Lecture 6: Teams

Question 1

Group

Answer 1

Two or more individuals, interacting and interdependent, who have come together to achieve particular objectives

Question 2

Formal groups

Answer 2

Structure, designed, assignment, clear roles –> to reach organizational goals

Question 3

Informal groups

Answer 3

Natural formations in respons to the need of social contact, not determined or structured by the organization

Question 4

Problem-solving teams

Answer 4

• Small group (5 to 12 employees) from the same department
• Meet regularly to sove a particular problem
• No authority to implement solution
• Share ideas and come up with solutions
• Decisions by supervisor

Question 5

Self-managing teams

Answer 5

• 10 to 15 employees who are collectively responsible and independent
• Planning, scheduling, assigning task to members, make operating decisions, take action on problems
• Usually no supervisor
• Intrinsically motivation, team cooperation and problem solving
• Do not manage conflicts well, power struggles, conformity

Question 6

Cross-functional teams

Answer 6

• Members with diverse backgrounds
• Same hierarchical levels, but different work areas who come together
• Widely used
• Increased creative idea generation and technical excellence
• Lower team cohesion and job satisfaction

Question 7

Virtual teams

Answer 7

• Collaborate online
• Overcome time and space problems
• Lack of social rapport and direct interaction, more conflicts and less information sharing with eachother than offline teams

Question 8

Roles

Answer 8

Set of expected behavior patterns attributed to someone occupying a given position in a social unit –> expectation about behavior

Question 9

Role perceptions

Answer 9

Our view of how we should act in a certain situation

Question 10

Role expectations

Answer 10

How do others believe we should act in a given situation (psychological contract)

Question 11

Norms

Answer 11

Acceptable standards of behavior shared by group members that express what they ought and ought not to do under certain circumstances–> unwritten rules

Question 12

Status

Answer 12

Socially defined position or rank given to groups or group members by others. Higher status attracts more attention/influence

Question 13

Who attains status in a group?

Answer 13

• Dominance (aggression, intimidation, creating fear/anxiety)
• Competence (functional, expertise, skills, person gets respect)
• Moral virtue (moral behavior, taking care of others, sacrifice, respectful, reliable)

Question 14

Group size

Answer 14

• Most effective teams have 5-9 members –> also depends on the task
• Larger groups are better at fact-finding and idea-generation
• Smaller groups are better at problem solving and doing something productive

Question 15

Social loafing

Answer 15

The tendency of individuals to expend less effort when working collectively than alone. –> because of belief that others don’t contribute enough and diffusion of responsibility

Question 16

Factors affecting social loafing

Answer 16

• Lower when working with acquaintances
• Increases with group size
• Higher among men
• Lower in complex tasks

Question 17

Are work groups effective? (evidence)

Answer 17

Interactive groups (creating together) produce either the same number of ideas or fewer ideas and ideas of lower quality, than do nominal groups (creating alone and then combining)
–> similar results with decision making, judgement and memory tasks
- so, no or reduced performance advantages for groups on various tasks