Groups and team buliding

Definition of a group
A group exist in an organisation if its members:
 are motivated to join
Perceive the group as a unified unit of interacting
people
Contribute in various amounts to the group
processes
Reach agreement and have disagreement through
various forms of interactions

Definition of a group
 a group is two or more people who interact with
each other, share common beliefs and view
themselves as being members of a group
At minimum , to be considered a group, at least
who people must deal with one another on a
continuing basis
Before they interact with each other, they are
likely to share common beliefs that impel them to
band together

Over time, other shared values may emerge and be
solidified
As a consequence of continuing interaction and
awareness of shared beliefs, the individuals will see
themselves as belonging to a distinct entity – the
group

Formal vs. informal groups
Formal groups – found in organisations where people
are frequently assigned to work in groups. Are task
oriented.eg. A committee, a department
Therefore every organisation member must belong to
at least one organizational group – i.e. every employee
must have at least one formal role

Some organisation members may have more than one
formal role (groups) - be member of a several
committees and still belong to a department
Such multiple members can serve as a “linking pins”
within the organisation who can enhance integration
by sharing information across groups and passing
directives to lower levels

Informal groups
Arise from social interactions among organizational
members
Formed for political friendship or common interest
Membership in such groups is voluntary and more
heavily based on interpersonal attractions
Sometimes the activities and goals of an informal
group are attractive to prospective members – for
example a group which plays cards games during
lunch time

Note that not all informal groups have a specific
set of activities, often they are simply composed
of coworkers who share common concern –
rumours, gossips etc
Informal groups are not inherently good or bad
for an organisation
When informal groups goals are congruent with
the organisation - such as when both seek to
maximize customer satisfaction and produce a
high quality products – then all is well and good

However, an informal group may oppose the
organizational goals as when employees decide to
restrict daily output, the informal groups are often
sources of resistance to organizational change

Group dynamics Are the interactions and forces among group
members in social situations
Focuses on dynamics of member of both formal or
informal groups
Describes how groups are organised and conducted
in terms of:
group leadership,
members participation
cooperation in the group

Why individuals form/join groups
(reasons)
1. Physical and psychological distance/proximity
– people who are sitting or working in one area, or
office are likely to form a group
Generally people who are physically close to one
another develop closer relationship than those that
are farther apart
The placement of office doors (psychological
distance) does not encourage eye contact as people
work and reduces need for . Therefore office layout
can encourage or discourage group formation

Managers can consciously structure work setting,
depending on whether the goals is to crate
comradeship ship and groups spirit or to reduce
informal contacts
2. Sharing common activities – this leads to more
interactions and hence form groups in order to
accomplish the common goals more easily

3. Security and protection
Group membership can give an individual a sense of
security and a real degree of protection
Being one member of a larger organisation can
generate a feeling of insecurity and anxiety, but
belong to a small group can reduce such fears by
providing a sense of unity with others
During times of stress, such as when the organisation
is changing direction or leadership, belonging to a
stable and supportive work unit can reduce individual
anxiety

By virtue of sheer numbers, group afford a degree of
protection than can individual might not otherwise
enjoy
This is the principle behind union movement which
attempts to give members are sense of protection
through highly organised collective strength

4. Affiliation
An individual need for affiliation and emotional
support can be directly satisfied by membership in a
group[
Acceptance by others is an important social need
Feeling accepted by others at work can help enhance
once feeling of self worth

5. Esteem and Identity
Groups also provide an opportunity for an individual
to feel important
They can give a person status and provide
opportunities for praise and recognition
Many workers achievements may not be appreciated
or understood by people unfamiliar with the nature of
job. But by joining groups that does understand the
job (either within the organisation or professional
associations), people tend to gain opportunities to
receive recognition and esteem for their
accomplishment

Membership in a group also helps people to define
who they are in the social scheme of things. Seeing
oneself as a salesperson , an economist, or a teamster
helps foster a feeling of identification with a larger
purpose
Through membership in a work group, a persons
gains formal tile and a sense of purpose

6. Task accomplishment
A primary reason that groups are created is to
facilitate task accomplishment
A group can often accomplish more through joint
effort than can an equal number of individuals
working separate
Many goals are attainable only thro groups
cooperative effort
By sharing ideals, pooling resources, providing
feedback to members, a group can be an effective
mechanism for attaining otherwise difficult goals

7. Similarity
Do “opposites attract” or “ birds of a feather flock
together”
Do people who are dissimilar in terms of sex, race,
income, age, religion and the like find each others
company more satistifying than people who are highly
similar on these dimension.
Although much of the research on this topic points
to the potential of both processes, attraction among
similar people appears to be more somewhat common

People with similar attitudes , values towards
commonly relevant object and goals, needs and
abilities .e.g. religion, politics, Lifestyle, work ,
authority etc are likely to form groups
If they no longer share common values/attitudes,
then the relationship is dissolved

8. Because of the expected reward – cost outcome of
interaction
 rewards must be greater than the cost of an
outcome in order for attraction or affiliation to take
places
Rewards will gratify needs while cost will incur
anxiety, frustration, embarrassment, fatigue
9.Economic reason - economic ( group incentive
plans)

