Greenberg & Baron:
Behavior In Organizations
Chapter Eight
Group Dynamics and Work Teams
Chapter Summary
A group is a collection of two or more interacting individuals with a stable pattern of relationships
between them who share common goals and who perceive themselves as being a group. Within
organizations, there are two major classes of groups—formal groups (which include command groups and
task groups) and informal groups (which include interest groups and friendship groups).
Norms are generally agreed upon informal rules. Roles are the typical pattern of behavior in a
social context. Status refers to the prestige accorded group members. Cohesiveness describes the
pressures faced by group members to remain in their groups. Together, these factors determine the
dynamics of people working in groups.
Individual productivity is influenced by the presence of other group members. Sometimes a
person’s performance improves in the presence of others (when the job he or she is doing is well learned),
and sometimes performance declines in the presence of others (when the job is novel). This phenomenon
is known as social facilitation. Not only is performance influenced by the presence of others but also by the
group’s racial/ethnic diversity. Performance in diverse groups is initially worse than performance in
homogeneous groups, although these differences disappear with repeated involvement with the group. On
additive tasks (i.e., ones in which each member’s individual contributions are combined), social loafing
occurs. According to this phenomenon, the more people who work on a task, the less each group member
contributes to it.
Teams are special kinds of groups—ones whose members focus on collective rather than
individual work products, are mutually accountable to each other, share a common commitment to
purpose, and are usually self-managing. Teams differ with respect to several dimensions: their purpose or
mission (work teams versus improvement teams), time (temporary teams or permanent teams), degree of
autonomy (work groups, semiautonomous work groups, or self-managed teams), authority structure
(intact teams versus cross-functional teams), and physical presence (physical teams versus virtual
teams).
Comprehensive case studies also have found organizational productivity gains (e.g., increased
outcome, improved quality, lowered costs) resulting from the use of teams. However, more objective
empirical studies have found that, although employees are generally more satisfied in teams than working
under traditional management, they tend to be no more productive at the individual level.
Despite some evidence of team successes, some teams fail. This is often because team
members are unwilling to cooperate with each other, they fail to receive support from management, some
managers are unwilling to relinquish control, and some teams fail to coordinate their efforts effectively with
other teams. With some effort, teams can yield exceptionally high levels of performance. To build
successful teams, it helps to do the following: provide training in team skills, compensate team
performance, provide managerial support, promote employee support, promote cooperation within and
between teams, and select team members based on their skills or potential skills.
Learning Objectives
1. Define what is meant by a group and identify different types of groups operating within organizations.
2. Describe the importance of norms, roles, status, and cohesiveness within organizations.
3. Explain how individual performance in groups is affected by the presence of others (social facilitation),
the cultural diversity of group membership, and the number of others with whom one works (social
loafing).
4. Define what teams are, and describe the various types of teams that exist in organizations.
5. Understand the evidence regarding the effectiveness of teams in organizations.
6. Explain the factors responsible for the failure of some teams to operate as effectively as possible and
identify steps that can be taken to build successful teams.
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I.
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Notes
GROUPS AT WORK: THEIR BASIC NATURE
A. WHAT IS A GROUP? A WORKING DEFINITION
1. Social scientists formally define a group as a collection of
two or more interacting individuals, with a stable pattern of
relationships between them, who share common goals and
perceive themselves as being a group.
Figure 8.1 p.273
2. Four key characteristics of groups:
Social interaction.
Group members must have some influence on each other.
This interaction between the parties may be verbal (e.g.,
sharing strategies for a corporate takeover) or nonverbal
(e.g., exchanging smiles in the hallway), but the parties
must affect each other to be considered a group.
Stability.
Groups also must possess a stable structure. Groups can-and often do-change, but there must be some stable
relationships that keep the members together and
functioning as a unit.
Common interests or goals.
Members share common interests or goal.
Recognition as being a group.
The individuals involved must perceive themselves as being
a group. Groups are composed of people who recognize
each other as being members of their group and who can
distinguish members from nonmembers.
B. TYPES OF GROUPS
Figure 8.3 p.273
1. Formal and informal groups.
a. Formal groups are created by the parent organization
and are intentionally designed to direct members
toward some important organizational goal.
b. A command group is a group determined by the
connections between individuals who are formal
members of the organization.
c.
A formal organizational group also may be formed
around some specific task. Such a group is referred to
as a task group.
d. Unlike command groups, task groups may include
individuals with some special interest or expertise in a
specific area, regardless of their positions in the
organizational hierarchy.
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e. Whether they are permanent groups, which are known
as standing committees, or temporary ones formed for
special purposes (e.g., a committee formed to
recommend solutions to a parking problem), which are
known as ad hoc committees or task forces, task
groups are common in organizations.
