Effective Groups and Teams
Chapter 15
_________: Two or more people who interact with
each other to accomplish certain goals or meet
certain needs.
_________: A group whose members work
intensely with each other to achieve a specific,
common goal or objective.
Two characteristics distinguish teams from groups:
1. Intensity with which team members work
together
2. Presence of a specific, overriding team goal or
objective
Group Performance = Individual Performance +
Group Gains – Group Losses.
• Groups produce both positives and negatives with
regard to performance
_________: People working in a group are able to
produce more outputs than would have been
produced if each person had worked separately
–
–
–
–
Ability of group members to bounce ideas off one another
To correct one another’s mistakes
To bring a diverse knowledge base to bear on a problem
To accomplish work that is too vast for any one individual
to achieve
Groups and Teams Performance
• Social Facilitation: The increase in
performance individuals experience
from being with others
– Dominant Behaviors
– Evaluation Apprehension
• The Ringelmann effect is the
tendency for individual members of
a group to become increasingly less
productive as the size of their group
increases.
Groups’ and Teams’ Contributions to
Organizational Effectiveness
Stages of Group Development
Forming
Performing
Performance
Norming
Adjourning
Storming
Time
11–6
Groups and Teams and
Responsiveness to Customers
• Responsiveness to Customers
– Difficult to achieve given the many constraints.
• Safety issues, regulations, costs.
– Cross-functional teams can provide the wide
variety of skills needed to meet customer
demands.
• Teams consist of members of different departments.
Teams and Innovation
Innovation: The creative development of new
products, new technologies, new services, or
new organizational structures
• Individuals rarely possess the wide variety of
skills needed for successful innovation.
• Team members can uncover each other’s flaws
and balance each other’s strengths and
weaknesses
Groups and Teams as Motivators
• Members of groups, and particularly teams, are
often better motivated and satisfied than
individuals.
• Team members can see how their efforts and
expertise directly contribute to the achievement
of team and organizational goals, and they feel
personally responsible for the outcomes or
results of their work
The Types of Groups and
Teams in Organizations
Types of Groups and Teams
Type of Team
Top-management
team
A group composed of the CEO, the president,
and the heads of the most important
departments
Research and
development team
A team whose members have the expertise
and experience needed to develop new
products
Command groups
A group composed of subordinates who
report to the same supervisor, also called a
department or unit
Task forces
A committee of managers or nonmanagerial
employees from various departments or
divisions who meet to solve a specific,
mutual problem; also called an “ad hoc”
committee
The Types of Groups and Teams
Type of Team
Self-managed work
team
A group of employees who supervise their
own activities and monitor the quality of the
goods and services they provide.
Virtual team
A team whose members rarely or never meet
face to face and interact by using various
forms of information technology such as
email, computer networks, telephone, fax and
video conferences.
Friendship group
An informal group composed of employees
who enjoy each other’s company and
socialize with each other.
Interest group
An informal group composed of employees
seeking to achieve a common goal related to
their membership in an organization.
Keys to Effective
Self-Managed Teams
• Give the team enough responsibility and autonomy
to be truly self-managing.
• The team’s task should be complex enough to
include many different steps.
• Select members carefully for their diversity, skills,
and enthusiasm.
• Managers should guide and coach, not supervise.
• Analyze training needs and be sure it is provided.
Group Size
1.
2.
3.
4.
Advantages of small groups
Interact more with each other and easier to coordinate their
efforts
More motivated, satisfied, and committed
Easier to share information
Better able to see the importance of their personal contributions
Disadvantage of small groups is that members of small groups have
fewer resources available to accomplish their goals.
Group Size
• Advantages of large groups
– More resources at their disposal to achieve group
goals
– Enables managers to obtain division of labor
advantages
• Disadvantages of large groups
– Problem of communication and coordination
– Lower level of motivation
– Members might not think their efforts are really
needed
Group Tasks
Task interdependence: The degree to which the work
performed by one member of the group influences the work
performed by other members
• Pooled task interdependence: Members make separate,
independent contributions to group such that group
performance is the sum of each member’s contributions
• Sequential task interdependence: Exists when group
members must perform specific tasks in a predetermined
order.
• Reciprocal task interdependence: Exists when the work
performed by each group member is fully dependent on the
work performed by other group members.
Types of Task Interdependence
___________:The set of norms that a group
member is expected to perform because of his
or her position in the group.
Norms: expected behaviors of group members
• In cross-functional teams, members are
expected to perform roles in their specialty.
• Managers should clearly describe expected
roles to group members when they are
assigned to the group.
• Role-making occurs as workers take on more
responsibility in their roles as group members.
• Self-managed teams may assign the roles to
members themselves.
Group Leadership
• Effective leadership is a key ingredient in high
performing groups, teams, and organizations.
• A manager may appoint a member of a group
who is not a manager to be group leader or
chairperson.
• Group or team members may choose their own
leaders, or a leader may emerge naturally as
group members work together to achieve group
goals
Group Norms
• Conformity and Deviance
– Members conform to norms to obtain rewards,
imitate respected members, and because they feel
the behavior is right.
– When a member deviates, other members will try
to make them conform, expel the member, or
change the group norms to accommodate them.
Examples of Asch’s Cards
Asch demonstrated the impact that conformity has on an individual’s judgment and
attitudes. In these experiments, groups of seven or eight people were asked to
compare two cards held up by the experimenter. One card had three lines of different
lengths and the other had one line which was equal in length to one of the three lines
on the other card. Almost 1/3 of the time, individuals would go with a group’s wrong
answer, even when they knew the group’s answer was wrong.
Balancing Conformity and
Deviance in Groups
• _____________: The degree to which
members are attracted to their group. It’s like
glue, holding the group together.
• Three major consequences
– Level of participation
– Level of conformity to group norms
– Emphasis on group goal accomplishment
Sources and Consequences of
Group Cohesiveness
Factors Leading to Group Cohesiveness
Factor
Group Size
Smaller groups allow for 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
Encouraging a group to adopt a unique
identity and engage in competition with
others can increase cohesiveness.
Success
Cohesiveness increases with success;
finding ways for a group to have some small
successes increases cohesiveness.
Motivating Group Members to Achieve
Organizational Goals
• Members should benefit when the group
performs well—rewards can be monetary or in
other forms such as special recognition.
• Individual compensation is a combination of
both individual and group performance.
Social Loafing in Groups
Social loafing: The tendency of
individuals to put forth less
effort in a group than
individually.
– Results in possibly lower
group performance and
failure to attain group goals
Reducing Social Loafing