Group dynamics

Group Dynamics
Team Unicorn Poof
Jan Augustine Paterno-Yamsuan

Definition of a Group [Gordon,
2001]
 In order to be considered a group 4 criteria
must be met
 Members of the group must see themselves
as a unit
 Group must provide rewards to its members
 Anything that happens to one member of the
group affects every other member
 Members of the group must share a common
goal

Multiple members who
perceive themselves as a unit
 2 people= dyad, 3= triad, 4-20= small group
 To be called a group members must see
themselves as a unit. They must know each
other.

Group rewards
 Membership must be rewarding for each
individual in the group.

Corresponding Effects
 Event that affects one member of a group will
affect the other group members.

Common goals
 Aim or purpose shared by members of a
group

Reasons for Joining groups
 Assignment- most common reason in the
workplace.
 Physical proximity- people tend to form
groups with people who either live or work
nearby.
 Affiliation- leadership style in which the
individual leads by caring about others and
that is most effective in a climate of anxiety

Reasons for Joining groups-affiliation
 One reason people join groups is to be near
and talk to other people.
 Research has shown that close proximity with
co-workers increases job satisfaction.

Reasons for Joining groups -
Identification
 The need to associate ourselves with the
image projected by other people, groups, or
objects.
 “basking in reflected glory”
 To promote loyalty to the organization

Reasons for Joining groups
 Emotional support
 Assistance or help
 Common interests-common academic interests are
not as strong as social interests.
 Common goals- best example would be people who
join political parties. While they may have common
interests, their primary purpose is to get a particular
person or members of a particular party elected to
office.

Factors affecting group
performance
 Group cohesiveness- extent to which
members of a group like and trust one
another, are committed to accomplishing a
team goal, and share a feeling of group pride
 Good group cohesiveness increases 1)
productivity and efficiency 2) decision quality
3) member satisfaction 4) member interaction
5) employee courtesy

Factors affecting group
performance
 Group cohesiveness can also lower group
performance, especially in a work setting. This is
because you tend to care more about your co-workers
needs than those of your customers.
*loyalty*
 Group cohesion is not always necessary for group
success.
 Employees in cohesive work groups will conform to
a norm of lower production even though they are
capable of higher performance.

Group Homogeneity
 Homogeneous groups- groups whose
members share the same characteristics
 Heterogeneous groups- members share FEW
similarities.
 Slightly heterogeneous- FEW group
members have different characteristics from
the rest of the group

Group Homogeneity
 When developing a group which composition will
lead to the best group performance?
 Research shows that the best working groups
consist primarily of similar people but have a
dissimilar person adding tension and a different
vantage point.
 Although group performance is best in slightly
heterogeneous groups, the group member who is
“different” may not have the same level of
satisfaction as the rest of the group members.

Stability of Groups
 Stability- extent to which the membership of a
group remains constant over time. The
greater the stability of a group, the greater
the cohesiveness.

Isolation
 Isolation- degree of physical distance of a
group from other groups.
 Groups that are located away from other
groups tend to be highly cohesive

Outside Pressure
 Outside pressure- amount of psychological pressure
placed on a group by people who are not members
of the group
 Groups that are pressured by outside forces also
tend to become highly cohesive
 The response to outside pressure can be explained
by the phenomenon of psychological reactance
 Reactance- motive to protect or restore one’s sense
of freedom. Reactance arises when someone
threatens our freedom of action.

Group Size
 Group size- number of members in a group
 Groups are most cohesive and perform best
when group size is small.
 Studies have shown that larger groups have
lower productivity *social loafing?*, less
coordination and lower morale and are less
active, less cohesive, and more critical than
smaller group.

Group Size
 Research suggests that groups perform best
and have greatest member satisfaction when
they consist of ~ 5 members.
 Additive tasks- tasks for which the group’s
performance is equal to the sum of the
performances of each individual group
member.
 Each member’s contribution is important.

Group Size
 Conjunctive tasks- task for which the group’s
performance is dependent on the
performance of the least effective group
member.
 Success is limited by the least effective
member, therefore smaller group is usually
best.

