MGTO120s
Jian Liang
MGTO, HKUST
1

Management
Basic
Concepts
(Ch1)
Retrospect
(ch2)
Context
(ch3,4,& 5)
Plan
(ch6,
7,8,& 9)
Organize
& 13)
Lead Control
Understanding
Group and Team
(Ch15)
2

Understanding Groups
•
•
Define the different types of groups.
Describe the five stage of group development .
Explaining Work Group Behavior
•
Discuss how roles, norms, conformity, group size, and group cohesiveness influence group behavior .
•
•
Explain how group norms can both help and hurt an organization.
Define group think and social loafing.
3

’
Explaining Work Group Behavior (cont ’ d)
•
•
Discuss how conflict management influences group behavior.
Describe the advantages and disadvantages of group decision making .
Creating Effective Teams
•
Compare groups and teams.
•
•
•
Explain why teams have become so popular.
Describe the four most common types of teams.
Understand the characteristics of effective teams.
4




Two or more interacting and interdependent individuals who come together to achieve particular goals.
Formal groups

 defined by the organization’s structure that have designated work assignments and tasks.
Task groups, command groups
Informal groups

 formed to meet the social needs of their members.
Friendship groups, interest groups
5

 Security
 Status
 Self-esteem
 Affiliation
 Power
 Goal achievement
People are the source of most of problems. But they also give us our solutions
6


Forming

Members join and begin the process of defining the group ’ s purpose, structure, and leadership.

Storming

Intragroup conflict occurs as individuals resist control by the group and disagree over leadership.

Norming

Close relationships develop as the group becomes cohesive and establishes its norms for acceptable behavior .

Performing

A fully functional group structure allows the group to focus on performing the task at hand.

Adjourning


The group prepares to disband and is no longer concerned with high levels of performance.
For temporary groups
7

Which stage of your group???
8

9


External








Overall strategy
Authority structures
Formal regulations
Available organizational resources
Employee selection criteria
Performance management
(appraisal) system
Organizational culture
General physical layout

Internal





Individual competencies and traits of members
Group structure
Size of the group
Cohesiveness and the level of intragroup conflict
Internal pressures on members to conform o the group’s norms
10


Social Loafing

The tendency for individuals to expend less effort when working collectively than when work individually.
Performance
Group Size
11


What causes the social loafing effect?

Question others’ contribution

The dispersion of responsibility.

???

Do Chinese have the propensity to engage in social loafing?

The implications of social loafing for managers
12


Role



The set of expected behavior patterns attributed to someone who occupies a given position in a social unit that assist the group in task accomplishment or maintaining group member satisfaction.
Role conflict: experiencing differing role expectations
Role ambiguity: uncertainty about role expectations
13

’

Norms


Acceptable standards or expectations that are shared by the group ’ s members.
Common types of norms

Effort and performance

Hawthorne studies: Output levels, absenteeism, working pace, socializing


Dress: You wears Nikes in class. Does UST
President?
Social norm
14



A series of studies undertaken by Elton
Mayo at Western Electric Company ’ s
Hawthorne Works in Chicago between
1924 and 1932.
Research stages:




The coil winding illumination test.
The relay assembly test: human factor
The interviewing program.
The bank wiring observation.
15

“The researchers were in confusion. Other conditions were run with similar inexplicable results. In desperation, they asked the workers themselves what was going on and learned that the workers were so pleased to singled out for special attention that they had tried to do the best they could for the researchers and for the company! The
“Hawthorne effect” was discovered.
--Scott 1987: 58.
16

You should not turn out too much work. If you do, you are a ‘rate-buster’.
You should not turn out too little work, if you do, you are a ‘chiseler’.
You should not tell a supervisor anything that will react to the detriment of an associate. If you do, you are a ‘squealer’.
You should not attempt to maintain social distance or act officious. If you are an inspector, for example, you should not act like one
--- Roethlisberger & Dickson, 1939: 522
17

’

Conformity

Individuals conform in order to be accepted by groups.


Group pressures can have an effect on an individual member ’ s judgment and attitudes.
The effect of conformity is not as strong as it once was now, although still a powerful force.
18




A group seven or eight people, including one unsuspecting subject
Each member was to announce aloud which of the three lines (in a card) matched the single line (in the other card).
The unsuspecting subject conformed the incorrect answers over a third of the time
19

20





Philip Zimbardo, August 1971
Using realistic methods, Zimbardo and others simulated a prison to transform its participants.
The young men who played prisoners and guards revealed how much circumstances can distort individual personalities -- and how anyone, when given complete control over others, can act like a monster.
“In a few days, the role dominated the person.
They became guards and prisoners."
“It shows how easy it is for good people to become perpetrators of evil."
21

Guards

“
They [the prisoners] didn’t see it as
 experiment. It was real and they were fighting to keep their identity. But we were always there to show them just who was boss.”
“Acting authoritatively can be fun. Power can be a great pleasure.”
Prisoners
 “…The way we were made to degrade ourselves really brought us down and that’s why we all sat docile towards the end of the experiment.”
 “…I began to feel I was losing my identity, that the person I call……, the person who volunteered to get me into this prison was distant from me, was remote until finally I wasn’t that person, I was 416. I was really my number and 416 was really going to have to decide what to do.”
 “I learned that people can easily forget that others are human.”
Please refer to detail information at http://www.prisonexp.org
22





faulty perception: Asch study
guards to mistreat prisoners
to other group problems such as escalation of commitment, risky-shift
to Groupthink. What is GROUPTHINK?
We will see soon…
23

’

Group Cohesiveness

The degree to which members are attracted to a group and share the group’s goals .

