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Lesson#25
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GROUP and TEAM CONCEPT
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GROUP & TEAM CONCEPT
Groups Dynamics:
Work groups are the basic building blocks of an organization. Work groups
use roles, rules, and norms
to control their members’ behavior, and they use several socialization tactics
to turn newcomers into
effective group members. Groups contribute to organizational effectiveness when
group goals are
aligned with organizational goals.
Groups and Teams: A group is defined as two or more individuals,
interacting and interdependent,
who have come together to achieve particular objectives.
A group is a set of two or more people who interact with each other to
achieve certain goals or meet
certain needs.
A team is a formal work group in which there is a high level of
interaction among group members who
work intensely together to achieve a common goal. A group whose members work
intensely with each
other to achieve a specific, common goal or objective is known as Team. All
teams are groups but not
all groups are teams.
– Teams often are difficult to form.
– It takes time for members to learn how to
work together.
A group/team is effective when it satisfies three criteria:
o Production output: the product
of the group’s work must meet or exceed standards of quality
and quantity
o Member satisfaction:
membership in the group must provide people with short-term
satisfaction and facilitate their long-term growth and development
o Capacity for continued
cooperation: how the group completes a task should maintain or
enhance the group’s ability to work together; groups that don’t cooperate cannot
survive
Groups versus Teams:
_ All teams are groups
_ Some groups are just people
assembled together
_ Teams have task
interdependence whereas some groups do not..
Why Do People Join Groups?
• Security
• Status
• Social needs
• Power
• Goal Achievement
Types of Groups: There are many types of groups in organizations, and
each type plays an important
role in determining organizational effectiveness.
a. Managers establish formal work groups to help the organization achieve
its goals. The goals of a
formal work group are determined by the needs of the organization.
b. Informal work groups emerge naturally in organizations because
organizational members
perceive that membership in a group will help them achieve their goals or meet
their needs.
Types of Formal Work Groups. Types include;
Command group: a collection of subordinates who report to the same
supervisor.
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1. Command groups are based on the basic reporting relationships in
organizations and are frequently
represented on organizational charts as departments.
2. These groups have a profound effect on the extent to which an organization is
able to achieve its
goals.
A task force is a collection of people who come together to accomplish a
specific goal. Once the goal
has been accomplished, the task force is usually disbanded.
1. A standing committee or task groups are task forces that may be enduring
(though members may
change) or permanent in nature.
A team is a formal work group in which there is a high level of
interaction among group members who
work intensely together to achieve a common group goal.
1. A cross-functional team consists of groups of people from different
departments such as
engineering, marketing, and finance.
Types of Informal Work Groups.
A friendship group is a collection of organizational members who enjoy
each other’s company and
socialize with each other (often both on and off the job).
Members of an organization form interest groups when they have a common
goal or objective (related
to their organizational membership) that they are trying to achieve by uniting
their efforts.
Group Productivity:
_ Synergy is a
biological term referring to an action of two or more substances that result in
an effect
that is more than the mere summation of the individual substances; the whole is
more than the sum
of its parts (2 + 2 = 5).
_ Process loss is the
difference between what is actually produced by a group and what could have
been produced by the group when you consider its inputs (2 + 2 = 3).
Characteristics of a Well-Functioning, Effective Group:
o Relaxed, comfortable, informal
atmosphere
o Task well understood & accepted
o Members listen well & participate
o People express feelings & ideas
o Conflict & disagreement center around
ideas or methods
o Group aware of its operation &
function
o Consensus decision making
o Clear assignments made & accepted
Groups’ and Teams’ Contributions to Organizational Effectiveness:
Teams:
Teams are groups with greater interdependence--shared purpose and destiny.
Can be higher performing
than groups, but may not be...
Why Have Teams Become So Popular?
• Teams typically outperform individuals.
• Teams use employee talents better.
• Teams are more flexible and responsive to changes in the environment.
• Teams facilitate employee involvement.
• Teams are an effective way to increase motivation.
_ Twenty years ago, it made
news because no one else was doing it. Today, it is the organization
that does not use teams that has become newsworthy.
_ The current popularity of
teams seems based on the evidence that teams typically outperform
individuals when the tasks being done require multiple skills, judgment, and
experience.
