Ch 12-Slides

Chapter 12
Managing Groups
and Teams
Microsoft clip art photos reprinted with permission from Microsoft Corporation.

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. 12 | 2
Chapter Objectives
1. Define the term group, and explain the
significance of roles, norms, and ostracism in
regard to the behavior of group members.
2. Characterize a mature group, and identify
and briefly describe the six stages of group
development.
3. Summarize the research insights about
organizational politics, and explain how
groupthink can lead to blind conformity.

Chapter Objectives (cont’d)
4. Define cross-functional teams, discuss the
management of virtual teams, and explain
what makes a team effective.
• Explain why trust is a key ingredient of
teamwork and discuss what management
can do to build trust.

Fundamental Group Dynamics
• What Is a Group?
– Two or more freely interacting individuals who share
a common identity and purpose.
• Types of Groups
– Informal groups: a
collection of people
seeking friendship and
acceptance that satisfies
esteem needs.
– Formal groups: a
collection of people
created to do something
productive that contributes
to the success of the larger
organization.

Figure 12.1
What Does It Take to Make a Group?

Fundamental Group
Dynamics (cont’d)
• Attraction to Groups
– Attractiveness of the group
– Cohesiveness of the group
• Roles
– Socially determined ways of behaving in a specific
position.
• A set of expectations concerning what a person must,
must not, or may do in a position.
• The actual behavior of a person who occupies the position.

Fundamental Group
Dynamics (cont’d)
• Norms
– The standards (degrees of acceptability and
unacceptability) for conduct that help individuals judge
what is right or good or bad in a given social setting.
• Are culturally derived and vary from one culture to another.
• Are usually unwritten, yet have a strong influence on
individual behavior.
• May go above and beyond formal rules and written policies.

Fundamental Group
Dynamics (cont’d)
• Reasons that groups enforce norms
– To facilitate the survival of the group.
– To simplify or clarify role expectations.
– To help group members avoid embarrassing
situations.
– To express key group values and enhance the
group’s unique identity.
• Ostracism
– Rejection by the group for violation of its norms.

Figure 12.2 Norms are
Enforced for Different Reasons

Group Development
• Characteristics of a Mature
Group
– Members are aware of each
other’s assets and liabilities.
– Individual differences are
accepted.
– The group’s authority and
interpersonal relationships are recognized.
– Group decisions are made through rational discussion.
– Conflict is over group issues, not emotional issues.
– Members are aware of the group’s processes and their
own roles in them.

Six Stages of Group Development
• Stage 1: Orientation
– Uncertainty about most everything is high.
• Stage 2: Conflict and change
– Subgroups struggle for control; roles are undefined.
• Stage 3: Cohesion
– Consensus on leadership, structure, and
procedures is reached.
• Stage 4: Delusion
– Members misperceive that the group has reached
maturity.

Six Stages of
Group Development (cont’d)
• Stage 5: Disillusion
– Subgroups form; disenchantment, diminished
cohesiveness and commitment to the group.
• Stage 6: Acceptance
– A trusted and influential group member steps forward
and moves the group from conflict to cohesion so that
it becomes highly effective and efficient.
– Member expectations are more realistic.

Source: Group Effectiveness in Organizations, by Linda N. Jewell and H. Joseph Reitz, p. 20. Used with permission of the authors.
Figure 12.3 Group Development
from Formation to Maturity

Organizational Politics
• What Does Organizational Politics
Involve?
– The pursuit of self-interest at work in the
face of real or imagined opposition.
• Impression management: trying to influence
how others perceive you.
– Political infighting is a primary impediment
that slows down change in organizations.
• Political maneuvering: all self-serving
behavior above and beyond competence, hard
work, and luck.

Organizational Politics (cont’d)
• Positive Effects
– Exchanging favors
– “Touching bases”
– Forming coalitions
– Seeking sponsors
– Overcoming internal
barriers
• Negative Effects
– Hinders organizational and
individual effectiveness.
– Is an irritant to employees.
– Can have significant
ethical implications.

• Research on Organizational Politics
– The perception that the higher the level of management, the
greater amount of politics.
– The larger the organization, the greater the politics.
– Staff personnel are more political than line managers.
– Marketing people are the most political; production people were
considered the least political.
– Reorganization changes prompt more political activity than any
other change.
– 61% of employees believed organizational politics helps
advance one’s career.
– 45% of employees believed that organizational politics detracts
from organizational goals.

