Chapter 8
How Groups Work
Synergy is the goal
Chapter 8 Study Questions
• What is the nature of groups in
organizations?
• What are the stages of group development?
• What are the foundations of group
performance?
• How do groups make decisions?
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What is the nature of groups in
organizations?
• Group
– a collection of two or more people who work
with one another regularly to achieve common
goals
• Members are mutually dependent on one
another to achieve common goals
• Members interact with one another to pursue
those goals
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What is the nature of groups in
organizations?
• Effective group
– one that achieves high levels of task
performance, member satisfaction, and team
viability
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What is the nature of groups in
organizations?
• Effective groups achieve high levels of:
– Task performance
• Members attain performance goals regarding
quantity, quality, and timeliness of work results
– Members satisfaction
• Members believe that their participation and
experiences are positive and meet important
personal needs
– Team viability
• Members are sufficiently satisfied to continue
working together on an ongoing basis
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What is the nature of groups in
organizations?
• Synergy
– the creation of a whole that is greater than the
sum of its parts
• Group synergy is the goal
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What is the nature of groups in
organizations?
• Why groups are good for organizations
– Groups are good for people
– Groups can improve creativity
– Groups can make better decisions
– Groups can increase commitments to action
– Groups help control their members
– Groups help offset large organization size
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What is the nature of groups in
organizations?
• Situations in which groups are superior to
individuals
– When there is no clear expert in a particular
problem or task
– When problem solving can be handled by a
division of labor and the sharing of information
– When creativity and innovation are needed
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What is the nature of groups in
organizations?
• Potential benefits for group members
– People learn from each other and share job
skills and knowledge
– Groups are important sources of need
satisfaction for their members
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What is the nature of groups in
organizations?
• Social loafing
– The tendency of people to work less hard in a
group than they would individually.
– Reasons for social loafing
• Individual contributions are less noticeable in the
group context
• Some prefer to see others carry the workload
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What is the nature of groups in
organizations?
• Ways of preventing social loafing
– Define roles and tasks to maximize individual
interests
– Raise accountability by making individuals’
performance expectations clear and identifiable
– Tie individual rewards to performance
contributions to the group
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What is the nature of groups in
organizations?
• Social facilitation
– The tendency for a person’s behavior to be
influenced by the presence of others
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What is the nature of groups in
organizations?
• Social facilitation theory
– indicates that working in the presence of others
creates an emotional arousal or excitement that
stimulates behavior and therefore affects
performance
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What is the nature of groups in
organizations?
• Formal groups
– Officially designated to serve a specific
organizational purpose
– May be permanent or temporary
• Permanent work groups are command groups
• Temporary work groups are task groups
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What is the nature of groups in
organizations?
• Types of formal groups
– Cross-functional teams or task forces
• Engage in special problem-solving efforts drawing
on input of the functional areas
– Project teams
• Formed to complete a specific task with a welldefined end point
– Virtual group
• Members work together via computers
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What is the nature of groups in
organizations?
• Informal groups
– Emerge without being officially designated by
the organization
– Types of informal groups
• Friendship groups
• Interest groups
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Figure 8.1
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What are the stages of group
development?
• Forming stage
– Initial entry of members to a group
– Member challenges
•
•
•
•
Getting to know each other
Discovering what is considered acceptable behavior
Determining the group’s real task
Defining group rules
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What are the stages of group
development?
• Storming stage
– A period of high emotionality and tension
among group members
– Member challenges
• Hostility and infighting
• Formation of coalitions and cliques
• Clarification of members’ expectations
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What are the stages of group
development?
• Norming stage
– Sometimes called initial integration
– The point at which the group really begins to
come together as a coordinated unit
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What are the stages of group
development?
• Performing stage
– Marks the emergence of a mature, organized,
and well-functioning group
– Structure is stable
– Members are motivated by group goals
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Figure 8.2
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What are the stages of group
development?
• Adjourning stage
– A well-integrated group is:
• Able to disband when its work is finished
• Willing to work together in the future
– Particularly important for temporary groups
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Figure 8.3
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What are the foundations of
group performance?
• Tasks
– Technical demands of a task
• Routineness, difficulty, and information requirements
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What are the foundations of
group performance?
• Tasks
– Social demands of a task
• Relations, ego involvement, and controversies over
ends and means
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What are the foundations of
group performance?
• Goals, rewards, and resources
– Long-term performance relies on:
• Appropriate goals
• Well-designed reward systems
• Adequate resources
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What are the foundations of
group performance?
• Technology
– Provides the means to get work accomplished
– The right technology must be available for the
task at hand
– Workflow technology can affect the way group
members interact
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What are the foundations of
group performance?
