CH 7 - Groups and Teamwork Flashcards
What is a group?
A group consists of two or more people interacting
interdependently to achieve a common goal.
Why is group membership important?
Groups exert influence on us.
• Groups provide a context in which we are able to exert influence on others.
Note that groups require a fair amount of negotiation and trial-and-error
before individual members begin to function as a true group.
What are the stages of group development over time?
""LOW"" Forming Storming Norming Performing ""HIGH""
Drops down again
Adjourning
What affects group process and effectiveness?
Group structure: Size Diversity Norms Roles Status Cohesiveness Motivation
Why do larger groups lead to less satisfaction with group membership
Larger groups – less satisfaction with group
membership
Fewer
chances to work on and develop friendships
May
increase conflict and dissension.
Many
are inhibited about participating.
More
difficult to identify with the success and accomplishments of the group
What are the three types of group tasks
Additive tasks
Disjunctive tasks
Conjunctive tasks
Additive tasks
• Group Performance is dependent on the sum of the performance of individual (e.g., tug of war; building a sand bag wall). • For additive tasks, the potential performance of the group increases with group size.
Disjunctive Tasks
• Group performance is dependent on the performance of the best group member (e.g., research team; surgery). • The potential performance of groups doing disjunctive tasks increases with group size.
Conjunctive tasks
• Tasks in which group performance is limited by the performance of the poorest group member (e.g, assembly line; relay race ). • Both the potential and actual performance of conjunctive tasks will decrease as group size increases.
Diversity of Group membership
Communication and cohesiveness
Once developed, can be equally cohesive and productive.
Sometimes perform better when the task requires cognitive, creativity demanding
tasks, and problem-solving.
Negative effects of “surface diversity” in age, gender, or race seem
to wear off over time.
“Deep diversity” in attitudes toward work or how to accomplish a
goal can damage cohesiveness
What is a role?
Positions in a group that have a set of expected behaviours attached to them.
Roles represent “packages” of norms that apply to particular group members.
What are the two basic kinds of roles in an organization
Assigned and Emergent roles
What is Role ambiguity?
exists when the goals of one’s job or the methods of performing it
are unclear.
What is role conflict?
exists when an individual is faced with incompatible role
expectations.
Leads to job dissatisfaction, stress reactions, lowered organizational commitment, and turnover intentions.
How can managers help prevent employees role conflict?
Avoiding self contradictory
messages
Conferring with
other role
senders
Being sensitive
to multiple role
demands
Fitting the right
person to the
right role
What is cohesiveness and it’s consequences on a group?
The degree to which a group is especially attractive to its members.
Members want to stay in the group and they describe the group in favourable terms.
More Participation in Group Activities
• lower voluntary turnover and absenteeism, and greater communication.
More Conformity to group norms
• Can apply pressure to deviants to get them to comply with group
norms.
More Success
• Cohesive groups are good at achieving their goals.
• Group cohesiveness is related to performance.
Less variation in productivity among members
Social loafing
The tendency to withhold physical or intellectual
effort when performing a group task.
Social loafing is a motivation problem.
The tendency for social loafing is probably more
pronounced in individualistic North America than in
more collective and group-oriented cultures.
Social loafing has two different forms.
- Free rider
- Sucker effect (equity)
Ways to counteract social loading
Make individual
performance more visible
•Keep group size small.
Make sure that the
work is interesting
Increase feelings of indispensability •Use training and the status system to provide group members with unique inputs.
Increase performance
feedback
Reward group performance •Members are more likely to monitor and maximize their own performance and that of their colleagues
Types of status and groups
The rank, social position, or prestige accorded to group
members.
It represents the group’s evaluation of a member.
Formal and informal status systems
Most people prefer to communicate with others of similar or
higher status, than with people who are below them. (why??)
If status differences are large, people can be inhibited from
communicating upward.
Higher-status members do more talking and have more
influence.
Virtual teams
Globalization and high-tech communication tools have led to the emergence of a
new type of team.
Virtual teams are work groups that use technology to communicate and
collaborate across time, space, and organizational boundaries.
Along with the reliance on computer and electronic technology, the primary feature
of virtual teams is the lack of face-to-face contact between team members due to
geographic dispersion.
Virtual teams are often cross-functional and the technology they use can be either
asynchronous or synchronous.
Three advantages of virtual teams
Around-the-clock work
Reduced travel time and cost
Larger talent pool
5 Challenges of virtual teams
Trust
Miscommunication Isolation
High costs
Management issues
Lessons concerning virtual teams
A number of lessons have emerged about what managers must do
or keep watch for when developing virtual teams:
Ø Recruitment
Ø Training
Ø Personalization
Ø Goals and ground rules
