team performance Flashcards
why are groups formed in orgs?
- consequence of formal org structure/arrangement of work tasks
- make boring and routine work more palatable and interesting
- groupwork increases people’s skills, job satisfaction and motivation
- can fulfil social needs and give sense of belonging to individuals
what are the benefits of groups?
greater creativity/quality
support and facilitation for individual training and development
improved info flows and more effective comms
satisfaction of social needs and means of sharing/helping in a common activity
providing forum fr constructive conflict resolution
teamwork and improved problem solving
what are the types of groups?
formal
informal
reference
self directed and autonomous
what is a formal/informal group?
formal
created by mgment to fulfil specific goals/tasks. nominated membership or at least constrained by that org
informal
develop from individual relationships based on common interests and to satisfy needs of staff beyond that of doing the job. not set up by mgment/depended on org hierarchy. individuals join in order to satisfy other needs like safety, friendship/belonging
voluntary and informal membership. influence of group can be more powerful nad can have positive or negative effect. potential problems of informal groups arise from them serving a counter-organisational function, e.g. resisting change or having inconsistent norms w management
what are reference groups and self directed/autonomous groups?
reference group
individual doesn’t currently belong but wants to join
self directed and autonomous group
evolved from autonomous working groups and group technology, initially developed by volvo. based on socio-technical systems theory, that interaction of task with an individual is often best served by group process. later abandoned for not being effective.
Under cellular manufacturing methods, typically teams are where the cell makes a larger part of the end-product than previously. These are empowered with tasks, almost like a division of an organisation, and obtain materials and create output by following their own internal processes. Such teams must have a balance of technical skills and usually a team leader is elected, or more often appointed, after a selection process using psychometric tests.
what does Handy say determines group effectiveness?
the givens: group, task, environment
intervening factors: motivation of group, leadership style, processes and procedure
outcomes: productivity, satisfaction of group
what are Tuckman and Jensen’s 5 stages of group development?
forming
storming
norming
performing
dorming
what is the forming stage of group development?
team members just collection of individuals unsure of roles and responsibilities until mgr clearly defines initial processes and procedures for activities. team members make personal impressions on each other
what is the storming stage of group development?
conflict stage. team members may try to test the mgrs authority and team preconceptions are challenged. conflict and tension may become evident. conflict resolution and leadership skills of mgr vital and need to be more flexible to allow team members to question and test roles and responsibilities and get involved in decision making.
what is the norming stage of group development?
establish norms team will operate under and team relationships become settled. procedures refined and mgr will begin to pass control and decision-making authority to members. operate as cohesive team, each person recognising/appreciating roles of other members. members agree on goals.
what is the performing stage of group development?
once final stage reached team is capable of operating to full potential, progress made toward objectives and team feels confident and empowered. not all teams automatically follow 4 stages and not all teams pass through, some get stuck and remain ineffective
what is the dorming stage of group development?
Dorming/Adjourning. If a team remains for a long time in the performing phase, there is a danger that it will be operating on automatic pilot. ‘Groupthink’ occurs to the extent that the group may be unaware of changing circumstances. Instead, maintaining the team becomes one of its prime objectives. In this situation it may be necessary for the group to ‘adjourn’ or be suspended.
what are the membership factors of a group?
affect integration of organisational/individual objectives in groups and therefore cohesiveness of group
homogeneity - similarity of members better for simple tasks, easier working but less creative problem solving, therefore variety better for complex tasks. homogeneity of status both internally and externally leads to more cohesion
alternatives - if can leave group easily dependence is reduced. if turnover of membership is high there will also be low cohesion. mgment may deliberately change membership of awkward groups
size of group - importance of size depends on nature of task. groups solve problems quicker and more effectively than individuals, but there is cost-effectiveness to consider. as size increases: average productivity of members, opportunities to participate, individual contributions, amount of work done all go down and social loafing may increase. also, cliques/factions may form.
membership in other groups - may detract from cohesion/effectiveness
what environmental/dynamic factors effect group cohesiveness?
task nature
isolation of group
climate of mgment and leadership - theory X orgs tend to lead to anti-mgment groups forming, even if only informally. leadership style should be appropriate to task.
dynamic factors: continuous changes in groups, not just in membership but also in understanding each other and the task
what are team roles/why are they important?
