Thomson South-Western Wagner & Hollenbeck 5e

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ChapterChapter Nine Nine

Group Dynamics and

Team Effectiveness

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Chapter Overview This chapter examines the following topics:

– Formation and Development of Groups• Group Formation• Group Development

– Group Versus Individual Productivity• Process Loss• Group Synergy• Groups Versus Teams

– Keys to Team Effectiveness: Setting the Stage• Task Structure• Communication Structure• Group Size• Group Composition

– Keys to Team Effectiveness: Managing the Process• Motivation in Groups• Group Cohesiveness• Group Conflict

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Introduction Contemporary organizations are

recognizing the power of work teams and are increasingly structuring themselves around flexible project teams that are temporarily bound rather than fixed– 3M example

Managers need to keep in mind that teams are often the solution to one set of problems, but the source of a second set of problems

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Formation and Development of Groups

A group is a collection of two or more people who interact with one another in a way such that each person influences and is influenced by the others

Members of a group draw important psychological distinctions between themselves and people who are not group members

Generally, group members share ten characteristics– These characteristics

contribute to group effectiveness

A group is effective when it satisfies three important criteria:– Production output– Member satisfaction– Capacity for continued

cooperation

An effective group is able to satisfy immediate demands for performance and member satisfaction, while making provisions for long-term survival– NBA example

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Group Formation Group formation: groups are

formed based on similarities either in what people do or in what they make

Functional grouping: grouping employees by the tasks they perform

Work flow grouping: grouping employees by the flow of work from initiation to completion

Each alternative offers advantages and disadvantages

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Group Formation Functional work groups

advantages:– Help integrate and

coordinate employees who perform similar tasks

– Exchange of information– Allow organizations to

take advantage of cost savings

Functional work groups disadvantages:– Separates people

performing different tasks– Encourages slowdowns

Work flow groups advantages:– Integrates all activities

required to manufacture a product or provide a service

– Enhances adaptability Work flow groups

disadvantages:– Does not permit the scale

economies associated with functional grouping

– Can add to the firm’s overall costs

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Group Development Group formation is a process of determining the

formal, established characteristics of groups Group development allows informal aspects of groups

to emerge Research indicates that these developmental processes

tend to advance through four stages:– Initiation: characterized by uncertainty and anxiety– Differentiation: conflicts may erupt– Integration: focuses on reestablishing the central

purpose of the group– Maturity: members fulfill their roles and work toward

attaining group goals

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Group Versus Individual Productivity

A large body of evidence indicates that groups of individuals working together are sometimes less productive than the same number of people working alone

It often takes longer to make decisions in a group

Several reasons explain why groups sometimes falter

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Process Loss

The difference between what a group actually produces and what it might theoretically produce constitutes process loss

Production blocking occurs when people get in each other’s way as they try to perform a group task

Group members must fulfill the requirements of several group maintenance roles– Encouragers– Harmonizers– Standard setters

Process loss can also result from social loafing, which is the choice of some members to take advantage of others by doing less work, working slowly, or in other ways, decreasing their contributions to group productivity

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Group Synergy Group synergy deals with

productivity of a group that exceeds expectation, based on the potential individual contributions

Social facilitation may allow the presence of others to increase an individual’s performance

The within-group competition aspect of group tasks motivates some people to work harder than they would if left on their own

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Groups Versus Teams Teams are a special subset of

groups and share all ten characteristics of groups plus three additional distinguishing features

Team-based structures have two primary advantages over traditional hierarchical structure:– Enable organizations to bring

products to market faster– Eliminate the need for having

multiple levels of middle management

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Task interdependence refers to the degree to which task members interact cooperatively and work interactively to complete tasks

When task interdependence is high, two aspects of structuring the team can promote coordination and performance:– Rotation of members via cross-training– Rotating leadership so all members get a “big picture”

appreciation In an additive task each group member contributes in

proportion to his or her ability A disjunctive task is structured such that one person could

perform effectively alone In a conjunctive task the group’s level of performance depends

on the resources the least able member brings to the task

Task Structure

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Communication Structure Communication structure

deals with who within the team can talk to whom

Communication speed and accuracy in a group are affected by the nature of the group's communication network and by the relative complexity of the group’s task

Centralized networks lower speed and accuracy because people succumb to information overload

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Group SizeGroup Composition

In considering group size, a good principle is that a group should be as small as possible

On average, people working in smaller groups are more productive than people in larger groups

This relationship can be traced to several factors:– Less physical constraint– Less social distraction– Lower coordination

requirements– Less behavior masking– Less diffusion of

responsibility

In considering group composition, having the appropriate level of expertise in the right positions helps ensure the team can accomplish its tasks and subgoals

It must be decided as to whether team members are heterogeneous or homogenous

The homogeneity-heterogeneity issue should be considered with respect to three factors:

– Function– Personality– Demography/culture

Regardless of whether team members differ on skills, traits, or culture, the critical consideration is their ability to arrive at a shared mental model about each other and the task at hand

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Motivation in Groups Member motivation is an important factor that affects

group productivity and must be managed to minimize process loss and maximize synergy

A major aspect of motivation in team contexts is getting people to sacrifice self-interests for the overall good of the collective

Two fundamentally different types of group rewards exist:– Cooperative group rewards: are distributed equally among

members of a group– Competitive group rewards: members are rewarded for

successful performance as individuals in a group

The nature of team members’ personalities affects the choice of which structure to employ

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Group Cohesiveness A group’s cohesiveness

reflects the degree to which a group sticks together

A variety of factors encourage group cohesiveness:– Shared personal attitudes,

values, or interests– Agreement on group goals– Frequency of interaction– Group size– Group rewards– Favorable evaluation– External threats– Isolation

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Group Cohesiveness

Group cohesiveness is a potential source of competitive advantage because less time is needed to spend on group maintenance activities giving more time to spend on focusing on alternative activities

Cohesiveness is not always an unmixed blessing:– Affects the degree to which members agree on

productivity norms– Can increase the probability that the group will

come to premature consensus (groupthink)

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Group Conflict

Groups that lack cohesiveness often experience a great deal of within-team conflict

In cognitive conflict all members asgree on the goals, but differ in views of how to meet the goals

In mixed motive conflict members may not agree on goals and the conflict can become personal and emotional