OB 5 - Groups and Teams

Question 1

What is a group?

Answer 1

Two or more people, in face-to-face interaction, each aware of their group membership and interdependence, as they strive to achieve their goals

Question 2

Why is it important to study groups? (Coutou, 2009)

Answer 2

Working in teams makes us more creative and productive so when faced with challenging new tasks, leaders quickly assume that teams are the best way to get the job done

Question 3

What % of EU workers work in teams?

Answer 3

60%

Question 4

Explain the idea that loners do the best job?

Answer 4

• Studies show that workers who are constantly interrupted make 50% more mistakes & take twice as long to complete tasks

Question 5

What are the five central aspects of groups?

Answer 5

Membership
Communication
Collective Identity
Goals
Structure

Question 6

What is a formal group?

Answer 6

a group that has been consciously created by management to accomplish a defined task that contributes to the organization’s goal

Question 7

What is an informal group?

Answer 7

a collection if individuals who become a group when they develop interdependencies, influence one another’s behaviour, and contribute to mutual need satisfaction.

Question 8

What is group self-organisation?

Answer 8

the tendency of groups to form interest, develop autonomy, and establish identities

Question 9

What are group dynamics?

Answer 9

the forces operating within groups that affect their performance and their members‘ satisfaction

Question 10

What is an additive task?

Answer 10

a task that depends on the sum of all group members’ efforts. (Team Building Exercises)

Question 11

What is a conjunctive task?

Answer 11

a tasks that depends on the performance of the group’s least talented member.”

Question 12

What is a disjunctive task?

Answer 12

a task that depends on the performance of the group’s most talented member.”

Question 13

What is Likert’s Linking Pin Model?

Answer 13

Some workers have overlapping membership in different hierarchal structures. (Greg/Evie)

Question 14

What is social identity?

Answer 14

that part of the self-concept which comes from our membership of groups and which contributes to our self-esteem.

Question 15

What is Social Categorisation?

Answer 15

classifying the people we meet on the basis of how similar to or different from the way that we see ourselves they are