Groups
Two or more individuals that come into
personal and meaningful contact on a
continuous basis
 Groups and teams are not the same

–
–
–
Teams are a subset of groups
Teams have more structure
Teams have Goals
Group Dynamics

Dynamics affect how a group or team functions.
–
Group size: affects how a group performs.
Normally, keep group small (2 to 9 members).
– Small groups interact better and tend to be more
motivated.
 Use large groups when more resources are needed.
– Division of labor is possible with large group.

–
Group Tasks: impacts how a group interacts.

Task interdependence shows how work of one member
impacts another.
– As interdependence rises, members work closer together.
Team Size
Optimal Size????
 Depends on task, group, time, etc.
 Should be large enough to provide sufficient
ideas, and labor, but not so large that social
loafing becomes an issue, and that the group
becomes clumsily large
 Navy Seals in Panama

Reducing Social Loafing
Figure 14.7
Make individual
contributions
identifiable
Emphasize valuable
individual
contributions
Keep group size
at an appropriate
level
REDUCE
Social
Loafing
Group Dynamics
–
Task interdependence types:

Pooled Task Interdependence: members make
separate, independent contributions to group.
–

Sequential Task Interdependence: members perform
tasks in a sequential order.
–

Group performance is the sum of member contributions.
Hard to determine individual performance since one member
depends on another.
Reciprocal Task Interdependence: work performed
by a member is dependent on work by others.
–
Members share information and work closely together.
Processes of Groups
Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing
and Adjourning
 Groups move through the stages, can stop at
a stage, or move back down through the
stages
 The faster they move through the process
the better

17.6
The Development of Work Teams
Degree of Maturity
High
End or
recycle
End or
recycle
End or
recycle
End or
recycle
Adjourning
Performing
Norming
Storming
Forming
Low
Start
Time Together
Source: Adapted and modified from B.W. Tuckman and M. A.
C. Jensen. Stages of small-group development revisited.
Group and Organization Studies, 2, 1977, pp. 419-442; and B.
W. Tuckman. Developmental sequence in small groups.
Psychological Bulletin, 63, 1965, pp. 384-389.
End
Adapted from Figure 17.3
Forming-awareness stage
Group is brought together and orientation
occurs
 Become aware of friendships, task objective
 Amount of information and commitment
and acceptance of organizational goals is
important
 Anxiety about the group, the task, and
performance capability
 Group efficacy-belief in groups ability

Storming-conflict stage
Competitive or strained behaviors emerge
over conflict about roles and objectives
 Dominant members emerge
 Spreading conflict can lead to frustration,
and anger
 Conflict resolution is necessary to move on
 Some conflict is beneficial

Norming
Members begin to feel positive about the
group and what it is supposed to do
 Start to feel like “we are in this together”
 Roles are set
 Rules and norms are set and enforced by
members

Behavioral Norms
Informal rules of behavior
 Widely shared and enforced by group
 Facilitate group survival

–
–
–

Predictability of behavior
Prevents embarrassing situations
Express important behaviors
Dress, Humor, Attitude toward organization,
what is ok to take from org
Norm Development
Explicit Statement by top management
 Critical events-precedence
 Primacy behaviors
 Recency
 Past experience-carry-over behaviors from
other groups

Group Cohesiveness
–
Group cohesiveness: measures the loyalty to the
group by its members.

Level of Participation: as cohesiveness rises, so will
participation.
–

Level of Conformity: as conformity rises, so does
cohesiveness.
–

Participation helps get members actively involved, but too
much can waste time.
With too much conformity, performance can suffer.
Level of Group Goal Accomplishment: as
cohesiveness rises, the emphasis on group
accomplishment will rise.
–
High levels of cohesiveness can cause the group to focus more
on itself than the firm.
Cohesiveness
–
Determinates of cohesiveness: can be altered to
change cohesiveness levels in a group.

Group Size: small groups allow high cohesiveness.
–
Low cohesiveness groups with many members can benefit from
splitting into two groups.
Managed Diversity: Diverse groups often come up with
better solutions.
 Group Identity: When cohesiveness is low, encourage a
group to adopt a unique identity and engage in healthy
competition with others.
 Success: cohesiveness increases with success.

