Learning Objectives

To be able to distinguish between groups and teams

To be able to describe how groups are formed
To understand the advantages and disadvantages of
team working
To identify factors that promote team effectiveness
To understand how to create and develop effective
teams

MGMT2008
OrganisationalBehaviour
Lecture 6: Groups and Teams
Nicole Knight

Levels of Analysis

Components of Organizational
Behavior

Organizational Level

Understanding
organizational behavior
requires studying

Group Level
Individuals in Organizations

Individual
Level

Group and Team Processes

Organizational Processes

Importance of Groups in
Organizations

What is a group?

Help organizations accomplish important tasks.

Shaw (1981) p.1112:

Two or more people who meet regularly and
influence one another over a period of time,
perceive themselves as a distinct entity
distinguishable from others, share common values
and strive for common objectives

Task performance.
Members attain performance goals regarding quantity, quality, and
timeliness of work results.

Help to maintain a highquality workforce by

satisfying members needs.

Members satisfaction.
Members believe that their participation an experiences are positive
and meet important personal needs.
Team viability.
Members are sufficiently satisfied to continue working together on an
ongoing basis.

Group Types

Group Types

Formal groups.
Officially designated to serve a specific
organizational purpose.
May be permanent or temporary.

Informal groups.
Emerge without being officially designated by the

organization.

Permanent work groups are command groups in the

vertical organization structure.

Temporary work groups are task groups specifically
created to solve a problem or perform a a defined task.

Types of informal groups.

Friendship groups.
Interest groups.

What are the stages of

group development?

Group types
Formal groups

Informal groups

Standing task group

Interest group

Task group

Reference group

A group or team passes through five lifecycle

Organisational benefits

stages.
Forming.
Storming.

Organisational benefits
1.
2.

1.
2.
3.
4.

Creates new ideas

Implements action plans
Completes complex tasks
Socialises new people

1.
2.
3.

Confirm identity
Satisfy need for affiliation
Reduces feelings of insecurity

3.

Individual benefits

Guidelines for appropriate behaviour

Confirms social values congruent with
org culture
Provides a sense of identity

Norming.
Performing.
Adjourning.

Individual benefits
1.
2.
3.
4.

Enhance status is group perceived

positively
Satisfaction of security needs
Enhanced selfesteem
Share group power to influence

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Tuckman (1965)

Group structure
Group roles:
Roles can be functional (help the group) or dysfunctional (help the
individual)

Task roles directly help accomplish group goals

Initiating, giving information, seeking information, summarising,
elaboration

Maintenance roles establish & maintain good relationships

Encouraging, compromising, setting group standards, providing
feedback

Personal roles meet individual needs

Blocking, recognition seeking, dominating, avoiding

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Belbin (1981) team roles

Group structure

Company worker

Stable & controlled, practical, methodical, self-disciplined

Shaper

Anxious, dominant & extrovert. Tough-minded & impulsive

Group norms

Plant

Dominant, introvert, independent, creative thinker

Monitor-evaluator

Stable, introvert, prudent, rational, analytical

Resource
investigator

Extrovert, enthusiastic, sociable, popular, networker

Formal norms written rules and procedures

Informal norms developed out of group interaction and can
be functional or dysfunctional
Norms:

Team worker

Supportive, understanding, concern for others, team player

Completer-finisher

Conscientious, anxious, perfectionist, thorough

Chair

Calm, steady, self-confident, optimist

(Specialist)

Single-minded, independent, dedicated, provides

knowledge when needed

Performancerelated
Appearance
Informal social arrangements
Allocation of resources

Norms are enforced

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Group vs. individual

Group structure

Advantages of groups over

individuals

Group cohesiveness
Degree of attractiveness and closeness of interpersonal bonds
between members
Sources of cohesiveness:

Common, clearly specified and compatible goals

Successful experiences of reaching goals
Small size of the group
Interpersonal attraction between members
Challenge of a common enemy
High status
Cooperation among members
Female composition

More knowledge and information. A

group has more breadth and depth of
knowledge

Disadvantages of groups
compared to individuals
Group members could have competing
goals and this can lead to conflict

Diverse viewpoints which allow for

Time consuming to plan and coordinate
different options and creative alternatives team member activities
Increased understanding by participating
in the problem-solving process

Social pressure to conform

Increased acceptance of the decision by

group members as they understand it

Dominance by a few members. Those

with high power or assertive

Better implementation and feeling of

ownership of the decision

Ambiguous responsibility in who is

accountable for the groups decision

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What are the foundations

of group effectiveness?

