Groups & Teams

Groups & Teams 

Group: two or more people, interacting and interdependent, who come together to achieve particular objectives 

Formal groups: organization structure with designated work assignments 

  • Behaviors are stipulated by and directed toward organizational goals 

  • Ex. Airline flight crew 

Informal groups: neither formally structured or organizationally determined 

  • Natural formations in work environment due to need for social contact 

  • Ex. Lunch buddies 

People join groups for... 

  • Security 

  • Status 

  • Self-esteem 

  • Affiliation 

  • Power 

  • Goal achievement 

Stages of group development (stage model) 

 

1. Forming: period of uncertainty 

2. Storming: period of intragroup conflict, jockey for roles 

3. Norming: cohesiveness, differences are resolved, and expectations align 

4. Performing: fully functional, focus on task at hand 

5. Adjourning: optional: disbandment 

Punctuated-Equilibrium Model: characterizes groups as exhibiting long periods of inertia interspersed with brief revolutionary changes triggered primarily by their members awareness of time and deadlines 

  • Teams develop through the sudden formation, maintenance, and sudden revision of a “framework for performance” 

  • Common for temporary groups with a deadline 

Phase 1: 

  • Direction is set 

  • State of intertia – direction is fixed 

Transition: initiates major changes 

  • Burst of change – drop old/adopt new patterns 

  • Sets up the stage for phase 2 

Phase 2: 2nd state of intertia 

  • Last meeting accelerates activity 

  • Execution for final closure 

 

 

 

The relationship between the two models is complementary. They co-exist. The punctuated equilibrium model focuses on how a team works on a specific task with deadlines, whereas the stage models focus on the overall development of the team. 

Group properties: work groups have properties that shape the behavior of individuals in the group 

  • Group roles: sets of expected behavior patterns 

  • Group norms: acceptable standards of behavior 

  • Group status: socially defined position or rank 

  • Group size: number of people in the group 

  • Group cohesiveness: degree to which members are attracted to each other 

Group roles: a set of expected behavior patterns attributed to an individual in a group 

  • Role perception: individual view of how to act in a given situation (how we perceive) 

  • Role expectation: how others believe one should act in a given situation (how others perceive) 

  • Role conflict: when an individual is confronted with divergent role expectations 

Dark side of group roles: 

Zimbardo’s prison experiment: randomly assigned students as prisoners or guards, all individuals assimilated into the “typical role” of these positions 

  • Guards become abusive toward the prisoners 

  • Prisoners become submissive 

  • Guards began to think of the prisoners are dangerous 

  • Personality: individuals can rapidly assimilate new roles very different from their inherent personalities 

 

Group norms: an acceptable standard of behavior within a group that is shared by group members 

  • Norms can influence individual behavior by providing explicit cues about the group’s expectations 

  • How hard members should work 

  • How to do the job 

  • What level of tardiness is appropriate 

  • Examples: do golfers speak when a different player is putting? Dress code, professional behavior, etc.  

Dark side of norms: 

Conformity: adjusting one’s behavior to align with the group 

  • Individuals conform to the important groups to which they belong or hope to belong 

  • However, all groups do not impose equal conformity pressures on their members 

  • Important groups are referred to as reference groups. 

  • Ex. The video of the woman standing up, brain games. 

Has time altered the validity of these findings of nearly 50 years ago, and are they generalizable across culture? 

  • There have been changes in the level of conformity over time. Levels of conformity have steadily declined. 

  • Findings are culture-bound. 

  • Conformity to social norms is higher in collectivist cultures than in individualistic cultures. 

The reference group is characterized as... 

  • The one where the person is aware of the others 

  • The person defines himself or herself as a member or would like to be a member. 

  • And the person feels that the group members are significant to him/her. 

Group status: socially defined position or rank given to groups or group members 

  • Status characteristic theory: status is derived from one of three sources: 

  • Power to influence others 

  • Ability to contribute to a group's goals 

  • Personal characteristics 

Potential dark-side of status: 

  • High status people are more abusive and critical 

  • Status differences may inhibit diversity of ideas and creativity 

  • Lower status individuals are less active participants 

Group size: the number of people in the group 

  • Completing tasks; small is better 

  • Solving problems; large is better 

 

Dark side of group size: 

Social loafing: the tendency for people to expend less effort when working collectively than when working individually 

Ringelmann effect: when people are in groups, individuals slacken 

  • Max Ringelmann has people pulling on a rope (Tug of War) 

How managers can reduce social loafing: 

  • Set group goals 

  • Increase intergroup competition 

  • Use peer evaluation 

  • Reward individual contributions 

Group cohesiveness: the degree to which group members are attracted to each other and are motivated to remain in the group 

  • If performance norms are high, cohesive groups are more productive 

  • If performance norms are low, cohesive groups are less productive 

What can managers do to increase cohesiveness? 

  • Make groups smaller 

  • Encourage agreement with group goals 

  • Increase the time members spend together 

  • Increase group status and barriers to entry 

  • Stimulate intergroup competition 

  • Give group, rather than individual, rewards 

  • Physically isolate the group