Title: Chapter 8: Group Dynamics and Teamwork
1Chapter 8 Group Dynamics and Teamwork
2What is a group?
DEFINITION A collection of 2 or more interacting
individuals (or cows) who maintain stable
patterns of relationships, share common goals,
and perceive themselves as being a group. (page
230)
Source The Far Side
3Types of Groups in Organizations
- Formal intentionally designed by organization
to direct members towards a goal - Command Group (e.g. supervisor and subordinates)
- Task Group (e.g. task force)
- Informal develop naturally among people without
any direction from organization - Interest Group
- Friendship Group
4Why Join a Group?
- Satisfy mutual interest
- Safety in numbers
- Fulfill basic psychological need to be social
- Nurture self-esteem
5Stages in Group Development
- Forming The introduction
- Storming The compromise
- Norming Acceptance
- Performing Task fulfillment
- Adjourning Mission accomplished
6Structure of Work Groups
- Roles
- What hat are you wearing?
- Norms
- Informal
- Prescriptive versus proscriptive
- Status
- Status symbols versus informal
- Cohesiveness
- Groupthink
7Individual performance and groups
- Social Facilitation
- Perform better if know task
- Perform weaker if task is new
- Why?
- Mere presence
- Evaluation apprehension
- Distraction-conflict
- Computerized performance monitoring Big
Brother - Cultural Diversity
- Weak link over time
- Social Loafing
- The free rider
8When does a group become a team?
TEAM A group whose members have complementary
skills and are committed to a common purpose or
set of performance goals for which they hold
themselves mutually accountable. (p. 250)
9Why teams are different from groups
- Interdependence collective work products
- Mutual accountability
- Common commitment to purpose
- Self-managing
10Discussion Question 1
- Based on the team building exercise conducted in
last weeks class, what are some of the elements
that go into making an effective team?
11Stages of Work Team Creation
- Stage 1 Do prework
- Stage 2 Create performance conditions
- Stage 3 Form and build the team
- Stage 4 Provide ongoing assistance
12Why do teams fail?
- Unwilling to cooperate with each other
- Fail to receive support from management
- Manager unwilling to relinquish control
- Fail to cooperate with other teams - rivalry
13Building High-Performance Teams
- Diversify team membership
- Keep teams small in size
- Select the right team members
- Train, train, train
- Clarify goals
- Link individual rewards to team performance
- Use appropriate performance measures
- Encourage participation
- Cultivate team spirit and social support
- Foster communication and cooperation
- Emphasize the urgency of the teams task
- Clarify the rules of behaviour
- Regularly confront teams with new facts
- Acknowledge and reward