BADM 3740 - Groups and Teams

Group

Two or more people who interact, depend on one another, and come together to achieve particular objectives

Dependence

Relying on other people to get what you want or need

Independence

Relying on yourself to get what you want or need

Interdependence

Cooperating with others to meet both your needs and their needs

Informal Group

A group that forms naturally because people want social contact (making friends)

Formal Group

A group created by an organization, with assigned work directed toward organizational goals (airline flight crew)

Why Do People Join Groups

Security, status, self-esteem, affiliation (need for connections), power, and goal achievement

Team

Two or more people who worked interdependently over time to accomplish shared goals related to a task

What 3 Features Distinguish Teams from Groups?

Deeper interdependence, shared goals, and a task-oriented purpose

Work Group

Interacts primarily to share information and to make decisions to help each group member perform within their area of responsibility '

-Share information, neutral (sometimes negative) synergy, individual accountability, random and varied skills

Work Team

Individual efforts result in a performance that is greater than the sum of the individual inputs

-Collective performance, positive synergy, individual and mutual accountability, complementary skills

When Does Creating a Team Make Sense?

When work is complex and needs different perspectives, members share a common purpose beyond individual goals, and their tasks are interdependent

Group Roles

Expected patterns of behavior associated with an individual’s position in a group

Group Properties

Shape the behavior of individual group members

-Roles, Norms, Status, Size, Cohesiveness

Role Perception

How you believe you should behave in a particular role

Role Expectation

How others believe you should behave in a particular role

Role Conflict

Role expectation and perception DO NOT align

Potential Dark Side of Group Roles

People may quickly adopt behaviors associated with a role that differ greatly from their usual personality

What Did the Stanford Prison Experiment Illustrate?

The potential influence of assigned roles on behavior (guards = aggressive, prisoners = submissive)

Group Norms

Shared standards for acceptable behavior within a group

-How to do jobs? How hard to work? How they interact?

Conformity

Adjusting your behavior to match the group

Reference Group

A group whose norms strongly influence someone because its members matter to them, membership is part of their identity, or they want to belong

Potential Dark Side of Group Norms

Pressure to conform can cause members to follow group expectations even when those expectations encourage poor behavior or performance

Group Status

Social formed positions or ranks among group members

Three Sources of Group Status

Power over others or outcomes, ability to contribute to group goals, and personal characteristics valued by the group

Potential Dark Side of Group Status

-High-status members may dominate, criticize others, or break norms

-Lower-status members may stay silent even when they have useful expertise

How Does Group Size Affect Effectiveness?

-Smaller groups are better at completing tasks

-Larger groups are better at solving problems

As group size increases, obtained output of potential performance actually decreases

Social Loafing

Putting in less effort when working collectively than when working individually

Ringelmann Effect

Individual productivity decreases as group size increases (tug of war; people pulled with less force with more people)

How Can Managers Reduce Social Loafing?

-Set challenging group goals

-Increase competition between groups

-Use peer evaluations

-Reward individual contributions

Group Cohesiveness

How attracted member are to one another and how motivated they are to remain in the group

USUALLY POSITIVE OUTCOMES

How do cohesiveness and performance norms interact?

-Cohesiveness reinforces the group’s norms

-High performance norms = more productive

-Low performance norms = less productive

How Can Managers Increase Cohesiveness?

-Make group smaller and isolate them from others; increase time spent together

-Encourage agreement with group goals

-Stimulate intergroup competition; give group rewards

Group Decision-Making

Members gather and consider ideas, contribute different perspectives, and make recommendations to a final decision-maker

Advantages of Group Decision-Making

-More complete information and knowledge

-More diverse viewpoints

-Greater acceptance of the solution

Disadvantages of Group-Decision Making

-Takes time, conformity pressures

-May be dominated by high-status members with low ability

-Leaves responsibilities unclear

Group Verm

Groups Versus Individuals: Decision Accuracy

-More accurate than individuals; may be less accurate than their most accurate member

Group Versus Individuals: Creativity, Acceptance, and Speed

-Groups offer greater creativity and acceptance

-INDIVIDUALS MAKE DECISIONS FASTER.