–
Look for a way for a group to find some small success.
Factors that influence cohesion
Common Goals
 Success Experience
 Size
 Interpersonal Attraction
 External Threat
 High Status
 Cooperation

Group Cohesiveness
Figure 14.6
Group
Size
Managed
Diversity
Group
Identity
Success
Level of
Participation
in group
Group
Cohesiveness
Level of
Conformity to
norms
Emphasis
on goals
accomplished
Groupthink
Desire to agree is so great that is dominates
concern for realistic appraisal of alternative
courses of action
 Too much cohesion or domination of group
by a few leaders
 Time pressure, need to perform, crisis
conditions

Productive Controversy

Productive Controversy
–
between extremes of infighting and groupthink
Also known as creative abrasion
 value different points of view
 Facilitates creative problem solving
 Task related conflict is good, personal is not
so good

Balancing Conformity and Deviance
Figure 14.5
Level of
group Performance
High
Low
Low Conformity
High deviation
Med. Conformity
Med. deviation
High Conformity
Low deviation
Performingproductivity/achievement
Members have come to trust and accept
each other
 Members comfortable presenting ideas
 Team is focused on task, committed to the
mission

Adjourning-separation
For temporary (task force) teams
 Terminating task behaviors
 Disengaging from relationship
 Isn’t always planned
 Recognition for performance and give
closure
 May be turnover of members rather than
adjournment

Groups & Teams Impact Effectiveness
Figure 14.1
Enhance
Performance
Groups
and
Teams
Can...
Increase
Responsiveness
to customer
Increase
Innovation
Increase
Motivation
& Satisfaction
Gaining a
Competitive
Advantage
Types of Groups and Teams
Figure 14.2
Groups & Teams
Formal Groups
created by managers
CrossFunctional
Teams
CrossCultural
Teams
Top
Mgmt.
Teams
R&D
Teams
Informal Groups
created by workers
SelfManaged
Teams
Command
Groups
Friendship
Groups
Task
Forces
Interest
Groups
Informal Groups

Small number of individuals that frequently
participate together in activities and are
more connected to each other than to nonmembers
–
–

Share values, feelings, interests
Provides satisfaction of personal needs, mutual
support
Can be beneficial or detrimental to
organizations
Work Teams

Small number of identifiable,
interdependent employees that work
together on tasks in order to achieve
organizational goals
–
–
–
–
–
Functional
Problem-solving
Self-managing
Multidisciplinary
High-performance teams
Functional Work Teams
Members from a single department
 Consider issues and solve problems
 May be continual or
 May be task force that disbands after
completion of assignment

Problem-Solving

Members from different areas in a
department that attempt to improve a
process
–
–
Task forces-meet to move the organization
toward a new strategic position
Quality circles-regular meetings to identify,
analyze, solve problems
Multidisciplinary Teams

Members from various areas and
organizational levels that work toward
specific goals
–
–
–
Designing and introducing products
Improve company match with suppliers and
customers
Design and introduce new processes
Permanent or temporary
 Product development-Saturn

Advantages of Multidisciplinary

Speed in product development
–
–

replaces serial development with parallel
development
communication through levels of organization
Creativity
–
variety of experience and expertise
Self-Managing Teams
Work together daily to make, deliver an
entire product or service
 Often multidisciplinary
 Rotating job tasks and assignments
 Decide for themselves what and how to do
things
 Can raise productivity 30%
 Managerial levels often eliminated

High-Performance Teams
Self-managing teams composed of highly
trained members
 Fully empowered to accomplish major tasks
 US Navy Seals
 SWAT and SRT teams
 Members must put group ahead of personal
ego and be totally committed to group
initiatives

Culture’s Effect on Groups

Collectivist Vs Individualistic Cultures
–
collectivists are more comfortable in groups
 Japan,
–
Latin-American
individualistic are less comfortable
 US

In individualistic countries groups must be
supported by organizational culture
Organizational Culture
Traditional Organizations depend upon
stable functional teams without
multidisciplinary work
 Modern organizations strive to be more
adaptive through use of multidisciplinary
teams

–
Most employees serve on multiple
multidisciplinary teams at one time