Notes
2. Informal groups develop naturally among an organization’s
personnel without any direction from management.
a. One key factor in the formation of informal groups is a
common interest shared by its members.
b. Sometimes the interests that bind individuals together
are more diffuse. Groups may develop from a common
interest in participating in sports, going to the movies, or
just getting together to talk. These kinds of informal
groups are known as friendship groups.
c.
Informal work groups are an important part of life in
organizations, and although, as mentioned, they
develop without direct encouragement from
management, friendships often originate out of formal
organizational contact.
Figure 8.4 p.276
C. WHY DO PEOPLE JOIN GROUPS?
1. People often join groups to satisfy their mutual interests and
goals.
2. To the extent that getting together with others allows us to
achieve ends that would not be possible alone, forming
groups makes sense. In fact, organizations themselves can
be thought of as collections of groups focused toward
achieving the mutual goal of success for the company.
3. Groups also form as a way of seeking protection from other
groups--”there’s safety in numbers.”
a. Trade unions such as the AFL/CIO, the UAW, and the
Teamsters have been formed by labor for protection
against abuses by management.
b. Similarly, professional associations such as the
American Medical Association and the American Bar
Association were created largely to protect their
constituents against undesirable governmental
legislation.
4. Groups are not always designed to promote some
instrumental good. Indeed, they also exist because they
appeal to our basic psychological need to be social. Also as
suggested by Maslow, people have a basic desire for their
self-esteem to be fulfilled, and group memberships can be
a very effective way of nurturing self-esteem.
D. HOW GROUPS ARE FORMED
Figure 8.5 p.277
The Five-Stage Model
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1. Forming--members get acquainted with each other, they
also establish the ground rules by finding out what
behaviors are acceptable regarding the job (e.g., how
productive they are expected to be) and interpersonal
relations (e.g., who is really in charge).
Notes
2. Storming--is characterized by a high degree of conflict
within the group. Members often resist the control of the
group’s leaders, and they show hostility toward each other.
3. Norming--the group becomes more cohesive, and identification as a member becomes greater. Close relationships
develop, and shared feelings become common.
4. Performing--questions about group relationships and
leadership have been resolved--and the group is ready to
work. Having fully developed, the group may now devote its
energy to getting the job done.
5. Adjourning--Groups may cease to exist because they have
met their goals and no longer are needed. Other groups
may adjourn gradually, as the group disintegrates either
because members leave or the norms no longer are
effective for the group.
6. Groups can be in any stage of development at any given
time and the amount of time a group may spend in any
given stage varies. The boundaries between the various
stages may not be clearly distinct, several stages may be
combined, and the dynamic nature of groups makes it
unlikely they will progress through these stages in a
completely predictable order.
The punctuated-equilibrium model.
Figure 8.6 p.279
7. Not all scientists agree that groups develop in the order
identified by the five-stage model. The punctuatedequilibrium model recognizes that members working to
meet a deadline approach their task differently in the first
half of their time together than they do in the second half.
a. During the first half, or phase I, groups define their task,
setting a mission that is unlikely to change until the
second half of the group’s life.
b. Once groups reach the midpoint of their lives almost as
if an alarm goes off, groups experience a sort of
“midlife crisis,” a time when they recognize they must
change how they operate if they are going to meet their
goals.
c.
This begins phase 2 of their existence, which is a time
when groups drop old ways of thinking and adopt new
perspectives.
d. Groups develop inertia, which keeps them going (i.e.,
an “equilibrium”) until the midpoint, when they realize
that deadlines loom.
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Notes
e. This stimulates them to confront important issues and
to initiate changes, beginning (i.e., “punctuation’) a new
equilibrium phase.
f.
This new phase lasts until the group kicks into a final
push, just before the deadline.
8. The punctuated-equilibrium is relatively new, but studies
suggest it does a good job of describing how groups
develop.
II. THE STRUCTURAL DYNAMICS OF WORK GROUPS
1. A key characteristic of a group is its stable structure.
2. Group structure refers to the interrelationships between the
individuals constituting a group and the characteristics that
make group functioning both orderly and predictable.
A. ROLES: THE HATS WE WEAR
1. One primary structural element of groups is the members’
tendencies to play specific roles. Social scientists use the
term role much the same as a director would refer to the
character in a play.
2. More formally, a role is the typical behaviors characterizing
a person in a social context.
3. Many roles are assigned based on an individual’s position
within an organization. The role incumbent’s recognition of
his or her role expectations helps to avoid the social
disorganization that would result without clear role
expectations.
a. Sometimes, however, workers may be confused about
what is expected of them on the job, such as their level
of authority or responsibility.
b. Such role ambiguity typically is experienced by new
members of organizations and it often results in job
dissatisfaction, lack of commitment to the organization,
and interest in leaving the job.
4. As work groups and social groups develop, the various
members come to play different roles in the social structure,
which is a process referred to as role differentiation.
a. The emergence of different roles in groups occurs
naturally.
b. Roles tend to be differentiated in some standard ways.