role = social predisposition to certain ways of beh related to perception of individual to his status. e.g.marital status produces roles of husband and wife. learned implicitly from expectations of others and can be culturally specific.
group roles are functions which a group needs for it to survive - social organiser, serious adviser etc. often implicit and develop spontaneously but may not emerge among groups of same status individuals. may aras one person volunteers out of politeness.
what are Belbin’s team roles?
developed 8 or 9 key roles (not all needing to be different people), each associated with different sets of traits that are important in effective mgment team.
the coordinator - clarifies group’s objectives and helps identify issues to be addressed; individuals who prefer this role tend to be stable/dominant extroverts.
the shaper - needs results for reassurance and has compulsive drive to get things done, key traits are those of a dominant anxious extrovert
the plant - comes up with original ideas and suggestions, typically dominant introverts with high IQs
the monitor evaluator - good at dispassionate analysis of suggestions and options; stable introvert with high IQ
the implementer - turns decisions into manageable tasks, stable controlled individual
the resource investigator - goes outside the group to obtain useful info and resources, a dominany stable extrovert
the team worker - keeps team together by supporting other members and promoting unity; stable extrovert low in dominance
completer-finisher
- impatient and very concerned with meeting deadlines, typically anxious introvert
expert/specialist - technical person who provides knowledge and skills to solve problems
if there isn’t the right balance of team roles, work not done effectively. balance particularly important for groups in ill-defined, rapidly changing environments. more stable groups may be able to operate without fully balanced set of roles.
what characteristics do high performing teams show according to Vaill?
perform well against external std and what they did before
perform beyond what is assumed to be potential best
judged by informal observers to be substantially better than comparable groups
achieve results with fewer resources than assumed necessary
seen to be exemplars, achieving ideals of culture
what are Peters and Walterman’s 5 key aspects of successful teams?
5 key aspects of successful teams:
numbers should be small
team should be of limited duration and exist only to achieve particular task
membership should be voluntary, where members don’t want to be part of group they are unlikely to participate fully
comms should be informal and unstructured, little documentation and no status barriers
should be action oriented, and should create plan of action
what is distributive leadership?
more modern perspective, recognises multiple leaders. team members effectively interact with and lead each other. more horizontal in nature compared to traditional leadership.
how is shared leadership facilitated according to Carson et al?
- shared purpose - when team members have similar understandings of team’s main objectives and take steps to ensure focus on collective goals
- social support - extent to which team members actively provide emotional and psychological strength to one another
- voice - degree to which a team’s members have input into how team carries out its purpose
three dimensions highly interrelated. if team members encouraged to voice opinions they are likely to start demonstrating leadership traits. if all members do this, there will be a greater focus on collective goals. this in turn leads to increased motivation within the team which encourages members to voice their opinions and get involved
suggests consequence of distributive leadership is improved performance and studies have found positive relationship between shared leadership and team effectiveness.
what are some problems with groups?
conformity
abilene paradox
groupthink
risky shift/group polarisation
why can group conformity be negative?
Hawthorne studies (20s and 30s) show groups can have -ve effect. individuals can be persuaded to agree with decisions demonstrably and obviously wrong. some 74% of subjects studied by Hawthorne conformed to wrong decision at least once, with average conformity level 32%.
combo of being wrong and being unanimous takes members by surprise, shakes confidence and disorientates judgement. if group not unanimous then spell is broken and normal judgement resorted. Asch’s line experiment shows this. Milgram’s shock experiments also show this and in determining obedience to authority. if co-acting ppt rebelled, proportion of subjects obeying experimenter fell from 65% to 10%
what is the Abilene paradox?
This is a famous case exemplifying the stultification of individuals through implicit and unconscious group processes. The story was written up as a case by a sociologist whose family all ended up in Abilene, Texas, driving 100 miles through desert heat, though none of them actually wanted to go. They all thought each other wanted to go and no one wanted to disturb the ‘consensus’.
what is groupthink?
Janis (82). common situation observed in tightly-knit political groups. tendency for like-minded individuals to uphold dominant consensus. homogeneity of objectives and thinking carried to ultimate (often disastrous) extreme.
dealing with groupthink -
JFK tried to avoid groupthink and planned leadership accordingly by insisting on:
critical evaluation of alternatives
independent sub-groups working on solutions
external testing of proposed solutions
leader avoiding domination of group
avoidance of stereotypes of opposition
what is risky shift?
groups take riskier decisions than any of individuals would take alone. also tendency to take excessively cautious decisions. can see:
- pressures on individuals to conform to group norms.