Group Size
 Social impact theory- the addition of a group
member has the greatest effect on group
behaviour when the size of the group is
small.
 *Adding a 6th person to an already stable and
cohesive versus adding a person to a group
with a gazillion people*

Group Size
 Research indicates that groups working through a
computer behave differently from groups working
face to face.
 Computers= large groups appear to perform best
and have the most satisfied members. Also,
members whose opinion is in the minority are more
likely to express opinions than when the group
meets face to face. (anonymity?) These same
minority group members are more persuasive when
the group meets face to face.

Group status
 Group status- esteem in which the group is
held by people not in the group. The higher it
is, the greater the group’s cohesiveness.
 It is not important to ACTUALLY have high
status, but it is important that the members
BELIEVE they have high status.

Group Ability and Confidence
 Groups whose members believe that their
team can be successful both at a specific
task [high team efficacy] and at tasks in
general [high team potency] perform better
than groups whose members aren’t as
confident about their probability for success.

Personality of the group
members.
 Important factor that affects group
performance
 Meta-analysis results indicate that in general,
groups whose members have task-related
experience and score high in the personality
dimensions of openness to experience and
emotional stability [neuroticism] will perform
better than groups whose members do not
have these characteristics (Bell,2007).

Personality of the group
members.
 Groups working on intellectual tasks will do
better if their group members are bright, and
groups working on physical tasks will do
better if their group members score high in
the personality dimensions of
conscientiousness, extraversion, and
agreeableness. (Bell, 2005)
 *OCEAN* from Psych150

Communication Structure
 Communication structure- manner in which
members of a group communicate with one
another.
 Which communication structure is most
effective? It depends on the situation and
goals of the group because each structure
has its advantages and disadvantages.
 Chain, Centralized, circles & open

Group Roles
 For a group to be successful, its members’ roles
must fall into one of two categories: task oriented
and social oriented.
 Task-oriented roles include behaviours such as
offering new ideas, coordinating activities, and
finding new information.
 Social-oriented roles involve encouraging
cohesiveness and participation
 Individual role- blocks group activities, calling
attention to oneself, and avoiding group interaction.

Group Roles
 Group members will often naturally assume
roles on the basis of their individual
personalities and experiences.

Presence of others: Social
Facilitation and Inhibition
 Norman Triplett- conducted a study in which children
conducted a task either alone or while competing
against other children. First study on social
facilitation and social inhibition.
 Social Facilitation(+) – positive effects that occur
when a person performs a task in the presence of
others.
 Social Inhibition (-) – negative effects that occur
when a person performs a task in the presence of
others.

 Audience effects- effect on behaviour when one or
more people passively watch the behaviour of
another person.
 Strength of the effect of having an audience present
is a function of at least three factors (Latane, 1981):
audience’s size, its physical proximity to the person
or group, and its status.
 Meta-analysis results indicate that the presence of
others increases performance in people who are
extraverts and have high self-esteem and decreases
performance in people with low self-esteem and who
score high in neuroticism (Uziel, 2007)

 Coaction- effect on behaviour when two or more people are
performing the same task in the presence of each other. *running
partners*
 Shalley (1995) found that coaction decreased creativity and
productivity.
 Rockloff and Dyer (2007) found that gamblers larger bets and
lost money when gambling near others than when gambling
alone
 Sommer, Wynes, and Brinkley (1992) when people shopped in
groups, they spent more time in a store and purchased more
goods when alone
 De Castro and Brewer (1992) meals eaten in larger groups were
75% larger than those eaten when a person was alone.

 Performance increases only when the task
being performed is easy or well learned;
performance decreases when the task is
difficult or not well learned (Bond & Titus,
1983; Platania & Moran, 2001)
 Mere presence: theory stating that the very
fact that others happen to be present
naturally produces arousal and thus may
affect performance

 Comparison- effect when an individual
working on a task compares his or her
performance with that of another person
performing the same task. In some jobs, this
comparison effect may increase competition
and production quantity, whereas in other
jobs comparison effects may cause
employees to slow down to be in line with the
working norm


 Evaluation apprehension- the idea that a
person performing a task becomes aroused
because he or she is concerned that others
are evaluating his or her performance.
 Distracting- idea that social inhibition occurs
because the presence of others provides a
distraction that interferes with concentration.