Stages in Team Development
Forming
Storming
Norming
Performing
Adjourning

Forming
This is the initial stage and is marked by:
Members testing each others reaction to determine
which actions are acceptable and unacceptable
Members depend on each other for cues about what is
expected in the way of contribution and personal
conduct
Uncertainty and confusion
Group members are not sure about the group in terms
of the purpose, structures, tasks and leadership
 groups get preoccupied with getting and an identity
and understanding purpose, functions

Storming
This is the stage characters by:
 intragroup conflict and confrontation – there may be
considerable hostility disagreement and conflicts as
members wrestle with how power and status will be
divided
Members may resist the formation of a group structure
and ignore the desire of the group leader
Members are trying to clarifying issues and resolve
conflict resolution

Norming The members in this stage begin to cooperate and
collaborate
A feeling of cohesiveness develops
They have a “we” feeling
Members attraction to the team is strengthened, and
job satisfaction grow as the level of cohesiveness
increases
Cooperation and a sense of shared responsibility are
primary teams at this stage
Developing and promoting team spirit
Have group identity and comradeship
Setting rules and regulations

Performing
This is the stage where the group is fully functional
and devoted to effectiveness
The group has established a flexible network of
relationship that aids task accomplishment
Internal hostility is at a low point as the group
directs its energies towards successful performance of
valued tasks
Accomplishing the tasks agreed upon at the norming
stage
 Engagement in the task as per objectives

Adjourning stage
This represents the end of the group, which ongoing,
permanent groups will never reach
This stage is reach by project teams or task oriented
team with specific objects and once the objectives
have been accomplished, the group is disbanded

Types of groups
Primary groups
Coalitions
Membership groups
Reference groups
Formal groups
Informal groups

Primary groups
Is a small group with a feeling of:
 comradeship
Loyally
Common sense of values among the members
E.g. family group and peer groups
Small work groups especially self managed teams which
perform a function to produce a product a service

Coalitions
An interactive group of individuals
Deliberately structures by the members for a specific
purpose
independent of the formal organization structure
Lacking formal internal structures
Mutual perception of membership
Issue oriented and advance the purpose of members
Coalitions are very powerful and often effective entriet in
the organization
E.g. employees form a coalition to overcome petty
conflicts and ineffective management to get the job done

Membership groups
Groups which an individual must actually formally
belong e.g. a union
Reference groups
A group which an individual would like to belong -
that which he/she identifies with e.g. a prestigious
social group
Formal group
Formal and informal groups are the ones which are
most applicable to the study of OB

Impact of group on performance
The mere presence of others
Research has focused on the effect of the mere
presence of others on an individual performance.
Results of such studies indicate that having others
nearby tends to facilitate performance on relatively
simple and well rehearsed tasks.
However, for fairly complex tasks, the presence of
others can have a detrimental effect
The positive effect of others being present is called
social facilitation effect, while the detrimental effect
is termed as social inhibition effect

For example if you are asked to perform in front of an
audience, and your assigned task is relatively easy, you
do it relatively well, but if the task is something you
have never done before or a little difficult you notice
you do it poorly
The reason for the effects is twofold:
When we expect others to evaluate us, we feel
apprehensive (regardless of whether we are actually
being judged)
The presence of others can increase arousal because of
greater self-evaluation of performance. Such self
evaluation can aid performance of a simple task, but
impair performance of a difficult task.

The implication of this line of research are that for a
task that are simple and repetitive, the presence of
coworkers can have a positive effect, where for
complex and novel task, working in isolation is
preferred

size
Group size has a detectable effects on group
performance,
In large groups, potential impact and contribution of
each individual are somewhat diminished, but the
total resources of the group are increased
Administering a large group also creates unique
problems for managers
Most organisations settle of groups of five to seven to
handle most problems-solving task and for span of
control

Several conclusions have been made about group size
First, members appear to become more tolerant of
authorities and directive leadership as group size
increase. Apparently, group members recognise and
concede the administrative difficulties that can arise
in a large work unit. In addition, as unit size
increases, it become more difficult for handful of
subordinates to be influential, and members may feel
inhibited about participating in group activities

Secondly, lager groups are more likely to have
formalized rules and set procedures for dealing with
problems.
Despite the grater formality, larger groups require
more time to reach decisions than smaller groups.
Additionally, subgroups are not committed to the full
groups formal goals and prefer instead to pursue the
more selfish interest of a few members [

Thirdly, in a review of research on group size, research
suggests that job satisfaction is lower in larger groups.
This properly occurs because people receive less
personal attention and fewer opportunities to
participate. It is also likely that employees in smaller
work units feel that their presence is more crucial to the
group and therefore incline to e more involved
For blue collar workers, absenteeism and turnover
increases with larger work groups
Cohesion and communication decrease with greased
group size, making it less attractive and lessening the
workers desire to attend

Fourthly, as group size increase, productivity reaches
a point of diminishing returns, because of the rising
difficulties of coordination and members involvement
– hence the group of 5 – 7 in units