Groupthink

Group pressure causes members to prioritize agreement over openly questioning and evaluating a decision

Symptoms of Groupthink

-Members pressure those who disagree

-Those with doubt remain silent

-Group develops an illusion that everyone agrees

Illusion of Unanimity

Assuming everyone agrees because people with doubts do not speak up

Why Might Members Suppress Disagreement During Groupthink?

They want to maintain a positive image of the group

How Can Managers Reduce Groupthink?

-Monitor group size, keep leaders impartial

-Actively seek everyone’s input

-Appoint a devil’s advocate

Devil’s Advocate

Someone who argue an alternative position to encourage debate and deeper examination, even if they do not personally agree with that position

Why Are Teams So popular?

-Outperform individuals, better utilize employee talents and facilitate employee involvement

-More impressive and adaptable; effective way to democratize an organization and increase motivation

Problem-Solving Team

Employees who meet to address particular issues

Self-Managed Work Team

Employees with highly interdependent jobs who take on responsibilities traditionally handled by supervisors

Cross-functional team

Employees from different work areas who come together to accomplish a task

Virtual Team

A team that uses technology to connect members in different physical locations to achieve a shared goal

Punctuated-Equilibrium Model

Explains how temporary groups with deadlines experience periods of relatively stable activity interrupted by a major change at the midpoint

Punctuated-Equilibrium: Phase 1

First meeting establishes the group’s direction; followed by inertia (group continues with its initial approach)

Punctuated-Equilibrium: Midpoint Transition

-Halfway through the available time

-Major changes: dropping old patterns and adopting new ones

Punctuated-Equilibrium: Phase 2

-Group follows revised approach through another period of inertia

-Accelerates activity near the final meeting to complete the work

Tuckman’s Stages of Team Development

-Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing, and Adjourning

-Team effectiveness based on how teams come together and develop roles, norms, cohesiveness, and other characteristics needed for high performance

Forming

-Members get acquainted and orient themselves to the team

-2nd lowest performance

Storming

-Members experience tension, conflict, competition, and disagreements about how to work

-LOWEST PERFORMANCE

Norming

-Members resolve conflicts, establish shared norms, build trust, and clarify roles and responsibilities

Performing

-Works cooperatively and cohesively at a high level

-HIGHEST PERFORMANCE

Adjourning

Team dissolves or reorganizes after its work ends

Four Categories of Team Effectiveness

Context, composition, work design, and process

Team Context

-The conditions supporting a team: Adequate resources, appropriate leadership and structure, trust, and GROUP evaluation and reward systems

-PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY

Psychological Safety

A climate where members feel safe speaking up, asking questions, and expressing concerns without fear of embarrassment or punishment

Team Composition

Who belongs to the team: their abilities, personalities, assigned roles, diversity, number, and preferences for teamwork

The Abilities Needed for Effective Teams

Technical expertise, problem-solving skills, decision-making skills, and interpersonal skills

Which Personality Traits Relate to Team Performance?

Conscientiousness, openness to experience, and agreeableness

How Should Central Team Roles Be Assigned?

Give them to members who are especially capable, experience, and conscientious

How Does Diversity Affect Team Performance Over Time?

Diverse teams may perform worse initially, but typically outperform homogenous teams over time

Recommended Team Size

5-9 members

Why Do Member Preferences Matter?

-Not everyone prefers teamwork

-Allowing some people to choose individual work can improve the fit between people and their responsibilities

Team Work Design

-How the work is structured

-Skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and feedback

Skill Variety

Work requires different abilities and talents

Task Identity

The work has an identifiable whole or clear endpoint; team knows when task is accomplished

Task Significance

The work is meaningful and impactful

Autonomy

The team has freedom to decide how to carry out its work

Feedback

Clear, direct information about the team’s performance

Team Process

How members work together: Common plan and purpose, specific goals, team efficacy, conflict management, and efforts to minimize social loafing

Common Plan and Purpose

A shared understanding of the overall goal and the strategies for achieving it

Specific Goals

They break overall purpose into clear targets, make progress easier to track, and support communication and feedback

Team Efficacy

A team’s shared belief that it can succeed, which motivates members to work harder

Task Conflict

Disagreement about the work itself; stimulates discussion and improves decisions

Relational Conflict

Personal tension or interpersonal disagreement that hinders team performance

How Can Team Processes Minimize Social Loafing?

Clearly communicate which responsibilities belong to individuals and which are shared by the team