Easy to understand students for their academic

1. GROUPS
Submitted By
Shibin SS
S1 MBA

2. What is Group?
• A group is a collection of individuals who interact
with each other such that one person’s actions have
an impact on the others.
• In other words, a group is defined as two or more
individuals, interacting and interdependent, who
have come together to achieve particular objectives.
• In organizations, most work is done within groups.

3. Definition Of Group
• Stephen P. Robins: “two or more individuals, interacting
and interdependent, who have come together to achieve
particular objectives.”
• G. C. Homans: “any number of people who share goals
,often communicate with each other over a period of
time, and are few enough so that each individual may
communicate with all the others, person-to-person.”
• In the modern days of IT, people need not physically
come together, but they communicate and interact with
each other. i.e., virtually coming together.

4. Classification Of Groups

5. A)Formal Group.
• Formal groups are created to achieve specific
organizational objectives. Usually, are concerned
with the coordination of the work activities.
• People are brought together on the basis of
different roles within the structure of the
organization. The nature of the task to be
undertaken is a predominant feature of the formal
groups.
• Formal groups may be command groups or task
groups.

6. 1)Command Group:
• A command group consists of a manager and the employees
who report to him or her. Thus, it is defined in terms of the
organization's hierarchy. Membership in the group arises from
each employee's position on the organizational chart.
2)Task Group:
• A task group is made up of employees who work together to
complete a particular task or project. A task group's
boundaries are not limited to its immediate hierarchical
superior. It can cross command relationships. An employee's
membership in the group arises from the responsibilities
delegated to the employee -that is, the employee's
responsibility to carry out particular activities. Task group may
be temporary with an established life span, or they may be
open ended.

7. 3) committee:
• A group of people officially delegated to perform a
function, such as investigating, considering, reporting, or
acting on a matter. Committee, one or more persons
appointed or elected to consider report on, or take
action on a particular matter. It investigates analyses and
debates the problem and makes recommendation.
Committee usually has their own committee member
comprising of advisory authority, secretary and others.
Recommendation is sent to the authority that is
responsible for implementing them.

8. B)Informal Group:
• Within the formal structure of the organization, there will
always be an informal structure .
• The formal structure of the organization and system of
role relationship, rule, and procedures, will be
augmented by interpretation and development at the
informal level.
• Informal groups are based more on personal
relationships and agreement of group’s members than on
defined role relationships. They serve to Satisfy
psychological and social needs not related necessarily to
the tasks to be undertaken.

9. i) Friendship Groups: Groups often develop because
the individual members have one or more common
characteristics. We call these formations 'friendship
groups'. Social alliances, which frequently extend
outside the work situation, can be based on similar
age, same political view, attended the same college,
etc.
ii) Interest Groups: People who may or may not be
aligned into common command or task groups may
affiliate to attain a specific objective with which each
is concerned. This is an interest group.

10. iii) Reference Groups: Sometimes, people use a group
as a basis for comparison in making decisions or
forming opinions. When a group is used in this way, it
is a reference group.
• Employees have reference groups inside or outside
the organization where they work.
iv) Membership Groups: When a person does belong
to a group (formal and informal groups to which
employees actually belong) the group is called a
membership group (or affiliation group) for that
person.

11. v) Cliques: A relatively permanent informal groups that
involves friendship.
• Most of the relationships came down to two cliques,
each with a hanger-on, and some isolates. The
groups included several different professions.
• They developed ideas about each other. Clique
membership acted as a form of social control, forcing
people to conform to group desires.
• The groups established norms regarding output,
treatment of supervisor, reciprocity and other
interpersonal relations.

12. Development of Groups
• Groups are a common arrangement in
today's business environments. Any manager who
works with or supervises groups should be familiar
with how they develop over time.
• Perhaps the best-known scheme for a group
development was advanced by Bruce Tuckman in
1965. Initially, Tuckman identified four stages of
group development, which included the stages
of forming, storming, norming and performing. A
fifth stage was later added by Tuckman about ten
years later, which is called adjourning.

13. 1) Forming :
• The first stage of group development is known as
the forming stage.
• The forming stage represents a time where the
group is just starting to come together and is
characterized with anxiety and uncertainty.
• Members are cautious with their behavior, which is
driven by the desire to be accepted by all members
of the group. Conflict, controversy and personal
opinions are avoided even though members are
beginning to form impressions of each other and
gain an understanding of what the group will do
together.