What are the foundations

of group effectiveness?

From a systems perspective, group inputs are the

Tasks.

foundation for all subsequent group action.

Key group inputs are:

Technical demands of a task.

Routineness, difficulty, and information requirements.

Nature of the task.

Goals.
Rewards.
Resources.
Technology.
Membership diversity.
Group size.

Tasks that are complex in technical demands

require unique solutions and more information
processing.

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What are the foundations

of group effectiveness?

What are the foundations

of group effectiveness?

Tasks cont.

Goals, rewards, and resources.

Social demands of a task.

Longterm performance accomplishments rely on:

Relations, ego involvement, and controversies over

ends and means.

Appropriate goals.
Welldesigned reward systems.

Tasks that are complex in social demands involve

difficulties in reaching agreement on goals or
methods for accomplishing them.

Adequate resources.

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What are the foundations

of group effectiveness?

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What are the foundations

of group effectiveness?
Membership characteristics.
A group must have the right skills and
competencies available for task performance and
problem solving.

Technology.
Provides the means to get work accomplished.
The right technology must be available for the

Homogeneous groups may not perform well if they lack

task at hand.

the requisite experiences, skills, and competencies.

Heterogeneous groups may perform well if they

Workflow technology can affect the way group

effectively utilize a variety of experiences, skills, and

competencies.

members interact.

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What are the foundations

of group effectiveness?

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What are the foundations

of group effectiveness?
Membership characteristics cont.
FIROB theory.

Membership characteristics cont.

Diversityconsensus dilemma.

Identifies individual differences in how people relate to

one another in groups.

Increasing diversity among group members makes it

Based on needs to express and receive feelings of

harder for group members to work together, even

though the diversity itself expands the skills and
perspectives available for problem solving.

inclusion, control, and affection.

Groups whose members have compatible

characteristics are likely to be more effective.

Groups whose members have incompatible
characteristics are likely to be less effective.

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What are the foundations

of group effectiveness?

What are the foundations

of group effectiveness?

Membership characteristics cont.

Status.

Group size.
As group size increases, performance and
member satisfaction increase up to a point.

A persons relative rank, prestige, or standing in a

group.
Status congruence.
Occurs when a persons position within the group is
equivalent in status to positions held outside the
group.
When status incongruence is present, problems will
likely occur.

Division of work promotes performance and increased

satisfaction.
Communication and coordination problems occur, in

turn decreasing performance and satisfaction.

Problemsolving groups should have 5 to 7

members.
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What are the foundations

of group effectiveness?

What are group and

intergroup dynamics?

Group size cont.

Groups with an odd number of members may be
more effective for resolving disagreements and
reaching a speedy decision.
Groups with an even number of members may be
more effective when careful deliberation,
consensus building, or complex problem solving is
required.

From a systems perspective, the throughputs

for a group or team are group dynamics.

Group dynamics concern the forces operating

within groups that affect the way members

relate to and work with one another.

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What are group and

intergroup dynamics?

What are group and

intergroup dynamics?

What goes on within groups.

Required behaviors.

What goes on within groups.

Member relationships revolve around:

Those formally defined and expected by the

Activities the things people do or the actions they

organization.

Emergent behaviors.
Those that group members display in addition to what
the organization asks of them.
Emergent behaviors often supplement and extend

required behaviors.

take.
Interactions interpersonal communications and

contacts.
Sentiments the feelings, attitudes, beliefs, or values

held by group members.

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What are group and

intergroup dynamics?

What are group and

intergroup dynamics?
What goes on between groups.

What goes on between groups.

On the negative side, intergroup dynamics may divert

Intergroup dynamics.

energies as members focus on animosities rather than

performance.

The dynamics that take place between two or more

groups.

On the positive side, competing groups may:

Organizations and their members seek to avoid

Work harder.
Become more focused on key tasks.

the negative aspects and achieve the positive

aspects of intergroup dynamics.

Develop more internal loyalty and satisfaction.

