Unit 6: Groups and Teams

Learning Outcome 1:
Explain why groups and teams are key contributors
to organisational effectiveness.
 Defining Groups and Teams
Groups - Two or more people who interact with
each other to accomplish certain goals or meet
certain needs.

Teams - Is a group whose members work

intensely with one another to achieve a specific
commongoal or objective.
 Defining Groups and Teams
• All teams are groups, but not all groups are
teams.
• The two characteristics that distinguish teams
from groups are the intensity with which team
members work together and the presence of
a specific objective.
Groups and Teams as Performance
Enhancers
Groups and Teams’ contribution to
Organisational Performance
 Groups and Teams as Performance
Enhancers
• Synergy - People working in a group or team
can produce more or higher-quality outputs
as all their individual efforts were later
combined.
• The essence of synergy is captured in the
saying “The whole is more than the sum of its
parts”.
 Groups and Teams as Performance
Enhancers
Factors that can contribute to synergy in
groups include:
• Ability of group members to bounce ideas off one
another.
• Tocorrect one another’smistakes.
• Tosolve problems immediately as theyarise.
• Tobring a diverse knowledgebase.
• To accomplish work that is too vast or all-
encompassing for any individual to achievealone.
 Groups and Teams as Performance
Enhancers
To take advantage of synergy in groups, managers
should:
• Groups should be composed of members who
have complementary skills and knowledge
relevant to the objective.
• Groups should have enough autonomy to solve
problems and determine how to achieve goals
and objectives.
• Managers should empower and coach
subordinates and give them resources to perform
asa group/team.
Groups and Teams’ contribution to
Organisational Performance
 Groups and Teams and
Responsiveness to Customers
• Being responsive to customers is not always
easy.
• Diversity - Bringing for example salespeople,
research and development experts, and
members of other departments together in a
group or cross-functional team can enhance
responsiveness to customers.
Groups and Teams’ contribution to
Organisational Performance
Groups and Teams andInnovation

• Innovation - The creative development of new

products, new technologies, new services, or
even new organisational structures.
• Team members can often uncover one
another’s errors or falseassumptions.
• Team members can critique one another’s
approaches and build off one another’s
strengths while compensating for weaknesses.
Groups and Teams’ contribution to
Organisational Performance
Groups and Teams andMotivation

• Members of groups/teams are likely to be

more satisfied than they would have been if
they had been on their own.
• The experience of working alongside other
highly charged and motivated people can be
stimulating and motivating.
• A motivated workforce increase market
competitiveness.
 Learning Outcome 2:
Identify the different types of groups and teams that
help managers and organisations achieve their goals.
 Formal and Informal Groups

• Formal groups - Are groups that

managers establish to achieve organisational
goals.
• Informal groups - Formed predominantly due
to friendship and commoninterests.
Types of Groups and Teams
 Types of Groups and Teams

• Cross-functional Teams – Teams that are

formed with members from different
departments.
• Cross-cultural Teams – Teams that are formed
with members from different cultures.
 Types of Groups and Teams

• Top Management Teams – Teams that consists

of top managers that are responsible for
achieving organisational goals.
• Research and Development Teams – A team
whose members have the expertise to
develop new products.
 Types of Groups and Teams

• Command Groups – A group composed of

subordinates who report to the same manager
(department or unit).
• Task Force - Formed to accomplish specific
goals or solve problems in a certain time
period. Task forces are sometimes called ad
hoc committees.
 Types of Groups and Teams

• Self-managed work teams – Teams in which

members are empowered and have the
responsibility and autonomy to complete
identifiable pieces of work.
• Virtual teams - Teams whose members rarely
or never meet face-to-face but, rather, interact
by using various forms of information
technology.
Types of Groups and Teams
 Types of Groups and Teams

• Friendship Groups – Groups of employees

who enjoy one another’s company and
socialise with one another.
• Interest Groups - Seek to achieve a common
goal related to their membership in an
organisation or a group with a shared interest
in something.
 Learning Outcome 3:
Explain how different elements of group dynamics
influence the functioning and effectiveness of groups
and teams.
Five Key Elements of GroupDynamics

1. Group size, tasks and roles

2. Group leadership
3. Group development
4. Group norms
5. Group cohesiveness
 Group size, tasks and roles

Advantages of groups with less than

10 members:
• Group interaction is better.
• More motivated, satisfied andcommitted.
• Easier to share information.
• See the value of their owncontributions.
 Group size, tasks and roles

Advantages of groups with 10+ members:

• Have more resources available to use.
• Divide the work amongst moremembers.
 Group size, tasks and roles

Disadvantages of groups with 10+ members:

• Have problems with communication.
• Motivation and group morale islower.
• More difficult to shareinformation.
• More difficult to coordinatetasks.
 Group size, tasksand roles

