Final Exam - Managing Group and Organizations

Final Exam | Week 7-12 | Chapters 7, 8, 9, 11, 12 

Chapter 7: Groups and Teams

Key Concepts

1. Group Development Models

   • Tuckman’s Five Stages (Textbook + Slides):

     • Forming: Unclear roles; establishing relationships.

     • Storming: Conflict arises over leadership, roles, and goals.

     • Norming: Agreement on norms and responsibilities.

     • Performing: Team productivity and goal achievement.

     • Adjourning: Task completion and team disbandment.

   • Gersick’s Punctuated Equilibrium (Textbook):

     • Critical midpoint transition shifts team strategy for progress.

2. Group Structure 

   • Size: the best size for a group is ~5 members. Larger groups can reduce satisfaction and effectiveness (Textbook, Exhibit 7.3).

   • Diversity: Diverse groups foster innovation but require more time to integrate (Textbook, Ch.7, "Team Reflexivity").

3. Group Cohesiveness: 

   • Productivity improves when group norms align with organizational goals (Textbook, Exhibit 7.5).

4. Group Tasks

   • Additive Tasks: Sum of all members’ contributions (e.g., construction).

   • Disjunctive Tasks: Success depends on the strongest member.

   • Conjunctive Tasks: Performance limited by the weakest member.

5. Social Loafing (Slides + Textbook):

   • Reduced effort in groups due to anonymity and lack of accountability.

   • Solutions: Assign specific tasks, feedback, and smaller group sizes.

6. Team Effectiveness (Slides):

   • Clear goals, complementary skills, mutual trust, accountability, and good leadership.

Key Video: Build a Tower, Build a Team (Tom Wujec)

• Key Lessons:

  • Teams that prototype and iterate outperform teams that over-plan.

  • Kindergarteners perform better because they test solutions immediately.

  • Collaboration and iteration (prototyping) improve team performance.

  • Real-world application: Effective teams exhibit reflexivity, the ability to reflect on goals and strategies.

• Exam Focus: Why iteration and feedback improve team performance.

Key Exercise: NASA Exercise (Team-Building Simulation)

• Teams prioritize survival items after a simulated crash landing on the moon.

• Purpose:

  • Illustrates group decision-making dynamics and communication.

  • Shows the benefits of diverse perspectives.

• Key Takeaway: Groups often outperform individuals if communication and collaboration are effective.

Chapter 8: Social Influence, Conformity, and Socialization

Key Concepts Social Influence & Conformity (Textbook, Ch.8)

1. Social Influence: Members conform to norms due to:

• Information Dependence: Relying on others for knowledge.

• Effect Dependence: Seeking approval or avoiding disapproval

2. Conformity and Obedience

   • Asch’s Line Study: People conform to group norms even when wrong.

   • Milgram’s Study: Individuals obey authority figures, even if unethical.

     1. Individuals often follow authority figures, even unethically (Textbook, Exhibit 8.4).

3. Social Influence Types

   • Compliance: External rewards/punishments.

     1. Surface-level acceptance of norms.

   • Identification: Adopting behaviors of admired individuals.

     1. Conforming to likable role models.

   • Internalization: True acceptance of norms and values.

     1. True adoption of beliefs.

4. Stanford Prison Experiment: 

   • Demonstrates the dangers of power imbalances and role conformity (Textbook, Ch.8, Ethical Focus Box)

5. Bystander Effect

   • More bystanders = Less responsibility (diffusion of responsibility).

6. Proactive Socialization (Textbook):

   • Employees actively influence their onboarding by seeking feedback and clarifying roles.

Key Exercise: Harvard Implicit Bias Test

• Participants measure unconscious biases regarding race, gender, or other characteristics.

• Purpose:

  • Highlights biases that affect workplace interactions and decision-making.

• Key Takeaway: Awareness of unconscious biases can improve inclusivity and decision-making.

Chapters 9 & 12: Leadership, Power, and Women in Leadership

Key Concepts

1. Sources of Power (Textbook, Ch.12)

   • Legitimate: Formal authority.

   • Reward: Control over rewards.

   • Coercive: Control over punishment.

   • Expert: Knowledge or skills.

   • Referent: Respect or admiration.