B. NORMS: A GROUP’S UNSPOKEN RULES
1. Norms are generally agreed-on, informal rules that guide
the members’ behavior. They represent shared ways of
viewing the world.
2. Norms differ from organizational rules as they are not
formal and written.
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3. Group members may not be aware of the subtle group
norms that exist and regulate their behavior.
a. Some norms are known as prescriptive norms that
dictate the behaviors that should be performed.
b. Others, proscriptive norms, dictate specific behaviors
that should be avoided.
C. STATUS: THE PRESTIGE OF GROUP MEMBERSHIP
1. One potential reward of group membership is enjoying the
status associated with being in that group. Within social
groups different members are accorded different levels of
prestige.
2. For example, one could be president or chairperson of the
group. This is the idea behind status, the relative social
position or rank given to groups or group members by
others.
3. Within most organizations, status can be both formal and
informal in nature.
a. Formal status refers to attempts to differentiate
between the degrees of authority given to employees by
an organization.
b. Typically is accomplished through status symbols,
which are objects reflecting the position of an individual
within an organization’s hierarchy.
4. Status symbols help groups in many ways.
a. They reduce uncertainty and providing a stable social
order.
b. They provide assurance of the various rewards
available to those who perform at a superior level.
c. They also provide a sense of identification by reminding
members of the group’s values.
5. Symbols of informal status within organizations also are
widespread.
a. These include the prestige accorded individuals with
certain characteristics not formally recognized by the
organization.
b. For example, employees who are older and more experienced may be perceived by their coworkers as
being higher in status.
6. Higher-status people tend to be more influential than lowerstatus people.
D. COHESIVENESS: GETTING THE TEAM SPIRIT
1. A determinant of any group’s structure is cohesiveness, the
strength of members’ desires to remain part of their group.
2. Highly cohesive work groups are those in which members
are attracted to each other, accept the group’s goals, and
help each other work toward meeting them.
3. Several important factors influence the extent to which
group members “stick together.”
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a. The severity of initiation into the group. The greater the
difficulty of becoming a member, the more cohesive the
group.
Notes
b. Group cohesion also tends to strengthen under
conditions of high external threat or competition.
c.
Cohesiveness generally tends to be greater as group
members spend more time together. Large groups
make it difficult for members to interact and, thus, for
cohesiveness to reach a high level.
d. Finally, because “nothing succeeds like success,’’
groups with a history of success also tend to be highly
cohesive.
4. Highly cohesive groups can be problematic as well. If a
highly cohesive group’s goals are contrary to the parent
organization’s goals, that group is in a position too harm the
organization by working against its interests.
III. INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCE IN GROUPS
A. SOCIAL FACILITATION: WORKING IN THE PRESENCE OF
OTHERS
1. The tendency for the presence of others to enhance an
individual’s performance at certain times and to impair it at
others is known as social facilitation.
2. Social facilitation results from the heightened emotional
arousal people experience in the presence of others.
a. When people are aroused, they tend to perform the
most dominant response, their most likely behavior in
that setting.
b. If someone is performing a well-learned act, the
dominant response likely would be correct.
c. If the behavior in question is relatively novel and newly
learned, however, the dominant response likely would
be incorrect.
3. Together, these ideas are known as the drive theory of
social facilitation.
a. In this theory, the presence of others increases arousal,
which in turn increases the tendency to perform that
most dominant responses.
b. If these responses are correct, the resulting
performance is enhanced; if these responses are
incorrect, the performance is impaired. Based on these
processes, performance may be helped.
4. Research has provided considerable support for this theory:
People perform better on tasks in the presence of others if
that task is well-learned, but they perform more poorly if it is
not well-learned.
5. A key explanations for this effect is based on the idea of
evaluation apprehension, the fear of being evaluated or
judged by another person.
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Figure 8.10 p.285
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6. People may be aroused by performing a task in the
presence of others because of their concern over what
those others might think.
7. Another way to think about social facilitation is through the
use of computerized performance monitoring. Already
widely used in the insurance, banking, communications,
and transportation industries, it promises to become even
more prevalent in tomorrow’s organizations.
Notes
Figure 8.11 p.286
8. One way to understand how computerized monitoring may
influence performance is by extending our thinking about
social facilitation.
a. Instead of having an individual physically present to
watch, this technique provides an indirect computer or
“electronic presence.”
b. If the task being performed is complex, social
facilitation research suggests the physical presence of
an observer leads to reduced performance.
c. Research shows that performance suffers when it was
monitored by computer, even when participants in the
study did not have others looking over their shoulders.