• Membership characteristics
– A group must have the right skills and
competencies available for task performance
and problem solving
– In homogeneous groups, members are very
similar to one another
– In heterogeneous groups, members vary in
age, gender, race, and ethnicity
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What are the foundations of
group performance?
• Diversity-consensus dilemma
– The tendency for increasing diversity among
group members to make it harder for group
members to work together, even though the
diversity itself expands the skills and
perspectives available for problem solving.
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What are the foundations of
group performance?
• FIRO-B theory
– Identifies individual differences in how people
relate to one another in groups
– Based on needs to express and receive
feelings of inclusion, control, and affection
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What are the foundations of
group performance?
• Status
– A person’s relative rank, prestige, or standing in
a group
• Status congruence
– Occurs when a person’s position within the
group is equivalent in status to positions held
outside the group
– When status incongruence is present, problems
will likely occur
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What are the foundations of
group performance?
• Group size
– Can make a difference in a group’s
effectiveness
– As group size increases, performance and
member satisfaction increase up to a point
– Problem-solving groups should have 5 to 7
members
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What are the foundations of
group performance?
• Workgroup behaviors
– Required behaviors — those that are formally
defined and expected by the organization
– Emergent behaviors — those that group
members display in addition to what the
organization asks of them
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What are the foundations of
group performance?
Member relationships
• Activities
– the things people do or the actions they take
• Interactions
– interpersonal communications and contacts
• Sentiments
– the feelings, attitudes, beliefs, or values held by
group members
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What are the foundations of
group performance?
• Intergroup dynamics
– The dynamics that take place between two or
more groups
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What are the foundations of
group performance?
Ways to achieve positive intergroup
dynamics
•
•
•
•
Refocusing members on a common enemy or goal
Negotiating directly
Training members to work more cooperatively
Refocusing rewards on contributions to the total
organization and how much groups help each
other
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Figure 8.4
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What are the foundations of
group performance?
• Decentralized communication network
– all group members communicate directly and
share information with each other
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What are the foundations of
group performance?
• Centralized communication network
– One person acts as a central control point
– Information flows among group members
through the person in charge
– Control person collects and redistributes
information and task contributions
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What are the foundations of
group performance?
• Restricted communication network
– polarized subgroups contest each other’s
positions
– sometimes maintain antagonistic relations with
one another
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How do groups make decisions?
• Decision by lack of response
– One idea after another is suggested without any
discussion-taking place
• Decision by authority rule
– The chairperson, manager, or leader makes a
decision for the group
• Decision by minority rule
– Two or three people are able to dominate or
“railroad” the group into making a decision to
which they agree
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How do groups make decisions?
• Decision by majority rule
– Formal voting may take place, or members may
be polled to find the majority viewpoint
• Decision by consensus
– Discussion leads to one alternative being
favored by most members and the other
members agree to support it
• Decision by unanimity
– All group members agree totally on the course of
action to be taken
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How do groups make decisions?
• Potential advantages of group decision
making
– More knowledge and expertise is applied to
solve the problem
– A greater number of alternatives are examined
– The final decision is better understood and
accepted by all group members
– More commitment among all group members to
make the final decision work
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How do groups make decisions?
• Potential disadvantages of group
decision making
– Individuals may feel compelled to conform to
the apparent wishes of the group
– The group’s decision may be dominated by one
individual or a small coalition
– Group decisions usually take longer to make
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How do groups make decisions?
• Groupthink
– the tendency of members in highly cohesive
groups to lose their critical evaluative
capabilities
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How do groups make decisions?
• Ways to avoid groupthink
– Assign the role of critical evaluator to each
group member
– Have the leader avoid seeming partial to one
course of action
– Create subgroups that each work on the same
problem
– Have group members discuss issues with
outsiders and report back
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How do groups make decisions?
• Ways to avoid groupthink
– Invite outside experts to observe and react to
group processes
– Assign someone to be a “devil’s advocate” at
each meeting
– Write alternative scenarios for the intentions of
competing groups
– Hold “second-chance” meetings after
consensus is apparently achieved
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How do groups make decisions?
• Brainstorming
– Group members actively generate as many
ideas and alternatives as possible
•
•
•
•
All criticism is ruled out
“Freewheeling” is welcomed
Quantity is wanted
“Piggy-backing” is welcomed
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How do groups make decisions?
• Nominal group technique
– Puts people in small groups of six to seven
members and asks everyone to respond
individually and in writing to a “nominal”
question
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How do groups make decisions?
• Delphi technique
– Involves generating decision-making
alternatives through a series of survey
questionnaires
• Computer-mediated decision making
– Group decision making takes place across
great distances with the aid of group decision
support systems
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