members seek conformity and become unwilling to criticize each other’s ideas and suggestions
8 symptoms of teams displaying groupthink
- illusions of invulnerability
- rationalizing unpleasant and discomforting data
- belief in an inherent group morality
- stereotyping competitors negatively
- pressuring deviants to conform to group wishes
- self-censorship by members
- illusions of unanimity
- mind guarding
This refers to people focusing discussions on the issue while maintaining respect for other people’s opinions
constructive conflict
One main problem with constructive conflict
easily slides into personal attacks
This refers to a meeting where members speak freely, generate ideas, and build on the ideas of others
brainstorming
This is a variation of brainstorming that involves structured rules for generating and prioritizing ideas
nominal group technique
When is it ideal to use nominal group technique?
when the team is large that open discussion and brainstorming is awkward to manage
3 stages of nominal group technique
- participants silently and independently document their ideas
- they collectively describe these ideas to other team members
- they silently and independently evaluate the ideas presented
This is another variation of brainstorming for when members are unable to meet face-to-face
delphi technique
The delphi technique involves generating decision-making alternatives through (blank)
a series of survey questionnaires