9. These findings support the idea that social facilitation may
result from people’s concerns about being evaluated
negatively by another, from evaluation apprehension.
a. In this study, participants knew their performance could
be just as easily evaluated by watching a remote
computer as by watching them directly.
b. There is an important, applied implication of these
results -- namely, that the act of monitoring job
performance to keep levels high actually may backfire.
c. Until further research addresses this question, we must
issue the following caution: Using computers to monitor
work performance might impair the very performance
such monitoring is intended to improve.
B. SOCIAL LOAFING: “FREE RIDING” WHEN WORKING WITH
OTHERS
1. Tasks in which the coordinated efforts of several people are
added together to form the group’s product are known as
additive tasks.
2. When several people combine their efforts on additive
tasks, however, each individual’s contribution tends to be
less.
3. The more individuals who contribute to an additive task, the
less each individual’s contribution tends to be--social
loafing.
a. This effect was first noted almost seventy years ago by
a German scientist, named Ringlemann. who
compared the amount of force exerted by different-size
groups of people pulling on a rope.
4. The phenomenon of social loafing is explained by social
impact theory.
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Figure 8.12 p.288
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a. The effect of any social force acting on a group is
divided equally among its members.
b. The larger the group, the less affect from the force on
any one member. Thus, the more people who might
contribute to a group’s product, the less pressure faced
by each person to perform well.
c. As a result, each member feels less responsible for
behaving appropriately and social loafing occurs.
Notes
5. One way of understanding social loafing is that it occurs
because people are more interested in themselves than in
their fellow group members, who are forced to do their work
for them.
6. In individualistic cultures, people value highly individual
accomplishments and personal success.
a. In other countries, however, people value shared
responsibility and the collective good of all more highly-a collectivist culture.
b. In these cultures, people working in groups are not be
expected to engage in social loafing, because doing so
would mean failing in their social responsibility to the
group.
Figure 8.13 p.289
7. These ideas were tested in an interesting experiment
involving managers from the United States, Israel, and the
People’s Republic of China.
a. An “in-basket” exercise was assigned as a task either
alone or in groups.
b. Social loafing occurred in the United States which is
more individualistic culturally.
c. The opposite was found in each of the two highly collectivist cultures--the People’s Republic of China and
Israel. These people not only failed to loaf in groups,
they actually worked harder than they did alone.
d. This research suggests that culture plays an important
part in determining people’s tendencies toward social
loafing.
8. Suggestions to overcome social loafing.
a. Make each performer identifiable. Social loafing may
occur when people feel they can get away with taking it
easy” because each individual’s contributions cannot be
determined.
b. Make work tasks more important and interesting.
People are unlikely to go along for a free ride when the
task is believed to be vital to the organization.
c.
Managers can reward individuals for contributing to
their group’s performance by encouraging their interest
in their group’s performance.
d. Another mechanism for overcoming social loafing is to
use punishment threats. To the extent that performance
decrements may be controlled by threats to punish the
individuals slacking off, loafing may be reduced.
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Notes
IV. TEAMS: SPECIAL KINDS OF GROUPS
A. DEFINING TEAMS AND DISTINGUISHING THEM FROM
GROUPS
1. A team may be defined as a group whose members have
complementary skills and are committed to a common
purpose or set of performance goals for which they hold
themselves mutually accountable.
2. There are several important distinctions between teams
and groups:
a. Performance in groups typically depends on the work of
individual members.
b. Performance in teams, however, depends on both
individual contribution and collective work products, the
joint outcome of team members working in concert.
Figure 8.14 p.292
OB In A Diverse World:
Performance In Culturally
Diverse Groups p.290
3. A second difference involves accountability for the job.
a. Typically, group members pool their resources to attain
a goal, but individual performance is taken into
consideration when issuing rewards.
b. In contrast, teams focus on both individual and mutual
accountability. They work together to produce an
outcome that represents their joint contributions, and
each member shares responsibility for that outcome.
c. The key difference is that in groups, the supervisor
holds individual members accountable for their work,
whereas in teams, members hold themselves
accountable.
4. A third difference is that members also share a common
commitment to purpose.
a. Group members share a common interest goal.
b. Moreover, these purposes typically concern winning in
some way, such as being first or best at something.
Teams are said to establish “ownership” of their
purposes and usually spend much time establishing
that purpose.
5. Finally, teams are self-managing.
a. Teams differ from groups by the nature of their connections to management.
b. Work groups typically are required to be responsive to
demands regularly placed on them by management.
c. In contrast, once management establishes the mission
for a team and the challenge for it to achieve, the team
generally is given enough flexibility to do its job without
further interference.
B. TYPES OF TEAMS
Teams are categorized along four major dimensions.
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Figure 8.15 p.293
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Chapter Eight
Notes
1. Purpose or mission
a. Work teams are concerned primarily with work done by
the parent organization. Their principle focus is
effectively using the organization’s resources to create
results.
b. Improvement teams--are oriented primarily toward
increasing the effectiveness of the processes used by
the parent organization.
