Foundations of Group Behavior

Group - two or more individuals, interacting and interdependent, who have come together to
achieve particular objectives.

Formal group - a designated work group defined by an organization’s structure.

Informal group - a group that is neither formally structured nor organizationally determined;
such a group appears in response to the need for social contact.

Ingroup favoritism - perspective in which we see members of our ingroup as better than other
people, and people not in our group as all the same.

Social identity theory - perspective that considers when and why individuals consider
themselves members of groups.

Several characteristics make a social identity important to a person:

Similarity. Not surprisingly, people who have the same values or characteristics as other
members of their organization have higher levels of group identification.

Distinctiveness. People are more likely to notice identities that show how they are different
from other groups.

Status. Because people use identities to define themselves and increase self-esteem, it makes
sense that they are most interested in linking themselves to high-status groups.

Uncertainty reduction. Membership in a group also helps some people understand who they
are and how they fit into the world.

The Five-Stage Model

Forming stage - the first stage in group development, characterized by much uncertainty.

Storming stage - the second stage in group development, characterized by intragroup conflict.

Norming stage - the third stage in group development, characterized by close relationships and
cohesiveness.

Performing stage - the fourth stage in group development, during which the group is fully
functional.

Adjourning stage - the final stage in group development for temporary groups, characterized by
concern with wrapping up activities rather than task performance.

Group Property
1. Roles - a set of expected behavior patterns attributed to someone occupying a given position
in a social unit.

Role perception - an individual’s view of how he or she is supposed to act in a given situation.

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 an employee and vice versa.

Role conflict - asituation in which an individual is confronted by divergent role expectations.

2. Norms - acceptable standards of behavior within a group that are shared by the group’s
members.

Conformity - the adjustment of one’s behavior to align with the norms of the group.

Reference groups - important groups to which individuals belong or hope to belong and with
whose norms individuals are likely to conform.

Deviant workplace behavior - voluntary behavior that violates significant organizational norms
and, in so doing, threatens the well-being of the organization or its members. Also called
antisocial behavior or workplace incivility.

3. Status - a socially defined position or rank given to groups or group members by others.
Status characteristics theory - a theory that states that differences in status characteristics
create status hierarchies within groups.

According to status characteristics theory, status tends to derive from one of three sources:

The power a person wields over others. Because they likely control the group’s
resources, people who control the outcomes tend to be perceived as high status.

A person’s ability to contribute to a group’s goals. People whose contributions are

critical to the group’s success tend to have high status. Some thought NBA star Kobe
Bryant had more say over player decisions than his coaches (though not as much as
Bryant wanted!).

An individual’s personal characteristics. Someone whose personal characteristics are

positively valued by the group (good looks, intelligence, money, or a friendly
personality) typically has higher status than someone with fewer valued attributes.

4. Size

Does the size of a group affect the group’s overall behavior? Yes, but the effect depends on
what dependent variables we look at. Smaller groups are faster at completing tasks than larger
ones, and individuals perform better in smaller. groups. 51 However, in problem solving, large
groups consistently get better marks than their smaller counterparts.

Social loafing - the tendency for individuals to expend less effort when working collectively than
when working individually.

5. Cohesiveness - the degree to which group members are attracted to each other and are
motivated to stay in the group.

Cohesiveness affects group productivity. Studies consistently show that the relationship
between cohesiveness and productivity depends on the group’s performance-related norms. 59
If norms for quality, output, and cooperation with outsiders, for instance, are high, a cohesive
group will be more productive than will a less cohesive group. But if cohesiveness is high and
performance norms are low, productivity will be low. If cohesiveness is low and performance
norms are high, productivity increases, but less than in the high cohesiveness/high-norms
situation. When cohesiveness and performance-related norms are both low, productivity tends
to fall into the low-to-moderate range.

6. Diversity - the extent to which members of a group are similar to, or different from, one
another.
Diversity appears to increase group conflict, especially in the early stages of a group’s tenure,
which often lowers group morale and raises dropout rates. One study compared groups that
were culturally diverse (composed of people from different countries) and homogeneous
(composed of people from the same country).
 Understanding Work Teams

Work group - a group that interacts primarily to share information and to make decisions to
help each group member perform within his or her area of responsibility.

Work team - a group whose individual efforts result in performance that is greater than the sum
of the individual inputs.

The four most common types of teams in an organization:

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 responsibilities of

their former supervisors.

Cross-functional teams - employees from about the same hierarchical level, but from
different work areas, who come together to accomplish a task.

Virtual teams - teams that use computer technology to tie together physically dispersed
members in order to achieve a common goal.

Team Effectiveness Model

Context: What Factors Determine WhetherTeams Are Successful?

Adequate Resources Teams are part of a larger organization system; every work team
relies on resources outside the group to sustain it. A scarcity of resources directly
reduces the ability of a team to perform its job effectively and achieve its goals.

Leadership and Structure Teams can’t function if they can’t agree on who is to do what
and ensure all members share the workload. Agreeing on the specifics of work and how
they fit together to integrate individual skills requires leadership and structure, either
from management or from the team members themselves.

Climate of Trust - Members of effective teams trust each other. They also exhibit trust in
their leaders. Interpersonal trust among team members facilitates cooperation, reduces
the need to monitor each others’ behavior, and bonds members around the belief that
others on the team won’t take advantage of them. Team members are more likely to
take risks and expose vulnerabilities when they believe they can trust others on their
team.

Performance Evaluation and Reward Systems - How do you get team members to be
both individually and jointly accountable? Individual performance evaluations and
incentives may interfere with the development of high-performance teams.

Team Composition
The team composition category includes variables that relate to how teams should be
staffed.

Abilities of Members - Part of a team’s performance depends on the knowledge, skills,

and abilities of its individual members.

Personality of Members - teams that rate higher on mean levels of conscientiousness

and openness to experience tend to perform better, and the minimum level of team
member agreeableness also matters: teams did worse when they had one or more
highly disagreeable members.

Allocation of Roles - Teams have different needs, and members should be selected to
ensure all the various roles are filled.

Diversity of Members - Proper leadership can also improve the performance of diverse
teams. When leaders provide an inspirational common goal for members with varying
types of education and knowledge, teams are very creative. When leaders don’t provide
such goals, diverse teams fail to take advantage of their unique skills and are actually
less creative than teams with homogeneous skills. Even teams with diverse values can
perform effectively, however, if leaders provide a focus on work tasks rather than
leading based on personal relationships.

Size of Teams - Most experts agree, keeping teams small is a key to improving group
effectiveness. Generally speaking, the most effective teams have five to nine members.
And experts suggest using the smallest number of people who can do the task.

Member Preferences - Not every employee is a team player. Given the option, many
employees will select themselves out of team participation. When people who prefer to
work alone are required to team up, there is a direct threat to the team’s morale and to
individual member satisfaction. High-performing teams are likely to be composed of
people who prefer working as part of a group.

Team Processes

Common Plan and Purpose - Effective teams begin by analyzing the team’s mission,
developing goals to achieve that mission, and creating strategies for achieving the goals.

Specific Goals - Successful teams translate their common purpose into specific,
measurable, and realistic performance goals. Specific goals facilitate clear
communication. They also help teams maintain their focus on getting results.

Team Efficacy - Effective teams have confidence in themselves; they believe they can
succeed.

Mental Models - Effective teams share accurate mental models—organized mental

representations of the key elements within a team’s environment that team members
share.
Conflict levels - The way conflicts are resolved can also make the difference between
effective and ineffective teams.

Social Loafing - Effective teams undermine this tendency by making members

individually and jointly accountaeble for the team’s purpose, goals, and approach.