Achieve creativity in problem solving.

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How do groups make decisions?

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How do groups make decisions?

How groups make decisions.

Decision by lack of response.
Decision by authority rule.
Decision by minority rule.
Decision by majority rule.
Decision by consensus.
Decision by unanimity.

Potential advantages of group decision making.

More knowledge and expertise is applied to solve the

problem.
A greater number of alternatives are examined.
The final decision is better understood and accepted by all

group members.
More commitment among all group members to make the

final decision work.

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How do groups make decisions?

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How do groups make decisions?

Potential disadvantages of group decision

Groupthink.

making.

The tendency for members of highly cohesive groups to

Individuals may feel compelled to conform to the

lose their critical evaluation capabilities.

apparent wishes of the group.

The groups decision may be dominated by one
individual or a small coalition.
Group decisions usually take longer to make.

Groupthink can lead the group to make poor decisions.

Group members and leaders should:
Be sensitive to the occurrence of groupthink.
Take actions to prevent the occurrence of groupthink.

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How do groups make decisions?

How do groups make decisions?

Brainstorming.
Group members actively generate as many ideas
and alternatives as possible, and they do so
relatively quickly and without inhibitions.
Brainstorming rules.

How to improve group decision making.

Brainstorming.
Nominal group technique.
Delphi technique.

Computermediated decision making.

All criticism is ruled out.

Freewheeling is welcomed.
Quantity is wanted.
Piggybacking is good.

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How do groups make decisions?

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How do groups make decisions?

Delphi technique.
Used in situations where group members are unable to
meet face to face.
The process.

Nominal group technique.

A form of structured group decision making that

enables everyone to participate and have his/her

ideas heard without hostile criticism or
distortions.

A series of questions is distributed to a panel.

Panel members submit their responses to a decision coordinator.
The decision coordinator summarizes the responses, and sends

the summary along with a followup questionnaire to the panel.

A structured voting procedure is used to prioritize

responses to the nominal question.

Panel members send in their responses.

The process is repeated until a consensus is reached.

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A team

How do groups make decisions?

What is a team?

Computermediated decision making.

A group of between 3 and 12 people who:

Electronic brainstorming through the use of

Have shared objectives, a shared task

Need to work interdependently to achieve these
objectives/the task
Have different and defined roles in the team
Have a team identity

special software and personal computers..

The nominal group and Delphi techniques lend

themselves to computer mediation.

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Why work in teams?

Differences between group and team

Teams

Groups
Leadership

Formal, strong leader

Individual

Sum of individual outputs

Accountability

Shared & individual

Performance

Collective & synergy

Skills

Diverse

As organisations grow in size and become structurally more complex,

groups of people are needed who work together in coordinated ways to
achieve objectives that contribute to the overall aims, effectiveness and
competitiveness of the organisation.

Shared leadership roles

Team working provides the flexibility needed to respond effectively,

appropriately and more quickly than competitors to the constantly
changing demands in the organisations environment, and provides a
mechanism for bringing together the range of expertise, skills and
knowledge required to complete complex work tasks.

Complementary

(Lawler, Mohrman & Ledford, 1992)

To demands of
management

Responsive

Selfimposed demands

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Why work in teams?

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Team working & effectiveness

Mohrman et al (1995):

Teams are the best way to enact the strategy of some organisations
Allows speedy, costeffective and high quality products and services
Allows organisations to learn more effectively
Crossfunctional teams promote quality management
Innovation is promoted via crossfertilisation of ideas
Flat organisations can be monitored and directed more effectively if
the functional unit is the team
Teams can integrate in ways that individuals cannot and this is
important in complex organisations

Applebaum & Blatt (1994):

12 large scale surveys in the US
Team based working associated with organisational
efficiency and improved quality

Macy & Izumi (1993):

Metaanalysis of 131 studies of organisational change
Team working had the greatest impact on financial
performance

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Problems of team working

Types of teams

Personality

Social
conformity

Katzenbach & Smith (1993):

Teams that recommend things:

Satisficing

Recommend solutions and formulate action plans. Temporary and

disband after making recommendations (Task forces, project groups)

Teams that make or do things:

Groupthink
Lack of
communication
skills

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Permanent work groups responsible for basic aspects (manufacturing,

sales etc) of the organisation.
Selfmanaged and/or cross functional

Group
polarisation

Teams that run things:

Top managers of an organisation or unit responsible for organisations
mission, strategy etc.