 Social loafing- fact that individuals in a group often exert less
individual effort than they would if they were not in a group.
 Why does social loafing occur?
 One theory is that because group members realize that their
individual efforts will not be noticed, there is little chance of
individual reward.
 Free-rider theory- when things are going well, a group member
realizes that his effort is not necessary and thus does not work
as hard as he would if they were alone. Support for this theory
comes from meta-analysis results showing that people don’t
socially loaf when their individual inputs are unique and can’t be
performed by other group members.

 Sucker effect- social loafing occurs when a group
member notices that other group members are not
working hard and thus are “playing him for a
sucker”. To avoid this situation, the individual lowers
his work performance to match those of the other
members. Does not explain the social loafing of
other members.
 Social loafing is an important variable to keep in
mind; having employees work together on a project
may not be as productive *HAHAHAHAHAHA* as
having them work individually.

 Social loafing can be reduced by evaluating
employees on their individual contributions to
the group (Karau & Williams, 1993),
explaining the link between individual effort
and group performance (Shepperd & Taylor,
1999), and rewarding those who achieve
(George, 1995; Shepperd, 1993).

Individual dominance
 When one member of a group dominates the
other.

Groupthink
 Groupthink- a state of mind in which a group
is so concerned about its own cohesiveness
that it ignores important information.
 Members become so cohesive and like-minded
that they make poor decisions
despite contrary information that might
reasonably lead them to other options
(hubris?)
 Group think most often occurs when the
group

Groupthink
 Is cohesive
 Is insulted from qualified outsiders
 Has an illusion of invulnerability, infallibility, or both
 Believes that it is morally superior to its adversaries
 Is under great pressure to conform
 Has a leader who promotes a favourite solution
 Has gatekeepers who keep information from other
group members

Groupthink
 Groupthink can be reduced in several ways
 The group leader should not state his own position
or beliefs until late in the decision-making process
 The leader should promote open discussion and
encourage group members to speak
 A group or committee can be separated into
subgroups to increase the chance of disagreement
 One group member can be assigned the role of
devil’s advocate
 Devil’s Advocate- group member who intentionally
provides an opposing opinion to that expressed by
the leader or the majority of the group.

Individual versus Group
Performance
 Nominal group- collection of individuals whose results are pooled
but who never interact with one another
 Interacting group- a collection of individuals who work together to
perform a task.
 Importance of the difference between nominal and interacting
groups can be found in a study by Liden et al.
 Managers, nominal groups of employees, and interacting groups
of employees read scenarios about a group member’s poor
performance and then determine how the employee should be
disciplined.
 Interacting groups and managers decided on more severe levels
of discipline than did the nominal groups.

Performance
 Brainstorming- technique in which ideas are generated by people
in a group setting.
 Not that effective
 Group members are encouraged to say aloud any and all ideas
that come to mind and are not allowed to comment on the ideas
until all have been given.
 When research compares a brainstorming group’s creativity with
that of a single individual, the brainstorming group will almost
always be more creative
 When comparing the number and quality of ideas created by
nominal groups with the quality and ideas by an interacting group
in a brainstorming session, the ideas of the nominal group are
more creative and of higher quality then the ideas of the
interacting group.

Performance
 DeRosa et al. found that electronic
brainstorming groups outperform vis-à-vis
interacting groups. The comparison with
nominal groups is more complicated.
 Electronic brainstorming groups and nominal
groups appear to perform at equal levels
when the groups are small, but electronic
groups are superior when the group is large.

