Part Three: Behavior Within

Organizations – Groups and

Interpersonal Influence
Chapter 8: Group and Team
Behavior
Chapter 9: Conflict and
Negotiation
Chapter 10: Power and Politics
Chapter 11: Leadership –
Fundamentals
Chapter 12: Leadership –
Emerging and Changing
Concepts
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 Chapter 8

Group and Team Behavior

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Learning Objectives
After completing Chapter 8, you should be able to:
 Define
The terms group and team.
 Describe
Various groups and teams that exist in
organizations.
 Discuss
Why people for groups and managers form
teams.

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Learning Objectives (continued)
After completing Chapter 8, you should be able to:
 Compare
The various stages of group development.
 Identify
The major characteristics of groups and
requirements for effective teams in
organizations.

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 Group – two or more employees who
interact with each other in such a manner
that the behavior and/or performance of a
member is influenced by the behavior
and/or performance of other members.

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Types of Groups

 Formal
Formal Groups
Groups –– 
 Informal
Informal Groups
Groups ––
created
created by
by managerial
managerial arise
arise from
from individual
individual
decision
decision to
to accomplish
accomplish efforts
efforts and
and develop
develop
stated
stated goals
goals of
of the
the around
around common
common
organization.
organization. interests
interests and
and

 Command
Command Group
Group friendships
friendships rather
rather than
than

 Task
Task Group
Group deliberate
deliberate design.
design.

 Interest
Interest Groups
Groups

 Friendship
Friendship Groups
Groups

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Why People Form Groups

The Satisfaction of Proximity and

Needs Attraction

Economics Group Goals

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Stages of Group Development

Control and Organization

Motivation and Productivity

Communication and Decision Making

Mutual Acceptance

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Characteristics of Groups

Structure Status Hierarchy

Roles

Leadership

Cohesiveness
Norms
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Role Types in Groups

 Expected role: Formal requirements of

the role within the group.
 Perceived role: The set of behaviors
which the group member believes
he/she should enact.
 Enacted role: The behaviors which the
member actually carries out.

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Group Norms
 Standards of behavior shared by group
members
 Formed only for things important to the group

 May be written, but more often orally

communicated; can be implicit

 Accepted in various degrees by group

members
 May apply to all or to only some group

members
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Leadership Roles in Groups
 In Formal Groups
 Can exercise legitimately sanctioned power (i.e.,
rewards and punishment)
 In Informal Groups
 Helps accomplish group goals
 Enables members to satisfy needs
 Embodies the values of the group
 Represents group’s viewpoint with other group
leaders
 Facilitates group conflict, initiates group actions,
maintains the group as a functioning unit
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Group Cohesiveness: Sources of Attraction to a
Group
 The goals of the group and the members are
compatible and clearly specified
 The group has a charismatic leader

 The group has a reputation for

accomplishment
 The group is small enough to have members’

opinions heard
 The members support one another and help

each other overcome obstacles

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Relationship Between Group Cohesiveness and
Agreement with Organizational Goals

Agreement with organizational goals

Low High
Performance
Performance
probably oriented
Low probably oriented
toward achievement
away from
of organizational
Degree of organizational goals
goals
group
cohesiveness Performance
Performance
oriented away from oriented toward
High
organizational goals achievement of
organizational goals

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 Groupthink – A cohesive group’s
desire for agreement interferes
with the group’s consideration of
alternative solutions.

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Characteristics of Groupthink
 Illusion of invulnerability.
 Members believe that they are invincible.
 Tendency to moralize.
 Any opposition to group views is characterized
by members as weak, evil, or unintelligent.
 Feelings of unanimity.
 Each member of the group supports the leader’s
decisions. Members may have reservations
about decisions, but do not share their views.

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Characteristics of Groupthink (continued)
 Pressure to conform.
 Formal and informal attempts are made to
discourage discussion of divergent views.
 Opposing ideas dismissed.
 Any individual or outside group that criticizes or
opposes a decision receives little or no attention
from the group.

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Types of Teams
Problem-Solving
Teams
Virtual Teams

Cross-Functional
Teams

Skunkworks
Self-Directed Work
Teams

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Why are Teams Formed?
 To
 To enhance
enhance  To
To take
take advantage
advantage of
of
organizational
organizational the
the benefits
benefits of
of
productivity
productivity diversity
diversity
 To
To assume
assume thethe tasks
tasks  To

To improve
improve quality
quality
of
of managers
managers  To
To increase
increase
eliminated
eliminated by
by customer
customer satisfaction
satisfaction
downsizing
downsizing
 To
 To provide
provide flexibility
flexibility
and
and faster
faster decisions
decisions

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Teams should be used when the following factors
are present:
 A serious commitment from group members.
 A complicated problem that requires

employees with diverse talents and functional

expertise.
 A goal of improving on an existing product,

service, or process.
 A task that lends itself to a division of labor.

 A situation in which making the wrong decision

is too costly.
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Before placing employees into teams, decision makers
should ask the following questions:
 Can the work be performed better by more
than one individual?

 Does the work lend itself to a common set of

goals for the people in a team?

 Are members of the team interdependent?

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Requirements for Effective Teams
 Top-level commitment and provision of
clear goals.
 Management-employee trust.

 Willingness to take risks and share

information.
 Time, resources, and a commitment to

training.

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The Role Concept
 Role: Organized set of behaviors expected
of an individual in a specific position
 Multiple roles: Roles performed
simultaneously because the individual holds
many positions in a variety of organizations
and groups
 Role set/role perception: Individuals’
expectations for behavior of a person in a
particular role; different groups have different
expectations
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Role Conflict
 Person-role conflict: role requirements
violate the basic values, attitudes, and needs
of the individual
 Intra-role conflict: difficulty in satisfying the

role requirements of people with different

expectations
 Inter-role conflict: difficulty in fulfilling

multiple roles with conflicting expectations

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Results of Role Conflict
 An individual confronted with role conflict
experiences psychological stress that may result
in emotional problems and indecision.
 Role conflict occurs frequently and with negative

effects on performance over a wide spectrum of

occupations.
 When individuals are faced with conflicting

expectations or demands from two or more

sources, the likely result is a decline in
performance.
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