Groups and Teams
Dr. Fred Mugambi Mwirigi
JKUAT
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Defining and Classifying
Groups

Group (s): Two or more individuals interacting and interdependent,
who have come together to achieve particular objectives

Formal Group: A designated work group defined by the
organisation’s structure
 Command Group
 Task Group

Informal Group: A group that is neither formally structured nor
organisationally determined; appears in response to the need for
social contact
 Interest Group
 Friendship Group
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Teams vs. Groups:
What’s the Difference?

Groups


Two or more people with a common relationship.
Teams

A small number of people who work closely together toward
a common objective and are accountable to one another.
Team work
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The Progression…
Individuals
Group
Work
Group
Team
Work
Team
5
Why People Join Groups






Security
Status
Self-esteem
Affiliation
Power
Goal Achievement
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Stages of Group
Development
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Group Properties/
Characteristics



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Roles
Norms
Status
Size
Cohesiveness
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Group Properties—
Roles



Role(s): A set of expected behaviour patterns
attributed to someone occupying a given
position in a social unit
Role Identity: Certain attitudes and behaviours
consistent with a role
Role Perception: An individual’s view of how
he or she is supposed to act in a given
situation
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Contd.


Role Expectations: How others believe a person
should act in a given situation
 Psychological Contract: An unwritten
agreement that sets out what management
expects from the employee and vice versa
Role Conflict: A situation in which an
individual is confronted by divergent role
expectation.
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Group Properties —
Norms

Norms

Acceptable standards of behaviour within a group
that are shared by the group’s members
Classes of Norms
 Performance norms
 Appearance norms
 Social arrangement norms
 Allocation of resources norms
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Group Properties—
Status
Status: A socially defined position or rank given to
groups or group members by others
Norms and
Interaction
Power over
Others
Ability to
Contribute
Personal
Characteristics
Group Member
Status
Other things influencing or
influenced by status
Status Inequity
National
Culture
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Status


Performance of a group is also influenced by
the status created in the group.
Status is derived from one of three sources:
1. the power a person wields over others;
2. a person’s ability to contribute to group’s
goals;
3. individual’s personal characteristics.
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Status and Norms




High-status members of groups often are given more
freedom to deviate from norms than other group
members.
High-status people also are better able to resist
conformity pressures.
The previous findings explain why many star
athletes, famous actors, top-performing salespeople,
and outstanding academics seem oblivious to
appearance or social norms.
But this is true only as long as the high-status
person’s activities aren’t severely detrimental to
group goals.
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Status and Group
Interaction




Interaction is influenced by status
High-status people tend to be more assertive
Status differences inhibit diversity of ideas and
creativity in groups
In situations where lower-status members possess
expertise and insights that could aid the group, they
tend to be less active and their ideas not fully
utilised, thus reducing the group’s overall
performance
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Status and equity




When inequity is perceived, it creates disequilibrium that
results in corrective behaviour.
The trappings of formal positions are also important
elements in maintaining equity.
Employees expect what an individual has and receives to
be congruent with his/her status. For example: pay,
office space, etc.
Groups generally agree within themselves on status
criteria. Individuals can find themselves in a conflict
situation when they move between groups whose status
criteria are different or when they join groups whose
members have heterogeneous backgrounds.
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Group Properties—Size
Social Loafing: The tendency for individuals to expend less effort
when working collectively than when working individually
Performance
Other Conclusions
 Odd number groups do
better than even.
 Groups of 5 to 7 perform
better overall than larger
or smaller groups.
Group Size
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Social loafing




Social loafing is the tendency for individuals to expend
less effort when working collectively than when working
individually.
In the late 1920s, a German psychologist named Max
Ringelmann compared the results of individual and group
performance on a rope-pulling task.
Ringelmann’s results showed that groups of three people
exerted a force only two-and-a-half times the average
individual performance. Groups of eight collectively
achieved less than four times the solo rate.
Increases in group size are inversely related to individual
performance.
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Group Properties—
Cohesiveness
Cohesiveness
Degree to which group members are attracted to
each other and are motivated to stay in the group
Increasing Group Cohesiveness
 Make the group smaller
 Encourage agreement with group goals
 Increase the time members spend together
 Increase group status and admission difficulty
 Stimulate competition with other groups
 Give rewards to the group, not individuals
 Physically isolate the group.
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Relationship Between Group
Cohesiveness, Performance Norms, and
Productivity
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Group Decision Making
Strengths




More complete
information
Increased diversity of
views
Higher quality of
decisions (more
accuracy)
Increased acceptance of
solutions
Weaknesses




More time consuming
(slower)
Increased pressure to
conform
Domination by one or a
few members
Ambiguous responsibility
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Group Decisionmaking Techniques




General Group Interaction: Typical groups, in which the
members interact with each other face-to-face
Nominal Group Technique: A group decision-making
method in which individual members meet face-to-face to
pool their judgments in a systematic but independent
fashion
Brainstorming: An idea-generation process that specifically
encourages any and all alternatives while withholding any
criticism of those alternatives
Electronic Meeting: A meeting in which members interact
on computers, allowing for anonymity of comments and
aggregation of votes
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Conformity in Groups