Performance
 Brophy (1996) found nominal groups to be most effective with a
single brainstorming problem and interacting groups to be most
effective with complex problems.
 Davis and Harless (1996) interacting groups take better
advantage of feedback and learning and thus outperform nominal
groups.
 Group polarization- tendency for groups to take extreme
positions than the positions of individual members. Group
members will shift their beliefs to a more extreme version of what
they already believe individually. If individual group members are
on the risky side, the group will make highly risky decisions. If,
however, the individual group members are conservative or
cautious, the group as a whole will be extremely cautious
(Isenberg, 1986). *birds of the same feather, flock together?*

Teams
 Devine et al.- a work team is a collection of
three or more individuals who interact to
provide organizational product, plan,
decision, or service.
 Work best in situations in which 1) job
requires high level of employee interaction,
2)a team approach will simplify the job, 3) a
team cannot do something an individual
cannot, 4) there is time to create a team and
properly train team members.

Teams
 Several factors must be considered before calling a
group of individuals a team.
 Identification- extent to which group members
identify with the team rather than with other groups.
*Student council course reps*
 Interdependence- extent to which team members
need and rely on other team members
 Power differentiation- extent to which team
members have the same level of power and respect.
 Social distance- extent to which team members treat
each other in a friendly , informal manner *How we
interact with Carby*

Teams
 Conflict management tactics- team members
respond to conflict by collaborating versus
nonteam members respond by forcing and
accommodating
 Negotiation Process- teams negotiate in a
win-win style vs nonteams where members
negotiate so that they win and the other
members lose

Teams
 Donnellon (1996) placed teams into one of five
categories
 Collaborative and emergent = true teams
 Nominal and doomed= nonteams
 Adversarial= somewhere in between true team and
nonteam
 Permanency- extent to which a team will remain
together or be disbanded after a task has been
accomplished
 Proximity- physical distance between people
 Virtual teams- teams that communicate through
email rather than face-to-face

Types of Teams
 Work teams- groups of employees who manage
themselves, design jobs, plan and schedule work,
make work-related decisions, and solve work related
problems
 Parallel/Cross-functional teams- consists of
representatives from various departments
 Project teams- groups formed to produce onetime
outputs such as creating a new product, installing a
new software system, or hiring a new employee
 Management teams- coordinate, manage, advise,
and direct employees and teams.

Tuckman’s Stages
 Forming- team members “feel out” the team
concept and attempt to make a positive
impression. During the latter part of this
stage, the team concentrates on clarifying its
mission, determining the goals it wants to
accomplish, deciding on the tasks to be done
to accomplish their goals, setting rules and
procedures, and developing alternate
courses of action to reach their goals *more
than one way to skin a cat*

Tuckman’s Stages
 Storming- group members disagree and
resist their team roles. On an individual level,
members often become frustrated with their
roles, show the stress of balancing their
previous duties with their new team
responsibilities, and question whether they
have the ability to accomplish the goals set in
the forming stage.

Tuckman’s Stages
 Norming- teams establish roles and
determine policies and procedures. Members
begin to acknowledge the reality of the team
by accepting the team leader and working
directly with other team members to solve
difficulties.

Tuckman’s Stages
 Performing- teams work toward
accomplishing their goals. Members make
innovative suggestions, challenge one
another without defensive responses and
participate at high levels.

Tuckman’s Stages
 Adjourning- involves completing the task and
breaking up the team.

Why teams don’t always work
 The team is not a team
 Excessive meeting requirements
 Lack of empowerment
 Lack of skill
 Distrust of the team process
 Unclear objectives

Group Conflict
 Conflict- psychological and behavioural reaction to a
perception that another person is keeping you from
reaching a goal, taking away your right to behave in
a particular way, or violating the expectancies of a
relationship.
 One of the key components to conflict is perception
*recall 180 lecture on how we create our own social
worlds*
 Dysfunctional conflict- conflict that keeps people
from working together, lessens productivity, spreads
to other areas, or increases turnover

Group Conflict
 Functional Conflict- results in increased
performance or better interpersonal relations

Types of Conflict
 Interpersonal conflict- between two people
 Individual-group conflict – between an
individual and other group members
 Group-group conflict – between two or more
groups

Causes of Conflict
 Competition for resources- occurs when the demand
for resources is greater than the resources available
 Task Interdependence- arises when the completion
of a task by one person affects the completion of a
task by another person
 Jurisdictional ambiguity- caused by a disagreement
about geographical territory or lines of authority
 Communication barriers- physical, cultural, and
psychological obstacles that interfere with
successful communication and create a source of
conflict.

