Groups and Teams

- True group: 2 or more people working together towards a common goal

○ Quality interactions

○ Self categorization

○ Social Structure

○ Mutual benefit

○ Common fate

- Models of group development: task and social

○ Tuckman's five stage model: arrow shaped

§ Forming: bring people together

§ Storming: who is doing what

§ Norming: developing unity

§ Performing: actually working towards the goal

§ Adjourning: Reaching the goal and the next steps

○ Pendular perspective: groups will go through this dynamic back and forth

§ Orientation: everyone gets along

§ Differentiation and conflict: some type of disagreement

§ Resolution and cohesion: worked through the conflict

§ Differentiation and conflict: cycle repeats

○ Punctuated equilibrium model: there will be periods of instability within the group due to external forces

- Romance of Teams: decide if the task requires teamwork or not

○ Make sure the right conditions are in place to increase the chances of success

○ Process loss: when 2 people are working together, you need to think about your interactions with the other person

- Types of group norms: things we expect from others in a social setting

○ Function: if the group is important, you're less likely to engage in deviant behavior

○ Descriptive norms: what are the people around us doing?

§ What is common?

○ Injunctive norms: if a certain behavior is encouraged or not

○ Informational: can see how we should be acting / doing

○ Integrative: behaviors members need to perform to fit in

- Group cohesion:

○ Multidimensional: beliefs of group unity

○ Dynamic: can change over time

○ Moderate to large effect between cohesion and performance

○ Collective efficacy: a team's confidence in their ability to perform well as a unit

§ Beliefs that are formed early can predict future performance

§ Performance

§ Commitment

§ Satisfaction

§ Burnout

○ Transactive memory: knowing who knows what

- Types of team conflict:

○ Task conflict

○ Process conflict

○ Relationship conflict

- Flaws in group decision making:

○ Planning fallacy: more optimistic at planning as a group

○ Group polarization: groups will end up even further on the side they started on

- Social loafing: not contributing personal time, effort, or resources to the group

- Common mistakes in team management:

○ Using teams when you don't need to

○ Putting people in a team setting but treating them as individuals

○ Creating a team and giving them free reign

○ Think about the context that the team will work in

○ Provide incentives / motivation

○ Not everyone can work together in a team setting

Conditions that optimize the chances of team success: getting the team on the right track early