OT- W3

Question 1

What are group dynamics?

Answer 1

Group dynamics refers to the underlying attitudes, perceptions, and behaviors of groups

Question 2

2 reasons for group formation are mentioned. What are those?

Answer 2

• Safety in numbers: the group serves as a protection mechanism
• Sense of belonging: for well-being and identity.

Question 3

What is the in-group bias?

Answer 3

Refers to the phenonomon of people favoring or treating people within their group better (in-group) than those who are not (out-group)

Question 4

When it comes to accesibility we distinguish two types of groups. Name them.

Answer 4

• Open groups= groups with virtually no barrier for entry (or exit). Mostly characterized by shared interest.
• Closed groups= groups with a high entry barrier or limitations to joining, maintaining and drawing membership.

Question 5

What are the three (and additional fourth not original to the study) terms to classify groups on as given by Hollenbeck?

Answer 5

Skill differentiation= The extent to which members of a group have highly differentiated functional or specialized knowledge, making groups members replaceable.
Authority distribution= Who carries the responsibility for decision-making? Does one person carry the authority, or does the entire group play a role in decision-making?
Temporal stability= The extent to which members in the group have worked together in the past and the expectation to do so in the future
Physical proximity= The extent to which there’s a distance between individual members of the group.

Question 6

What is Social impact?

Answer 6

Group dynamics refers to the underlying attitudes, perceptions, and behaviors of groups

Question 7

What factors influence the extent to which social impact occurs?

Answer 7

• The extent to which members feel a sense of belongingness within the group
• Spatio-temporal closeness: the frequency at which you see members of the group
• Size of the group: bigger groups have less social impact

Question 8

What is crowdsourcing?

Answer 8

The practice of obtaining information or input into a task or project by enlisting the services of a large number of people, either paid or unpaid, typically via the internet.

Question 9

What are the critical performance factors for teams?

Answer 9

• Size= it is harder to coordinate within large groups than small ones.
• Team composition= team homogeneity and heterogeneity will have influence differentialy depending on the ability of members.
• Ability= high-ability teams should be focused on for better for problem solving.

Question 10

What is social facilitation?

Answer 10

= the increase in performance when others are looking.
It occurs mostly
- for fairly simple tasks
- when people are experienced at a certain task

Question 11

What is conforming (Solomon Ash)?

Answer 11

= avoiding behaviors which do not fall within the norms and values of the group.
Can become a problem when the rules are dysfunctional/ problematic

Question 12

What is social loafing?

Answer 12

= members of a group put in less effort than their peers because they don’t feel accountable.

Question 13

What can be done to avoid social loafing?

Answer 13

1. Use individualized rewards
2. Punish underperforming members
3. Avoiding teamwork for simple tasks
4. Not issuing group rewards when the success relies on a few individuals

Question 14

What is group think?

Answer 14

is a psychological phenomenon that occurs within a group of people in which the desire for harmony or conformity in the group results in an irrational or dysfunctional decision-making outcome.

Question 15

What are symptoms of group think?

Answer 15

Invulnerability –> increases willingness to take risks.
Rationalization –> discounts negative feedback.
Morality: members think of themselves as inherently
Stereotyped views of others
Pressure on dissent: members put pressure on those within the group who do not agree with the rationalization
self-censorship: group members will not raise concerns even if they have those.
Mind guarding: Members acting to shield the group from opposing information
Illusion of unanimity: The illusion that everyone in the group agrees with a certain decision

Question 16

What are the causes of groupthink?

Answer 16

• A cohesive group where the members are very familiar with each other
• leader preference (the leader makes known what they want)
• Insulation from experts: the group distances itself from experts on the subject

Question 17

What are consequences of groupthink?

Answer 17

• Groups will avoid seeking out information of experts
• Groups reject opposing information

Question 18

What are the five dimensions on which teams can be assesed?

Answer 18

1. Degree of permanence (duration)
2. Skills / competencies expected to operate as a team)
3. Autonomy and influence
4. Level of task, from routine to strategic
5. **Spatio-temporal context **(offline or online meetings (spatio) and operating at different or sametimes (temporal)

Question 19

Name the five steps in the Tuckman and Jensen model

Answer 19

1. Forming: team members get acquainted and so avoid conflict.
2. Storming: conflict and polarization starts to occur on interpersonal issues
3. Norming: basic norms and values are established within the group
4. Performing: the norms and values act as vital to team performance
5. Adjourning: arewells, finding ways to stay in touch, coping with loss (Jensen)

A good manager will know in what stage their team is and what to do to support it

Question 20

What are the 9 types within Belbin’s typology of team roles?