14. 2)Storming:
• The second stage of group development is known as
the storming stage.
• The storming stage is where conflict and competition are
at its greatest.
• This is because now that group members have an
understanding of the task and a general feel for who they
are as a group and who group members are, they feel
confident and begin to address some of the more
important issues surrounding the group.
• Such issues can relate to things like the group's tasks,
individual roles and responsibilities or even with the
group members themselves.

15. 3)Norming:
• Once a group receives the clarity that it so desperately
needs, it can move on to the third stage of group
development, known as the norming stage.
• The norming stage is the time where the group becomes
a cohesive unit. Morale is high as group members
actively acknowledge the talents, skills and experience
that each member brings to the group. A sense of
community is established and the group remains focused
on the group's purpose and goal.
• Members are flexible, interdependent and trust each
other. Leadership is shared, and members are willing to
adapt to the needs of the group.

16. • Information flows seamlessly and is uninhibited due to
the sense of security members feel in the norming stage.
4) Performing:
• Once a group is clear about its needs, it can move
forward to the third stage of group development, the
norming stage. This is the time where the group becomes
really united.
• At this stage, the morale is high as group members
actively acknowledge the talents, skills and experience
that each member brings to the group. A sense of
belongingness is established and the group remains
focused on the group's purpose and goal.

17. • Members are flexible, interdependent, and trust
each other. Leadership is distributive and members
are willing to adapt according to the needs of the
group.
5) Adjourning :
• This stage of a group can be confusing and is usually
reached when the task is successfully completed. At
this stage, the project is coming to an end and the
team members are moving off in different directions.
• This stage looks at the team from the perspective of
the well-being of the team instead of the perspective
of handling a team through the original four stages of
team growth.

18. Group Structure
• Group structure is the framework of a group which
has greater influence on the behaviour and
interaction of members of a group.
• Group structure, as its outer framework, and inner
relationship are guiding and controlling factors of
behaviour.

19. Group structure includes: -
1) Leadership: A major responsibility in working with
groups is the recognition of leadership forces.
• Almost every work group has a formal leader. This
leader can play an important part in the group's
success.
• He is appointed by management and can exercise
legitimate sanctioned power.
• The formal leader possesses the power to discipline
and/or fire members of his work group.

20. • Informal leaders, on the other hand, tend to emerge
gradually as group members interact.
• They emerge from within the group according to the
nature of the situation at hand.
• The primary function of a leader (informal / formal)
is to facilitate the accomplishment of group goals. He
aids the group in accomplishing its goals. To survive,
the group must gear its efforts to achieve its primary
goals. Leader, constantly evaluates, directs and
motivates member behaviour towards overall goals.

21. 2) Roles: A role is a set of activities expected of a
person occupying a particular position within the
group.
• It is a pattern of behaviour that is expected of an
individual when he interacts with others.
• The understanding of role behaviour would be
dramatically simplified if each of us chose one role
and play it out regularly and constantly.
• However, Individuals play multiple roles adjusting
their roles to the group in which they are. So
different groups impose different role requirements
on individuals.

22. Characteristics of Roles:
• Roles are impersonal. It is the position that
determines the expectations not the individual.
• An organizational role is the set of expected
behaviours for a particular position vis-à-vis a
particular job.
• It is fairly difficult to pin down roles in exact terms. It
is the most complex organized response pattern the
human being is capable of making.
• Roles are learned quickly and can result in major
changes in behaviour.

23. • Role Identity: Role identity is certain attitudes and
behaviour consistent with a role.
People have the ability to shift roles rapidly when
they recognize that the situation and its demands
clearly require major changes. For example, when a
worker holds a position in a workers union is
promoted as supervisor, his attitude will change
from pro-union to pro-management.
• Role Perception: Role perception is an individual's
view of how he or she is supposed to act in a given
situation. Based on an interpretation of how we
believe we are supposed to behave, we engage in
certain types of behaviour.

24. • Role Expectations: Role expectations are defined as
how others believe you should act in a given
situation. How you behave is determined to a large
extent by the role defined in the context in which
you are acting.
• Role Conflict: Role conflict is a situation in which an
individual is confronted by divergent role
expectations. Role conflict, like other forms of
conflict, can be a major source of stress. Excessive
stress can cause problems for individual employees
and for the organizations that employ them

25. 3) Norms: Norms are shared ways of looking at the
world. Groups control members through the use of
norms. A norm is a rule of conduct that has been
established by group members to maintain
consistency in behaviour.
• Norms tell members what they ought and ought not
to do under certain circumstances. From an
individual's standpoint they tell what is expected of
you in certain situations. Norms differ among groups,
communities, and societies, but they all have norms.

