Chapter 7: Groups and Teams

Results of Interpersonal Relations

• Need Satisfaction

• Social Support

• Synergy

• Conflict

Group

Two or more people who interact with one another such that each person influences and is influenced by each other person.

Teams

An interdependent collection of at least two individuals who share a common goal and share accountability for the team’s as well as their own outcomes.

Categorization of Groups

• Formal

• Informal

Formal Groups

• Command

• Task

• Affinity

Informal Groups

Established by its members.

• Friendship

• Interest

Task Group

A formal group formed by an organization to do its work

Command Group

A relatively permanent, formal group with functional reporting relationships and is usually included in the organization chart

Affinity Group

Collections of employees from the same level in the organization who meet on a regular basis to share information, capture emerging opportunities, and solve problems

Friendship Group

Is relatively permanent and informal and draws its benefits from the social relationships among its members

Interest Group

Is relatively temporary and informal and is organized around a common activity or interest of its members

Functional Team

A team whose members come from the same department or function area.

Cross-functional Team

A team whose members come from different departments or functional areas.

Problem-solving Teams

Teams established to solve problems and make improvements at work.

Self-directed Teams

• Teams that set their own goals and pursue them in ways decided by the team.

  • Work in companies that are not that structured (start-up companies)

  • High in autonomy (employees are involved and motivated)

  • Employees should be competent = not competent employees will experience burnout

Venture Teams

• Teams that operate semi-autonomously to create and develop new products (product development teams), processes (process design teams), or businesses (venture teams).

  • Start-up within the business

  • Example: Owner of Bubble Tea Station is also the owner of Scoops and Mono Café

Virtual Teams

• Teams of geographically and/or organizationally dispersed coworkers who communicate using the Internet and other information technologies.

  • Can come from the same or different countries.

Global Teams

• Teams with members from different countries.

  • Can work both virtual and face-toface (headquarters).

Group Performance Factors

• Group Composition

• Group Size

• Group Norms

• Group Cohesiveness

Group Composition

• The degree of similarity or difference among group members on factors important to the group’s work.

Homogeneity

Degree to which members are similar in one or several ways that are critical to the group’s work.

Heterogeneity

Degree to which members differ in one or more ways that are critical to the group’s work.

Variables relating to group composition

• Productivity

• Type of task

• Organizational diversity

Group Size

• Number of members of the group

• Affects resources available to perform the task

• Affect degree of formalization of interactions, communication, and participation

• Can increase social loafing

Social loafing

The tendency of some members of groups to put forth less effort in a group than they would when working alone.

Factors that determine ideal group size

• Group members’ ability to interact and influence each other (maturity of the group)

• Maturity of individual group members

• Group tasks

• Ability of the group leader to deal with communication, conflict, task activities`

Group Norms

• A standard against which the appropriateness of a behavior is judged.

• Determine behavior expected in a certain situation.

• Are enforced only for actions that are important to group members.

Group norms result from:

• Personality characteristics of members

• The situation

• The historical traditions of the group

Purposes of Norms

• Help the group survive

• Simplify and increase predictability of expected behaviors of group members.

• Help the group to avoid embarrassing situations.

• Express the group’s central values for membership identification and identify the group to others.

Group Cohesiveness

• The extent to which a group is committed to staying together.

• A group cannot exist and function if there is no cohesion.

• Results from forces acting on the members

  • Attraction to the group

  • Resistance to leaving the group

  • Motivation to remain a member of the group

Informal Leader

A person who engages in leadership activities but whose right to do so has not been formally recognized by the organization or group.

Four-Stage Development Process of Groups

1. Mutual Acceptance

2. Communication and Decision-Making

3. Motivation and Productivity

4. Control and Organization

Mutual Acceptance

Characterized by members’ sharing information about themselves and getting to know one another

Communication and Decision-Making

Members discuss their feelings more openly and agree on group goals and individual roles in the group.

Motivation and Productivity

Members cooperate, help one another, and work toward accomplishing tasks

Control and Organization

The group is mature; members work together and are flexible, adaptive, and self-correcting

Characteristics of Groups

• Members may identify a little or not at all with the group’s goal

• Members may satisfy needs just by being members

• Behavior of individuals both affects and is affected by the group

• Accomplishments of groups are strongly influenced by the behavior of their individual members

• The work group is the primary means by which managers coordinate individuals’ behavior to achieve organizational goals

Process Gain

Performance improvements that occur because people work together rather than independently

Process Loss

Performance decrements that occur when a team performs worse than the individual members would have if they had worked alone

Team Efficacy

A team’s shared belief that it can organize and execute the behaviors necessary to reach its goals

How to promote process gains?