Figure 8.16 & 8.17 p.295
2. Time
a. Some teams are temporary and established for a
specific project with a finite life.
b. Other kinds of teams are permanent and stay intact for
as long as the parent organization is operating.
3. Degree of autonomy
a. The degree to which teams operate autonomously.
b. At one end are work groups, in which leaders make
decisions on behalf of group members, on the other
end of the scale are self-managed teams or as selfdirected teams.
c. Typically, self-managed teams consist of small
numbers of employees (often around 10) who take on
dudes once performed by their supervisors.
4. Authority structure
a. A team’s connection to the organization’s overall
authority structure, the connection between various
formal job responsibilities.
b. Intact teams are structured so that people work
together on certain products all the time and do not
apply their specialty to a wide range of products.
c. Teams are crossing over various functional units are
cross-functional teams and are composed of
employees at identical organizational levels but from
different specialty areas.
d. For more than a decade, many automobile
manufacturers- including the major U.S. and Japanese
companies--have relied on cross-functional teams to
create and manufacture new models.
5. The teams described above may be considered physical
teams in that they involve people who physically meet to
work together. Technology has made it possible for teams
to exist without members having to meet—known as virtual
teams—they communicate using electronic technology.
C. CREATING TEAMS:
A FOUR STAGE PROCESS
1. Assembling a team requires the right combination of skilled
people and also individuals that are willing to work together
with others as a team. Designing a work team involves four
distinct stages.
2. Stage 1: Prework. Before teams are actually created, a
decision must be made whether a team should be formed.
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Table 8.3 p.296
Web Surfing Exercise:
Tools for Virtual Teams
p.312
Figure 8.18 p.297
How To Do It: Learning
From High-Performance
Team p.294
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3. Stage 2: Creating performance conditions. Building on the
prework, the organizational must ensure the team has the
proper resources to perform its work. This involves both
material resources, human resources, and support from the
organization.
Notes
4. Stage 3: Forming and building the team. Three things can
help get a team off to a good start. First, managers should
form boundaries. Second, members must accept the
team’s overall mission and purpose. Third, organizational
officials should clarify the team’s mission and
responsibilities.
5. Stage 4: Providing ongoing assistance. Finally, once a team
is functioning, supervisors may need to help the team to
eliminate problems and to perform even better.
V. EFFECTIVE TEAM PERFORMANCE
A. HOW SUCCESSFUL ARE TEAMS? A LOOK AT THE
EVIDENCE
1. This is difficult to answer because of the variety of teams
and because of the different kinds of jobs they perform in
organizations.
Best Practices: SEI
Investments: Where
Teamwork Rules p.298
Table 8.4
p.301
2. Case studies:
a. In-depth case studies of numerous teams in many
different organizations further support their
effectiveness.
b. Difficult to quantify and compare across organizations,
research of this type provides some interesting insights
into what makes teams successful.
c. An example would be the GM plant in Fitzgerald, GA.
Teams operate as own businesses and individuals are
paid for their competence on jobs performed on at least
two teams. Job satisfaction is highest here compared
to other GM facilities.
3. Empirical studies:
a. Despite the appeal of case studies, they are not
completely objective.
b. Researchers have begun performing controlled, experimental studies of team effectiveness as well.
c. One example compared various aspects of work
performance and the attitudes of two groups of employees at a railroad-ear repair facility in Australia.
The work teams in place had fewer accidents and lower
rates of absenteeism and turnover.
4. Are teams effective? They are well received, people seem
to enjoy working in them and they are effective in
eliminating layers of management. However, they do not
always make organizations more productive.
Individual Exercise:
Are You a Team Player?
p.311
B. POTENTIAL OBSTACLES TO SUCCESS
1. Working in a team is demanding, and not everyone may be
ready for them.
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2. One reason some teams fail because their members are
unwilling to co-operate.
Notes
3. Some teams also are not effective because they fail to
receive support from management.
4. A third--and a relatively common obstacle to success--is
that some managers are unwilling to relinquish control.
5. Fourth, teams might fail because they fail to co-operate with
other teams.
VI. HOW TO DEVELOP SUCCESSFUL TEAMS
Table 8.5 p.304
A. PROVIDE TRAINING IN TEAM SKILLS
1. To be effective, team members must have the right blend of
skills needed for the group’s mission. Formal efforts
directed at making teams effective are referred to as team
building.
2. Key areas of team training should include “Being a team
member” and “Self-management.” This would include
training on communication skills and monitor one’s own
behavior.
3. Team training exercises are designed to teach team
members how to function effectively. Types of exercises
include:
a. Role definition exercises: Members need to
understand what other expect of them and each other.
b. Goal-setting exercises: Team members meet to
clarify goals and develop strategies for meeting them.
c. Problem solving exercises: Members learn to
systematically identify problems and discuss ways of
solving them effectively.
d. Interpersonal-process exercises: These exercises are
designed to build trust and foster communication.
