Groups and Teams Flashcards
What is a group
- 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”
Group norms
Standards of behavior that group members are expected to display. Established mutual expectancies.
Group roles
Sets of behaviours expected by the managers of the organization and the group members for the holder of a particular position
Team Management styles (work preference dimensions)
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
Team management roles
Slide 83
- Advisers
- explorers
- organizers
- controllers
Reporter Adviser
Supporter, helper, tolerant;
A collector of information;
Dislikes being rushed;
Knowledgeable;
Flexible
Creator innovator
Imaginative;
Future-oriented;
Enjoys complexity;
Creative;
Likes research work
Explorer Promoter
Persuader, “seller”;
Likes varied, exciting, stimulating work;
Easily bored;
Influential and outgoing
Assessor developer
Analytical and objective;
Developer of ideas;
Enjoys prototype or project work;
Experimenter
Thruster organizer
Organizes and implements;
Quick to decide;
Results-oriented;
Sets up systems;
Analytical
Concluder producer
Practical;
Production-oriented;
Likes schedules and plans;
Pride in reproducing goods and services;
Values effectiveness and efficiency
Controller inspector
Strong on control;
Detail-oriented;
Low need for people contact;
An inspector of standards and procedures
Upholder maintainer
Conservative, loyal, supportive;
Personal values important;
Strong sense of right and wrong;
Work motivation based on purpose
System level and measure of effectiveness
Individual -> satisfaction, quality of work life
Team -> cohesion
Organization -> output, productivity
Group process: input - process - output
Typologies of Group Tasks (Steiner)
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
Typology of Group Tasks (Morris & Hackman)
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
Group effectiveness
Starts to drops after more than 5-7 members. With group size increasing, resources available increase but communication/coordination requirements also increase.
Group processes and effectiveness
Required behaviour (to be productive)
Emergent behaviour (not that obvious -> conflicts friendships in job)
Stages of group Development
Forming
- group coming together
Storming
- brainstorming -> high level of conflict, people want control
Norming
- Establish norms having mutual expectations - a leader emerges
Performing
Adjourning
Communication patterns in groups
Slide 96
-> centralization high -> leadership high -> satisfaction of leadership high
-> communicative actions low -> group satisfaction low
Early experiments on group dynamics
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)
Decision making in groups
individual autocratic
authority based
average of members opinion
minority rule
majority rule
consensus
unanimity
Groupthink
The tendency of members in highly cohesive groups to lose their critical, evaluative capabilities (illusion of unanimity and group invulnerability, pressure on deviants)
Improving group decision making
Individual contributions + group process gains - group process losses = group decision effectiveness
Group process losses
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
Team cohesiveness
The degree to which members are attracted to and motivated to remain a part of a team
Cohesiveness and dependence
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
Influencing team cohesiveness
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
Specific problem solving teams
Quality circles
task force teams
(partially) autonomous work teams
self-managing work teams
Implications of self managing teams
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
Virtual team
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)