Highly cohesive groups are more effective and productive than less cohesive groups when their goals aligned with organizational goals.
24


Large groups facilitate the pooling of information about complex tasks.

Smaller groups are better suited to coordinating and facilitating the implementation of complex tasks.

Simple, routine standardized tasks reduce the requirement that group processes be effective in order for the group to perform well.
25

Strengths, advantages


More Diversity of Views
Increased information


Higher-quality decisions (more accuracy)
Improved Commitment, increased acceptance of solutions
26

Limitations:


Domination by one or a few members
Ambiguous responsibility





Unclear Responsibility
Slower
Conformity pressures
Potential for group polarization
Potential for group conflict
S. Adams, Build a Better Life by Stealing Office Supplies (Kansas City MO: Andrews & McMeal, 1991), p. 31. Dilbert
27

28



The extensive pressure of others in a strongly cohesive or threatened group that causes individual members to change their opinions to conform to that of the group.
Faulty decision making that occurs in cohesive groups whose members strive for agreement at the expense of accurately assessing relevant information
29

30

Ronald Reagan: The Space Shuttle
"Challenger" Tragedy Address
"We'll continue our quest in space. There will be more shuttle flights...more volunteers, more civilians, more teachers…” delivered 28 January 1986
31


The perceived incompatible differences in a group resulting in some form of interference with or opposition to its assigned tasks.



Traditional view: conflict must it avoided.
Human relations view: conflict is a natural and inevitable outcome in any group.
Interactionist view: conflict can be a positive force and is absolutely necessary for effective group performance.
32

’

Types of Conflict

Task conflict: content and goals of the work, low-to-moderate levels are functional


Relationship conflict: interpersonal relationships, almost always dysfunctional
Process conflict: how the work gets done, low levels are functional
33

34

’

Techniques to Reduce Conflict:

Avoidance




Accommodation
Forcing
Compromise
Collaboration
35

Conflict-
Resolution
Techniques
Source: Adapted from K.W. Thomas,
“Conflict and Negotiation Processes in
Organizations,” in M.D. Dunnette and L.M.
Hough (eds.) Handbook of Industrial and
Organizational Psychology , vol. 3, 2d ed.
(Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists
Press, 1992), p. 668. With permission
36


Work Team


A group whose members work intensely on a specific common goal using their positive synergy, individual and mutual accountability, and complementary skills
The difference between group and team
37

38

Problem-Solving Teams
Groups of 5 to 12 employees from the same department who meet for a few hours each week to discuss ways of improving quality, efficiency, and the work environment. Not exactly 120…
Self-Managed Work Teams
Groups of 10 to 15 people who take on the responsibilities of their former supervisors. MGTO120s??
39

Cross-Functional Teams
Employees from about the same hierarchical level, but from different work areas, who come together to accomplish a task. Your 120 team is cross-functional
• Task forces
You might look at yourselves as a task force
• Committees
40

Virtual Teams
Teams that use computer technology to tie together physically dispersed members in order to achieve a common goal.
Team Characteristics, plus and minus:
1. The absence of paraverbal and nonverbal cues ( - )
2. A limited social context ( - )
3. The ability to overcome time and space constraints (+)
41

Increases performance
Creates esprit de corps
(team spirit)
Allows managers to do more strategic
Management
Why Use
Teams?
Takes advantage of workforce diversity
Increases flexibility
42

43

44




Have a clear understanding of their goals .

Have competent members with relevant technical and interpersonal skills .
Exhibit high mutual trust in the character and integrity of their members.




Are unified in their commitment to team goals.
Have good communication systems .
Possess effective negotiating skills
Have appropriate leadership
Have both internally and externally supportive environments
45

46






Size: small team to ease communication
Right people: professionals from different functional areas
Empowerment: take control of the production
Leadership: encourages and allows employees to make own decisions
Clear goals: responsible for one particular range of car (large car, mini-van…)

Achievements: (after the introduction of TEAMS)



Car sales increased
Meet cost target
Shorter production time (a year less to make a new car)
47


With groups or teams, you may get
2+2=5
 or
2+2=3
This is one reason we have teams in
MGTO120 this semester. Pay attention to your group processes. You may learn things that can help you ALL YOUR LIFE
48

49




Process Gains

Increases in potential performance that result from new ways of motivating and coordinating members.
Social Loafing

Tendency of individuals to exert less effort when they work in a group than when they work alone.
How to make process gains larger than process losses?


Keep group as small as possible
Make individual contributions identifiable, make individuals feel they make valuable contribution
50

Excellent Team Work Presentation
The KFC Team
The M_task Team
51





“These people are crazy. I don’t even want to come to meetings.”
Team meetings are like swimming with sharks. I just keep my head down.”
“Our meeting are a waste of time.”
“The same people talk in circles. I just keep quiet and hope the meeting will end soon.”
52

Effective Team Member Checklist
Remember what we call “ fundamental attribution error ” and “ self-serving bias ” ?
Note: The survey is adapted from Wheelan, S. A.: Creating effective teams . Sage 1999 .
53

54

 Work for others’ interests as well as own
 Don’t blame others for group problems
 Encourage the process of goal, role, and task clarification
 Practice and encourage openness
 Speak your feelings
 Encourage the establishment of norms that support productivity, innovation, free of expressions
 Maintain confidence and demonstrate competence
55






Understand the five stages of group development
How roles and norms influence group behavior
Understand the advantage and disadvantage of group decision making
Learn how to manage group conflict
Explain increased popularity of teams
56