4. Are team building exercises worth the money and time
invested in them? Only sometimes. To be effective they
must be applied correctly. They must meet a team’s need
or not be used as a one time panacea.
5. Diversify team membership. Teams function most
effectively when composed of highly skilled individuals who
can bring a variety of different skills and experiences to the
task.
B. COMPENSATE TEAM PERFORMANCE
1. American workers are used to highly individualistic
compensation systems but it is also important to recognize
team performance.
2. One strategy is to use gain-sharing plans to reward teams.
These plans reward teams for reaching company wide
performance goals allowing them to share in the profits.
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3. Another strategy is skill-based pay. Under this system
employees are paid based on skills they demonstrate as
opposed to job performance. By encouraging employees
to further develop their skills, the company ensures it has
the resources for its teams to function effectively.
Notes
C. PROVIDE SUPPORT
1. Teams must receive unqualified support from management.
2. In addition to support from management, teams must be
understood and accepted by all the individuals involved. If
employees don’t understand the importance of cooperating,
problems will likely develop.
D. COMMUNICATETHE URGENCY OF THE TEAM’S MISSION
1. Team members are prone to rally around challenges that
compel them to meet high performance standards.
E. PROMOTE COOPERATION WITHIN AND BETWEEN TEAMS
1. Team success requires cooperation with the team, but also
between teams.
2. Regular meetings and sharing needed information among
teams is vital.
F. SELECT TEAM MEMBERS BASED ON THEIR SKILLS OR
POTENTIAL SKILLS
1. Teams members are required to have a complementary set
of skills to enable them to work on a variety of tasks.
Figure 8.20
p.305
2. This includes interpersonal skills as well as job skills.
3. To keeps members skills fresh, confront them with new
facts regularly. Fresh approaches are prompted by fresh
information.
G. A CAUTIONARY NOTE: DEVELOPING SUCCESSFUL
TEAMS REQUIRES PATIENCE
1. The above suggestions do not ensure the success of
teams. Other factors such as the economy, competitors,
and the company’s financial picture all have an impact on
organizational success.
2. Additionally, developing effective teams takes time.
Drucker states it takes 5 years to build a team. It may take
as long at 10 years. Patience and careful attention are
required.
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Extreme Team Building:
A Metaphor For The
Internet Economy p.306
Practicing OB:
Gearing Up For SelfManaged Teams p.313
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Chapter Eight
Summary and Review of Learning Objectives
1. Define what is meant by a group and identify different types of groups operating within organizations.
Answer: A group is a collection of two or more interacting individuals with a stable pattern of
relationships between them who share common goals and who perceive themselves as being a
group. Within organizations, there are two major classes of groups—formal groups (which include
command groups and task groups) and informal groups (which include interest groups and friendship
groups).
2. Describe the importance of norms, roles, status, and cohesiveness within organizations.
Answer: Norms are generally agreed upon informal rules. Roles are the typical pattern of behavior in
a social context. Status refers to the prestige accorded group members. Cohesiveness describes the
pressures faced by group members to remain in their groups. Together, these factors determine the
dynamics of people working in groups.
3. Explain how individual performance in groups is affected by the presence of others (social facilitation),
the cultural diversity of group membership, and the number of others with whom one is working (social
loafing).
Answer: Individual productivity is influenced by the presence of other group members. Sometimes a
person’s performance improves in the presence of others (when the job he or she is doing is well
learned), and sometimes performance declines in the presence of others (when the job is novel). This
phenomenon is known as social facilitation. Not only is performance influenced by the presence of
others but also by the group’s racial/ethnic diversity. Performance in diverse groups is initially worse
than performance in homogeneous groups, although these differences disappear with repeated
involvement with the group. On additive tasks (i.e., ones in which each member’s individual
contributions are combined), social loafing occurs. According to this phenomenon, the more people
who work on a task, the less each group member contributes to it.
4. Define what teams are and describe the various types of teams that exist in organizations.
Answer: Teams are special kinds of groups—ones whose members focus on collective rather than
individual work products, are mutually accountable to each other, share a common commitment to
purpose, and are usually self-managing. Teams differ with respect to several dimensions: their
purpose or mission (work teams versus improvement teams), time (temporary teams or permanent
teams), degree of autonomy (work groups, semiautonomous work groups, or self-managed teams),
authority structure (intact teams versus cross-functional teams), and physical presence (physical
teams versus virtual teams).
5. Understand the evidence regarding the effectiveness of teams in organizations.
Answer: Comprehensive case studies also have found organizational productivity gains (e.g.,
increased outcome, improved quality, lowered costs) resulting from the use of teams. However, more
objective empirical studies have found that, although employees are generally more satisfied in teams
than working under traditional management, they tend to be no more productive at the individual level.