Composition
How well a group perform a task depends in a large
part on the task relevant resources of its members
The diversity versus redundancy of its traits and
abilities, then is an important factor in explaining
groups performance
Groups composed of highly similar individuals who
hold common beliefs and have the same abilities are
more likely to view a task form a single perspective
Such solidarity can be productive, but may also mean
that members will lack a critical ingredient for
unraveling a certain kind of problem

One of the groups greatest assets in comparison to
individuals acting alone is the likelihood of achieving
higher-quality solutions
We can therefore reasonably expect that diversified
groups tend to do better on many problem-solving
task than do homogeneous group of highly similar
individuals
Diverse abilities and experiences of the members of a
heterogeneous group offer an advantage for
generating innovative solution, provided the skills
and experiences are relevant to the task

Thus merely adding more people to a problem
solving group to broaden the pool of skills and
experiences will not guarantee a better job
Attention must be the relevance of the members
attributes within the group
Additionally, the more competent members of a
work group must also be the most influential
members

Roles
Every member of a group has a different set of
activities to perform
The set of expected behaviour relating to an
individual position within a group is called a role
A persons formal role in a group may be defined in a
job description or in a manual

Factors which determine group
performance/effectiveness -
Group cohesiveness
Leadership
Task interdependent ( how closely group members
work together)
Outcome interdependent ( whether and how group
performance is rewarded
Potency ( members belief that groups can be
effective)

Group cohesiveness and leadership
– based on the study by Schadler
Group cohesiveness has a highly significant effect on
performance
Cohesiveness is the extent to which members are
attracted to a group and desire to remain in it
It is described as the sum of all forces acting on
individuals to remain in the group
Cohesiveness pertains to how group members “stick
together”

Factors that induce and sustain
group cohesiveness
Similarity of attitudes and goals
 when group members have similar attitudes, they
find each others company pleasurable.
 So, too, individuals members will be attracted to a
group whose goals and ambitions are similar to their
own
Threats
The presence of external threats can help to increase
group cohesiveness in that sharing a mutual fate can
lead to greater awareness of interdependence

Competition from sources outside the group can also
enhance cohesiveness, whereas competition among
groups will tend to decrease cohesiveness
Unit size
Smaller groups tend to be more cohesive than larger
groups because smaller groups offer greater opportunities
to interact with all members
Since diversity and therefore dissimilarity of attitudes and
values tend to increase with group size, larger groups are
likely to be less cohesive
In a addition, in larger units, the need for more rigid work
rules and procedures reduce the informal nature of
relations and communication among group members

Reward system
Cohesiveness can be increased by offering reward on
a group rather than an individual
Group incentives encourage like bonuses based on
team performance encourage perception of a
common fate and enhance cooperation
Reward schemes that encourage competition among
group members tend to diminish group cohesiveness

Work unit assignment
The deliberate composition of work unit based on interpersonal
attraction, similarity of values and common goals can facilitate
cohesiveness
The work team that are formed on the basis of personal preferences
have high level of job satisfaction than did the randomly assigned
work wok units
Isolation
Generally, groups that are isolated form others are more likely t be
more cohesive
Groups in isolation come to view themselves as unique and different
Isolation also helps to foster group members sense of common fate
and need for defense against outside threats

Highly cohesive group that is given a positive
leadership will have the highest productivity ad vise
versa
Factors that increase/decrease cohesiveness
Agreement/disagreement on group goals
Frequency of interactions
Size of the group
Personal attractiveness vs. unpleasant experiences
Intergroup competition vs. intragroup competition
Dominance by one or more members

The effect of cohesiveness
Satisfaction
Members of a highly cohesive groups are generally
much more satisfied than members of a less cohesive
group
This is expected because by the very definition of
group cohesion it is implied that a strong
attractiveness among group members exist
Communication
Communication among group members is
significantly greater in highly cohesive groups than in
less cohesive groups

This is because members of a cohesive group are
likely to share common values and goals and find
their own company satisfying, they are inclined to
greater communicativeness
This communication in turn tend to foster greater
personal revelation and depth of understanding
which cement positive social relation

Hostility
Hostile and aggressive acts are more frequent in
highly cohesive groups, but such hostility is usually
directed toward people who are not members of the
group . Cohesion apparently creates a sense of
superiority among group members which can result
in hostility towards and rejection of outsiders

Productivity
Some research has found cohesive groups to be very
productive, which others have found that highly
cohesive groups are not as productive as less cohesive
groups
Still other researchers have reported no relationship
between productivity and group cohesion
It appear that a primary determinant of the effect of
cohesion on productivity is whether the group goals
are congruent with those of the organisation

If the goals of the cohesive group goals includes
performance, then high performance can be
reasonably expected.
Conversely, if a highly cohesive group values reduced
productivity , then a relatively low level of
productivity can be expected
In short, , cohesive groups are more likely to attain
their goals than are less cohesive groups

Resistance to change
Although it is less well document, social scientist
generally believe that highly cohesive groups are more
resistant to change than are less cohesive groups
Changes that disrupt the status quo threaten a groups
networks and social support and are, therefore likely
to be resisted
Attempt at job design that ignore the existing social
relations among employees runs a greater risk of
failing

Groups and team buliding

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