Topic 6 (Chapt. 18)

Question 1

Define ‘group’

Answer 1

Two or more people who act together to achieve common aims or goals.

Question 2

Define ‘social aggregate’

Answer 2

A class or order of people who share certain characteristics bit do not necessarily share goals

Question 3

Give an example of group membership

Answer 3

Formal/permanent group overlapped with informal/permanent group (have lunch with work friends), overlapped with formal/temporary (seconded one day a week to special project)

Question 4

Define ‘security’

Answer 4

Belonging to a group may make us feel safer against external threats

Question 5

Define ‘task complexity’

Answer 5

Belonging to a group may allow combinations of specialists to tackle tasks tha, individually, they would not normally tackle.

Question 6

Define ‘social interaction’

Answer 6

Belonging to a group may help satisfy a need for human company

Question 7

Define ‘proximity’

Answer 7

Belonging to a group sometimes happens simply because members find themselves located physically near each other

Question 8

Define ‘exchange’

Answer 8

Belonging to a group sometimes depends on a cost-benefit calculation made continually by members

Question 9

Define ‘synergy’

Answer 9

The whole group’s performance is greater than the sum of its equal parts

Question 10

Explain group vs individual performance

Answer 10

Individuals can be motivated by the presence of others because of:

• the sheer stimulating effect of other people
• self-presentation, or the desire to show others how good you are (competition)

Question 11

Define ‘social loafing’

Answer 11

The tendency of some group members to put in less effort if they believe that their underperformance will not be noted - the phenomenon of one group member
Can be prevented by:
- Limiting scope of the project
- Reducing group size
- Running peer evaluations

Question 12

Define ‘role’

Answer 12

An unexpected behaviour

Question 13

Define ‘task role’

Answer 13

Relates to the functional or technical nature of work

Question 14

Define ‘socio-emotional role’

Answer 14

Relates to the interpersonal aspects of work

Question 15

Define ‘destructive role’

Answer 15

Causes conflict and ineffectiveness in work situations

Question 16

Outline some roles played in groups

Answer 16

Task roles:
Brainstormer, expert, judge, devil’s advocate, representative, implementer, ringmaster, memory
Socio-emotinal roles:
- encourager, peacemaker, tension reliever, confronter
Destructive roles:
- hisher, personaliser, recognition seeker, victim, blocker, shelver, distractor, aggressor, shadow, special-interest pleader

Question 17

Define ‘formal norms’

Answer 17

An explicit rule-governing behaviour

- workers show up for work on time, observe safety rules

Question 18

Define ‘informal norm’

Answer 18

An implicit rule-governing behaviour

- workers often refer to each other by nicknames, workers in this group always sit together for lunch

Question 19

Define ‘group think’

Answer 19

A pattern of defective decision making seen in groups

Question 20

Define ‘Abilene paradox’

Answer 20

The behaviour effect which occurs when organisations and individuals frequently take actions in contradiction to what they really want to do and therefore defeat the very purposes they are trying to achieve.
Ways to reduce e.g.:
- examine alternatives, generate contingency plans
- appoint devil's advocate
- increase group size, hetrogenity
- remove physical isolation
- de external reality checking
- eliminate competition with other group

Question 21

List some similarities between sports teams and work teams

Answer 21

• Both share need to train and prepare before going into action, share need to coordinate and comminicate
• Benefit from goal setting
• A coach/leader can use exhortation to lift the morale
• When everyone is working together harmoniously can be a pleasent experience

Question 22

List the strenghts of ‘teams’

Answer 22

• good at generating ideas
• recalling informaiton
• deploy multiplicity of task and socio-emotional roles
• represent the advent of democracy in the workplace
• the excerise of authoritian power by individuals may become harder when groupsact as counterveiling power
• if all relevant decisions makers are presentin a group, then obviously it can be much easier to coordinate operations.
• teams represent a form of organisational redesign
• decisions and solutions can be more creative
• risks can sometimes be managed more competently within teams
• motivation can be increased through participation

Question 23

List the weaknesses of ‘teams’

Answer 23

• not needed for routine decisions or tasks
• not always good at solving problems that require long chains or decisions and solutions
• ineffective teams allow disruptive role-playing to become significant and even dominate
• everyone is expected to be a team player, but not everyone is
• cliques, factions or teams-within-teams may dominate
• intra-group squabbling
• a mediocre or disastrous team will produice low-quality high risk decisions and solutions
• teams can be slow and costly

Question 24

Define ‘virtual team’

Answer 24

A work group whose indivual memners are located in widely dispersed locations

Question 25

List the ‘positive impacts’ of virtual teams

Answer 25

• learn new things/develop new skills, greater task identity, greater autonomy, better feedback, supportive work environment, less wasted time, reduced uncertainty confusion

Question 26

List the ‘negative impacts’ of virtual teams

Answer 26

• potential for underload or overload, excessive responsibility, increased fear failure, need to police others, loss of richness in interaction, high dependance on technology

Question 27

What are some points to remember when ‘communicating with others in the group/team?

Answer 27

• be aware of why people join and leave groups; preconditions for social loafing and strive to reverse them; act and speak to reverse those preconditions; act and think to reinforce healthy formal and informal norms; be aware of pitfalls and advantages of virtual teams; learning and practice interpersonal skills