• The appropriate size of a high-performing

group is affected by the kind of tasks the
group is to perform.
• Task interdependence - The degree to which
the work performed by one member of a
group influences the work performed by other
members.
Group size, tasksand roles
Group size, tasksand roles
Pooled task interdependence – Exists when
group members make separate
and
independent contributions to
group performance and the overall group
performance is the sum of the performance of
the individual members.
Group size, tasksand roles

Sequential task interdependence –

Exists when group members must
perform specific tasks in a
predetermined order and certain
tasks have to be performed before
others, and what one worker does
affects the work of others.
Group size, tasksand roles
Reciprocal task interdependence –
Exists when the work performed
by each group member is fully
dependent on the work performed
by other group members and
group members have to share
information, intensely interact with
one another, and coordinate their
efforts in order for the group to
achieve its goals.
 Group size, tasks and roles

• Role - A set of behaviours and tasks that a

member of a group is expected to perform
because of his or her position in the group.
 Group Leadership

• All groups and teams need leadership.

• Formal leaders – Appointed
• Informal leaders – Form naturally
• When teams do not live up to their promise,
sometimes the problem is a lack of team
leadership.
 Group Development

• Members try to get to know one another and

reach a common understanding of what the
group is trying to accomplish and how group
members should behave.
• During this stage, managers should strive to
make each member feel that he or she is a
valued part of the group.
 Group Development

• Group members experience conflict and

disagreements because some members do not
wish to submit to the demands of other group
members.
• Managers need to keep an eye on groups at
this stage to make sure conflict does not get
out of hand.
 Group Development

• Close ties between group members develop,

and feelings of friendship and camaraderie
emerge.
• Group members arrive at a consensus about
what goals they should seek to achieve and
how group members should behave toward
one another.
 Group Development

• The real work of the group isaccomplished.

• Depending on the type of group in question,
managers need to take different steps at this
stage to help ensure that groups areeffective.
 Group Development

• Applies to groups that are disbanded, such as

task forces.
• Sometimes adjourning takes place when a group
completes a finished product, such as when a
task force evaluating the pros and cons of
providing on-site child care produces a report
supporting its recommendation.
 Group Norms

• Are shared guidelines or rules for behaviour

that most group membersfollow.
• Groups develop norms concerning a wide
variety of behaviours, including working
hours, the sharing of information among
group members, how certain group tasks
should be performed, and even how members
of a group should dress.
 Group Cohesiveness

• Group members conform to norms for three

reasons:
1. They want to obtain rewards and avoid
punishments.
2. They want to imitate group members whom
they like and admire.
3. They have internalised the norms and
believe they are the right and proper ways to
behave.
 Learning Outcome 4:
Explain why it is important for groups and teams to have
a balance of conformity and deviance and a moderate
level of cohesiveness(self-study).
 Conformity and Deviance

• To effectively help an organisation gain a

competitive advantage, groups and teams need
the right balance ofconformity and deviance.
• A group needs a certain level of conformity to
ensure that it can control members’ behaviour
and channel it in the direction of high
performance and group goal accomplishment.
• A group also needs a certain level of deviance to
ensure that dysfunctional norms are discarded
and replaced with functionalones.
Conformity and deviance
 Group Cohesiveness

• The degree to which members are attracted to

or loyal to their group or team.
• When group cohesiveness is high, individuals
strongly value their group membership, find
the group appealing, and have strong desires
to remain a part ofthe group.
• When group cohesiveness is low, group
members do not find their group particularly
appealing and have little desire to retain their
group membership
Sources and Consequences of Group
Cohesiveness
 Learning Outcome 5:
Describe how managers can motivate group
members to achieve organisational goals and reduce
social loafing in groups and teams (self-study).
 Managing a Team for high
Performance
• Managers striving to have top-performing
groups and teams need to:

1. Motivate group members to work toward

the achievement of organisationalgoals.
2. Reduce social loafing.
3. Help groups manage conflict effectively.
 Managing a Team for high
Performance
• Social Loafing - The tendency of individuals to
put forth less effort when they work in groups
than when they work alone.
Managing Social Loafing
 Managing Social Loafing

• Some people may engage in social loafing

when they work in groups because they think
they can hide in the crowd.
• Managers and team leaders should make
individual contributions to a groupidentifiable
 Managing Social Loafing

• People sometimes think their efforts are

unnecessary or unimportant when they work in a
group.
• They feel the group will accomplish its goals and
perform at an acceptable level whether or not
they personally perform at a highlevel.
 Managing Social Loafing

• Group size is related to the causes of social

loafing we just described.
• As size increases, identifying individual
contributions becomes increasingly difficult, and
members are increasingly likely to think their
individual contributions are not important.