Week 2 Groups & Teams Flashcards
What defines a work group or team?
- socially interact (face-to-face or increasingly, virtually)
- are brought together to perform organisationally relevant tasks
- exhibit interdependencies with respect to workflow, goals and outcomes
- have different roles and responsibilities
- are embedded in an organisational system
The power of groups affects conformity as well as members:
- Perceptions
- Performance
- Attitudes, and
- Behaviour
What are the Hawthorn Studies?
Looked at how working conditions affect work performance
They manipulated the level of lighting, the heating etc to see how employees would perform, they were working really hard during the experiment, but it was found to be due to the attention from management, not from any of the other environmental changes
What is an example of conformity to a work team?
In a production line people only perform as quickly as the slowest member. We are social beings who have social needs: they are looking out for that person, averting management to their slowness?
What is most important for motivation in a group setting?
Work is group activity, and individuals should be seen as group members (not in isolation)
The need for recognition, security and a sense of belonging is more important (for morale and productivity) than physical conditions
The ability of the informal group (or clique) to motivate an individual (through unofficial norms and sanctions) should not be underestimated
Supervisors need to be aware of both individual’s social needs and the power of the informal group
What are the 5 core types of work teams?
· Advice teams - solve problems & make recommendations
· Production teams – front line employees that produce something
· Service teams – conduct repeated transactions with customers
· Management teams – coordinate work units
· Project groups (taskforces) – cross-functional and complete a specialised time-limited project
What are Formal and Informal groups?
· Formal group: consciously created to accomplish a defined part of an organisation’s collective purpose. The formal group’s functions are the tasks which are assigned to it, and for which it is officially held responsible (Ideal group size between 6-8)
· Informal group: a collection of individuals who become a group when members develop interdependencies, influence one another’s behaviour and contribute to mutual need satisfaction (Buchanan & Huczynski, 2016)
What are the characteristics of Formal Groups?
· task-oriented (an outcome to be strived for)
· tend to be permanent
· have a formal structure (assigned manager and group role)
· consciously organised by management to achieve organisational goals
· their activities contribute directly to the organisation’s purpose
What are the characteristics of Informal Groups?
· socially oriented
· permanent or temporary (depending on who comes in and out of the team)
· informal structure (social needs)
· evolve through member interactions
· contribute to member need satisfaction
Often not anticipated or intended by the formal organisation! (can be a worry for organisations as they do not have power over these structures)
What are the stages of group development?
- Forming - is the orientation stage in which the set of individuals has not gelled (team members get to know each other, gauge time and energy needed to expend on team tasks)
- Storming - this is the conflict stage in the group’s life and can be quite an uncomfortable time (Team begins to outline what the group should look like; opinion will differ in how to accomplish goals)
- Norming - in this cohesion stage the members of the group develop ways of working to develop closer relationships (team members understand their role as well as the roles of others in the group)
- Performing - in this stage the group has developed a structure, and is concerned with getting on with the job (commitment to goals as well as one another leads to highest levels of performance)
- Adjourning - this is the final stage and the point at which the group may disband
What are the 3 overarching roles played by members of a workgroup?
- Group task roles (efforts at achieving the group’s task)
- Group building and maintenance roles (efforts to establish and maintain good group relations)
- Individual roles
1 & 2 help the group achieve its objectives, 3 impedes
What is a social role in a workgroup?
A social role is the set of expectations that others hold of an occupant of a position in a group or organisational structure.
What are the 9 roles according to Belbin’s team role theory?
- Plant (creative, solves difficult problems) (thought-oriented)
- Resource investigator (explores opportunities) (people-oriented)
- Coordinator (mature, confident, a good chair) (people-oriented)
- Shaper (challenging, drive to overcome obstacles) (action-oriented)
- Monitor – evaluator (strategic, discerning, judges accurately) (thought-oriented)
- Team worker (cooperative, calms the waters) (people-Oriented)
- Implementer (disciplined, reliable, realises ideas) (action-oriented)
- Completer (conscientious, delivers on time) (action-oriented)
- Specialist (knowledge and skills in rare supply) (thought-oriented)
Are employees appointed to a role (Belbin) based on their ability or personality?
Within an organisation people are appointed to positions on the basis of their ability not their personality (HOWEVER this is not always the case, as many businesses do implement personality tests)
What do personal characteristics have to do with a fitting a work role (Belbin)?
The personal characteristics of an individual (e.g. personality) fit them to some roles within a team while limiting the extent to which they would be successful in others (unlikely to change roles, tends to be consistent)