- a tendency in certain situations to make more risky decisions than individuals because no one can be held responsible (risky shift [Stoner, 1961]).
- poor communication and lack of trust can lead groups to take decisions that none of the individual members actually prefers (the Abilene paradox).
- a tendency to become inward looking, particularly at times of crisis, ignoring external events and conflicting views (groupthink).
- a focus on political manipulation and conflict rather than organisational objectives.
why should mgrs pay high attention to groups?
mgrs must attempt to minimise potential problems while harnessing benefits of groups and teams. not easy but approaches such as TQM and concept of learning org mean that effective groups are even more critical for org effectiveness. mgrs need to pay attention to formation/support of formal groups and realise they cannot ignore or suppress informal groups. for informal groups, important employees know mgrs understand and accept them while discouraging dysfunctional beh, try to anticipate how decisions will influence informal groups, and to keep formal decisions from unnecessarily threatening informal groups.
what is inter-group conflict, and what 3 ingredients cause it?
beh that occurs between org groups when ppts identify with one group and perceive that other groups may block theirs from achieving goals. requires 3 ingredients:
- group identification
- observable group difference - can be geographical, related to member backgrounds, depts etc., but to observe differences in comparison with other groups is necessary for conflict.
- frustration - if one group achieves its goal the other will not. need not be severe and only needs to be anticipated to set off inter-group conflict.
what are the methods of handling group conflict?
confrontation
third party consultants
member rotation
superordinate goals
inter group training
how can confrontation be used to handle conflict? what are the risks involved?
negotiation is the bargaining process that often occurs during confrontiation and enables systematically reaching solution. techniques bring appointed representatives from depts together to work out serious dispute
risk in negotiation and confrontation
no guarantee that discussions will focus on conflict or emotions won’t get out of hand. confrontation successful when mgrs engage in win-win strategy. both depts adopt positive attitude and strive to resolve conflict in a way that will benefit each other. problem should be defined as mutual, understanding can be changed while dispute resolved.
how can third party consultants held with group conflict?
if conflict intense and enduring and dept members suspicious/uncooperative then third party consultant can be brought in from outside org to meet with reps from both depts. should be experts on human beh and advice must be valued by both groups. can make great progress towards building cooperative attitudes/reducing conflict
typical activities of third party consultants: re-establish broken comms lines, act as interpreter so messages are correctly understood and not distorted by biases, challenge stereotyping between groups, bring into awareness positive acts and intentions of other group. specific source of conflict must be defined, focused and resolved.
how can member rotation help with group conflict?
temp or permanent, individuals become submerged in other team and can explain problems/goals of original depts to new colleagues. enables accurate exchange of views and info. rotation works slowly to reduce conflict but effective for changing underlying attitudes/perceptions
what are superordinate goals?
top mgment establish goals that require dept coordination. conflicting depts then share goal and depend on each other to achieve. goal must be significant and consume substantial amount of each group’s time and energy. reward system can also be redesigned to encourage pursuit of superordinate goal.
how can inter group training reduce group conflict? what are the steps associated?
strong intervention to reduce conflict. developed by psychologists like Blake, Mouton and Walton in 60s. dept members attend outside workshop away from day to day problems, may last several days. expensive but can develop company-wide cooperative attitude.
steps associated with intergroup training:
conflicting groups brought into training setting with stated goal of exploring mutual perceptions and relationships
conflicting groups separated and invited to discuss/make list of perceptions of itself and other group
in presense of both groups, representatives share perceptions while groups obligated to remain silent.
groups return to private sessions to digest and analyse, reps reports have likely revealed discrepancies between self-image and image other group holds
then in public each group shares discrepancies it has uncovered and possible reasons for them, focusing on actual observable beh.
following mutual exposure, more open exploration is permitted between two groups on now shared goal of identifying reasons for perceptual distortions
joint exploration conducted of how to manage future relations in such a way to encourage cooperation between groups
after this, dept employees understand each other better. improved attitudes lead to better working relationships for a long time. purpose of any mgerial strategy will then be:
turn conflict into fruitful competition
if not possible, control conflict
