BU288 Midterm 2

Group

Two or more people interacting independently to achieve a common goal

Formal Work Groups

Groups that are established by organizations to facilitate the achievement of organizational goals

Informal Groups

Emerge naturally in response to the common interests of organizational members

Cam either help or hurt an organization depending on behaviour norms

What are the three types of group tasks

Additive tasks
Disjunctive tasks
Conjunctive tasks

Additive tasks

Tasks in which group is dependent on the sum of the performance of individual group members

(ex. building a house)

Disjunctive tasks

Tasks in which group performance is dependent on the performance of the best group member

As group size increases, probability of a superior performer increases.

Conjunctive tasks

Tasks in which performance is limited by the performance of the poorest group member.

As size increases, the probability of including a weak link in the group goes up.

What are the five stages of group development?

forming, storming, norming, performing, adjourning

Forming

Group members try to orient themselves by "testing the waters"

Situation is often ambiguous, and members are aware of their dependency on each other

Storming

Confrontation and criticism occur as members determine whether they will go along with group development

Sorting out roles and responsibilities is often at issue

Norming

Members resolve the issues that provoked the storming, and they develop social consensus

Compromise is often necessary and the group becomes more cohesive

Performing

The group devotes its energies toward task accomplishment

Achievement, creativity, and mutual assistance are prominent themes at this stage

Adjourning

Rites and rituals that affirm the group's previous successful development are common (ex. ceremonies or parties)

Members often exhibit emotional support for each other

Punctuated Equilibrium Model

A model of group development that describes how groups with deadlines are affected by their first meetings and midpoint transitions

Phase 1 (Punctuated Equilibrium Model)

Time:
First meeting until midpoint

- Critical in agenda setting
- Group gathers information and holds meetings (makes little visible progress towards goals)

Midpoint Transition (Punctuated Equilibrium Model)

Time:
Halfway point in time toward group deadline

Marks a change in group approach, group activities are crystallized for Phase 2

Phase 2 (Punctuated Equilibrium Model)

Decisions and approaches adopted at the midpoint get played out

Concludes with a final meeting that reveals a burst of activity and a concern for how outsiders will evaluate the product

Group Size and Satifaction

Members of larger groups consistently report less satisfaction with group membership than those in smaller groups

As size increases, time available for verbal participation by each member decreases

Larger groups might prompt conflict and disagreement and individuals less easily indentify with successes of group

Process Losses

As groups performing tasks get bigger, they tend to experience performance difficulties (known as process losses) due to inabilities to motivate and coordinate larger groups

Potential performance and process losses increase with group size for additive and disjunctive tasks

Group Size and Performance

For additive and disjunctive tasks, larger groups might perform better up to a point but at increasing costs to the efficiency of individuals

Performance on purely conjunctive tasks decreases as group size increases

Groups and Diversity

Diverse groups have a more difficult time communicating effectively and becoming cohesive

Diverse groups may perform better on certain tasks requiring creativity and innovation

Social Norms

Collective expectations that members of social units have regarding the behaviour of each other

Roles

Positions in a group that have a set of expected behaviours attached to them

What are the two basic kinds of roles in organizations

Assigned roles
Emergent roles

Assigned Roles

Formally prescribed by an organization as a means of dividing labour and responsibility to facilitate task achievement

Emergent Roles

Roles that develop naturally to meet the social-emotional needs of group members or to assist in formal job accomplishment

Role Ambiguity

When the goals of one's job or the methods of performing it are unclear

What three elements can lead to role ambiguity?

Organizational factors (inherently ambiguous ex. middle managers)
The Role Sender (expectations ineffectively sent)
Focal Person (expectations now fully digested)

Consequences of Role Ambiguity and what can managers do about it

Job stress, dissatisfaction, reduced organizational commitment, lowered performance, and intentions to quit

Can be reduced by providing clear performance expectations and feedback

Role conflict

When an individual is faced with incompatible role expectations

What are the four types of role conflict

Intrasender role conflict
Intersender role conflict
Interrole conflict
Person-role conflict

Intrasender role conflict

A single role sender provides incompatible role expectations to a role occupant (also likely to provoke ambiguity = a)

Intersender role conflict

Two or more role senders provide a role occupant with incompatible expectations

Common for employees on boundary between organization and clients

Interrole Conflict

Several roles held by a role occupant involve incompatible expectations

(ex. conflict between one's work and family)

Person-role conflict

Role demands call for behaviour that is incompatible with the personality or skills of a role occupant

(ex. organization demands some behaviour that the occupant considers unethical)

Consequences of role conflict and how can managers reduce it

Job dissatisfaction, stress reactions, lowered organizational commitment, and turnover intentions

Managers can reduce it by conferring with other role senders, fitting the right role to each person, and avoiding contradictory messages

Status

Rank or social position one holds according to group's evaluation

Informal Status Systems

Not well advertised and lack symbols typical of formal status system

Linked to job performance as well as other factors like gender or race

Consequences of Status Differences

Most people communicate with others at or higher than their status

Large status differences can stall communication

Higher status people tend to do more talking however they may not be the most knowledgeable

Group Cohesiveness

The degree to which a group is attractive to its members

What are the factors influencing cohesiveness?