Domination

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Team effectiveness

__________
Task
Team composition

INPUTS

PROCESS

OUTPUTS

_____________

_____________

_____________

Task

Leadership

Performance

Team composition

Communication

Innovation

Organisational
context

Decision making

Wellbeing

Cohesiveness

Viability

Cultural context

INPUTS

TASK
Task characteristics account for most of the
variance in team performance
Hackman (1990) 5 characteristics:

Team climate

Organisational
context
Cultural context

Autonomy
Task variety
Task significance
Task identity
Task feedback

West, Borrill & Unsworth (1998)

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Team composition
The mix of people within the team can
affect effectiveness
Team diversity:

INPUTS

INPUTS

Organisational context

__________

__________

Task

Task

Team composition

Team composition

Organisational
context

Organisational
context

Cultural context

Cultural context

Taskrelated diversity
Each individual will have relevant and diverse
skills that they can contribute

How people are rewarded in the team

Supportive organisational climate
Extent of competition and politics
Level of environmental uncertainty

Relationsoriented diversity
Attributes inherent within the individual (age,
gender, race)

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Cultural context

INPUTS
__________
Task

composition
Effect of culture can impact on what team areTeam
Organisational
context
seen as
Cultural context
Hofstedes work:

power distance = extent that unequal distribution

of power is accepted
uncertainty avoidance = extent to which
unambiguous situations are avoided
individualismcollectivism = self interest versus
work together for the greater good
masculinityfemininity = assertive masculine
values versus sensitivity and concern

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Leadership
Leaders will influence effectiveness of
teams

PROCESS
__________
Leadership
Communication
Decision making
Cohesion
Team climate

Transactional:
Contingent reward & punishment, taskoriented,
interventions to reward required behaviour but punishment
for undesired behaviour

Transformational:
Influencing through charisma and visioning; charisma,
inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation and
individualised consideration

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Communication
Communication ensures that the team
survives.
Need for a facilitator:

PROCESS
__________
Leadership
Communication
Decision making
Cohesion
Team climate

Decisionmaking
Describe the problem:
Team should recognise if a problem exists and be problem
minded

PROCESS
__________
Leadership
Communication
Decision making
Cohesion
Team climate

Identifying possible solutions:

Direct discussions at meetings and facilitate the

discussions

Brainstorming ideas to generate solutions should lead to

better decisions

Evaluating & choosing the best solution:

Impact of IT:

Evaluate on the basis of task aspects and not on maintaining

group harmony (groupthink)

Voice messaging and video conferencing and the

impact on team communication
Do you need facetoface meetings?

Implement the solution:

Allowing employees to participate in the decisionmaking
have greater commitment and ownership of the decisions

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Team climate
Atmosphere within the team and the shared
perceptions of the informal and formal policies,
procedures and practices
Can include: support, respect for rules, goaloriented
information and innovation
West (1990) 4 factors for innovation:

PROCESS
__________
Leadership
Communication
Decision making
Cohesion
Team climate

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OUTPUTS

Outputs

__________
Performance

Performance

Innovation

Externally focused and meeting the needs of those outside

and inside the organisation

Wellbeing
Viability

Innovation:
Working in teams promotes innovation

Wellbeing:
Working in groups improves the health and satisfaction of
employees

Vision = shared and clear view

Participative safety = safe environment
Support for innovation
Task orientation

Viability:
Extent that the group is cohesive, with shared values and
commitment vs. destructive, turnover intention and
dissatisfaction

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Developing teams

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References
Katzenbach, J. R. & Smith, D. K. (1993). The Discipline of Teams.
Harvard Business Review, 71, 111120.
West, M. A., & Anderson, N. R. (1996). Innovation in top
management teams. Journal of Applied Psychology, 81, 680693.
West, M. A., Borrill, C. S., & Unsworth, K. L. (1998). Team
effectiveness in organizations. In C. L. Cooper and I. T. Robertson
(Eds.), International Review of Industrial and Organizational
Psychology. Chapter 1.

Team member selection

Managing team diversity
Teambuilding
Team training
Leadership development
Work redesign

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