Managing Groups and

Teams
Chapter 14

Prepared by C.J. Bamforth

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Definitions
• What is a group?
– A group is two or more interdependent individuals
interacting and influencing each other in collective
pursuit of a common goal ( Shaw 1981)

• What is an efficient group?

– A group that uses its resources in the most productive way

• What is an effective group?

– A group that is focused on a common goal which reflects the
needs of the organisation or group

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LO1: Types of work group

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Formal groups are created for a specific purpose usually
by an organisation. Examples include:

• Command or functional groups - made up of one manager and

several subordinates e.g. A boss with several employees working
under him/her.
• Task groups support command/functional groups by assisting or
carrying out functions that the command/functional groups may do.
They may be temporary, e.g. a project team brought together to make
an event happen; or they may be permanent, e.g. set up to provide
ongoing counselling support to staff members in need.

Informal groups are set up by the employees to deal with members’

interests or needs, e.g. a staff club at work.
They may operate quite separately from the organisation and its goals.
For example, your university sports club brings together staff and
students who enjoy particular sports. The university itself may have
limited if any dealings with these sports clubs.

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LO1: Informal group formation

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Being part of a group means carrying out a particular set of
activities in a particular way which is influenced by the common
feelings, attitudes and opinions of the group (Homans, 1950;
Nayak & Ketteringham 1986; Kinicki & Williams 2009 in
Bartol et al, 2011).

Often informal groups form out of formal groups, as group

members discover that they have common ways of doing things
or common feelings, attitudes or opinions. This is one of the
reasons for which social networks exist – so that we can seek
out and work with those who operate in a similar way to
ourselves; or with those who work in a different way, so that we
can learn from them. This is why you will often hear about
senior managers taking their trusted teams with them when
they move companies.

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LO2: What factors influence a group’s
operation?

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This diagram suggests that what goes into making the group
influences how things are done and what the outcomes are. If we
think about a non-business example first, we see that if we want
to make a dessert, we will use different ingredients and processes
than if we want to make a main course. In the same way
members of a group and their roles within the group will affect
how they behave together, how they develop and ultimately what
their performance will be. For example, when you go out with your
friends on a Friday night you will probably behave quite differently
from when you get together with your family for a Sunday lunch.
Its the same in business – how you behave as part of a team
serving customers at McDonald’s is likely to be quite different to
how you may behave if you are promoted to the supervisory team.
How groups form, work together and produce outcomes is
also heavily influenced by what is going on in the wider
environment. For example, expectations from senior
management may influence how a group is formed, operates and
what its expected outcomes are.

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 LO3: Factors impacting group synergy

Group goal
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 Why are individuals attracted to join a group?

• It may because of group size, the members of the group, the

characteristics of those in the group or the roles that the
individual can play within the group.
• It may also be how the group operates (group processes). How
these factors combine can either create group synergy or
destroy it.
• Positive synergy means that the gains from having a group
outweighs the energy needed to develop and operate the group
itself.
• Negative synergy means that most of the group’s energies are
taken up maintaining the group rather than getting key tasks
done.
• If you have ever been part of a dysfunctional group you will
know how difficult it is to get things done when everyone is
looking after their own interests and fighting with each other.

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 Member roles:.

Group task roles: help the

group to develop and reach
goals

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 Member roles:

Group-maintenance roles: are

concerned with building group
unity, positive interpersonal
relations and developing
individuals ability to work
together well as a team.

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 Member roles:

Self-oriented roles relate

to individual members
personal needs. These
may have a negative
impact on group
effectiveness

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Can you see an overlap between
member and managerial roles?

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LO4: Group norms: their formation and
significance

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• How we behave within a group is set by the group itself through group
norms. These group ‘rules’ are used by the group to regulate the
behaviour of all group members.
• These rules or norms can be set down in explicit written statements.
• Alternatively, they may be demonstrated by key group members the first
time the group meets (first behaviour).
• They may also arise out of critical previous events or may have been
brought into the group as a result of how group members have behaved
previously in other groups.
• When you first join a company there are likely to be explicit rules (your
contract, for example) that dictate what your obligations are towards the
organisational group.
• How people respond to you in the early days of your job is also likely to
affect how you behave on an ongoing basis. Likewise, you are likely to refer
back to how you behaved in your previous job when you start a new job.
• Major events in your previous job may also influence how you behave in
your new job. What is clear here is that our behaviour in groups is
influenced by explicit norms (what we can see) and implicit norms (what
we have to work out by observing others).

