Chapter 7: Groups & Teamwork Flashcards
What is a group?
A group consists of two or more people interacting interdependently to achieve a common goal
The most basic aspect of a group
Interaction
Interdependence
Interdependence
simply means that group members rely to some degree on each other to accomplish goals.
Why are group memberships important?
First, groups exert a tremendous
influence on us.
Second, Group membership is also important because groups provide
a context in which we are able to exert influence on others .
Formal work groups
Groups that are
established by organizations
to facilitate the achievement
of organizational goals.
Examples of temporary groups
Task forces and project teams are temporary groups that meet to achieve particular goals or to
solve particular problems, such as suggesting productivity improvements.
Permanent groups that handle recurrent assignments outside the usual work group structures
Committees
Informal Groups
Informal groups are groups that emerge naturally
in response to the common interests of organizational members.
5 Stages of Group Development
- Forming
- Storming
- Norming
- Performing
- Adjourning
Forming
Testing the waters, determining their purpose and how others does it.
Storming
Time where conflict emerges; confrontation and criticism. Sorting out roles and responsibilities is a big issue
Norming
members resolve the issues that provoked the storming, and they
develop social consensus. Compromise is often necessary.
Performing
the group devotes its energies toward
task accomplishment.
Adjourning
Some groups, such as task forces and design project teams, have a definite
lifespan and disperse after achieving their goals. Also, some groups disperse when corporate
layoffs and downsizing occur.
Punctuated Equilibrium Model
A model of group
development that describes
how groups with deadlines
are affected by their first
meetings and crucial
midpoint transitions.
Phase 1 - Punctuated Equilibrium
Phase 1 begins with the first meeting and continues until the midpoint in the
group’s existence. The very first meeting is critical in setting the agenda for what will happen
in the remainder of this phase.
Midpoint Transition - Punctuated Equilibrium
The midpoint transition occurs at almost exactly the halfway
point in time toward the group’s deadline. For instance, if the group has a two-month deadline,
the transition will occur at about one month. The transition marks a change in the
group’s approach, and how the group manages the change is critical for the group to show
progress.
Phase 2 - Punctuated Equlibrium
For better or for worse, decisions and approaches adopted at the midpoint get
played out in Phase 2. It concludes with a final meeting that reveals a burst of activity and a
concern for how outsiders will evaluate the product.
Group Structure
Group structure refers to the characteristics of the stable social organization of a group—the
way a group is “put together.”
Most work groups, including
task forces and committees, usually have between…
3-20 members
Members of larger groups rather consistently report less satisfaction
with group membership than those who find themselves in smaller groups, why?
1) as opportunities for friendship increase, the chance to work
on and develop these opportunities might decrease owing to the sheer time and energy
required.
2) Moreover, in incorporating more members with different viewpoints, larger
groups can prompt conf lict and dissension.
3) Time avalaible for verbal participation by each member decreases
4) Individual members identify less easily about their impacts
Additive Tasks
Tasks in
which group performance
is dependent on the sum
of the performance of
individual group members.
Disjunctive Tasks
Tasks
in which group performance
is dependent on the
performance of the best
group member.
Process Lossess
Group
performance difficulties
stemming from the
problems of motivating and
coordinating larger groups.
Conjunctive Tasks
Tasks
in which group performance
is limited by the
performance of the poorest
group member.
Actual performance = …
Potential Performance - Process Lossess
Diverse groups tend to take longer to do…
The group’s forming, storming, and norming process
Diverse groupds tend to perform better on certain tasks, such as…
Team creativity and innovation
For a group, age diversity has…
is unrelated to group performance
For a group, racial and gender diversity have…
small negative effects
What kind of diversity that can badly damage a group’s cohesiveness
“deep diversity” in attitudes toward work or how to accomplish
a goal can badly damage cohesiveness
When organizations value and manage diversity, it…
offsets some
of the initial process loss costs of diversity and capitalizes on the demonstrated benefits of
a positive diversity climate for group attitudes and performance.
A way to manage diversity..
provide employees with training on working in diverse settings.
Norms
Collective
expectations that members
of social units have
regarding the behaviour of
each other.
Most important function of a norm:
to provide regularity and predictability to behaviour.
How do norms develop?
When the members of a group share related beliefs and values, we can expect them to share
consequent attitudes. These shared attitudes then form the basis for norms.
Three types of typical norms…
- Dress Norms
- Reward Allocation Norms
- Performance Norms
Equity
reward according to inputs, such as effort, performance, or seniority.
Equality
reward everyone equally.
Reciprocity
reward people the way they reward you.
Social Responsibility
reward those who truly need the reward.
Roles
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
2 Kinds of Roles
Designated and Assigned roles
Emergent roles
Roles that develop naturally to meet the social-emotional needs of group members or to assist in formal job accomplishment (i.e., class clowns)
Role Ambiguity
Role ambiguity exists when the goals of one’s job or the methods of
performing it are unclear. Ambiguity might be characterized by confusion about how performance
is evaluated, how good performance can be achieved, or what the limits of one’s
authority and responsibility are.
3 elements that can lead to role ambiguity…
- Organizational factors
Some roles seem inherently ambiguous because of their function
in the organization. - The role sender
Role senders might have unclear expectations of a focal person. Even
when the sender has specific role expectations, they might be ineffectively sent to
the focal person. - The focal person
Even role expectations that are clearly developed and sent might
not be fully digested by focal persons.