Causes of Conflict
 Belief system of individuals or groups- most likely to
occur when individuals or groups believe that they
 Are superior to other people or groups
 Have been mistreated by others
 Are vulnerable to others and are in harm’s way
 Cannot trust others
 Are helpless or powerless (Eidelson & Eidelson,
2003)

Causes of Conflict
 Personality- relatively stable traits possessed
by an individual

Types of Difficult people
 Tank- Control, task completion. Pushes, yells, gives orders,
intimidates. Don’t counterattack or offer excuses. Hold your
ground.
 Sniper- control, task completion. Uses sarcasm, criticizes,
humiliates others. Call them on their sarcasm and have them
explain what was really behind their comment
 Know-it-all – control, task completion. Dominates conversations,
doesn’t listen. Acknowledge their knowledge, make your
statements appear as if they are in agreement
 Whiner- perfection, task quality. Constantly complains. Focus
their complaints on specifics and solutions
 No person- perfection, task quality. Disagrees with everything.
Don’t rush them or argue; acknowledge their good intentions

 Nothing person- perfection, task quality. Doesn’t do anything. Be
patient and ask them open-ended questions.
 Yes person- approval, being liked. Agrees to everything. Talk
honestly and let the person know it is safe to disagree with you
 Maybe person- approval, being liked. Won’t commit or make a
decision. Help them learn a decision-making system, and then
reassure bout the decisions they make
 Grenade-attention, being appreciated. Throws tantrums. Don’t
show anger, acknowledge their complaint, and give them a
chance to cool down.
 Friendly sniper- attention, being appreciated. Use jokes to pick
on people. Give them attention when they are not making fun of
you.

 Think they know It all- attention, appreciated.
Exaggerates, lies, gives advice. Give them
attention and ask them for specifics, don’t
embarrass them.

Conflict Styles
 Avoiding style- pretending it doesn’t exist. Ok
with minor and infrequent conflicts.
 Withdrawal- one of the parties removes
him/herself from the situation
 Triangling- an employee discusses a conflict
with a third party such as a friend or
supervisor. In doing so, the employee hopes
that the third party will talk to the second
party and that the conflict will be resolved
without the need for the two parties to meet

Conflict Styles
 Accommodating style- a person who tends to
respond to conflict by giving in to the other person
 Forcing style- responds to conflict by always trying
to win
 Winning at all costs- one side seeks to win
regardless of the damage to the other side
 Collaborating style- both sides get what they want
 Compromising style- an individual allows each side
to get some of what it wants

Conflict Styles
 Negotiation and bargaining- a method of resolving
conflict in which two sides use verbal skill and
strategy to reach an agreement
 Least acceptable result (LAR)- lowest settlement
that a person is willing to accept in a negotiated
agreement
 Maximum supportable position (MSP)- highest
possible settlement that a person could reasonably
ask for and still maintain credibility in negotiating a
agreement

Conflict Styles
 Seltz and Modica’s (1980) indicators that tell
when a negotiation is going to end
 Number of counterarguments is reduced
 Position of the two sides appear close
together
 Other side talks about final arrangements
 Other side appears willing to begin putting
things into writing

Resolving Conflict
 Dispute- situation when two parties do not agree
 Cooperative problem solving- method of resolving
conflict in which two sides get together to discuss a
problem and arrive at a solution
 Third party intervention- neutral party is asked to
resolve a conflict
 Mediation- method of resolving conflict in which a
neutral third party is asked to help the two parties
reach an agreement
 Arbitration- method of resolving conflicts in which a
neutral third party is asked to choose which side is
correct.

Group dynamics

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