1. Develop and promote team efficacy

2. Build trust among team members

3. Precent social loafing

4. Keep team size small

5. Establish clear roles

6. Establish positive norms

7. Create shared team goals

8. Tie team rewards to team performance

Trust

Confidence that other people will honor their commitments, especially when it is difficult to monitor or observe the other people’s behavior.

Social Facilitation

Happens when people are motivated to look good to others and want to maintain a positive self-image.

Team members comply with team norms…

• To avoid punishments and receive awards

• To imitate team members whom they like and admire;

• Because they have internalized the norm and believe it is the appropriate way to behavior

Implementation Phases

• Start-up

• Reality and Unrest

• Leader-centered teams

• Tightly formed teams

• Self-managing teams

Start-up

• Select and train members

• Identify the team boundaries

• Adjust preliminary plan to fit the particular team situation

Reality and Unrest

• Managers; roles

• Provide encouragement

• Monitor team performance

• Act as intermediaries between teams

• Help teams acquire needed resources

• Foster the right type of communication

• Protect teams from those who want to see them fail

Leader-centered Teams

• Encourage strong internal team leaders.

• Assist each team in development of its own sense of identity.

Tightly Formed Teams

• Keep communication channels with other teams open.

• Provide performance feedback.

• Transfer authority/responsibility to team members.

Self-managing Teams

• Keeping teams on track.

• Continue job-team-interpersonal skill training.

• Improve support systems for facilitations for team development and productivity.

• Improve internal customer/supplier relationships.

Promoting Effective Performance

1. Top Management Support

2. Understanding Time Frames

3. Changing Organizational Rewards

Skill-based Pay

Require team members to acquire a set of the core skills needed for their particular team plus additional special skills, depending on career tracks or team needs.

Gain-sharing Systems

Usually reward all team members from all teams based on the performance of the organization, division, or plant.

Team Bonus Plans

Similar to gain-sharing plans except that the unit of performance and pay is the team rather than a plant, a division, or the entire organization

Teamwork Competencies

1. Conflict resolution abilities

2. Collaborative problem-solving abilities

3. Communication abilities

4. Goal-setting and self-management abilities

5. Planning and task coordination abilities

Conflict resolution abilities

• The ability to recognize and encourage desirable and discourage undesirable team conflict

• The ability to recognize the type and source of conflict confronting the team and implement an appropriate resolution strategy

• The ability to employ an integrative (win– win) negotiation strategy, rather than the traditional distributive (win– lose) strategy

Collaborative problem-solving abilities

• The ability to identify situations requiring participative group problem solving and to utilize the proper degree and type of participation

• The ability to recognize the obstacles to collaborative group problem solving and implement appropriate corrective actions

Communication abilities

• The ability to communicate openly and supportively

• The ability to listen objectively and to appropriately use active listening techniques

• The ability to maximize the congruence between nonverbal and verbal messages and to recognize and interpret the nonverbal messages of others

• The ability to engage in small talk and ritual greetings and a recognition of their importance

Goal-setting and self-management abilities

• The ability to help establish specific, challenging, and accepted team goals

• The ability to provide constructive feedback

Planning and task coordination abilities

• The ability to coordinate and synchronize activities, information, and tasks among team members

• The ability to help establish task and role assignments for individual team members and ensure proper balancing of workload

Four ethical issues are especially important in teams

1. How do teams fairly distribute work?

2. How do teams assign blame and award credit?

3. How do teams ensure participation, resolve conflict, and make decisions?

4. How do teams avoid deception and corruption?

Team Contract

A written agreement among team members establishing ground rules about the team’s processes, roles, and accountabilities.

Important Leadership Skills in Virtual Project Team / Distance Management Situations

• Communicating effectively and matching technology to the situation: Collaborative online tools help virtual teams manage files, meetings, and task assignments.

• Building community among team members based on mutual trust, respect, affiliation, and fairness: Effective leaders solicit and value the contributions of all team members, and consistently treat all team members with respect and fairness.

• Establishing a clear and motivating shared vision, team purpose, goals, and expectations: Subtle messages, such as quietly reminding someone not to attack ideas during a brainstorming session, are powerful tools in shaping virtual team norms.

• Leading by example and focusing on measurable results: Effective virtual leaders set clear goals and make clear task assignments. The leaders then hold team members accountable for them.

• Coordinating and collaborating across organizational boundaries: Virtual team leaders need to work effectively with people in multiple organizations and with free agents and alliance partners who are not employees of the leader’s organization.

Diversity and Multicultural Teams

• Direct versus Indirect Communication

• Differing Attitudes toward Hierarchy and Authority

• Conflicting Decision-Making Norms