Answer 20

• Plant: creative, imaginative, unorthodox. Solves difficult problems.
• Resource Investigator: extrovert, enthusiastic, communicative. Develops contacts.
• Coordinator: mature, confident, good chairperson. Clarifies goals, promotes decision-making, delegates well.
• Shaper: challenging, dynamic, thrives on pressure. Has the drive and courage to overcome obstacles.
• Monitor Evaluator: sober, strategic, discerning. Sees all options. Judges accurately.
• Teamworker: cooperative, mild, perceptive. Listens, builds, averts friction, calms the waters.
• Implementer: disciplined, conservative, efficient. Turns ideas into practical actions.
• Completer/Finisher: painstaking, conscientious, anxious. Searches out errors and omissions. Delivers on time.
• Specialist: single-minded, self-starting, dedicated. Provides knowledge and skills in rare supply.

Question 21

What is the reflexive team process:?

Answer 21

Teams develop as team members observe and learn from each other and their mistakes.

Question 22

What are the main seven sources of toxic team dynamics?

Answer 22

Managerial issues:
* Intention: abusive management (through fear and punishment),
* Incompetence: lack of people skills (e.g. micro-management)
* Infidelity: breaking promises made
* Insensitivity: not picking up on emotional cues,
* Intrusion: disrespecting the private life of employees
Structural issues:
* Institutional forces: rules that do not make sense to employees
* Inevitability: exogenous events, necessities of organizing

Question 23

Name the four different experiments on the Hawthorne location mentioned in the theory

Answer 23

1. Illumination experiments
2. Relay assembly test room study
3. Interviewing program
4. The bank wiring observation room

Question 24

Describe the illumination experiments

Answer 24

Using a test and control group, the researchers made changes in the illumination level to assess the change in performance. Both groups showed almost identical increase in performance, further experiments also resulted in the same increases.

Conclusions:
1. Light is a minor factor in group performance
2. The measuring of the effect of one variable was unsuccesful because:
* Other various variables which may have influenced were not controlled for
* there were so many factors affecting the reactions of the workers that it was hopeless to
expect to evaluate the effect of any single one of them

Question 25

Describe the relay assembly test room study

Answer 25

6 women (+1 observer) were selected to work separately from the others. 5 hypotheses were established and tested on these women. They’re working conditions were improved: they got breaks, higher wages and a 5-day workweek. Resulting in an increase in performance. Then, all these improvements were taken away. However, the increase in production still went up.

Conclusion:
Workers output increased due to changes in their attitudes toward work
* The attention and support given by the observer/supervisor
* A feeling of being important
* The development of informal social relationships and norms among the workers (and
the opportunity to do so)

Question 26

Describe the interviewing program

Answer 26

Directed by Mayo and Roethlisberger 21.000 interviews were conducted. The purpose was to qualitatively investigate what influenced worker’s attitudes towards work and interaction with supervisors to improve supervisor training. They held open, non-directed interviews.

Conclusions:
* Workers are governed by experiences from both
inside and outside the company that create their
attitudes (sentiments) towards work and their co-
workers
* Interviews point to the importance of social
organization for group performance

Question 27

Describe the bank wiring observation room

Answer 27

With this experiment, it was aimed to combine the findings from the experiments and observations which had been previously conducted and gain insights into the social organization of the group.
A group of 14 men working in bank wiring were put in a seperate room but with no supervisors or changed working conditions. The men were observed by an investigator who was inside the experiment and an interviewer outside the experiment. Monetary incentives were issued if the men did more work but there was no increase in performance.
Results:
* Each individual restricted his output
* Workers did not accurately report their
actual outputs
* Workers made excuses to work less in
order to keep the group’s output stable
* Inspectors ratings were affected by
personal sympathies
* Managers who decided on working conditions were barely aware of the actualities on the workfloor because of bad inhonest communication.

Informal organization: the workers split in two groups of friends.
Each group as a collectivity in itself organized informally in such a way as to protect the group from **internal indiscretion **(social control) & outside interference (putting pressure on outsiders to leave the group alone and resisting change initiatives from the management).

Key point: the informal groups were formed as a reaction to formal regulations (rules that the
workers experienced as problematic) –> deviation (not following the rules) higher need for
protection from the informal group to keep the group together