CH 7 - Groups and Teamwork

Question 1

What is a group?

Answer 1

A group consists of two or more people interacting

interdependently to achieve a common goal.

Question 2

Why is group membership important?

Answer 2

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.

Question 3

What are the stages of group development over time?

Answer 3

""LOW""
Forming
Storming
Norming
Performing
""HIGH""

Drops down again
Adjourning

Question 4

What affects group process and effectiveness?

Answer 4

Group structure:
Size
Diversity
Norms
Roles
Status
Cohesiveness
Motivation

Question 5

Why do larger groups lead to less satisfaction with group membership

Answer 5

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

Question 6

What are the three types of group tasks

Answer 6

Additive tasks
Disjunctive tasks
Conjunctive tasks

Question 7

Additive tasks

Answer 7

• 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.

Question 8

Disjunctive Tasks

Answer 8

• 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.

Question 9

Conjunctive tasks

Answer 9

• 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.

Question 10

Diversity of Group membership

Answer 10

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

Question 11

What is a role?

Answer 11

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.

Question 12

What are the two basic kinds of roles in an organization

Answer 12

Assigned and Emergent roles

Question 13

What is Role ambiguity?

Answer 13

exists when the goals of one’s job or the methods of performing it
are unclear.

Question 14

What is role conflict?

Answer 14

exists when an individual is faced with incompatible role
expectations.

Leads to job
dissatisfaction,
stress reactions,
lowered
organizational
commitment,
and turnover
intentions.

Question 15

How can managers help prevent employees role conflict?

Answer 15

Avoiding self contradictory
messages

Conferring with
other role
senders

Being sensitive
to multiple role
demands

Fitting the right
person to the
right role

Question 16

What is cohesiveness and it’s consequences on a group?

Answer 16

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

Question 17

Social loafing

Answer 17

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)

Question 18

Ways to counteract social loading

Answer 18

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

Question 19

Types of status and groups

Answer 19

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.

Question 20

Virtual teams

Answer 20

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.

Question 21

Three advantages of virtual teams

Answer 21

Around-the-clock work

Reduced travel time and cost

Larger talent pool

Question 22

5 Challenges of virtual teams

Answer 22

Trust
Miscommunication Isolation
High costs
Management issues

Question 23

Lessons concerning virtual teams

Answer 23

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