2. Leadership Theories

   • Trait Theory: Leaders possess inherent traits 

     1. Traits like intelligence, extraversion, and emotional intelligence predict leadership 

   • Transformational Leadership: Visionary leaders inspire and develop followers.

     1. Charisma: Trust and vision.

     2. Inspirational Motivation: Aligning goals.

     3. Intellectual Stimulation: Promoting creativity.

     4. Individualized Consideration: Focusing on individual development.

3. Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) (Textbook):

   • Quality relationships between leaders and members impact performance and satisfaction.

4. Gender and Leadership (Slides + Textbook):

   • Women excel in transformational leadership styles but face systemic barriers like the glass ceiling.

   • Gender Differences

• Women: More transformational; rely on contingent rewards.

• Men: Often laissez-faire or directive.

• The Glass Ceiling: Structural barriers that limit women's progress in leadership roles (Textbook, Ethical Focus).

Key Video: Sheryl Sandberg – Why We Have Too Few Women Leaders

• Key Lessons:

  • Women face societal expectations, systemic biases, and internal barriers like self-doubt.

  • Solutions include mentorship, systemic change, and encouraging women to “lean in.”

  • Women face systemic biases and barriers, requiring structural and organizational reforms.

• Exam Focus: Why women remain underrepresented in leadership roles and strategies to address this issue.

Key Exercise: Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ)

• Assesses leadership style (e.g., transformational vs. transactional).

• Purpose: Identifies strengths and gaps in leadership behavior.

• Takeaway: Transformational leadership fosters higher motivation and performance.

Chapters 10 & 11: Decision-Making and Communication

Key Concepts

1. Decision-Making (Textbook, Ch.10)

• Rational Model: Structured decision-making in logical steps.

• Framing Effect:

  • People avoid risks in positive frames.

  • People take risks in negative frames.

2. Decision-Making Biases

• Escalation of Commitment: Continued investment in failing projects due to sunk costs.

• Groupthink: Pressure to conform suppresses dissent and creativity.

• Intuitive Decision-Making: Relying on experience rather than logic.

3. Communication Process (Slides + Textbook):

• Sender → Encoding → Channel → Noise → Receiver → Feedback.

4. Media Richness Theory (Textbook):

• High richness (face-to-face) vs. low richness (emails).

• Rich media are better for complex messages.

Key Video: Julian Treasure – How to Speak So People Want to Listen

• HAIL Framework:

  • Honesty, Authenticity, Integrity, Love.

• 7 Deadly Speaking Sins: Gossip, judging, negativity, excuses, exaggeration, dogmatism, complaining.

• Exam Focus: Communication techniques to engage and inspire audiences.

Key Exercise: Communication Styles Self-Assessment

• Identifies dominant communication styles (e.g., assertive, passive, aggressive).

• Purpose: Improves communication effectiveness in teams.

Chapter 12: Ethics and Socialization

Key Concepts

1. Socialization Process (Textbook, Ch.8)

   1. Anticipatory Socialization: Expectations before employment.

   2. Encounter Stage: Reality shock when joining.

   3. Role Management: Adapting to roles and organizational culture.

2. Organizational Culture

   1. Shapes norms, behaviors, and group conformity. Effective socialization reduces turnover and improves fit (Textbook, Applied Focus on Proactive Socialization).

3. Organizational Socialization

• Stages: Anticipatory → Encounter → Role Management.

• Socialization Tactics: Structured (institutionalized) vs. unstructured (individualized).

4. Ethical Decision-Making Models

• Consequentialist: Focus on outcomes (e.g., utilitarianism).

• Deontological: Focus on principles.

• Virtue Ethics: Emphasizes integrity and moral character.

5. Bounded Ethicality (Textbook):

• Individuals act unethically unintentionally due to biases like overconfidence and self-serving bias.

Key Video: Ethical Leadership at Work

• Key Lessons:

  • Ethical leaders promote trust and fairness.

  • Role modeling and communication influence ethical behavior.

Key Exercise: Ethical Dilemmas Scenarios

• Simulated ethical challenges requiring judgment (e.g., bribery, honesty in reporting).

Takeaway: Systematic thinking about moral consequences improves ethical decision-making. Participants will engage in discussions to analyze the scenarios and reflect on their own values and principles.