Lesson 19 Managing Work Groups and Teams

1. Slide content created by Joseph B. Mosca, Monmouth University.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Managing Work
Groups and
Teams
Presented by:
DR RHEA LOWELLA S. FISER,RPsy, RPm, CSIOP
19

2. 19 - 2
How Would You Define a Group?
• Two or more people
who interact
regularly to
accomplish a
common purpose or
goal.
• Groups are a
ubiquitous part of
organizational life.

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Figure 19.1:
Types of Groups
in Organizations

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What Are the Types of Groups?
• Functional Group:
– A permanent group
created by the
organization to
accomplish a number of
organizational purposes
with an indefinite time
horizon.
• Informal or Interest
Group:
– Created by its own
members for purposes
that may or may not be
relevant to organizational
goals.

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Other Types of Teams
• Problem-solving team:
– Comprises knowledge workers who gather to
solve a specific problem.
• Management team:
– Consists mainly of managers from various
functions.
• Work team:
– Responsible for the daily work.
• Virtual team:
– New form of team that interacts by computer.
• Quality circle:
– Declining in popularity.
(see Table 19.1 illustration next slide)

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Why Do Organizations Create Task Groups?
• To accomplish a
relatively narrow
range of purposes
within a stated or
implied time horizon.

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What Does a Team Consist of?
• A group of workers
who function as a
unit.
• They function with
little or no
supervision to carry
out work-related:
– Tasks
– Functions
– Activities

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How Do People Join Groups?
• They join functional
groups simply by
working for an
organization.
• When an employee is
assigned a job they
become members of a
functional group.
• Then employees
volunteer to serve on:
committees, task
forces, and teams.
• They also join informal
interest groups.

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The Stages of Group Formation
• FORMING:
– Members get
acquainted, test
interpersonal
behaviors.
• STORMING:
– Members develop
group structure and
patterns of
interaction.
• NORMING:
– Members share
acceptance of roles,
sense of unity.
• PERFORMING:
– Members enact
roles, direct effort
toward goal
attainment and
performance.
(see next slide for illustration)

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Stages of Group Development
Forming:
Members get
acquainted, test
interpersonal
behaviors
Slow evolution
to next stage Storming:
Members develop
group structure and
patterns of
interaction
Norming:
Members share
acceptance of roles,
sense of unity
Burst of activity to
next stage
Slow evolution
to next stage
Performing:
Members enact roles, direct
effort toward goal attainment
and performance

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Characteristics of Groups and Teams
• What is a role?
– The part an individual
plays in helping the
group reach its goal.
• What does role
structure accomplish?
– The set of defining roles
and interrelationships
among those roles that
the group or team
members define and
accept.

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Figure 19.3: The Development of a Role

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Types of Roles
• Role ambiguity:
– When the sent role is
unclear and the individual
does not know what is
expected of them.
• Role conflict:
– When the messages and
cues comprising the sent
role are clear but
contradictory or mutually
exclusive.
• Role overload:
– When expectations for
the role exceed the
individual’s capabilities.

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What Are Behavioral Norms?
• Norms are
standards of
behavior that the
group or team
accepts for its
members.
• What do norms
define?
– Boundaries between
acceptable and
unacceptable
behavior.

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Norm Conformity
• Some groups or teams
exert more pressure for
conformity.
• Initial stimulus that
prompts behavior can
affect conformity.
• Individual traits can
determine conformity.
• Situational factors such
as team size contribute
to conformity.

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What Is Socialization?
• Generalized norm
conformity that
occurs as a person
makes the transition
from being an
outsider to being an
insider in the
organization.

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What Are the Factors That Influence Group
Cohesiveness?
• Factors that
increase
cohesiveness:
– Inter-group
competition.
– Personal attraction.
– Favorable
evaluation.
– Agreement on goals.
– Interaction.
• Factors that reduce
cohesiveness:
– Group size.
– Disagreement on
goals.
– Intra-group
competition.
– Domination.
– Unpleasant
experiences.
(see next slide for illustration)

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Factors That Influence Group Cohesiveness
FACTORS THAT
INCREASE
COHESIVENESS
•Inter-group
competition
•Personal attraction
•Favorable
evaluation
•Agreement on
goals
•Interaction
FACTORS THAT
REDUCE
COHESIVENESS
•Group size
•Disagreement on
goals
•Intra-group
competition
•Domination
•Unpleasant
experiences

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Figure 19.4: The Interaction Between
Cohesiveness and Performance Norms

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Formal and Informal Leadership
• Formal leadership:
– One appointed by the
organization or chosen or
elected by members of
the group.
• Informal leader:
– A person who engages in
leadership activities but
whose right to do so has
not been formally
recognized by the
organization or group.

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The Nature of Conflict
• How would you
define conflict?
– A disagreement
between two or
more:
• Individuals.
• Groups.
• Organizations.

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Figure 19.5: The Nature of
Organizational Conflict

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Methods for Stimulating Conflict
• Stimulating conflict:
– Increase competition
– Hire outsiders
– Change established procedures
• Controlling conflict:
– Expand resource base
– Enhance coordination of interdependence
– Set supra-ordinate goals
– Match personalities and work

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Resolving and Eliminating Conflict
• Avoid conflict
• Convince conflicting
parties to
compromise.
• Bring conflicting
parties together to
confront and
negotiate conflict.

26. DR RHEA LOWELLA S. FISER, RPSY, RPm, CSIOP
09951100143
rheasantillan@live.com
Thank you