Groups and Teams

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Groups and Teams
Hitt et al Chapter 11 Abridged and Augmented

• MGT 5371-001
• Managing Organizational Behavior Design
• May 6-25-07
• John D. Blair, PhD
• Georgie G. William B. Snyder Professor in
  Management

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Groups and Teams

• Group
• Two or more interdependent individuals who
  influence one another through social interaction.
• Team
• Two or more people, with work roles that require
  them to be interdependent, who operate within a
  larger social system (the organization),
  performing tasks relevant to the organizations
  mission, with consequences that affect others
  inside and outside the organization, and who have
  membership that is identifiable to those on the
  team and those not on the team.

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Nature of groups in organizations

• A group is a collection of two or more people who
  work with one another regularly to achieve common
  goals.
• In a true group, members are mutually dependent
  on one another and interact with one another.
• Hot groups thrive in conditions of crisis and
  competition.

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Effective groups achieve high levels of

• Task performance.
• Members attain performance goals regarding
  quantity, quality, and timeliness of work
  results.
• Members satisfaction.
• Members believe that their participation and
  experiences are positive and meet important
  personal needs.
• Team viability.
• Members are sufficiently satisfied to continue
  working together on an ongoing basis.

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How groups help organizations

• Groups are good for people.
• Groups can improve creativity.
• Groups can make better decisions.
• Groups can increase commitments to action.
• Groups help control their members.
• Groups help offset large organization size.

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Situations in which groups are superior to
individuals

• When there is no clear expert in a particular
  problem or task.
• When problem solving can be handled by a division
  of labor and the sharing of information.
• When creativity and innovation are needed.

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Potential benefits for group members

• People learn from each other and share job skills
  and knowledge.
• Groups are important sources of need satisfaction
  for their members.
• Members can provide emotional support for each
  other in times of crisis or pressure.
• Members contributions can help them experience
  self-esteem and personal involvement.

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Formal groups

• Officially designated to serve a specific
  organizational purpose.
• The head of a formal group is responsible for the
  groups performance and serves a linking-pin
  role.
• May be permanent or temporary.
• Permanent work groups are command groups.
• Temporary work groups are task groups.

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Informal groups

• Emerge without being officially designated by the
  organization.
• Types of informal groups.
• Friendship groups.
• Interest groups.

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Effects of informal groups

• Can help people get their jobs done.
• Can speed up workflow by supplementing formal
  lines of authority.
• Can satisfy needs that are thwarted or unmet by
  the formal group.
• Can provide members with social satisfaction,
  security, and a sense of belonging.

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Goals, rewards, and resources

• Long-term performance relies on
• Appropriate goals.
• Well-designed reward systems.
• Adequate resources.      
• A groups performance can suffer when
• Goals are unclear, unchallenging, or arbitrarily
  imposed.
• Goals are focused too much on individuals.
• Adequate budgets, facilities, good work methods
  and procedures, and the best technologies are not
  available.

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Technology

• Provides the means to get work accomplished.
• The right technology must be available for the
  task at hand.
• Workflow technology can affect the way group
  members interact.

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Membership characteristics

• A group must have the right skills and
  competencies available for task performance and
  problem solving.
• Homogeneous groups may not perform well if they
  lack the requisite experiences, skills, and
  competencies.
• Heterogeneous groups may perform well if they
  effectively utilize a variety of experiences,
  skills, and competencies.

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Membership characteristics (cont.)

• Diversity-consensus dilemma.
• Increasing diversity among group members makes it
  harder for group members to work together, even
  though the diversity itself expands the skills
  and perspectives available for problem solving.

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Group size

• Can make a difference in a groups effectiveness.
  
• As group size increases, performance and member
  satisfaction increase up to a point.
• As a group size continues to grow, communication
  and coordination problems often set in, and
  performance and satisfaction may decline.
• Problem-solving groups should have 5 to 7 members.

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What goes on within groups

• Work group behaviors.
• Required behaviors those that are formally
  defined and expected by the organization.
• Emergent behaviors those that group members
  display in addition to what the organization asks
  of them.

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What goes on within groups cont.

• Member relationships.
• Activities the things people do or the actions
  they take.
• Interactions interpersonal communications and
  contacts.
• Sentiments the feelings, attitudes, beliefs,
  or values held by group members.

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What goes on between groups

• Intergroup dynamics.
• The dynamics that take place between two or more
  groups.
• Ways to achieve positive intergroup dynamics.
• Refocusing members on a common enemy or goal.
• Negotiating directly.
• Training members to work more cooperatively.
• Refocusing rewards on contributions to the total
  organization and how much groups help each other.