Consequences of role ambiguity
job stress, dissatisfaction, reduced organizational commitment, lowered performance,
and intentions to quit
Role Conflict
Role conflict exists when an individual is faced with incompatible
role expectations. Conf lict can be distinguished from ambiguity in that role expectations
might be crystal clear but incompatible in the sense that they are mutually exclusive, cannot
be fulfilled simultaneously, or do not suit the role occupant.
Intrasender role conflict
A single
role sender provides
incompatible role
expectations to a role
occupant.
Intersender role conflict
Two or more
role senders provide a role
occupant with incompatible
expectations.
Interrole Conflict
Several
roles held by a role
occupant involve
incompatible expectations.
Person-role conflict
Role demands
call for behaviour that
is incompatible with the
personality or skills of a role
occupant. (i.e., whistleblower)
Status
Status is the rank or social position accorded to group members in terms of prominence,
prestige, and respect
Formal Status Systems
The formal status system represents management’s attempt to publicly identify
those people who have higher status than others. This identification is implemented by
the application of status symbols that are tangible indicators of status. Status symbols might
include titles, particular working relationships, pay packages, work schedules, and the physical
working environment.
What are the MAIN criteria to achieve formal organizational status?
One criterion is often seniority in one’s work group
Informal Status Systems
Often, job performance is a basis for the acquisition of informal
status.
The “power hitters” on a baseball team or the “cool heads” in a hospital emergency
unit might be evaluated highly by co-workers.
Consequences of Status Differences
Most people like to communicate with others at their
own status or higher rather than with people who are below them.37 The result should be a
tendency for communication to move up the status hierarchy.
Group Cohesiveness
Group cohesiveness is a critical emergent property of groups. Cohesive groups are those that
are especially attractive to their members. Because of this attractiveness, members are especially
desirous of staying in the group and tend to describe the group in favourable terms.
Factors Influencing Group Cohesiveness
1) Threat and Competition
External threat to the survival of the group increases cohesiveness in a wide variety of situations (useless under extreme threat)
2) Success
A group becomes more attractive to its members when it has successfully
accomplished some important goal, such as defending itself against threat or winning a
prize
3) Member Diversity
4) Group Size
Bigger group have a more difficult time becoming and staying cohesive
5) Toughness of Initiation
Groups that are tough to get into should be more attractive than those that are easy to join
Consequences of Group Cohesiveness
1) More participation in group activities
2) More conformity
3) More Success
To the extent that work groups have productivity norms, more cohesive groups should be..
able to enforce them
Social Loafing
The
tendency to withhold
physical or intellectual effort
when performing a group
task.
Ways to counteract social loafing…
1) Make individual performance more visible
2) Make sure that the work is interesting
3) Increase feelings of indispensability
4) Increase performance feedback
5) Reward group performance
According to J. Richard Hackman, a work group is effective when…
1) Its output is acceptable to management and other users
2) Group members needs are satisfied by the group
3) The group experience enables members to continue to work together
Basic Qualities of Effective Work Team
1) Psychological Safety
2) Team Reflexivity
3) Shared Mental Models
4) Capacity to Improvise
5) Collective Efficacy
6) Team Resilience
Psychological Safety
A
shared belief that it is safe
to take social risks.
Team Reflexivity
The
extent to which teams
deliberately discuss team
processes and goals and
adapt their behaviour
accordingly.
Shared Mental Models
Team members share similar information about how they should interact and what their task is
Collective efficacy
Shared beliefs
that a team can successfully
perform a given task.
Team Resilience
A team’s
capacity to bounce back
from setbacks or adversity
Self-Managed Work Teams
Work groups that
have the opportunity to do
challenging work under
reduced supervision.
3 Critical Factors to the success of self-managed teams are…
1) Nature of task
2) Composition of the group
3) Support mechanisms in place
Tasks for self-managed teams
Experts agree that tasks assigned to self- managed work teams should be complex and challenging, requiring high interdependence among team members for accomplishment.
These tasks should have the qualities of enriched jobs
Composition of Self-Managed Teams
- Stability (stable group membership)
- Size (as small as possible)
- Expertise (High level)
- Diversity (similar and diverse enough)
Supporting Self-Managed Teams
1) Training
- Technical Training
- Social Skills
- Language Skills
- Business Training
2) Rewards
Tie rewards to team accomplishment rather than individual accomplishment
3) Management
the most effective managers
in a self-management environment encouraged groups to observe, evaluate, and reinforce their own task behaviour.
Cross-Functional Teams
Work groups that
bring people with different
functional specialties
together to better invent,
design, or deliver a product
or service.
If the task is complex and unique, cross functional teams require…
formal leadership
Cross-functional teams are best known for their success in…
Product development
Principles for Effectiveness of Cross-Functional Teams
- Composition
- Superordinate Goals
Attractive outcomes that can be achieved only by collaboration - Physical Proximity
Ideally close to each other - Autonomy
- Rules and procedures
Some basic decision procedures need to be laid down to avoid anarchy - Leadership
Leaders need strong people skills
Virtual Teams
Work groups that use technology
to communicate and
collaborate across time,
space, and organizational
boundaries.
Advantages of virtual teams
- Around-the-clock work
24-hour team that never sleeps - Reduced travel time and cost
- Larger talent pool
Challenges of virtual team
- Trust
- Miscommunication
- Isolation
- Management issues
Things to watch out when developing virtual teams:
1) Recruitment
Choose team members carefully
2) Training
3) Personalization
Encourage team member to get to know one another
4) Leadership
Define goals clearly, set rules for communication
5) Peer Feedback
Weekly structured peer feedback