Threat and competition
Success
Member diversity
Size
Toughness of initiation

(Tatis, Soto, Machado, Stay, Tuff)

Threat and Competition (group cohesiveness)

External threats to group survival increases cohesiveness

Honest competition with other groups can promote cohesiveness (communication and coordination at hand)

Success (group cohesiveness)

Groups become more cohesive when they successfully accomplish an important goal

Member diversity (group cohesiveness)

Diverse groups have a harder time becoming cohesive than more homogenous ones

Size (group cohesiveness)

Larger groups have a harder time becoming and staying cohesive

Larger groups have more problems communicating and coordinating efforts

Toughness of Initiation (group cohesiveness)

Groups that are tough to get into tend to be more attractive than those that are easy to join

Consequences of cohesiveness

More participation in group activities (reduced absenteeism and a high degree of communication)

More conformity (cohesive group members more likely to engage in activities that maintain cohesiveness)

More success (cohesive groups are good at achieving their goals - highly productive if they accept organizational norms)

Social Loafing

The tendency to withhold physical or intellectual effort when performing a group task

More pronounced in individualistic cultures (North America) compared to collective cultures

Two forms of social loafing

Free rider effect and sucker effect

Free rider effect

People lower their effort to get a free ride at the expense of their fellow group members

The Sucker Effect

People lower their effort because of the feeling that others are free riding

What are some ways to counteract free riding?

Make individual performance more visible
Make sure that work is interesting
Increase feelings of indispensability
Increase performance feedback
Reward group performance

Collective Efficacy

Shared beliefs that a team can successfully perform a given task

Team Reflexivity

The extent to which teams deliberately discuss team processes/goals and adapt their behaviour accordingly

Group effectiveness - when does it occur?

High effort is directed toward the group's tasks
Great knowledge and skill are directed toward the task
The group adopts sensible strategies for accomplishing its goals

Self-managed teams

Groups with the opportunity to do challenging work under reduced supervision

(Tasks should be complex and challenging - requiring interdependence among team members for accomplishment)

How should self-managed teams be assembled to ensure effectiveness?

Stability (high cohesiveness, understanding and trust)
Size (as small as feasible)
Expertise (task expertise along with social skills)
Diversity (similar enough to work well but diverse enough to bring a variety of perspectives)

Main support factors for self-managed teams

Training
Rewards (tied to team accomplishment)
Management (coaching, mediating relations)

Cross-Functional Teams

Work groups that bring people with different functional specialties together to better invent, design, or deliver a product or service

Best known for success in product development

Factors that contribute to cross-functional team effectiveness

Composition
Superordinate (outcomes can only be achieved through collaboration)
Physical proximity
Autonomy
Rules and procedures
Leadership

Shared Mental Models

Team members share identical information about how they should interact and what their task is

Advantages of virtual teams

-around the clock work
- Reduced travel time and cost
-Larger talent pool

Challenges of virtual teams

Trust (lack of socialization)
Miscommunication
Isolation
Management Issues (dealing with subordinates no longer in view)

Motivation

The extent to which persistent effort is directed toward a goal

Four basic characteristics of motivation

Effort
Persistence
Direction
Goals

Intrinsic motivation

Motivation that stems from the direct relationship between the worker and the task

Usually self-applied (ex. felling of achievement)

Extrinsic Motivation

Motivation that stems from the work environment external to the task and is usually applied by others

(ex. pay)

Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic motivators

Extrinsic motivation - quantity of performance, better for mundane taks

Intrinsic motivation - quality of performance, better for complex tasks

Intrinsic motivation is a moderate-strong predictor of performance even when extrinsic rewards are present

General Cognitive Ability

A person's basic information-processing capacities and cognitive resources (process understand and learn information)

Predicts learning, training and job performance especially for complex jobs

Emotional Intelligence (EI)

The ability to understand and manage one's own and other's feelings and emotions

Four-Branch Model of Emotional Intelligence

Percieve emotions accurately
Using emotions to facilitate thinking
Understanding emotions
Managing emotions

(Pete, Uses, Underwear, Mainly)

Perceiving Emotions Accurately (4 Branch Model of EI)

The ability to accurately identify one's own emotions and the emotions of others (ex. faces, non-verbal behaviour)

Most basic level of EI, necessary for all other steps in the model

Using Emotions to Facilitate Thinking (4 Branch Model of EI)

