Group & Team Behavior

Pulkit Gupta
1011001112

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 What is a Group?

Two or more people interacting and interdependent,

who have come together to achieve particular
objectives.
Why do people join groups?-
Affiliation
Security
Status
Self-esteem
Power
Goal achievement
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 What is a Team?

Team is a number of persons associated in some joint action

Teams are groups of people who work actively together to achieve
a purpose for which they are all accountable
Teams are especially appropriate for conducting tasks that are
high in complexity and have many interdependent subtasks.

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 Comparison between
Groups and Teams
 Work Groups  Work Teams
 Goal- to share  Goal- collective
information performance
 Synergy-  Synergy-positive
neutral/negative
 Accountability-  Accountability-
individual individual and mutual
 Skills-random and  Skills- complementary
varied  Leadership-shared
 Leadership- clearly leadership
focused leader

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 Why organizations are
preferring teams?
• Structural change
• Increased interdependence among different
functions
• Emphasis on creative decisions
• Tasks are requiring multi skills, judgment and
experience.

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 Types of Groups
• Formal & Informal Groups
• Command group
• Task group
• Interest group
• Friendship group

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Formal Groups
A group is formal when it is purposely designed to
accomplish an organizational objective or task. It is
created via a formal authority for some defined
purpose.

Informal Groups
These emerge naturally in response to the common
interests of organizational members. They are formed
spontaneously without any formal designation. These
result due to personal bonds and social interaction
among people who work together at the same place
and may have similarities as well as differences in
their nature and their outlook.

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 Stages of Group
Development
Five Stage Model - forming, storming, norming,
performing, adjourning

Punctuated Equilibrium Model -

First meeting sets the group’s direction.
First phase of group activity is one of inertia
A transition takes place at the end of this first phase.
The transition initiates major changes.
A second phase of inertia follows the transition.
Group’s last meeting is characterized by markedly
accelerated activity

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Stages of Group
Development

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 Forming
A time for defining:
– task
– responsibilities
– goals
– Structure
– group
– Leader?

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 Forming – What we Feel
– excitement
– Anticipation
– Pride
– attachment
– Suspicion

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Storming
– earned title
– task and the effects
– polar positions
– Separation
– charged and emotional
– conflict

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 Storming – What we Feel
• tension
• Jealousy
• Fluctuations
• Concern
• Questioning

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 Norming
• accepting
• Comfortable
• manage conflict
• Competition
• responsibility

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 Norming – What we Feel
• Comfort
• Relief
• optimism
• spirit

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 Performing
• solving problems
• directing behavior
• productivity
• Goals
• interdependence

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 Performing – What we Feel
• Satisfaction
• Reflection
• Tolerance

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 Adjourning
• Temporary groups
• Wrapping things up

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 Adjourning – What we Feel
• Upbeat
• Depressed

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 Groups Dynamics

People Throughputs
Tasks
• Task
Resource
performance
Goals
• Member
Size Norms satisfaction
Setting Conflict
Information Cohesion
Technology Decisions
Communication
Inputs Outputs

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 Factors influencing Group
Behaviour
 Roles- role identity, role perception, role
expectation, role conflict
 Norms-performance norms, appearance norms,
social norms, allocation of resources norms
 Conformity of norms
Deviant workplace behavior
 Status- socially defined position or rank
◦ status and norm
◦ status equity
◦ status and culture

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• Size- task accomplishment, problem solving
– Social loafing ( the tendency to put less efforts
when working collectively than when working
individually)

• Cohesiveness- the degree to which group

members are attracted to each other and are
motivated to stay in the group
– Results in More participation, More success,
More communication, More personal
satisfaction, High Productivity

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 Roles in Groups
• Task-oriented roles
– Roles performed by group members to ensure
that the tasks of the group are accomplished
• Maintenance roles
– Roles performed by group members to
maintain good relations within the group
• Individual roles
– Roles performed by group members that are
not productive for keeping the group on task

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Roles That Build Task
Accomplishment

Initiating

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 Group Decision Making

• Strengths • Weaknesses
• More complete • Time consuming
information and • Conformity pressures
knowledge
• Dominated by one or a
• More alternatives few members
• Increased diversity of • Ambiguous
views responsibility
• High quality decisions • Groupthink
• Increased acceptance
of a solution
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• Group think- Norm for consensus overrides the
realistic appraisal of alternative courses of action.

