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Foundations of Group Behaviour

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Chapter 5, Stephen P. Robbins and Nancy Langton, Organizational Behaviour, 2nd ed. ... Minimize embarrassment. Express central values. Clarify the group's identity ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: Foundations of Group Behaviour


1
Chapter 5
  • Foundations of Group Behaviour

2
Chapter Outline
  • Defining Groups
  • Stages of Group Development
  • What Makes Groups Work (or Not Work)?
  • Can We Build a Better Working Group?

3
Foundations of Group Behaviour
Questions for Consideration
  • What are the stages of group development?
  • What makes groups work (or not work)?
  • How do we build a better work group?

4
Defining Groups
  • Groups
  • two or more individuals, interacting and
    interdependent, who have come together to achieve
    particular objectives.

5
Exhibit 5-1Why Do People Join Groups?
  • Security
  • By joining a group, individuals can reduce the
    insecurity of standing alone. People feel
    stronger, have fewer self-doubts, and are more
    resistant to threats when they are part of a
    group.
  • Status
  • Inclusion in a group that is viewed as important
    by others provides recognition and status for its
    members.
  • Self-Esteem
  • Groups can provide people with feelings of
    self-worth. That is, in addition to conveying
    status to those outside the group, membership can
    also give increased feelings of worth to the
    group members themselves.
  • Affiliation
  • Groups can fulfill social needs. People enjoy the
    regular interaction that comes with group
    membership. For many people, these interactions
    are their primary way of satisfying their needs
    for affiliation.
  • Power
  • What cannot be achieved individually often
    becomes possible through group action. There is
    power in numbers.
  • Goal Achievement
  • There are times when it takes more than one
    person to accomplish a particular task there is
    a need to pool talents, knowledge, or power in
    order to complete a job.

6
Exhibit 5-2Stages of Group Development
Stage I Forming
Prestage 1
Stage II Storming
Stage III Norming
Stage IV Performing
Stage V Adjourning
7
Stages of Group Development
  • Forming
  • The first stage in group development,
    characterized by much uncertainty
  • Storming
  • The second stage in group development,
    characterized by intragroup conflict
  • Norming
  • The third stage in group development,
    characterized by close relationships and
    cohesiveness
  • Performing
  • The fourth stage in group development, when the
    group is fully functional
  • Adjourning
  • The final stage in group development for
    temporary groups, characterized by concern with
    wrapping up activities rather than task
    performance

8
Exhibit 5-3The Punctuated-Equilibrium Model
9
Exhibit 5-4Group Behaviour Model
10
Effects of the Workplace
  • Groups are a subset of a larger workplace
    consisting of the following
  • Organization Strategy
  • Organizational Infrastructure
  • Leadership
  • Rules
  • Resources
  • Evaluation and Rewards
  • Organizational Culture

11
Group Member Resources
  • Knowledge, Skills and Abilities - set the
    parameters for what members can do and how
    effectively they will perform in a group
  • Personality Characteristics - the magnitude of
    the effect of any single characteristic is small,
    but taking personality characteristics together,
    the consequences for group behaviour are of major
    significance.

12
Group Structure
  • Groups are not unorganized mobs. They have a
    structure that shapes the behaviour of members.
  • Formal Leadership
  • Roles
  • Norms
  • Status
  • Size
  • Composition
  • Cohesiveness

13
Roles
  • A role is 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 individuals 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 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 expectations

14
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

15
Exhibit 5-5 Task-oriented Roles
16
Exhibit 5-5 Maintenance-oriented Roles
17
Norms
  • Acceptable standards of behaviour within a group
    that are shared by the groups members

18
How Norms Develop
  • Explicit statements
  • Critical events
  • Initial patterns of behaviour
  • Carry-over behaviour

19
Why Norms Are Enforced
  • Facilitate group survival
  • Make behaviour predictable
  • Minimize embarrassment
  • Express central values
  • Clarify the groups identity

20
Norms Positive
  • Regulates individual behaviour
  • Makes behaviour predictable
  • When oriented toward company goals, usually get
    effective group performance