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How groups make decisions

• Decision by lack of response.
• One idea after another is suggested without any
  discussion-taking place when the group finally
  accepts the idea, all others have been bypassed
  and discarded by simple lack of response rather
  than by critical evaluation.
• Decision by authority rule.
• The chairperson, manager, or leader makes a
  decision for the group.
• Decision by minority rule.
• Two or three people are able to dominate or
  railroad the group into making a decision to
  which they agree.

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How groups make decisions (cont.)

• Decision by majority rule.
• Formal voting may take place, or members may be
  polled to find the majority viewpoint.
• Decision by consensus.
• Discussion leads to one alternative being favored
  by most members and the other members agree to
  support it.
• Decision by unanimity.
• All group members agree totally on the course of
  action to be taken.

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The nature of team and teamwork

• A team is a small group of people with
  complementary skills, who work actively together
  to achieve a common purpose for which they hold
  themselves collectively accountable.
• Teams are one of the major forces behind
  revolutionary changes in contemporary
  organizations.

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Types of teams

• Teams that recommend things.
• Established to study specific problems and
  recommend solutions to them.
• Teams that run things.
• Have formal responsibility for leading other
  groups.
• Teams that make or do things.
• Functional groups that perform ongoing tasks.

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The nature of teamwork

• Teamwork occurs when group members actively work
  together in such a way that all their respective
  skills are well utilized to achieve a common
  purpose.

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Types of Groups and Teams

• Functional teams
• Distinguished by the type of work they do and the
  purpose they serve
• Production teams
• Service teams
• Management teams
• Project teams
• Advisory teams
• Self-managing teams
• Have considerable autonomy and control over the
  work they do, and responsible for completing a
  whole piece of work or an entire project

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Dimensions of Team Effectiveness

• Knowledge criteria
• Team members share knowledge and understanding of
  the teams task, tools and equipment, and
  processes, as well as members characteristics
• Ability of the team as a whole to learn over time
• Affective criteria
• Whether or not team members have a fulfilling and
  satisfying team experience
• Outcome criteria
• Quantity and quality of the teams output

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Factors Affecting Team Effectiveness

• Teams create synergy (performance benefits) for
  several reasons
• Greater goal commitment
• Greater variety of skills and abilities used for
  task achievement
• Greater sharing of knowledge
• Teamwork can also lead to poorer performance
• Process loss
• Managing, coordinating, and developing effective
  communication within the team
• Time and energy members spend maintaining the team

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Factors Affecting Team Effectiveness

• Team composition
• Demographic diversity
• Personality
• Size
• Team structure
• Team member roles
• Task roles
• Socioemotional roles
• Norms
• Task structure
• Unitary tasks
• Optimization tasks
• Maximization tasks

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Team Size and Performance
Team Performance
2 5 8 11 13. . . . . . . .
Number of Team Members
Adapted from Exhibit 11-2 The Relationship
Between Team Size and Team Performance
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Factors Affecting Team Effectiveness

• Team processes
• Cohesion
• Interpersonal cohesion
• Task cohesion
• Conflict
• Personal conflicts
• Substantive conflicts
• Procedural conflicts
• Social facilitation
• Social loafing
• Communication

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Social loafing

• The tendency of people to work less hard in a
  group than they would individually.
• Reasons for social loafing.
• Individual contributions are less noticeable in
  the group context.
• Some individuals prefer to see others carry the
  workload.

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Ways of preventing social loafing

• Define member roles and tasks to maximize
  individual interests.
• Raise accountability by identifying individuals
  performance contributions to the group.
• Link individual rewards to performance
  contributions to the group.

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Avoiding Social Loafing

• Make Individual Contributions Visible
• Evaluation system in which everyones individual
  contributions are noted
• Smaller rather than larger teams
• Monitor who oversees everyones contributions
• Foster Task Cohesiveness
• Team-level rewards to increase pressure
• Teamwork training to develop a sense of
  cohesiveness
• Select team players for teamwork
• High on agreeableness
• High on conscientiousness

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Managing for Effective Teams
Support Systems Technology Teams must have
access to technology for performing their tasks,
including tools and computer software. Informatio
n systems Teams often need more (or less)
information than they possess. It is crucial to
provide a user friendly information
system. Selection of team members Tailor the
staffing process to the type of team. Conduct
teamwork analysis to identify the knowledge,
skills, and abilities needed for both task work
and team work. Consider political issues and who
is to do the assessment of potential team
members.
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Managing for Effective Teams
Support Systems Training Team-building training
generally focuses on four different types of
skills (1) goal-setting skills (2)
interpersonal skills (3) problem- solving
skills and (4) role-clarification
skills. Rewards If people are to work together
effectively as a team, they must be rewarded as
a team, in addition to individual rewards. Team
reward systems may include profit-sharing
plans. Leadership Successful team leaders perform
three roles (1) team liaison (2) direction
setting and (3) team operational coordinator.
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Characteristics of high performance teams

• They have strong core values.
• They turn a general sense of purpose into
  specific performance objectives.
• They have the right mix of skills.
• They possess creativity.

