CHAPTER 6

GROUP AND SOCIAL PROCESSES

 LEARNING OUTCOMES
• Introduction to • A model of Team Effectiveness
– What is team effectiveness?
Group and Team
– Discuss how task
– Types of characteristics, team size and
Group/Team team composition influence
team effectiveness
– Advantages and – Discuss four team processes
Disadvantages —team development,
of Teams norms, cohesion and trust—
influence team effectiveness
(importance) • Team Decision Making
 Introduction to group and teams
Definition - groups Definition - teams
• Teams are defined as two or more people
• Groups – include people who interact and influence each other, are
assembled together mutually accountable for achieving
common goals associated with
whether or not they have organizational objectives and perceive
themselves as a social entity within an
interdependence or organization
organizationally focused • Work Team - a group of people with
objectives complementary skills who are committed
to a common mission, performance goals,
and approach for which they hold
themselves mutually accountable.

Note: all teams are groups but many groups do not satisfy teams roles.
For example the friends you meet for lunch is an example of informal group
but they would not be called a team because they have little or no
interdependence , each person could easily have lunch alone.
Differences between groups and
teams
 Types of groups
Formal groups Informal groups
 TYPES OF TEAMS
TEAM TYPES DESCRIPTION

Cross-functional teams Members composed of people from different departments such as

sales and production, pursuing a common objective

Problem-solving teams Knowledgeable workers who meet as a temporary team to solve a

specific problem, then disband

Quality Circle Volunteers of workers and supervisors who meet intermittently to

discuss workplace and quality-related problems

Self-managed team Workers are trained to do all or part of the jobs in a work unit, have
no direct supervisor, and do their own day-to-day supervision

Work team
Top-management team Members consists
engage of in the
collective work requiring
CEO, president, and topcoordinated
departmenteffort;
purpose of work
heads and team to
is help
advice, production,
organization problem,
achieve or actionand goals
its mission

Virtual team Members interact by computer network to collaborate on projects

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 TEAM TYPES DESCRIPTION
Departmental teams Consists of employees who have similar or complementary skill and are
located in the same unit or a functional structure usually minimal task
interdependence because each person works with employees in other
departments

Production/service teams Consists of multi-skilled employees with diverse competencies .

Collectively produce a common product or service. Assembly line type of
interdependence

Advisory teams Teams that provide recommendations to decision makers, include

committees , advisory councils, review panels. Often permanent in
nature with some frequent rotation among members

Skunk-works Multi- skilled teams that are usually located away from the organizations
and are relatively free of its hierarchy. Initiated from entrepreneurial
team leader who borrows people and resources to design product or
services

Communities of practice Teams but often informal groups bound together by shared expertise
and passion for a particular activity or interests, main purpose is to share
information and often rely on information technologies as the main
source of interaction

Multi-cultural teams Multicultural groups represent three or more ethnic

backgrounds. Diversity may increase uncertainty, complexity,
& inherent confusion in group processes. Culturally diverse
groups may generate more & better ideas & limit groupthink

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 Advantages & Disadvantages Of
Teams
Advantages/benefits
• Teams typically outperform
individuals when tasks require
multiple skills, judgment, and
experience
• Teams are a better way to utilize
individual employee talents
• The flexibility and responsiveness
of teams is essential in a
changing environment
• Empowered teams increase job
satisfaction and morale, enhance
employee involvement, and
promote workforce diversity
Advantages/benefits
• Teams are “the fashion”
– Synergy – works better as a group,
achieve more
– Need for coordinated cross-
disciplinary activities, not doing or
focusing on one activity only
– Self-management – less supervision
by bosses
• Good when performing complicated,
complex, interrelated and/or more
voluminous work than one person can
handle
• Social needs (think back to Maslow…) –
the drive to bond and becomes more
motivated because more accountable to
team members
 Advantages & Disadvantages Of Teams
Advantages of Team
1) Make better decision
Identify problems, develop alternatives &
choose
best alternative contributed by members’
various
expertise
2) Develop better products & services
Members share information & coordinate
tasks
due to broader breadth of knowledge
and
expertise
3) More energized workforce/synergy
Team has stronger sense of belongingness
and
motivation as they are more accountable
to
fellow members who monitor each
other
performance compare to a traditional supervisor
4) Better way to utilize individual employee
Disadvantages of Team
1) Individual domination in decision making
2) Social pressure to conform to team norm
Refer to Groupthink which is a practice
of
approaching problems as matters that are best
dealt
with by consensus of a group, resulting typically
in
unchallenged, poor quality decision making
3) Social loafing (free riding) may occur
Social loafing can be minimized through:
- use smaller team
- assigned specific task to each member
- measure individual member’s performance
- increase job enrichment
- choose only highly motivated members
4) Process losses may occur
4
 model of team effectiveness
What is team effectiveness?
One of the importance of teams and
groups existence is to achieve
performance/team effectiveness.
This can be derived when all team
members are well coordinated thus
team effectiveness will be derived.
Team effectiveness is defined as
Team effectiveness is the extent to
which a team achieves its
objectives, achieves the needs and
objectives of its members and
sustains itself over time
(maintaining team survival)
–Groups and teams must:
• All group members understand group
roles and expectations.
• Group members have developed a
good working relationship.
• Group members are attracted to the
group and are loyal to the leader.
• Group members have a high degree of
trust and confidence in one another.
• Group activities such as decision making
and problem solving occur in a
supportive atmosphere.
• Communication among members and
the leader should be encouraged. If
problems exist, free and open
communication will bring problems to
the surface.
 TEAM EFFECTIVENESS MODEL