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_ As organizations have
restructured, they have turned to teams to better utilize employee talents.
_ The motivational properties of
teams = significant factor. The role of employee involvement as
a motivator—teams facilitate employee participation in operating decisions.
“It’s easy to get players. Gettin’
‘em to play together, that’s the hard part,.”
Casey Stengel
Deciding When to Use a Team:
Always use a team when many perspectives are needed and acceptance of
decision is critical and you
need more options to take the decision. Use team when the problem is complex and
unstructured and
you need to get advice and suggestions to solve the problem. When individuals
judgments are
unreliable and individuals are unwilling to take necessary risks.
Be Cautious About Using a Team When:
o The issue is unimportant
o Individuals don’t want to participate
o Individual risk preferences are too
high
o Time is of the essence
o Group norms are unacceptable
Crucial Activities for Team: An employee’s success is no longer defined
in terms of individual
performance. To perform well as team members, individuals must be able to
communicate openly and
honestly, to confront differences and resolve conflicts, and to sublimate
personal goals for the good of
the team. The challenge of creating team players will be greatest where:
o The national culture is highly
individualistic.
o The teams are being introduced into
an established organization that has historically valued
individual achievement.
On the other hand, the challenge for management is less demanding when teams are
introduced where
employees have strong collectivist values or in new organizations that use teams
initially for organizing
work.
o Get Organized
o Maintain Communications
o Fix Obvious Problems
o Document Progress, Problems, and
Rationale
o Have a process in place for major
team decisions
Dealing with Problem Behaviors: Unlike written rules, which are formal
descriptions of actions and
behaviors required by a group or Organization, group norms are informal rules of
conduct for behaviors
that are considered important by most group members; often, they are not put in
writing. Groups
enforce their norms by rewarding members who conform to the norm by behaving in
the specified
manner and punishing members who deviate from the norm.
o When members share a common idea of
acceptable behavior, they can monitor each other’s
behavior to make sure they are following the group’s norms.
o When norms exist, group members do
not have to waste time thinking about what to do in a
particular situation; norms guide their actions and specify how they should
behave.
o When people share common norms, they
can predict how others will behave in certain situations
and thus anticipate one another’s actions.
o Choose team members carefully.
o Offer training.
o Provide clear goals.
o Clearly define member
responsibilities.
o Use peer evaluations.
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o Reward superior performance.
o Don’t let social considerations
overwhelm concern with the task.
o Remove problem team members as a last
resort.
Developing Effective Teams: Team always plays a dynamic role in the
organizational development. It
is a responsibility of a leader to develop an effective team for achievement of
organization goals.
Introduction
o Two caveats:
First, teams differ in form and structure—be careful not to rigidly apply
the model’s predictions to all
teams. Second, the model assumes that it is already been determined that
teamwork is preferable over
individual work. Four key components:
o Contextual influences
o Team’s composition
o Work design
o Process variables
Context
1. Adequate Resources
• All work teams rely on resources
outside the group to sustain it.
• A scarcity of resources directly reduces
the ability of the team to perform its job effectively.
• As one set of researchers concluded,
“perhaps one of the most important characteristics of an
effective work group is the support the group receives from the organization.’’
2. Leadership and Structure
o Agreeing on the specifics of work
and how they fit together to integrate individual skills
requires team leadership and structure.
o Leadership is not always needed.
Self-managed work teams often perform better than
teams with formally appointed leaders.
o Influence team performance:
o The leader’s expectations and his or
her mood.
o Leaders who expect good things from
their team are more likely to get them!
3. Performance Evaluation and Reward Systems
o How do you get team members to be
both individually and jointly accountable? The
traditional, individually oriented evaluation and reward system must be modified
to reflect
team performance.
o Individual performance evaluations,
fixed hourly wages, individual incentives are not
consistent with the development of high-performance teams.
Is it true that
everyone’s
responsibility is, in
reality, nobody’s
responsibility?
-- Anonymous
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o Management should consider
group-based appraisals, profit sharing, gain sharing, smallgroup
incentives, and other system modifications that will reinforce team effort and
commitment.