6. Explain the factors responsible for the failure of some teams to operate as effectively as possible and
identify steps that can be taken to build successful teams.
Answer: Despite some evidence of team successes, some teams fail. This is often because team
members are unwilling to cooperate with each other, they fail to receive support from management,
some managers are unwilling to relinquish control, and some teams fail to coordinate their efforts
effectively with other teams. With some effort, teams can yield exceptionally high levels of
performance. To build successful teams, it helps to do the following: provide training in team skills,
compensate team performance, provide managerial support, promote employee support, promote
cooperation within and between teams, and select team members based on their skills or potential
skills.
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Questions for Review
1. What is a group and how do groups form?
Answer: Social scientists formally define a group as a collection of two or more interacting individuals,
with a stable pattern of relationships between them, who share common goals and perceive
themselves as being a group. The model for group development is:
 Forming--members get acquainted with each other, they also establish the ground rules by finding
out what behaviors are acceptable regarding the job (e.g., how productive they are expected to
be) and interpersonal relations (e.g., who is really in charge).
 Storming--is characterized by a high degree of conflict within the group. Members often resist the
control of the group’s leaders, and they show hostility toward each other.
 Norming--the group becomes more cohesive, and identification as a member becomes greater.
Close relationships develop, and shared feelings become common.
 Performing--questions about group relationships and leadership have been resolved--and the
group is ready to work. Having fully developed, the group may now devote its energy to getting the
job done.
 Adjourning--Groups may cease to exist because they have met their goals and no longer are
needed. Other groups may adjourn gradually, as the group disintegrates either because members
leave or the norms no longer are effective for the group.
2. How do norms, roles, status, and cohesiveness influence the operation of groups?
Answer: Roles is one of the primary structural element of groups is the members’ tendencies to play
specific roles. Social scientists use the term role much the same as a director would refer to the
character in a play. Many roles are assigned based on an individual’s position within an organization.
Norms are generally agreed-on, informal rules that guide the members’ behavior. They represent
shared ways of viewing the world. Norms differ from organizational rules as they are not formal and
written. Status is the prestige of group membership. Within most organizations, status can be both
formal and informal in nature.
3. How do the phenomena of social facilitation and social loafing influence the performance of individuals
in group settings?
Answer: Social facilitation results from the heightened emotional arousal people experience in the
presence of others. When people are aroused, they tend to perform the most dominant response,
their most likely behavior in that setting. If someone is performing a well-learned act, the dominant
response likely would be correct. If the behavior in question is relatively novel and newly learned,
however, the dominant response likely would be incorrect. Depending on how well an individual
knew the task—performance will be impacted.
Social loafing refers to the phenomena in which the coordinated efforts of several people are
added together to form the group’s product are known as additive tasks. When several people
combine their efforts on additive tasks, however, each individual’s contribution tends to be less. This
lessens the overall productivity compared to what each individual would have done working alone.
4. What are teams and how do they differ from groups?
Answer: A team may be defined as a group whose members have complementary skills and are
committed to a common purpose or set of performance goals for which they hold themselves mutually
accountable. There are several important distinctions between them. Students’ responses should
clarify the differences between groups and teams in their discussion.
 Performance in groups typically depends on the work of individual members. Performance in
teams, however, depends on both individual contribution and collective work products, the joint
outcome of team members working in concert.
 Typically, group members pool their resources to attain a goal, but individual performance is taken
into consideration when issuing rewards. In contrast, teams focus on both individual and mutual
accountability. They work together to produce an outcome that represents their joint contributions,
and each member shares responsibility for that outcome.
 The key difference is that in groups, the supervisor holds individual members accountable for their
work, whereas in teams, members hold themselves accountable.
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Group members may share a common interest goal. Team members also share a common
commitment to purpose. Moreover, these purposes typically concern winning in some way, such
as being first or best at something. Teams are said to establish “ownership” of their purposes and
usually spend much time establishing that purpose.
Teams differ from groups by the nature of their connections to management. Work groups
typically are required to be responsive to demands regularly placed on them by management.
5. What does the evidence reveal about the effectiveness of work teams?
Answer: Data on the effective of teams is mixed. Case studies often purport the effectiveness of
teams—but because the environment is not controlled it is unclear if the same experience would be
true in another setting. Researchers have begun to conduct controlled studies and are learning more
about the effectiveness of teams overall. However, it is reported that teams are well received, people
seem to enjoy working in them and they are effective in eliminating layers of management. However,
they do not always make organizations more productive.
6. What are the major obstacles to team success and how can they be overcome?
Answer: There are four major obstacles to team success. The first: working in a team is
demanding, and not everyone may be ready for them. One reason some teams fail because their
members are unwilling to co-operate. Second: some teams also are not effective because they fail to
receive support from management. Third: some managers are unwilling to relinquish control. And
fourth: teams might fail because they fail to co-operate with other teams. Training team members and
others involved with teams is an effective way to overcome obstacles. It is important to communicate
the urgency of the team’s mission and to confront the team with new facts to continue a fresh
approach to problems. Additionally, management support is critical to the overall success of the
team. Finally, patience is key—it takes time for a functioning team to develop fully.
