Organizational Behaviour

Saradhika Manjaree
Lecturer
 OB
The Individual The Organization
The Group
- Diversity System
- Group Dynamics
- Attitudes - Culture
- Communication
- Emotions & - Change
moods - Leadership
- Personality & - Power and
Values Politics
- Perceptions
- Motivation

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 The Group

6. Group Dynamics
Slide content created by Joseph B. Mosca, Monmouth University.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. 1-3
 Learning Outcomes
After studying this session, you should be able to:
1. Define and identify types of groups and teams in
organizations, discuss reasons people join groups and teams,
and list the stages of group and team development
2. Identify and discuss four essential characteristics of groups
and teams
3. Discuss interpersonal and intergroup conflict in organizations
4. Describe how organizations manage conflict

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 How Would You Define a Group?
• Two or more people who interact regularly to accomplish a common
purpose or goal.
• Groups are a ubiquitous part of organizational life.
 Common features of a group

1. Share common goals

2. Collection of two or more people
3. Stable pattern of relationships
4. Perceive themselves as being a group

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 What Are the Types of Groups?
• Functional Group:
• A permanent group created by the organization to accomplish a number of
organizational purposes with an indefinite time horizon. Eg: advertising groups
• Informal or Interest Group:
• Created by its own members for purposes that may or may not be relevant to
organizational goals.
• Task groups and teams:
• A group created by the organization to accomplish a relatively narrow range of
purposes within a stated or implied time horizon

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 Other Types of Teams
• Problem-solving team:
• Comprises knowledge workers who gather to solve a specific problem.
• Management team:
• Consists mainly of managers from various functions.
• Work team:
• Responsible for the daily work.
• Virtual team:
• New form of team that interacts by computer.
• Quality circle:
• Declining in popularity.

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 Why Do Organizations Create Task Groups?

• To accomplish a relatively narrow range of purposes within a stated or

implied time horizon.
Eg: New product development, evaluation committee

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 What Does a Team Consist of?
• A group of workers who function as a unit.
• They function with little or no supervision to carry out work-related:
• Tasks
• Functions
• Activities

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How Do People Join Groups and Teams?
• Interpersonal Attraction
• Group Activities
• Group Goals
• Need Satisfaction
• Instrumental Benefits

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uG-FLOi4OOU

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 Difference between
Difference group
between Group & team
& Team
Characteristics Work group Work team

Leadership A strong, clearly focused leader Shared leadership roles

Accountability Individual accountability Individual and mutual accountability

Purpose Same as the broader organizational mission Very specific purpose

Work product Individual work products Collective work products

Meetings Runs efficient meetings Encourages open-ended active problem

solving meetings

Measuring Measures effectiveness indirectly by its influence Measures performance directly by assessing

performance on others collective work products

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Stages of Group Development

Tuckman’s Group Development Model 11

 The Five-Stage Model of Group Development

1. Forming Stage : building awareness

• Feelings and weaknesses covered up
• People act in a formal manner
• No shared understanding for task
• Some insensitive to others views

• Some Concerns:
• Increasing paperwork (bureaucracy)
• Senior staff taking control
• Members confining themselves to specific tasks
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The Five-Stage Model of Group Development Cont..

2. Storming Stage: conflicts, disagreements, resistance

• Personal issues become apparent
• Concern for other members views, values
• Ineffective confrontation
• Dissatisfaction

Some Concerns:
• Team too disjoined to reach the next stage
• Just acting out the roles, no real involvement

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The Five-Stage Model of Group Development Cont..

3. Norming Stage:
Settling down having reached common understanding,
cooperation, collaboration
Confidence and trust grows
Systematic and open approach develops
Valuing of others skills
Clarification of purpose and objectives
Consider other options
Prepare plans
Measure progress
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The Five-Stage Model of Group Development Cont..

4. Performing Stage: productivity; reaching team goals

• Flexibility
• Focused
• Everyone is involved
• Leadership is given relevant to task

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The Five-Stage Model of Group Development Cont..

5. Adjourning Stage :
• The final stage in group development
for temporary groups, characterized
by concern with wrapping up
activities rather than performance.

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 Group activity
• Take your assignment group.
• Explain the group formation
process using examples.
• Present it to the class.

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 Characteristics of Groups and Teams
1. Role structure
2. Norms
3. Cohesiveness
4. Informal leadership

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Characteristics of Groups and Teams Cont.

1. Role structure
• What is a role?
• The part an individual plays in helping
the group reach its goal.
• What does role structure
accomplish?
• The set of defining roles and
interrelationships among those roles
that the group or team members define
and accept.

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Characteristics of Groups and Teams Cont.

• Role ambiguity:
• When the sent role is unclear and the
individual does not know what is expected
of them.
• Role conflict:
• When the messages and cues comprising
the sent role are clear but contradictory or
mutually exclusive.
• Role overload:
• When expectations for the role exceed the
individual’s capabilities.

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Characteristics of Groups and Teams Cont.

2. Norms
• Norms are standards of
behavior that the group or
team accepts for its
members.
• What do norms define?
• Boundaries between
acceptable and unacceptable
behavior.

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Characteristics of Groups and Teams Cont.

• Norm Conformity (Compliance with rules)

• Some groups or teams exert more pressure
for conformity.
• Initial stimulus that prompts behavior can
affect conformity.
• Individual traits can determine conformity.
• Situational factors such as team size
contribute to conformity.
• Generalized norm conformity that occurs as
a person makes the transition from being
an outsider to being an insider in the
organization.
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Characteristics of Groups and Teams Cont.

3. Cohesiveness
• The extent to which
members are loyal and
committed to the group; the
degree of mutual
attractiveness within the
group

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Characteristics of Groups and Teams Cont.
Factors That Influence Group Cohesiveness

FACTORS THAT FACTORS THAT

INCREASE REDUCE
COHESIVENESS COHESIVENESS

•Inter-group
•Group size
competition
•Disagreement on goals
•Personal attraction
•Intra-group competition
•Favorable evaluation
•Domination
•Agreement on goals
•Unpleasant experiences
•Interaction

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The Interaction Between Cohesiveness and Performance Norms

Group cohesiveness and performance

norms interact to determine group
performance. From the manager’s
perspective, high cohesiveness
combined with high performance norms
comprise the best situation, and high
cohesiveness combined with low
performance norms create the worst
situation. Managers who can influence
the level of cohesiveness and
performance norms can greatly improve
the effectiveness of a work group.

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Characteristics of Groups and Teams Cont.
4. Informal Leadership
• A formal leader—that is, one appointed by the
organization or chosen or elected by the members
of the group.
• An informal leader is a person who engages in
leadership activities but whose right to do so has
not been formally recognized.
• The formal and the informal leader in any group or
team may be the same person, or they may be
different people.
• In many cases, informal leaders are quite powerful
because they draw from referent or expert power.
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 The Nature of Conflict

• How would you define

conflict?
• A disagreement between
two or more:
• Individuals.
• Groups.
• Organizations.

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The Nature of Organizational Conflict

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 Methods for Stimulating Conflict

• Stimulating conflict:
• Increase competition
• Hire outsiders
• Change established procedures
• Controlling conflict:
• Expand resource base
• Enhance coordination of interdependence
• Set supra-ordinate goals
• Match personalities and work
 Resolving and Eliminating Conflict
• Avoid conflict
• Convince conflicting parties to compromise.
• Bring conflicting parties together to confront and negotiate conflict.

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 Q&A

Thank You

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