• Group shift- a change in the decision risk

between the group’s decision and individual
decision that members within the group would
make. It can be either towards conservatism or
greater risk.

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 Symptoms of Groupthink

• The illusion of overconfidence and invulnerability.

• Belief in the inherent morality of the group.
• Pressures for conformity.
• Self Censorship.
• Illusion of unanimity.

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Techniques of Group Decision
Making
 Brainstorming – This involves a group of people,
usually between 5 and 10, sitting around a table
in a classroom setting generating ideas in the
form of free association.

 Delphi Technique – This involves obtaining the

opinions of experts physically separated from
each other and unknown to each other.

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 Nominal Technique – This involves highly
structured procedures employed for generating
and analyzing various ideas and alternatives.

 Fishbowling – In this technique the decision

making group of experts is seated around a circle
with a single chair in the centre of the circle.
Exchanges are made between the centre and the
group.

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 Didactic Interaction – The group to make the
decision is split into two sub groups , one favoring
the “go” decision and the other favoring the “no
go” decision. They meet and discuss their
findings after which they change places to
understand the opposite viewpoint and take a
decision on mutual acceptance.

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 Types of Teams
• Problem solving teams
• Self-managed teams( Hewlett-Packard, GM, Pepsi,
Xerox etc)
• Cross functional teams( automobile companies
like BMW, Honda, GE, Toyota, Ford)
• Virtual teams work across space, time, and
organizational boundaries with links strengthened
by webs of communication technologies. (NIIT,
HP, Shell, Boeing, Ford)

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 Characteristics of an
Effective Team

1. Clear Purpose 7. communication

2. Informality 8. Clear rules
3. Participation 9. leadership
4. Listening 10. relations
5. disagreement 11. diversity
6. Consensus 12. Self-assessment
decisions

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 Factors responsible for
creating an effective team
( A team-effectiveness
model)
• Context- Adequate resources, leadership,
climate of trust, performance evaluation and
rewards
• Composition- Ability, personality, roles,
diversity (demography), size, member
flexibility, preference for team work
• Process-common purpose, specific goals,
team efficacy, conflict, social loafing, synergy
• Work Design- Autonomy, skill variety, task
identity, task significance, feedback
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 Common Problems that
Teams Experience
Floundering
Overbearing and/or Dominating Members
Reluctant Members
Unquestioned Acceptance of Opinions
Rush to Accomplishment
Attribution
Discounts and Plops
Wanderlust
Feuding Members

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 A Model of Team
Effectiveness
Work design Composition

• Autonomy • Ability
• Skill variety • Personality
• Task identity • Roles and diversity
• Task significance • Size
• Flexibility
• Preference for teamwork
Team
effectiveness
Process Context

• Common purpose • Adequate resources

• Specific goals • Leadership
• Team efficacy • Performance
• Conflict evaluation
• Social loafing and rewards

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 Skills
• Teams need the following skills to perform
effectively:
– Technical expertise
– Problem-solving and decision-making skills
– Interpersonal skills

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Roles That Build and
Maintain a Team

Harmoniz
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 Roles of Team Leaders
• Creating a real team
• Setting a clear and meaningful direction
• Making sure that the structure will support
working effectively
• Ensuring that the team has a supportive
organizational environment
• Providing expert coaching

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Creating Effective Teams

(Work Design)
• Effective teams need to work together and
take collective responsibility to complete
significant tasks. They must be more than a
“team-in-name-only.”

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 Creating Effective Teams –
Process
• Common Purpose
• Specific Goals
• Team Efficacy
• Managed Level of Conflict
• Accountability

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 Creating a Team Charter
• Names and contact information How will
communication
• Team ground rules
• Decisions
• Potential conflicts
• Conflicts resolved

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 Increasing Socio-emotional
Cohesiveness
• Keep the group relatively small.
• Strive for a favorable public image to increase
the status and prestige of belonging.
• Encourage interaction and cooperation.
• Emphasize members’ common characteristics
and interests.
• Point out environmental threats (e.g.,
competitors’ achievements) to rally the group.