2 4
1 Team Design

•Task characteristics
•Team size
•Team composition
1
3
Team Processes

•Team development
•Team norms
•Team roles
•Team cohesiveness

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1. Organization & Team Environment Elements/Environments

6
 2. Team Design Elements- task characteristics- team size- team composition

i. Task characteristics
Task interdependence is the extent to which team members must share materials,
information or expertise to perform their jobs, need to interact in the process of executing their
work or receive rewards that are partly determined by the performance of others.

Pooled Task Interdependence: each

member of a group makes separate and
independent contributions to group
performance. Occurs when
organizational units have a common
resource but no interrelationship with
one another
Sequential Task Interdependence:
requires specific behaviors to be
performed by group members in a
predetermined order. Occurs when
organizational units must coordinate the
flow of information, resources, and tasks
from one unit to another
Reciprocal Task Interdependence: the
activities of all work group members are
fully dependent on one another so that
each member’s performance influences
the performance of every other member
of the group. Occurs when information,
resources, and tasks must be passed
back and forth between work groups
7
TEAM SIZE

• Rule of Thumb (ROT) is, team

size should be large enough
to provide the necessary
competencies to perform yet
small enough to maintain
efficient coordination &
involvement of each member

 - best to start small and

add members when
necessary
 - require some time for
team members to figure
out best number of
team members

8
Team composition

• Team composition refers to the overall

mix of characteristics among people in a
team, which is a unit of two or more
individuals who interact
interdependently to achieve a common
objective
• It is based on the attributes among
individuals that comprise the team, in
addition to their main objective.
• Team composition is usually either
homogeneous, in which all members are
the same, or heterogeneous, in which
team members all contain significant
differences. It has also been identified as
a key factor that influences team
performance
• ROT is, since both team composition have
advantages and disadvantages, their
effectiveness depends on the situation
To be effective, teams must have
certain competencies and they are: 5 competencies of teams:
THE 5 C’S OF TEAM COMPOSTIONS – COMPETENCIES
3.ELEMENTS OF TEAM PROCESS
Team development – TEAM PROCESS

11
Team Development – TEAM PROCESS
 Team Building
Strategies to Team leader roles:
Accelerate Team
Development
Team Building Other team members’
refers to
experiential learning roles
aimed at better Encourages and maintains
internal
functioning of open communication
groups. Leads by setting a good
example
Activities Motivates and inspires team
encompasses: members
1. role Helps the team focus on the
definition refer to task
team roles notes Facilitates problem solving
and collaboration
2. goal setting - refer Maintains healthy group
to motivation notes. dynamics
Encourages creativity and
3. problem solving risk-taking
Recognizes and celebrates
team member contributions
4. interpersonal
processes (to build
trust & open
communications)
12
 NORMS
Team Norms
informal rules of conduct for behaviors
& shared expectations (include
opinions, feelings and actions) that the
team establish to regulate/guide the
behavior of their team members
OR
In order to understand how team norms contribute toward Team
Effectiveness, team roles are discussed.
Roles are expected behaviors for a given position.
 Types of Team Roles
Team roles if reinforce will contribute towards a team development process:
1. Formal roles
- a set of behaviors/roles that people are expected to
perform because they hold certain positions in a team
e.g. team coordinator, team leader, team monitor
2. Informal roles
- a set of behaviors/roles that people voluntarily perform in
a team to enhance team members’ relationship
e.g. team cheerleaders, team advisor
 Problems of Team Roles
1.Role overload - others’ expectations exceed one’s ability
2.Role conflict - others have conflicting or inconsistent
expectations
3.Role ambiguity - other’s expectations are unknown
13
 NORMS - add
GROUP NORMS
 Norms are behaviours that are
considered normal in any society EXAMPLES OF NORMS
 Norms are acceptable standards
shared by the members of a group.
 Correct or proper forms of behaviour
 Norms are a code of conduct about
what is acceptable behaviour
 Applies to members in a group
 Must be strictly adhered to remain
and be accepted as group member
 Sometimes written or unwritten but
are agreed upon by all members

