Group & Team

Groups & Teams

Group - two or more people with common interests,

objectives, and continuing interaction

Work Team - a group of people with complementary skills

who are committed to a common mission, performance
goals, and approach for which they hold themselves
mutually accountable
Characteristics of a
Well-Functioning, Effective Group

Relaxed, comfortable, informal atmosphere

Task well understood & accepted

Members listen well & participate

People express feelings & ideas

Characteristics of a
Well-Functioning, Effective Group

Conflict & disagreement center

around ideas or methods

Group aware of its operation & function

Consensus decision making

Clear assignments made & accepted

 Difference between Groups and Teams

GROUPS TEAMS

1.  Strong, clearly focused leader 1. Shared leadership roles.

2.  Individual accountability 2.Individual & mutual accountability

3.  Purpose is same as a organizat- 3. Purpose is broader than what

ional mission, and percolates from top, and accepted
from the top by team members, helping to focus
on specific goal that team itself
delivers.

4.  Productivity is largely as a result 4.Productivity is largely due to

of individuals in the group. Collective team efforts.
 Difference between Groups and Teams

GROUPS TEAMS

5.  Run efficient meetings 5. Encourage open-ended discussions

& active problem-solving meetings.

6.  Measure their effectiveness 6. Measure performance directly by

indirectly by their influence on assessing collective work output.
others (e.g. financial perform-
-ance of the business, promot-
-ions etc)
.
Four Stages of Group Development

—  Forming

—  Storming

—  Norming

—  Performing
 Stage One: Forming

—  Definition: Stage 1 teams are generally new teams that are
learning how to work together
—  Characteristics of stage 1 teams: Members tend to be
tentative and polite and to have little conflict
—  Critical skills and activities: Stage 1 teams need to identify
their purpose, develop group norms, identify group processes,
define roles, build relationships and trust
—  Role of facilitator/leader: Stage 1 teams usually need a
strong leader who can help the team go through its forming
activities
Storming
—  Definition: Stage 2 teams have moved past the early forming stages and are
now encountering some disagreements and/or conflict. This is natural, but
teams need to find effective ways to handle conflict before they can move on to
stage 3.

—  Group characteristics: Members of stage 2 teams tend to exhibit increased

conflict, less conformity and “jockeying” for power.

—  Critical skills and activities: Stage 2 teams need to learn how to resolve
conflict; clarify their roles, power, and structure; and build consensus through
re-visiting purpose.

—  Role of leader(s): Stage 2 teams need leaders and other team members who
are willing to identify issues and resolve conflict.
 Norming

—  Definition: Stage 3 teams have successfully moved out of the storming stage
and are ready to move to a higher level of communication and problem-
solving.
—  Group characteristics: Members of stage 3 teams demonstrate an
improved ability to complete tasks, solve problems, resolve conflict.
—  Critical skills and activities: Stage 3 teams need to learn to engage in
more sophisticated problem-solving and decision-making, continue the use of
effective strategies for conflict resolution and take greater levels of
responsibility for their roles
—  Role of leader(s): In stage 3, leaders become less directive, team members
feel empowered, and multiple leaders emerge
 Performing
—  Definition: Stage 4 teams are at the highest level of performance and can process
their strengths and weaknesses while accomplishing their goals.
—  Group characteristics: In stage 4, the team takes a flexible approach to roles and
structures depending on the task at hand. The team is able to evaluate its
effectiveness and views conflict is viewed as an opportunity. Stage 4 teams tend to be
energetic, creative, and fun!
—  Critical skills and activities: Stage 4 teams need to hold high expectations for
their performance. They often use sub-groups as well as the large group for decision-
making and task completion. Teams also recognize the need to ensure that all
members are in agreement with the role and purpose of sub-groups.
—  Role of Leader: In a stage 4 team, it’s often difficult to identify the leader,
because everyone is sharing in leadership.
Types of groups

—  Formal groups refer to those which are established under the
legal or formal authority with the view to achieve a
particular end result and The group is designated by the
organizational structure, having work assignments
establishing tasks. E.g People making up the airline flight
crew, trade unions.
TYPES OF GROUP

Formal

Standing
Task Group
Task Group
Standing Task / Command Group
The Standing Task group are formed by subordinates reporting
directly to the particular manager and are determined by the
formal organizational chart. E.g. an assistant regional
transport officer and his two transport supervisors form a
command group.
 Task Group
—  The task groups are composed of people who work together to
perform a task but involve a cross- command relationship. Its
boundaries are not located within its immediate hierarchical
superior. E.g. for finding out who was responsible for causing
wrong medication order would require liaison between ward in
charge, senior sisters and head nurse.
 Informal

Friendship Interest Reference

Interest Group
—  The interest group involves people who come together to
accomplish a particular goal with which they are
concerned .Office employees joining hands to go to vacation
or get vacation schedule changed form an interest group .
Friendship group
—  The friendship group are formed by people having one or
more common features . The people coming from a same
college ,martial status, political views or having same
language to speak belong to a friendship group.
Reference Group
—  Base of Interest & Friendship.
—  Have in common race, gender, religion, social class,
educational level, profession.
What are Different Types of Teams

Team

Management Problem
Work team Virtual team
Team Solving Team
Theories of group formation
—  Propinquity theory.
—  Social System theory
—  Balanced theory.
—  Exchange Theory
Propinquity Theory
—  Most basic theory is of Propinquity which asserts that people
tend to affiliate with other because of spatial or geographical
closeness. People from the same area or city tend to be more
bound to each other.
Theories of group formation
Balance Theory of Group Formation

—  Individual X Individual Y

Common Attitude & Values

Religion
Politics
Lifestyle
Work
Social System theory
—  The other theory of importance is Social System Theory
given by Homans. The theory corporate the interrelatedness
of elements of activities , interaction , sentiments and the
people usually interact to solve problems, reduce tension ,
attain goals and achieve balance. The workers interacting in
this way in organizational setting tends to form groups.
Exchange Theory
—  The Exchange theory is based on rewards and its cost . The
interaction between members is taken as reward and if any
relationship which is not rewarding may be costly enough to
cause tensions.