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 Increasing Instrumental
Cohesiveness
• Regularly update and clarify the group’s
goal(s).
• Give every group member a vital “piece of the
action.”
• Channel each group member’s special talents
toward the common goal(s).
• Recognize and equitably reinforce every
member’s contributions.
• Frequently remind group members they need
each other to get the job done.

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Relationship Between Group
Cohesiveness, Performance
Norms,
and Productivity
Cohesiveness
High Low
Performance Norms

High Moderate
High
productivity productivity

Low Moderate to
Low
productivity low productivity

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 Guidelines for Effective
Decision Making
• Be sure that the purpose of the group is well
defined and clearly understood.
• Be sure that the group members communicate
freely with each other.
• Be sure that the group has access to all the
necessary resources of information.
• Be sure that the group is not dominated by any
member including the leader.
• Be sure that the size of the group is adequate.

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Characteristics of Ineffective
Teams
• Not sharing
• Overdependence
• Failure
• conflict
• Not resolving
• Subgroups

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 What is Trust?

A trust exercise involves engaging team

members in a way that will induce trust between
them. They are sometimes difficult exercises to
implement as there are varying degrees of trust
between individuals and varying degrees of
individual comfort trusting others in general.

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Dimensions of Trust

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 Dimensions of Trust
• Integrity
– Honesty and truthfulness
• Competence
– Technical and interpersonal knowledge and skills
• Consistency
– Reliability, predictability, and good judgment in handling
situations
• Loyalty
– Willingness to protect and save face for a person
• Openness
– Willingness to share ideas and information freely

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 Building Trust
• Working for others.
• Team player.
• Openness.
• Fair.
• Feelings.
• Consistency
• Confidence.
• Competence.

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 Sports Teams as Models

• Good Models • Poor Models

– Successful teams integrate
cooperation and competition
– All sport teams aren’t
– Successful teams score early alike
wins – Work teams are more
– Successful teams avoid varied and complex
losing streaks
– A lot of employees
– Practice makes perfect
– Successful teams use
can’t relate to sports
halftime breaks metaphors
– Winning teams have a stable – Work team outcomes
membership aren’t easily defined in
– Successful teams debrief terms of wins and
after failures and successes
losses

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 Contemporary Issues in
Managing Teams
Turning individuals into team players ( selection,
orientation, training, opportunity)
Diversity and team performance
Reinvigorating mature teams
Managing reward
Issue of team leadership
Managing conflicts

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 Build A High Performance
Team
• Communicate high standards
• Set tone from first meeting
• Create sense of urgency
• Choose members with needed skills
• Set clear rules; model desired behaviors
• Give positive feedback
• Reward high performance

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 Beware! Teams Aren’t
Always the Answer
• Questions to determine whether a team fits the
situation:
– Can the work be done better by more than one
person?
– Does work create a common purpose or set of
goals for the people in the group that is more
than the aggregate of individual goals?
– Are members of the group interdependent?

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Summary and Implications
• What are teams and groups?
– Groups are simply the sum of individual efforts. Teams generate
positive synergy through coordinated efforts.
• Does everyone use teams?
– Teams have become an essential part of the way business is being
done, with a large majority of companies now using them.
• Do groups and teams go through stages while they work?
– Two different models were presented:
• The five stage model: forming, storming, norming, performing, and
adjourning
• The punctuated-equilibrium model: describes the pattern of
development of specific to temporary groups with deadlines

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Summary and Implications
• How do we create effective teams?
– For teams to be effective, careful consideration must be given to
resources, the team’s composition, work design, and process
variables
• How do virtual teams work?
– Virtual teams function much as face-to-face teams, but have
more challenges. Virtual team members need to communicate
more about themselves at the start of projects.
• Are teams always the answer?
– Ask
• Can the work be done better by more than one person?
• Does the work create a common purpose or set of goals for
the people in the group that is more than the aggregate of
individual goals?
• Are the members of the group interdependent?

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