There is considerable evidence that groups can place strong
pressures on individual members to change their attitudes and
behaviours to conform to the group’s standard.
Individuals conform to the important groups to which they
belong or hope to belong (especially the reference group).
However, all groups do not impose equal conformity
pressures on their members.
Important groups are referred to as reference groups.
The reference group is characterised as one where the person
is aware of the others; the person defines himself or herself as
a member, or would like to be a member; and the person feels
that the group members are significant to him/her.
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Work Teams





Difference between groups and teams
Types of teams
Creating effective teams
Turning individuals into team players
Teams aren’t always the answer
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Mature Group
Characteristics
Status Structure - the set of authority & task
relations among a group’s members
 Hierarchical or egalitarian
 Often leadership is shared
Data/Info
Contributor
Mission
Collaborator
Diversity Styles
Facilitator
Communicator
Devil’s advocate
Challenger
Comparing Work
Groups and Work Teams
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Types of Teams
1.
2.
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
Self-Managed Work Teams
 Groups of 10 to 15 people who take
on the responsibilities of their former
supervisors
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Types of Teams (cont’d)
3.
Cross-Functional Teams

Employees from about the same hierarchical level,
but from different work areas, who come together to
accomplish a task

Task forces
Committees

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Types of Teams (cont’d)
4. Virtual Teams
Teams that use computer
technology to tie together
physically dispersed members
in order to achieve a common
goal
Characteristics of Virtual Teams
 The absence of verbal and nonverbal cues
 A limited social context
 The ability to overcome time and space constraints
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A Team-Effectiveness
Model
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Social Benefits of Teams
Psychological Intimacy - emotional &
psychological closeness to other team
or group members
Integrated Intimacy - closeness achieved
through tasks & activities
Creating Effective
Teams: Diversity

Group Demography


The degree to which members of a group share a common
demographic attribute, such as age, sex, race, educational
level, or length of service in the organisation, and the
impact of this attribute on turnover
Cohorts

Individuals who, as part of a group, hold a common
attribute
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Characteristics of an
Effective Team




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Clear purpose
Informality
Participation
Listening
Civilized disagreement
Consensus decisions

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Open communication
Clear rules and work
assignments
Shared leadership
External relations
Style diversity
Self-assessment
Guiding Questions
When Forming Teams


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Who are the team members, team leaders and team liaison
members?
What is the reason this team exists? What is the common vision,
what are the goals and targets?
What are the norms that will guide how the team will work
together?
What results are expected for this team? What are the outputs
expected from the team and by when? To whom should they be
given?
What is their agreed-upon strategy?
What are the steps to be followed by this team?
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Questions Contd.


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What are the team roles and who will play them?
Who is the responsible for these roles?
What are the norms and methodologies about:
- decision- making
- problem-solving process
- conflict resolution
- communication, cooperation and responsibility
- task management
- meetings
- rewards
What are the resources available to support the teamwork?
Who will support the team if needed?
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A Model of Team
Effectiveness
Context
Composition
• Adequate resources
• Leadership and structure
• Climate of trust
• Performance evaluation
and rewards
Team
effectiveness
Work design
• Autonomy
• Skill variety
• Task identity
• Task significance
• Skills
• Personality
• Roles
• Diversity
• Size
• Member flexibility
• Member preference for
teamwork
Process
• Common purpose
• Specific goals
• Team efficacy
• Managed level of conflict
• Accountability
Effects of Group
Processes
Potential group
effectiveness
+
Process gains
—
=
Process losses
Actual group
effectiveness
Goal: Maximise process gains while
minimising process losses!
37
Turning Individuals into
Team Players

The Challenges




Overcoming individual resistance to team membership
Countering the influence of individualistic cultures
Introducing teams in an organisation that has historically
valued individual achievement
Shaping Team Players



Selecting employees who can fulfil their team roles
Training employees to become team players
Reworking the reward system to encourage cooperative efforts
while continuing to recognise individual contributions
38
Teams and Quality
Management

Team Effectiveness and Quality
Management Requires that Teams:





Are small enough to be efficient and effective.
Are properly trained in required skills.
Are allocated enough time to work on problems.
Are given authority to resolve problems and take
corrective action.
Have a designated 'champion' to call on when
needed.
39
New vs. Old Team
Environments
New Team Environment
Old Work Environment
Person generates initiatives
Person follows orders
Team charts its own steps
Manager charts course
Right to think for oneself.
People rock boat; work
together
People conformed to manager’s
direction. No one rocked the
boat.
People cooperate using
People cooperated by suppressing
thoughts and feelings; direct thoughts and feelings; wanted to
talk
get along
SOURCE: Managing in the New Team Environment, by Hirschhorn, © 1991. Reprinted by permission of Prentice-Hall, Inc.,Upper Saddle River, N. J.
Testing Team
Effectiveness

Three tests to see if a team fits the
situation:



Is the work complex and is there a need for different
perspectives?
Does the work create a common purpose or set of
goals for the group that is larger than the aggregate
of the goals for individuals?
Are members of the group involved in
interdependent tasks?
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Thank you
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