Composition
1. Abilities of Members
• Teams require three different types
of skills:
o Technical expertise
o Problem-solving and decision-making
skills
o Good listening, feedback, conflict
resolution, and other interpersonal skills
• The right mix is crucial. It is not
uncommon for one or more members to take responsibility to
learn the skills in which the group is deficient, thereby allowing the team to
reach its full
potential.
2. Personality
• Many of the dimensions identified in
the Big Five personality model have shown to be relevant to
team effectiveness.
o Teams that rate higher in mean levels
of extraversion, agreeableness,
conscientiousness, and emotional stability tend to receive higher managerial
ratings for
team performance.
o The variance in personality
characteristics may be more important than the mean. A
single team member who lacks a minimal level of, say, agreeableness can
negatively
affect the whole team’s performance.
3. Allocating Roles
• Teams have different needs, and
people should be selected for a team to ensure that there is
diversity and that all various roles are filled.
o Managers need to understand the
individual strengths that each person can bring to a
team, select members with their strengths in mind, and allocate work assignments
accordingly.
4. Diversity
o Diversity in terms of
personality, gender, age, educational, functional specialization, and
experience increase the probability that the team will complete its tasks
effectively.
o Racial and national differences
interfere with team processes in the short term.
o Over time, however, culturally
diverse teams function effectively over time.
o The degree to which members of a
group share common characteristics such as age, sex,
race educational level, or length of service, is termed group demography.
o Cohorts are defined as individual who
hold a common attribute.
5. Size of Teams
o The most effective teams are
neither very small (under four or five) nor very large (over a
dozen). Effective teams—managers should keep them under 10 people.
o Very small teams are likely to lack
for diversity of views.
o Large teams have difficulty getting
much done.
6. Member Flexibility
o This is an obvious plus because
it greatly improves its adaptability and makes it less reliant
on any single member.
7. Member Preferences
o Not every employee is a team
player.
o Given the option, many employees will
select themselves out of team participation.
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o High performing teams are likely to
be composed of people who prefer working as part of a
group.
Work Design
o Includes variables like freedom
and autonomy, the opportunity to use different skills and
talents, the ability to complete a whole task.
Process
1. Common Purpose
o Effective teams have a common and
meaningful purpose that provides direction,
momentum, and commitment for members.
o This purpose is a vision. It is
broader than specific goals.
2. Specific Goals
o Successful teams translate their
common purpose into specific, measurable, and realistic
performance goals. They energize the team.
o Specific goals facilitate clear
communication and help teams maintain their focus on
results. Team goals should be challenging.
3. Team Efficacy
o Effective teams have confidence
in themselves and believe they can succeed—this is team
efficacy. Success breeds success.
o Management can increase team efficacy
by helping the team to achieve small successes and
skill training.
_ Small successes build team
confidence.
_ The greater the abilities of
team members, the greater the likelihood that
the team will develop confidence and the capability to deliver that
confidence.
4. Conflict Levels
o Conflict on a team is not
necessarily bad. Teams that are completely void of conflict are
likely to become apathetic and stagnant.
o Relationship conflicts—those based on
interpersonal incompatibilities, tension, and
animosity toward others—are almost always dysfunctional.
o On teams performing non routine
activities, disagreements among members about task
content (called task conflicts) are not detrimental. It is often beneficial
because it lessens
the likelihood of groupthink.
5. Social Loafing
o Individuals can hide inside a
group. Effective teams undermine this tendency by holding
themselves accountable at both the individual and team level.
For the effectiveness of a team
o Training
o Empowerment
o Communication
o Reward
Building Trust: Members of effective teams trust each other and exhibit
trust in their leaders. When
members trust each other they are more willing to take risks. When members trust
their leadership they
are more willing to commit to their leader’s goals and decisions.
o Work for others’ interests as well as
own
o Be a team player.
o Practice openness.
o Be fair.
o Speak your feelings.
o Show consistency in basic values.
o Maintain confidence.
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o Demonstrate competence.
Teamwork Do’s
o Articulate a goal everyone can
identify with
o Provide a plan or job for each member
o Provide a mechanism for communication
o Create an environment conducive to
teamwork
o Provide effective feedback
o Provide Motivation
Teamwork Don’ts
o Don’t Micromanage
o Don’t withhold information, or work
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