TEAM COHESIVENESS
• Cohesiveness is a sense of
“we-ness” to help group
members stick together
• Defined as the degree of
attraction people feel
toward the team and their
motivation to remain
members which leads to
team effectiveness
Cohesiveness brings to teams:
 Collective sense of team pride
 An emotional experience
 Make team part of social identify
(you belong to)
 experience cognitive and
emotional process
 Relates to the team member’s
social identity
 Types of Team Cohesiveness
1. Socio-emotional cohesiveness
- sense of togetherness based
on
emotional satisfaction
2. Instrumental cohesiveness
- sense of togetherness
based
on mutual dependency
needed to get
the job done in
 COHESIVENESS
COHESIVENESS
 The degree to which
group members are
attracted to each other
and are motivated to
stay in the group.
 Time spent together
 Shared experiences
 Number of members
and diversity
 Causes/advantages/benefits

12/20/20 29
 What Managers Can Do to Enhance
Team Cohesiveness
 Keep the team relatively
small
 Strive for a favorable
public image to increase
the status and prestige of
belonging
 Encourage interaction and
cooperation
 Emphasize members’
common characteristics
and interests
 Point out environmental
threats
 Regularly update and
clarify the team’s goals
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 Give every group
member a vital “piece of
the action”
 Channel each team
member’s special
talents toward the
common goals
 Recognize and
equitably reinforce each
member’s contributions
 Frequently remind
group members they
need each other to get
the job done
30
CONSEQUENCES OF COHESIVENESS
 Trusts defined trusts
• Trust is a reciprocal (i.e. give GUIDELINES TO DEVELOPING TRUST

and take) faith in other’s

 Communication - explain,
intentions tell the truth, give feedback,
etc.
and behavior  Support - be
available, approachable, etc.
• A positive expectations one  Respect - active
person listening to team members,
willing to delegate, etc.
has toward another person in  Fairness - give
credit/recognition to team
members deserving it, etc.
 Predictability - be
situations involving risk consistent in behavior, etc.
• The act of placing yourself  Competence -
demonstrate credibility,
in the vulnerable position of professionalism, etc.
relying on others to treat
you in a fair, open, and
 MORE ON TRUST

WHERE DO WE PUT OUR TRUST OUTCOMES:

TRUST
 HOW GROUP MAKE DECISIONS
DECISION BY LACK OF RESPONSE
 A decision by lack of response
relies on a process of elimination.
 The team listens to numerous
ideas without voting, until it lands
upon one it accepts being
bypassed without any discussion
taking place.
 The team makes a generally well-
informed decision.
 Perhaps time consuming, but,
well suited to situations like
deciding upon materials for a
new product.
DECISION BY AUTHORITY RULE
 One individual makes a decision for the
team. As autocratic as that sounds, the
goal is for the team to provide that
authority figure with enough ideas to
make a well-informed decision.
 Well suited to the military, teams of
junior and senior scientists, junior and
senior lawyers.
 The pitfall is that the decision is only as
strong as the authority, who may tune
out some team members in favour of
others, or tune out all evidence and
make a decision based on personal
opinion
 The person who has the authority in the
group makes the decision on behalf of
the whole group.
 EDGAR SCHIEN – GROUP DECISION MAKING TECHNIQUES/HOW
GROUP MAKE DECISIONS
DECISION BY MINORITY
 One or two person in the group
dominate the scene and
influence/ force others to agree
 that minority may be more
empowered (as its members
outrank team mates, or have
two votes to their one) or may
be simply more assertive and
able to “steamroll” (influenced)
the majority.
 The risk is low commitment and
dissatisfaction on the part of the
majority.
DECISION BY MAJORITY RULE
•puts a decision up to vote, perhaps
by a simple majority (50+ percent) or
a supermajority (that is, three fifths or
two-thirds).
•This fosters strong commitment by
the majority, but can lead to weak
commitment by the minority.
•Decision made by the group by
voting.
•Majority votes will win.
•Problem- tendency of coalition
between winners and loser.
 EDGAR SCHIEN – GROUP DECISION MAKING TECHNIQUES/HOW
GROUP MAKE DECISIONS
DECISION BY CONSENSUS
• Most members accept an idea
even those who oppose the idea
get along with the idea because
they have given a chance to put
forward their reasons for not
accepting the idea in the first place
• differs from majority rule in that
the minority feels heard, and
supports the ultimate decision.
Schein believed that consensus
fostered a high exchange of
information, such that the decision
is a well-considered one; also that
the minority understands
beforehand that it may or may not
triumph.
DECISION BY UNANIMITY
• Everyone of the group members
agree on the course of action to
be taken- theory is possible but
practice difficult to attain
• represents the ideal approach,
one in which all parties agree
upon a decision.
• But it has its pitfalls. A team may
be front loaded with, for
example, engineers or marketers;
law partners who are junior and
over-eager, or senior and overly-
cautious; males or females. It is
also difficult to achieve unanimity
with large teams.
 To improve Group decision making
BRAINSTORMING Brainstorm
• Is a decision making technique in Nominal
Delphi Technique
which members openly discuss,
argue about, and agree on the • All criticism is ruled out.
best alternative Discussion or judgment
• Brainstorming is a means of withheld until process
generating ideas. complete.
• Brainstorming can be used to • Quantity is the main target
identify alternatives, obtain a
complete list of items and to solve
• “Freewheeling” is
problems. welcomed. Radical & wild
•
ideas are welcomed
There are a variety of
brainstorming techniques. • Combination and
• The common principle of improvement are sought.
brainstorming is to set aside the Each participants are
restrictive thinking processes so expected to give suggestion
that many ideas can be generated. to combine & convert to
better ideas.
 A brainstorming technique : STEPS
 1. Ideas are suggested and  Discussion is made on each
recorded. Criticism is not allowed. idea. Combination and
An addition to any idea must be improvement are sought. Each
withheld until all idea-generation participant is expected to give
process has been completed. suggestions on how ideas can
be converted into better ideas
 Quantity is the main target. The by combining/ modifying them
greater the number of ideas so that the final ideas would
thrown in, the greater are the be better.
chances to obtain a better idea.
 Decision is based on
 Freewheeling is welcomed. Radical agreement by all members.
or even wild ideas are encouraged.

39
 To improve Group decision making
Brainstorm
Nominal
Delphi Technique

NOMINAL TECHNIQUE DESCRIPTION

• A technique to improve • Differences ideas among
group decision making that group members can be
brings people together in a utilized.
very structured meeting • Individual members meet
that does not allow of much face to face to put their
verbal communication. The ideas but its operate
independently.
group decision is a
• Use one or more small
mathematically pooled
groups to generate ideas
outcome of individual votes and evaluate alternative
solutions.

12/20/20 Rohaya Mohd Hussein, Senior Lecturer, Uitm, Shah Alam 40

 The Nominal Group
Technique-STEPS

One or more small groups The problem is defined as

sit at tables of 4-5 people fully as possible to the
group

Participants are instructed to silently write down

all possible solutions that occur to them.
Creativity is encouraged

The leader conducts a “round-robin” collection

and recording of ideas. One idea at a time is
taken from each person until all ideas are
exhausted

Ideas can be rank ordered within Ideas are discussed

the groups, results compared and expanded on, clarified and
the best ideas chosen evaluated by the group(s)
41
Nominal Group Technique
 To improve Group decision making
Brainstorm
Nominal
Delphi Technique

DELPHI TECHNIQUE DESCRIPTION

• The Delphi Technique is a • Decision making process
method for gathering carried out without the
opinions from a group of members having to meet
geographically dispersed face to face.
experts to reach a • Use fax, mail, email
consensus through the use • Sometimes use expert
of multiple questionnaires service
without holding a group
meeting.

12/20/20 Rohaya Mohd Hussein, Senior Lecturer, Uitm, Shah Alam 43

Delphi Technique STEPS
ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF DELPHI TECHNIQUES
ADVANTAGES
• Does not require face-to-
face meetings.
• Convenient to participant.
• Distance is not a factor.
• Inexpensive.
• Free of social pressure.
• Focus stays on issue at
hand.
DISADADVANTAGES
• May eliminate extreme
positions and force middle-
of-the-road consensus.
• Requires skill in written
communication.
• Results are limited.
• More time consuming and
requires full commitment
from participants.
45
 Assets and liability of group
decision making
INDIVIDUAL vs. GROUP DECISION MAKING

• Effectiveness : Group
• Accuracy : Group
• Speediness: Individual
• Creativity: Group
• Acceptance: Group
Group Decision Making
SUMMARY