21
Norms Negative
  • Loss of individuality and initiative
  • Establishment of only moderate levels of
    performance
  • If norms in conflict with company goals, probable
    drop in group performance will result

22
Status
  • A socially defined position or rank given to
    groups or group members by others

23
Group Size
  • Research Evidence
  • smaller groups faster at completing tasks
  • when problem-solving, larger groups do better
  • larger groups result in more social loafing
  • the tendency for individuals to expend less
    effort when working collectively than when
    working individually
  • groups with an odd number of members preferable
    (to avoid ties)
  • groups of between 5 and 7 tend to combine the
    best elements of small and large groups

24
Group Composition
  • Impact of diverse groups
  • diversity in personality age, gender and
    experience promotes conflict, which stimulates
    creativity and idea generation, which leads to
    improved decision making
  • cultural diversity in groups initially leads to
    more difficulty in building cohesion, gaining
    satisfaction, being productive
  • problems pass with time (certainly by three
    months)
  • culturally diverse groups bring more viewpoints
    out

25
Cohesiveness
  • Degree to which group members are attracted to
    each other and are motivated to stay in the group

26
Exhibit 5-6Relationship Between Group
Cohesiveness, Performance Norms, and Productivity
27
Exhibit 5-7Effects of Group Processes
28
Understanding Group Processes
  • Group processes can impact effectiveness
  • Synergy An action of two or more substances that
    results in an effect that is different from the
    individual summation of the substances.
  • Social facilitation effect The tendency for
    performance to improve or decline in response to
    the presence of others.

29
Building Better Working Groups
  • Assigning Appropriate Tasks
  • Providing Organizational Support
  • Building Group Cohesiveness

30
Assigning Appropriate Tasks
  • The group task is a whole and meaningful piece of
    work, with a visible outcome
  • The outcomes of the groups work on the task have
    significant consequences for other people
  • The task provides group members with substantial
    autonomy for deciding about how they do the work
  • Work on the task generates regular, trustworthy
    feedback about how well the group is performing

31
Providing Organizational Support
  • Assign Appropriate People to the Group
  • Provide Appropriate Group Training
  • Provide Adequate and Timely Information
  • Give Challenging, Specific Performance Objectives
  • Give Rewards for Excellent Performance
  • Direct Rewards and Objectives to the Group Level

32
Building Group Cohesiveness
  • Clear Purpose
  • Participation
  • Civilized Disagreement
  • Open Communications
  • Listening
  • Informal Climate
  • Consensus Decisions
  • Clear Roles and Work Assignments
  • Shared Leadership
  • Style Diversity
  • External Relationships
  • Self-assessment

33
Selecting Organizational Members
  • Interview
  • Written Tests
  • Performance Simulation Tests
  • work sampling
  • assessment centres

34
Summary and Implications
  • Performance
  • Work groups are part of a larger organization and
    can provide a favorable or unfavorable climate
    for operations.
  • Structural factors show a relationship to
    performance.
  • There is a positive relationship between role
    perception and an employees performance
    evaluation.
  • Norms control group member behaviour by
    establishing standards of right and wrong.
  • Status inequities create frustration and can
    adversely influence productivity.
  • The impact of size on a groups performance
    depends upon the type of task in which the group
    is engaged.
  • A groups demographic composition is a key
    determinant of individual turnover.
  • Satisfaction
  • Most people prefer to communicate with others at
    their own status level or a higher one.
  • Large groups are associated with lower
    satisfaction.

35
Conducting a Group Meeting
  • Follow these 12 steps to more efficient and
    effective meetings
  • Prepare a meeting agenda.
  • Distribute the agenda in advance.
  • Consult with participants before the meeting.
  • Get participants to go over the agenda.
  • Establish specific time parameters.
  • Maintain focused discussion.
  • Encourage and support participation of all
    members.
  • Maintain a balanced style.
  • Encourage the clash of ideas.
  • Discourage the clash of personalities.
  • Be an effective listener.
  • Bring proper closure.
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