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LO5: Group cohesiveness &
organisational citizenship

Organisational citizenship
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Organisational citizenship means that members of the group
do things that are not required by the job in order to help
their fellow group members to attain their, and therefore the
organisation’s, goals. This indicates that the group members
care for each other and want to help each other.
• They are therefore likely to share similar attitudes and values
and value their membership to the group. They may be drawn
together by adversity (e.g., an external threat) or by previous
or likely future group successes.
A consequence of organisational citizenship is that members
are emotionally intelligent, i.e. they are sensitive and
supportive of each other’s needs. All group members have a
sense of belonging to the team and actively work together to
enhance their performance and that of the group.
• Since they feel little threat from each other, they are more
likely to embrace change and to innovate to find solutions that
benefit all or most of the team members.

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LO6: The group formation process

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• It is commonly believed that groups go through a series
of five stages in their formation process (Tuckman
1965; Tuckman & Jensen 1977). Understanding these
stages helps us to be more objective about the group
formation process and to be able to come up with
strategies to move ourselves and others through the
stages.
• One of the easiest ways to reflect on this is to think
about what happens when you are placed into a new
group for a university assignment.
• In the forming stage, everyone is busy finding out about
the assignment and about each other and setting norms
for behaviour within the group.
• In the second stage, there is often evidence of some
storming as personalities and agendas clash. This stage
often takes up a considerable amount of time.

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• By the norming stage a leader has been identified,
tasks have been agreed on and patterns of behaviour
have been set. Time constraints often force movement
into this stage.
• In the most productive stage of the process the
assignment is done, hopefully in a positively synergistic
way.
• Finally, after the assignment is completed, the group
breaks up to go on to do other assignments and subjects.
• The success of the group formation process is how
well you do in the assignment and how much you
enjoyed working with each other.
• If you have been in a good group there can be a real
sense of loss and students often seek to replicate ‘good
groups’ in other subjects or assignments.

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Differences between teams and groups

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LO7: Essential ingredients of
innovative teams
What makes companies like
Google, Cisco and Facebook highly
innovative organisations?

• They structure their organisations

so that employees from different
functional groups can work freely
together on projects that excite
them.

• This allows individuals to

develop synergistic teams where
they can stimulate each other to do
exciting work.

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LO8: Types of innovative teams

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• Entrepreneurial groups are made up of individuals whose
members are drawn from a wide variety of backgrounds because of
their varied expertise. They are brought together to
make things happen, for example the manufacture of new products
and services or the improvement of existing)
• identified three essential ingredients for this type of team –
extensive knowledge, working cohesively together and having a
good understanding of cause and effect relationships, i.e. to be
able to understand that if one thing happens it is likely to lead to a
specific outcome.
• Self-managing teams are brought together for a specific task.
They decide themselves on who is in the group and the group
norms.
• In order for leaders to empower their workers, it is necessary to
make sure that they have the necessary skills, knowledge, training
and support to do the job.
• For example, you wouldn’t hand over your car to your younger
brother and sister without first making sure that they could drive or
that they were going out with someone who could drive.

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The danger is that in some self-managing teams there may
be social loafers (individuals who do not carry their fair
share of the work and are carried by the others). It is
often hard to get rid of these people
• Virtual teams are spread all over the world and are linked
together by information technologies, e.g. discussion
boards, teleconferencing, email and telephone.
• Since information technologies form a crucial role in
the team’s interaction it is important that all team members
know how to use them and can use them well.
• Because the groups may be spread all over the world it is
essential to have a clear plan about who is delivering what
and when.
• Performance rewards must recognise the challenges of
working in this unique environment.

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Factors contributing to effective virtual
teams

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Factors contribute towards the creation and operation
of effective virtual teams. These include:

1) Reward mechanisms that recognise and embrace the

different working approaches that may arise as a result of
the use of virtual teams
2) Continual training opportunities for all team members
3) Commonly understood and flexible team processes
4) Widely availably technologically supported resources
which all team members are adequately trained in.
5) Development of an overall culture of trust that values
diversity
6) Leaders need to model desired behaviours
7) Entire team must be comfortable and competent in
operating in an online environment.

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Establishing a virtual team

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Self managed teams:
Issues for consideration

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Conclusion
• Teams are different from groups
– Teams focus on innovation
– Groups focus on solving particular issues
• The success of teams and groups depends on
– Their purpose
– How they are formed
– Their team members
 their skills and expertise
 their norms and behaviour
– How big they are
– The level of group cohesion

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