Group – Two or more people interacting interdependently to achieve a common goal Group membership 1. Groups exert a tremendous influence on us 2. Groups provide a context in which we are able to exert influence on others Formal work groups Informal work groups Groups that are established by organizations Groups that emerge naturally in response to (intentionally) to facilitate the achievement the common interest of organizational of organizational goals members - Manager and the employees - Task forces (temporary) - Project teams (temporary) - Committees (permanent) Why form groups? Means - Can either help or hunt an organization, depending on their norms and behaviour Ends Personal characteristics Accomplish designed Group itself desirable Alike each other outcomes outcome - similar people - - complementary - union carpool Typical stages of group development - develop through a series of stages over time - Notion of Prepotency; each stage presents the members with a series of challenges they must master in order to achieve the next stage - Can vary inters of how quickly the walk through the stages Forming Ambiguous situation Aware of dependency on each other Storming Conflict emerges Confrontation and criticism Sorting out roles and responsibilities Happen earlier rather than Norming Issues resolve Develop social consensus Compromise Recognition of interdependence Norms are agreed More cohesive Free flow information and opinions Performing Devotes energies toward task accomplishment Achievement Creativity Mutual assistance Adjourning Rites and rituals that affirm the group’s previous successful development Ceremonies and parties Emotional support Practical learnings from the stage model 1. Tool for monitoring and troubleshooting how groups are developing 2. Especially helpful for new groups to understand the process of developing together 3. Well-acquainted task forces and committees can short-circuit these stages 4. Storming and norming may not be necessary for some organizational settings that are highly structured (high power distance than risk-taking) Punctuated equilibrium (stability) model – A model of group development that describes how groups are with deadlines are affected by their first meetings and their first crucial midpoint transactions Phase 1 First meeting and continues until the midpoint - Setting the agenda and reminder - Assumptions, approaches, and precedents - Little visible progress Midpoint transaction Phase 2 Halfway point in time toward the group’s deadline - Marks a change in the group’s approach - Outside advice - Crystalizes the group’s activity for phase 2 Decisions and approaches are played out Advice 1. Prepare carefully for the first meeting 2. No radical progress during phase 1 as long as people are working 3. Manage the midpoint transition carefully - Evaluate strength and weaknesses - Clarify any questions and recognize fundamental change - Strategy 4. Be sure that adequate resources are available prior to phase 2 5. Resist deadlines changes Group Structure – characteristics of the stable social organization of a group Group size 1. Size and satisfaction - Larger groups – less satisfaction - Opportunities for friendship increases and the chance to work on and develop these opportunities might decrease owing to the sheer time and energy required - Individual members identify less easily with the success and accomplishments of the group 2. Size and performance Additive tasks Group performance is dependent on the sum of the performance of individual group members πΊπππ’π πππππππππππ ↑ π ππ§π ↑ − πΊπππ’π Ex) building a house – can estimate the potential speed of construction by adding the efforts of individual carpenters Disjunctive tasks Tasks in which group performance is dependent of the performance of the best group member Conjunctive tasks πΊπππ’π π ππ§π ↑ − πΊπππ’π πππππππππππ ↑ Tasks in which group performance is limited by the performance of the poorest group member πΊπππ’π πππππππππππ ↑ π ππ§π ↓ − πΊπππ’π Process losses – Group performance difficulties stemming from the problems of motivating and coordinating larger groups π΄ππ‘π’ππ πππππππππππ − ππππππ π πππ π ππ - = πππ‘πππ‘πππ πππππππππππ Larger groups might perform better as groups, but their individual members tend to be less efficient Diversity of group membership Diverse group - Take longer to do their forming, storming, and norming - Perform better on creativity and innovation-demanding tasks Group norms – collective expectations that members of social units have regarding the behaviour of each other - Unconscious Norms development Why? Provide regularity and predictability to behaviour Psychological security and minimal disruption About what? To regulate behaviours that are considered at least marginally important to their supporters How? Share related beliefs and values Share consequent attitudes Collectively held expectations Why comply Save time and prevent social confusion Dress norms Appearance norms Reward Pay, promotions, and informal favours allocation norms Equity – according to inputs, effort performance seniority (western) Equality – everyone equally (western) Reciprocity – the way they reward you Social responsibility – who truly need the reward Performance norms Potent cues about what an appropriate level of performance is Inherent ability, personal motivation, or technology Social interaction Roles – positions in a group that have a set of expected behaviours attached to them Packages of norms Assigned roles Emergent roles Formally prescribed by an organization Role ambiguity Developed naturally to meet socialemotional needs of group members Lack of clarity of job goals or methods Organizational factors – because of their function in the org The role sender – unclear expectations The focal person – not fully digested by the focal person Role conflict A condition of being faced with incompatible role expectations Intrasender role conflict – A single role sender provides incompatible role expectations to a role occupant Intersender role conflict – two or more senders “ Interrole conflict – several roles held by a role occupants involve incompatible expectations Outcomes – job stress, dissatisfaction, reduced commitment, lowered performance, intentions to quit Status – the rank or social position accorded to group members in terms of prominence, prestige, and respect - Status effect Group cohesiveness – the degree to which a group is attractive to its member - Want to stay in a group - Describe each other in favourable terms - Relative Factors influencing cohesiveness Threat and competition External threat to survive Honest competition with another group (no extreme threat and unbalanced competition) Success Increase with success and decrease with failure After winning the competition Member diversity Outweigh surface dissimilarity in determining cohesiveness Group size Subgroups Toughness of initiation Groups that are tough to get into should be more attractive Consequences of cohesiveness More participation in group activities Low voluntary turnover Like each other; low absence High degree of communication More conformity Supply information, rewards, and punishment to individual members Ineffective communication – decrease More success Reciprocal relationship between success and cohesiveness Social loafing – the tendency to withhold physical or intellectual effort when performing a group task Process loss Social loafing Coordination problem to motivation Motivation problem Free rider effect Lower their effort to get a free ride Sucker effect “ because of the feeling that others are free riding Ways to counteract social loafing 1. Make individual performance more visible - Small size group 2. Make sure that work is interesting - Intrinsic motivation, more valent outcomes 3. Increase feelings of indispensability - Training and the status system to provide group members with unique inputs 4. Increase performance feedback - 360 degree feedback 5. Reward group performance Team – when there exists a strong sense of shared commitment and when a synergy develops such that the group’s efforts are greater than sum of its part - Efficiency + quality Collective efficacy Shared beliefs that a team can successfully perform a given task - Team reflexivity Believes in each other’s capability The extent to which teams deliberately discuss team processes and goals and adapt their behaviour accordingly - Circular (reciprocal) relationship, interdependence Effective work teams - Its physical and intellectual output is acceptable to management and to the other parts of the organization that use this output - Group members’ needs are satisfied rather than frustrated by the group - The group experience enables members to continue to work together Week 8 Organizational culture – shared beliefs, values, and assumptions that exist in an organization
