Groups and Teams

Question 1

What is a group

Answer 1

• two or more people in
• direct interaction over a
• sustained period of time with
• role differentiation and with
• common goals, norms and values and with a
• “We-feeling”

Question 2

Group norms

Answer 2

Standards of behavior that group members are expected to display. Established mutual expectancies.

Question 3

Group roles

Answer 3

Sets of behaviours expected by the managers of the organization and the group members for the holder of a particular position

Question 4

Team Management styles (work preference dimensions)

Answer 4

How you relate with others (extravert - introvert)
How you gather and use information: practical - creative
How you make decisions: analytical - beliefs
How you organize yourself and others: structured - flexible

Question 5

Team management roles

Answer 5

Slide 83
- Advisers
- explorers
- organizers
- controllers

Question 6

Reporter Adviser

Answer 6

Supporter, helper, tolerant;
A collector of information;
Dislikes being rushed;
Knowledgeable;
Flexible

Question 7

Creator innovator

Answer 7

Imaginative;
Future-oriented;
Enjoys complexity;
Creative;
Likes research work

Question 8

Explorer Promoter

Answer 8

Persuader, “seller”;
Likes varied, exciting, stimulating work;
Easily bored;
Influential and outgoing

Question 9

Assessor developer

Answer 9

Analytical and objective;
Developer of ideas;
Enjoys prototype or project work;
Experimenter

Question 10

Thruster organizer

Answer 10

Organizes and implements;
Quick to decide;
Results-oriented;
Sets up systems;
Analytical

Question 11

Concluder producer

Answer 11

Practical;
Production-oriented;
Likes schedules and plans;
Pride in reproducing goods and services;
Values effectiveness and efficiency

Question 12

Controller inspector

Answer 12

Strong on control;
Detail-oriented;
Low need for people contact;
An inspector of standards and procedures

Question 13

Upholder maintainer

Answer 13

Conservative, loyal, supportive;
Personal values important;
Strong sense of right and wrong;
Work motivation based on purpose

Question 14

System level and measure of effectiveness

Answer 14

Individual -> satisfaction, quality of work life
Team -> cohesion
Organization -> output, productivity

Group process: input - process - output

Question 15

Typologies of Group Tasks (Steiner)

Answer 15

Disjunctive task
- task is fulfilled when one group member succeeds
Conjunctive task
- only fulfilled when all group members make it
Additive task
- add each individual team members output to overall output

Question 16

Typology of Group Tasks (Morris & Hackman)

Answer 16

Production Task
Discussion Task
- no clear right/wrong, not coming up with something new but discussing the alternatives
Problem solving task: clearly defined problem - one clear answer

Question 17

Group effectiveness

Answer 17

Starts to drops after more than 5-7 members. With group size increasing, resources available increase but communication/coordination requirements also increase.

Question 18

Group processes and effectiveness

Answer 18

Required behaviour (to be productive)
Emergent behaviour (not that obvious -> conflicts friendships in job)

Question 19

Stages of group Development

Answer 19

Forming
- group coming together
Storming
- brainstorming -> high level of conflict, people want control
Norming
- Establish norms having mutual expectations - a leader emerges
Performing
Adjourning

Question 20

Communication patterns in groups

Answer 20

Slide 96
-> centralization high -> leadership high -> satisfaction of leadership high
-> communicative actions low -> group satisfaction low

Question 21

Early experiments on group dynamics

Answer 21

Rule 1: no common past, no common future
Rule 2: hic et nunc (here and now)
Rule 3: all members are equal (facilitators only role is to enforce rule 2)

Question 22

Decision making in groups

Answer 22

individual autocratic
authority based
average of members opinion
minority rule
majority rule
consensus
unanimity

Question 23

Groupthink

Answer 23

The tendency of members in highly cohesive groups to lose their critical, evaluative capabilities (illusion of unanimity and group invulnerability, pressure on deviants)

Question 24

Improving group decision making

Answer 24

Individual contributions + group process gains - group process losses = group decision effectiveness

Question 25

Group process losses

Answer 25

lack of direction
diffusion of responsibilities
lack of trust
free riding
production blocking
dysfunctional decision rules
groupthink
power games
scapegoating
intergroup competition (excessive)

-> A well functioning group is a team
-> every team is a group but not every group is a team

Question 26

Team cohesiveness

Answer 26

The degree to which members are attracted to and motivated to remain a part of a team

Question 27

Cohesiveness and dependence

Answer 27

High cohesiveness, low dependence: Absenteeism and fluctuation are low

Low cohesiveness, high dependence: High absenteeism, low fluctuation

-> if high group cohesiveness
-> negative attitude to boss means lowest performance
-> positive attitude to boss means highest performance

Question 28

Influencing team cohesiveness

Answer 28

Goals (create disagreement)
Membership (increase heterogenity)
Interactions (restrict within team)
Size (make team bigger)
Competition (focus within team)
Rewards (reward individual results)
Location (increase contact with other teams)
Duration (disband the team)
(examples for decrease)

-> why decrease? group think and lack of diverse opinions
-> strong leadership is detrimental to cohesion

Question 29

Specific problem solving teams

Answer 29

Quality circles
task force teams
(partially) autonomous work teams
self-managing work teams

Question 30

Implications of self managing teams

Answer 30

No need for supervisor (directly reporting to manager) :Planning and scheduling of work, Assigning of work tasks, Training of workers, Performance evaluation and Quality control all done by Self-managing team

Question 31

Virtual team

Answer 31

Differ from other teams:
dependence on technology
absence of non-verbal cues (mimics, signal faces)
place and timing of interaction
degree of public and private communication

critical success factors (slide 113)