Experiential Questions
1. Think of a group in which you have been working. How do the five-stage model and the punctuatedequilibrium model apply to this experience?
Answer: Students’ responses will vary based on their personal experience. They should review all
five elements of the model and the basics of the punctuated-equilibrium model.
 Forming--members get acquainted with each other, they also establish the ground rules.
 Storming--is characterized by a high degree of conflict within the group.
 Norming--the group becomes more cohesive, and identification as a member becomes greater.
Performing--questions about group relationships and leadership have been resolved--and the
group is ready to work.
 Adjourning--Groups may cease to exist because they have met their goals and no longer are
needed.
The punctuated-equilibrium model.
 The punctuated-equilibrium model recognizes that members working to meet a deadline approach
their task differently in the first half of their time together than they do in the second half.
 During the first half, or phase I, groups define their task, setting a mission that is unlikely to
change until the second half of the group’s life.
 Once groups reach the midpoint of their lives almost as if an alarm goes off, groups experience a
sort of “midlife crisis,” a time when they recognize they must change how they operate if they are
going to meet their goals.
 This begins phase 2 of their existence, which is a time when groups drop old ways of thinking and
adopt new perspectives.
2. Describe an incident of social loafing in which you may have been involved (e.g., a class project).
What might be done to overcome this effect?
Answer: Specific examples will vary, they should demonstrate the basic principles of social loafing.
The more individuals who contribute to an additive task, the less each individual’s contribution tends to
be--social loafing.
Suggestions to overcome social loafing:
 Make each performer identifiable.
 Make work tasks more important and interesting.
 Managers can reward individuals for contributing to their group’s performance by encouraging
their interest in their group’s performance.
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 Another mechanism for overcoming social loafing is to use punishment threats.
Chapter Eight
3. How have your own experiences in work teams compared to those described in this chapter? Based
on what you read, what could be done to make your own team experiences more successful?
Answer: Students’ answers will vary depending on their experiences but should include a discussion
on the ideas included on how to make teams more effective from the text.
Questions to Analyze
1. Imagine that you are about to go on stage to give a solo piano recital. How would the phenomenon of
social facilitation account for your performance?
Answer: The tendency for the presence of others to enhance an individual’s performance at certain
times and to impair it at others is known as social facilitation. Social facilitation results from the
heightened emotional arousal people experience in the presence of others. When people are
aroused, they tend to perform the most dominant response, their most likely behavior in that setting. If
someone is performing a well-learned act, the dominant response likely would be correct. If the
behavior in question is relatively novel and newly learned, however, the dominant response likely
would be incorrect.
2. Based on the evidence regarding the effectiveness of teams, would you say that the popularity of
teams today is well founded?
Answer: Students’ responses will vary. The presentation in the text is that they are worthy of their
popularity. Students should consider some of the limitations or liabilities in their discussion.
3. Think of any professional sports team, such as a professional baseball, football, or basketball team. In
what ways do they fit the description of teams used in this chapter? In what ways do they not fit the
description of teams used in this chapter?
Answer: A group is a collection of two or more interacting individuals with a stable pattern of
relationships between them who share common goals and who perceive themselves as being a
group. Teams are special kinds of groups—ones whose members focus on collective rather than
individual work products, are mutually accountable to each other, share a common commitment to
purpose, and are usually self-managing.
A professional sports team doesn’t exactly fit the criteria
for a team in this definition. Most players are hired for their individual skill and are paid accordingly—
not for how well they get along with others. They do share a common commitment to a purpose, but
are not self managed.
Critical Thinking Questions
1. Would you say that there was a “social loafing” problem at Cutler-Hammer before teams were
introduced? Why or why not?
Answer: From the case it is difficult to know if it was laziness of the representatives who weren’t
selling or if there was some additive dimension to the job resulting in social loafing. However, it does
appear that today it is to the benefit of everyone to make referrals and to follow up on them.
2. What challenges had to be overcome for teams to operate effectively at Cutler-Hammer?
Answer: Sales representatives needed to rethink the old way of doing business—knowing all the
products and selling every product. They found that by specializing in a certain line of business they
could become an expert—instead of a generalist—on a product and more effectively help their
customers.
3. What lessons can be learned from what happened at Cutler-Hammer to help make teams more
effective in the company in which you work?
Answer: Compensating people appropriately for the new system is important and in appears that
Cutler-Hammer representatives are satisfied with the new system. Also, feedback from customers is
a motivating factor—employees can see first hand how their efforts are appreciated. Most important,
however, was the training aspect to overcome resistance.
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