Groups and Teams

Question 1

What is the definition of a group and who by?

Answer 1

Schein (1980) A group is a number of people who

• interact with each other;
• are psychologically aware of each other;
• perceive themselves aware of each other
• or perceive themselves to be a group.

Question 2

What is the definition of a team and who by?

Answer 2

Brill (1976)
A team is a group of people who:
.together have common purpose
. meet together to communicate
and collaborate
. together plans are made

Question 3

Who came up with the stages of team development and when?

Answer 3

Tuckman and Jensen, 1977

Question 4

What are the 4 stages of team development?

Answer 4

1- forming
2- storming
3- norming
4- performing

Question 5

What are the characteristics of the forming stage of team development?

Answer 5

. Individualistic
. People withhold full participation
. Management give no real authority to act
. Mission is understood, but does not motivate
. Communication from leader to members, rather than members to members, little listening

Question 6

What are the characteristics of the storming stage of team development?

Answer 6

. Honeymoon is over, energy dissipating
. Stress over roles, over uneven contribution
. Trust: working out who to trust
. Purpose: slowly becoming clear
. Communication: often aggressive
. Dominant members take air time
. Team processes start to be worked on

Question 7

What are the characteristics of the norming stage of team development?

Answer 7

. Swear allegiance to team / team pride; rivalry with other teams
. Reluctant to challenge others
. Trust: developing, but not tested
. Clear focus on performance and goals
. Communication to each other as well as to leader
. Team processes well underway

Question 8

What are the characteristics of the performing stage of team development?

Answer 8

. Team is pro-active; sets most of its own priorities
. Strong culture of “high accountability”
. Team share leadership: all involved
. Team prioritise what is good for the business as a whole
. Trust high: climate of support and challenge
. Team manages its performance as a team.

Question 9

How long may it take to develop from forming to performing?

Answer 9

2 years

Question 10

Who developed a model of team roles and when?

Answer 10

Belbin 1981

Question 11

What are some of the Belbin team roles?

Answer 11

. THINKING
-specialist
-plant
-monitor evaluator
. PEOPLE 
-team worker
-coordinator
-resource investigator
. ACTION
- implementer
-completer
-finisher
-shaper

Question 12

Explain the action orientated Belbin team role of implementor?

Answer 12

• Disciplined, reliable, conservative and efficient. Turns ideas into practical actions.
• But somewhat inflexible. Slow to respond to new possibilities

Question 13

Explain the people orientated Belbin team role of team worker?

Answer 13

• Co-operative, mild, perceptive and diplomatic. Listens, builds, averts friction
• but Indecisive in crunch situations.

Question 14

Explain the thinking orientated Belbin team role of specialist?

Answer 14

. Single-minded, self-starting, dedicated. Provides knowledge and skills in rare supply.
. but contributes only on a narrow front. Dwells on technicalities.

Question 15

Name conformity experiments (ADD IN GREATER DEPTH )

Answer 15

. Asch, 1951
. The Stanford Prison Experiment (Zimbardo, 1971)
. Electric shock experiments(Milgram, 1963)

Question 16

What are the advantages of decision making in teams?

Answer 16

. More information from different sources
. Mutually acceptable solution
. Credibility / legitimacy of solution
. Commitment towards implementation

Question 17

What are the disadvantages of decision making in teams?

Answer 17

. Takes more time
. Lines of responsibility can become unclear
. Pressures to conform
. Social loafing
. Extreme-decisions: 
	- Polarised
	- Risky shift
. Groupthink

Question 18

What is the definition of groupthink? and who by?

Answer 18

“the psychological drive for consensus at any cost that suppresses dissent and appraisal of alternatives in cohesive decision-making groups.” (Janis, 1982)

Question 19

What are the symptoms of groupthink?

Answer 19

. Illusion of invulnerability
. Collective rationalisation
. Belief in inherent morality
. Stereotyped views of out-groups
. Direct pressure on . dissenters
. Self-censorship
. Illusion of unanimity
. Self-appointed mindguards who protect group from problematic info

Question 20

What suggestions by Janis were there to minimise groupthink?

Answer 20

.Impartial leader
. Critical evaluators
. Devil’s advocate
. Subgroup for policy evaluation
. Group norm – disagreement does not mean disrespect
. Climate of constructive controversy e.g. get someone to support a minority viewpoint

Question 21

What is group polarisation and the shifts that can occur?

Answer 21

Opinions tend to be more polarised and extreme:
. Risky shift-We tend to take greater risks when we are with a group
. Cautious shift-groups can become more cautious in their decisions/preferred solutions

Question 22

What was the Asch conformity experiment?

Answer 22

. Experiment to investigate the extent to which social pressure can influence an individual and make him/her conform.
. Participants placed in a room with 7 other confederates
. Participant-led to believe they were part of the experiment, not the scenario
. but confederates response was already pre-determined

Question 23

What is conformity?

Answer 23

Conformity is the term used for the convergence of individuals’ thoughts, feelings and
behaviour towards a group’s norms.

Question 24

What was the outcome of the Asch experiment and why?

Answer 24

. 1/3 of subjects conformed
. why:
- To be liked (normative conformity)
- Belief that others are better informed (informational conformity)
- Difficult to maintain that you see something when nobody else does

Question 25

What is the evaluation of the Asch experiment?

Answer 25

. Useful in theorizing why people conform
. Sampling was gender-biased: only male subjects
. The study was about perception of lines – this does not reflect complex, real-life decisions. e.g. highly moral decision

Question 26

What was The Stanford Prison Experiment?

Answer 26

. simulated prison to see the psychological effects of being a prisoner or a prison guard
. the volunteers were divided by the flip of a coin
. prisoners were stripped on arrival, wore chains on feet etc
. each prisoner called only by ID number
. guards given free reigns within reason to do what they needed to do to enforce the law
. punishment initially push ups
. rebellion led to fire extinguishers asgainst prisoners and they were stripped naked with no bed
. guards tried to break prisoner solidarity
. potentially add more

Question 27

Who came up with the three circles needed for members of a team?

Answer 27

Adair’s three circles (1997)

Question 28

What are Adair’s three circles (1997)?

Answer 28

Task, team and individual

Question 29

What are the advantages of Adair’s three circles (1997)?

Answer 29

. Simple
. Focuses on satisfying task needs, team maintenance needs and individual needs – all contribute to teamwork
. Overlapping circles is a good reminder that all three have to be paid attention

Question 30

What are the disadvantages of Adair’s three circles (1997)?

Answer 30

. No recognition of different cultures.
. Group environment not considered
. Nature of the task ignored
. Leadership outside the immediate team ignored

Question 31

Who came up with the attributes for successful teams and five factor model?

Answer 31

Hackman, 2002

Question 32

What is the Five Factor Model for Successful Teams?

Answer 32

1. Being a real team
2. Compelling direction
3. Enabling structure
4. Supportive context
5. Expert coaching

Question 33

Evaluate the usefulness of theory to help with your groupwork

Answer 33

finish hi