• Political Tactics
– Posturing: “One upmanship” and taking credit for others work.
– Empire building: gaining control over human and material
resources.
– Making the supervisor look good: engaging in “apple
polishing.”
– Collecting and using social IOUs: exchanging reciprocal
political favors by making someone look good or covering up
their mistakes.

• Political Tactics
– Creating power and loyalty cliques: Facing
superiors as a cohesive group rather than alone.
– Engaging in destructive competition: Sabotaging
the work of others through character assassination.

Reprinted with permission from the National Association of Credit Management's Credit & Financial Management (Vol. 86,
No. 4), "Winning at Office Politics," by David E. Hall.

• Antidotes to Political Behavior
– Strive for a climate of openness and trust.
– Measure performance results rather than
personalities.
– Encourage top management to refrain from political
behaviors.
– Strive to integrate individual and organizational
goals through meaningful work and career planning.
– Practice job rotation to encourage broader
perspectives and understanding of the problems of
others.

Groupthink
• Groupthink (Irving Janis)
– A mode of thinking (blind conformity) that people
engage in when they are deeply involved in a
cohesive in-group, when the members’ strivings for
unanimity override their motivation to realistically
appraise alternative courses of action.
• Symptoms of Groupthink
– Excessive optimism
– An assumption of inherent
morality
– Suppression of dissent
– A desperate quest for unanimity

Groupthink (cont’d)
• Preventing Groupthink
– Avoid using of groups as rubberstamps.
– Urge each group member to be a critical evaluator.
– Bring in outside experts for fresh perspectives.
– Assign someone the role of devil’s advocate.
– Take time to consider possible effects and
consequences of alternative courses of action.

Teams, and Teamwork
• Cross-Functional Teams
– Task groups staffed with a mix
of specialists from various
organizational
areas who are focused on a
common objective.
• May or may not be self-managed.
• Membership is assigned, not voluntary.
• Challenge is getting specialists to be
boundary spanners.

Team, Teamwork, and Trust (cont’d)
• Virtual Teams
– Task groups with members who are physically
dispersed yet linked electronically to accomplish a
common goal.
• Face-to-face contact is less than once a month and some
form of communication technology is used as the primary
medium for conducting group meetings.
• Primary forms of communication are electronic
interchanges (e-mail, voice mail, web-based project
software, and videoconferences).

• Building a Virtual Team
– Identify the team’s sponsors,
stakeholders, and champions.
– Develop a team charter that
includes its purpose, mission,
and goals.
– Select team members.
– Contact team members and
introduce them to each other.
– Conduct a team orientation session.
– Develop a team process.

• What Makes Workplace Teams Effective?
– Innovative ideas
– Goals accomplished
– Adaptability to change
– High person/team commitment
– Being rated highly by upper management

From Hans J. Thamhain, "Managing Technologically Innovative Team Efforts Toward New Product Success,"
Journal of Product Innovation Management, Vol. 7, pp. 5-18, 1990. Reprinted with permission of Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
Figure 12.4
A Model of Team Effectiveness

Work Teams Go Beyond
Companies --Even Countries!
• In 2007,Brazil's Space (AEB) and India's Space
Department (ISRO) set up a work team to study in the
space sectors of both countries. The two countries will
focus mainly on satellite projects, such as satellite
tracking, satellite launching, and development projects.
• India currently has reportedly the fastest growing space
program in the world. With a budget of $2.4 billion, India
has built 29 satellites, developed two launchers, and
established infrastructure for development, construction
and testing of telecommunications, remote sensing, and
meteorology satellites.
Source:http://www.larouchepac.com/pages/breaking_news/2007/05/21/brazil_india_space.shtml

• Trust: A Key to Team Effectiveness
– Trust: a belief in the integrity, character, or ability
of others.
• The primary responsibility for creating a climate of trust
falls on the manager.
• Trust is the key to establishing productive interpersonal
relationships.
• Trust encourages self-control, reduces the need for direct
supervision, and expands managerial control.

Reprinted with permission from "Trust and Managerial Problem Solving," by Dale E. Zand, Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 17, No. 2,
June 1972. Copyright © 1972 Johnson Graduate School of Management, Cornell University.
Figure 12.5
Trust and Effective Group Interaction

• Six Ways to Build Trust
1. Communication: keep people informed.
2. Support: be an approachable person.
3. Respect: delegate important duties and listen.
4. Fairness: evaluate fairly and objectively.
5. Predictability: be
dependable and consistent.
6. Competence: be a good
role model.

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