Groups and Teams Flashcards
Advantages of Group Decision Making
→ Decision Quality
○ Groups or teams should make higher quality decisions than individuals
→ Decision Acceptance and Commitment
○ A group decision will be more acceptable to those involved
○ This is especially important in getting a decision implemented
→ Diffusion of Responsibility
The ability of group members to share the burden of the negative consequences of a poor decision
Disadvantages of Group Decision Making
→ Time
○ The time it takes to make a decision increases with group size
→ Conflict
○ Decision quality can take a back seat to political wrangling and infighting
○ Groups will make better decisions when members feel psychologically safe
→ Domination
○ Domination is not likely to lead to group acceptance and commitment
If the dominant person is misinformed, the group decision is likely to be ineffective
Social loafing and how to counteract it
→ Basic Principle: When some individuals expend significantly less effort than others in a group.
→ Some people may engage in social loafing more than others
○ This may cause a feeling of inequity, as everyone receives the same result but does not put in the same input
Counteracting Social Loafing :
→ Make individual performance more visible
○ Keep group size small
→ Make sure that the work is interesting
○ Intrinsic motivation should counteract social loafing
→ Increase feelings of indispensability
○ Use training and the status system to provide group members with unique inputs
→ Increase performance feedback
○ Increase feedback from the boss, peers, and customers
→ Reward group performance
○ Members more likely to monitor and maximize performance when the group receives rewards for effectiveness
What is identifiability and ways to increase it
→ Identifiability: People are motivated when they believe that their work is identifiable and separable from the work of others.
○ Divide tasks
○ Assign roles
○ Measure individual inputs
Limit group sizeFactors which impact group effectiveness
Group member attributes
○ Knowledge and Experience
○ Facilitation skills
○ Listening skills
○ Flexibility
○ Preference for teamwork
Group Size
→ Research shows that:
○ Smaller groups are faster at completing tasks
○ When problem solving, larger groups do better.
○ The potential for Social Loafing increases with group size
○ To reduce social loafing, teams should not be larger than necessary, and individuals should be held accountable for their actions
Diversity
→ Impact of diverse groups:
→ Diversity in personality, age, gender, and experience promotes conflict, which stimulates creativity and idea generation, which leads to improved decision making.
→ Cultural diversity in groups initially leads to more difficulty in building cohesion, gaining satisfaction, being productive.
○ Problems pass with time (certainly by three months).
○ Culturally diverse groups bring out more viewpoints
→ Advantages of Diversity:
○ Multiple perspectives
○ Greater openness to new ideas
○ Multiple interpretations
○ Increased creativity
○ Increased flexibility
○ Increased problem solving skills
→ Disadvantages of Diversity:
○ Ambiguity
○ Confusion
○ Miscommunication
○ Difficulty in reaching a single agreement
Difficulty in agreeing on specific actions
Role Terminology
→ Roles: A set of expected behavior patterns associated with someone occupying a given position in a social unit.
→ Role Expectations: How others believe a person should act in a given situation.
→ Role Conflict: A situation in which an individual is confronted by divergent role expectations.
→ Role Ambiguity: A person is unclear about his or her role.
→ Role Overload: Too much is expected of someone.
→ Role Underload: Too little is expected of someone, and that person feels that they are not contributing
Types of Roles
→ Task-oriented roles: These group members ensure that the tasks are accomplished.
→ Maintenance roles: These group members maintain good relations within the group.
→ Individual (oriented) roles: Roles performed by group members that are not productive for keeping the group on task.
What Norms are, what they cover, how they are developed, why they are enforced
→ Acceptable standards of behavior within a group that are shared by the group’s members.
→ What Norms can cover
○ Performance: work ethic, work quality, levels of tardiness
○ Appearance: personal dress, when to look busy, when to “goof off,” how to show loyalty
○ Social arrangement: how team members interact
○ Allocation of resources: pay, assignments, tools & equipment
→ How norms develop:
○ Explicit statements made by a group member
○ Critical events in the groups history
○ Primacy: Initial patterns of behaviour
○ Carry-over behavior
→ Why norms are enforced:
○ Facilitate group survival.
○ Make behavior predictable.
○ Minimize embarrassment.
○ Express central values.
Clarify the group’s identity.
Conformity and why people conform
Conformity → Adjusting one’s behavior to align with the norms of the group → People conform to reference groups ○ Important groups to which individuals belong or hope to belong → Why people conform: ○ Confusion ○ Informational pressure ○ Embarrassment ○ Normative pressure Compliance, not internalization
The Free Rider Effect
When an individual gives in to the temptation to expend less effort than others in the group
Naive Cynicism
Cognitive bias that occurs when people expect more egocentric bias in others than actually is the case.
Teams vs. Groups, and characteristics of an effective team
→ Groups: Two or more people with a common relationship. → Teams: A small number of people who work closely together toward a common objective and are mutually accountable. → Characteristics of an effective team: ○ Clear purpose ○ Informality ○ Participation ○ Listening ○ Civilized disagreement ○ Consensus decisions ○ Open communication ○ Clear rules and work assignments ○ Shared leadership ○ External relations ○ Style diversity ○ Self-assessment
The Five Stage Model, Limitations
→ Pre- Group Phase
→ Stage I: Forming
○ Characterized by much uncertainty
→ Stage II: Storming
○ Characterized by intragroup conflict
→ Stage III: Norming
○ Characterized by close relationships and cohesiveness
→ Stage IV: Performing
○ The stage when the group is fully functional
→ Stage V: Adjourning
○ The final stage in group development for temporary groups, characterized by concern with wrapping up activities rather than task performance
→ Limitations:
○ Groups do not necessarily progress clearly through the stages one at a time.
○ Groups can sometimes go back to an earlier stage.
○ Conflict can sometimes be helpful to the group.
○ Context can matter: airline pilots can immediately reach performing stage.
The Punctuated Equilibrium Model
→ Phase 1
○ The first meeting sets the group’s direction.
○ The first phase of group activity is one of inertia.
→ Transition
○ A transition takes place at the end of the first phase, which occurs exactly when the group has used up half its allotted time.
○ The transition initiates major changes.
→ Phase 2
○ A second phase of inertia follows the transition.
→ Last meeting
○ Characterized by markedly accelerated activity.
Task Roles
Initiating: Stating the goal or problem, making proposals about how to work on it, setting time limits
Seeking information and opinions: Asking group members for specific factual information related to the task or problem
Providing information and opinions: Sharing information or opinions related to the task or problems
Clarifying: Helping one another understand ideas and suggestions that come up in the group
Elaborating: Building on one another’s ideas and suggestions
Summarizing: Reviewing the points covered by the group and the different ideas stated so that decisions can be based on full information
Consensus Testing: Periodic testing about whether the group is nearing a decision or needs to continue discussion