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Characteristics of teams with homogeneous
membership

• Members are similar with respect to such
  variables as age, gender, race, experience,
  ethnicity, and culture.
• Members can quickly build social relations and
  engage in the interactions needed for teamwork.
• Homogeneity may limit the team in terms of ideas,
  viewpoints, and creativity.

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Characteristics of teams with heterogeneous
membership

• Members are diverse in demography, experiences,
  life styles, and cultures, among other variables.
• Diversity can help improve team problem solving
  and increase creativity.
• Diversity among team members may create
  performance difficulties early in the teams life
  or stage of development.

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Characteristics of teams with heterogeneous
membership (cont.)

• Enhanced performance potential is possible once
  short-run struggles are resolved.
• Diversity can provide great advantages for high-
  performance organizations.

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What is team building?

• Work groups and teams must master challenges as
  they pass through the various stages of group
  development.
• Team building is a sequence of planned activities
  designed to gather and analyze data on the
  functioning of a group and to initiate changes
  designed to improve teamwork and increase group
  effectiveness.

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Approaches to team building

• Formal retreat approach.
• Team building occurs during an offsite retreat.
• Continuous improvement approach.
• The manager, team leader, or members take
  responsibility for ongoing team building.
• Outdoor experience approach.
• Members engage in physically challenging
  situations that require teamwork.

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Team members should avoid the following
disruptive behaviors

• Being overly aggressive toward other members.
• Withdrawing and refusing to cooperate with
  others.
• Horsing around when there is work to be done.
• Using the group as a forum for self-confession.
• Talking too much about irrelevant matters.
• Trying to compete for attention and recognition.

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Key norms that can have positive or negative
implications

• Performance norms.
• Ethics norms.
• Organizational and personal pride norms.
• High-achievement norms.
• Support and helpfulness norms.
• Improvement and change norms.

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Team cohesiveness

• Cohesiveness is the degree to which members are
  attached to and motivated to remain a part of the
  team
• High team cohesiveness occurs when
• Members are similar in age, attitudes, needs, and
  backgrounds.
• Group size is small.
• Members respect each others competencies.
• Members agree on common goals.
• Members work on interdependent tasks.
• Groups are physically isolated from others.
• Groups experience performance success or crisis.

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How do teams contribute to the high-performance
workplace?

• Problem-solving teams.
• Employee involvements teams include a wide
  variety of teams whose members meet regularly to
  collectively examine important workplace issues.
• Quality circle.
• A special type of employee involvement team.
• Team meets periodically to address problems
  relating to quality, productivity, or cost.

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Cross-functional teams

• Consist of members representing different
  functional departments or work units.
• Used to overcome functional silos problem.
• Used to solve problems with a positive
  combination of functional expertise and
  integrative systems thinking.

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Advantages of virtual teams

• Cost-effectiveness and speed where members are
  unable to meet easily face-to-face.
• Computer power fulfills typical team needs for
  information processing and decision making.
• Communication is possible among people separated
  by great distances.
• Interaction and decision making are focused on
  facts and objective information rather than
  emotional considerations.

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Disadvantages of virtual teams

• The lack of personal contact between team
  members.
• Group decisions are made in a limited social
  context.

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Effectiveness of Virtual Teams

• Virtual teams less effective on some dimensions
• Fewer opportunities exist for informal
  discussions, hence trust is slower to develop
  among virtual team members
• Communication channels that are less rich than
  face-to-face interactions
• More difficult for virtual teams to develop
  behavioral norms
• Easier for some members to be free riders
• Increasing effectiveness of virtual teams
• More face-to-face meetings
• If members have a great deal of empowerment
• When implemented properly, virtual teams can
  increase productivity and save companies millions
  of dollars

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Virtual Team Technologies
Audio teleconferencing Video communication
systems, which may connect people either room to
room or via desktop computers Real-time
electronic communication (e.g., chat
groups) Different-time electronic communication
(e.g., e-mail, bulletin boards) Keypad voting
systems Group project management
software Wireless communication devices (e.g.
Blackberries)
Adapted from Exhibit 11-1 Virtual Team
Technologies