The ability to use emotions to guide and facilitate one's thinking and reasoning

Understanding Emotions, Emotional Language and Emotional Signals (4 Branch Model of EI)

Understanding emotional determinants and consequences as well as how emotions evolve over time

Managing Emotions to Attain Goals (4 Branch Model of EI)

The ability to manage one's own emotions and feeling

Emotional Intelligence: Research

-EI predicts job performance above Big Five personality dimensions

-Most strongly related to job performance in jobs requiring high levels of emotional labour (as well as those with less cognitive ability)

Motivation-Performance Relationship

Not directly correlated - possible for performance to be low even if a person is highly motivated

If employees have low cognitive ability and EI, performance will still be low regardless of motivation

Needs Theories of Work Motivation

Theories that are concerned with what motivates workers based on their needs

Three prominent need theories of work motivation

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
Alderfer's ERG Theory
McClelland's Theory of Needs

What are the components of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

Physiological needs, safety needs, belongingness needs, esteem needs, self-actualization needs

(Peter, Sends, Baseballs, Every, Saturday)

Physiological Needs

Needs that must be satisfied for the person to survive

Organizational factors:
-Minimum pay needed for survival

Safety Needs

Needs for security, stability, freedom from anxiety, and a structured and ordered environment

Organizational factors:
-Safe working conditions
-Job security
-Pension and insurance

Belongingness Needs

Needs for social interaction, affection, love, companionship, and friendship

Organizational factors:
-Opportunity to interact with others
-Opportunity for teamwork

Esteem Needs

Needs for feelings of adequacy, competence, confidence, and the recognition of these characteristics by others

Organizational factors:
-Opportunity to master tasks
-Awards,promotions, professional recognition

Self-Actualization Needs

The desire to develop one's true potential in a manner than is most personally fulfilling

Organizational factors:
-Relaxation of structure to promote self-development and personal progression

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

-Lowest-level unsatisfied need category has the greatest motivating potential

-Satisfied needs are no longer effective motivators (move up the pyramid)

-Self-actualization needs are only exception (becomes stronger with gratification)

Alderfer's ERG Theory

-Existence needs
-Relatedness needs
-Growth needs

-The more lower-level needs are gratified, themore higher-level need satisfaction is desired.

-The less higher-level needs are gratified, the morelower-level need satisfaction is desired.

Existence Needs (ERG Theory)

Needs that are satisfied by some material substance or condition (Ex. safe working conditions)

(Physiological needs and safety needs)

Relatedness Needs (ERG Theory)

Needs satisfied by open communication and the exchange of thoughts and feelings with others (Ex. open honest interaction)

(Belongingness and Esteem needs)

Growth Needs (ERG Theory)

Needs that are fulfilled by strong personal involvement in the work setting (Ex. full utilization of one's skills)

(Self-actualization needs)

Alderfer's ERG Theory vs. Maslow's Theory

Agreement with Maslow:
- As lower-level needs satisfied desire for higher-level needs increases
-Growth needs become more desired as they are fulfilled

Differs from Maslow:
-Does not assume lower-level needs must be gratified first
-Unsatisfied higher-level needs increase the desire for gratification of lower-level needs

McClleland's Theory of Needs

Outlines the conditions under which certain needs result in particular patterns of motivation

-Need for Achievement
-Need for Affiliation
-Need for Power

(Adam, Ate, Potatoes)

Need for Achievement (McClelland)

A strong desire to perform challenging tasks well

Individuals with high need for achievement
- Desire for performance feedback
-Personal responsibility taken for outcomes

(Ex. sales jobs, entrepreneurship)

Need for Affiliation (McClelland)

A strong desire to establish and maintain friendly, compatible interpersonal relationships

People with high need for affiliation
-Learn social networking quickly
-Avoid conflict with others

(ex. Social work, customer relations)

Need for Power (McClelland)

A strong desire to influence others, making a significant impact or impression

(Ex. journalism, management)

Most effective managers (McClelland's Theory of Needs)

-Low need for affiliation
-High need for power
-Can direct the power toward organizational goals

Managerial Implications of Need Theories

Appreciate diversity
- Employees have different needs so managers must offer goals and incentives that respond to them

Appreciate Intrinsic Motivation
-Ensure lower-level needs are met to ensure workers are more stimulated and challenged by their work

Self-Determination Theory (SDT)

If three psychological needs are met motivation will be autonomous:

- Competence (feeling mastery)
- Autonomy
-Relatedness (connected to others)

(CAR)

Autonomous Motivation (SDT)

Self-motivation or intrinsic motivation that occurs when people feel they are in control of their motivation

Controlled motivation (SDT)

People are motivated to obtain a desired consequence or extrinsic reward