26. According to Hackman, Norms have five
characteristics:
• Norms summarize and simplify group influence
processes. They resolve impersonal differences in a
group and ensure uniformity of action.
• Norms apply only to behaviour – not to private
thoughts and feelings.
• Norms are usually developed gradually, but the
process can be shortened if members so desire.
• Not all norms apply to everyone. High status
members often enjoy more freedom to deviate from
the "letter of the law" than do other members.

27. 4) Status: Status is a socially defined position or rank
given to groups or group members by others.
Individual group members are also distinguished by
the amount of status they have within the group,
that is, the degree of worth and respect they are
accorded by group members.
• Status is an important factor in understanding
human behavior because it is a significant motivator
and has major behavioural consequences when
individuals perceive a disparity between what they
believe their status to be and what others perceive it
to be.

28. a) Formal Status: Status may be formally imposed by
organizations through position and titles. We are all
familiar with the trappings of high organizational
status – large offices with impressive views, fancy
titles, high pay etc.
b) Informal Status: Status may be informally acquired
by such characteristics as education, age, gender,
skill and experience. Anything can have status value
if others in the group evaluate it as status
conferring.

30. What is Group Decision Making?
• Group decision making is a type of participatory
process in which multiple individuals acting
collectively, analyze problems or situations, consider
and evaluate alternative courses of action, and select
from among the alternatives a solution or solutions.
• Group decision making is a type of participatory
process in which multiple individuals acting
collectively, analyze problems or situations, consider
and evaluate alternative courses of action, and select
from among the alternatives a solution

31. Group Decision Making: Definition
• The Group Decision Making is the collective activity
wherein several persons interact simultaneously to
find out the solution to a given statement of a
problem. In other words, group decision making is a
participatory process wherein multiple individuals
work together to analyze the problem and find out
the optimum solution out of the available set of
alternatives.

32. • In group decision-making, the number of participants
often ranges from two to seven. It is not necessary
that all the group members agree with each other
and hence most of the times, the decision is taken on
the basis of a majority if no other mode of a majority
is prescribed. The majority means the number of
votes in favor or against the proposed alternative.
• There are several techniques that can be used to
increase the efficiency of group decision making.

33. • These are as follows:
a) Nominal group Technique: The Nominal Group
Technique is a form of brainstorming, wherein a
structured meeting is held among the group members
where they are required to find solutions to the
problem identified for the discussion.
b) Delphi Technique: The Delphi Technique refers to the
systematic forecasting method used to gather opinions
of the panel of experts on the problem being
encountered, through the questionnaires, often sent
through mail. In other words, a set of opinions
pertaining to a specific problem, obtained in writing
usually through questionnaires from several experts in
the specific field is called as a Delphi technique.

34. c) Brainstorming: The Brainstorming is a technique to
stimulate creative ideas and solutions through a
group discussion. Simply, a process wherein a group
attempts to find a solution for the specific problem
by aggregating all the spontaneous opinions or
suggestions given by each group member individually
is called as brainstorming.
d) Dialectic Decisions Method: The Dialectic Decisions
Method is a technique used to overcome the
problem in the group-decision making, wherein the
group members quickly agree to one alternative
proposal and might overlook more promising
solutions than the chosen one. Thus, it ensures a full
consideration of alternatives.

36. What is team?
• A team becomes more than just a collection of
people when a strong sense of mutual commitment
creates synergy, thus generating performance greater
than the sum of the performance of its individual
members.
• One of the many ways for a business to organize
employees is in teams. A team is made up of two or
more people who work together to achieve a
common goal.

37. • Teams offer an alternative to a vertical chain-of-
command and are a much more inclusive approach
to business organization, Teams are becoming more
common in the business world today. Effective teams
can lead to an increase in employee motivation and
business productivity.

38. The team can be defined by following ways too:
• A group of people who compete in a sport, game,
etc., against another group.
• A group of people who work together.
• A group of two or more animals used to pull a
wagon, cart, etc.
• A number of persons forming one of the sides in a
game or contest.
• A number of persons associated in some joint action:
a team of experts.

39. Developing High Performance Teams:

40. What Produces High Performance?
• The average work group and the exceptional team
can be compared to two horses; both with the same
muscles, leg and lungs. One is an ordinary riding
horse and the other a winner of the Durban July
• What makes them different?

41. • Building a team to deliver quality at all times is a very
important aspect of improving efficiency and
productivity.
• A high-performing team will always deliver
results. Unfortunately, not all business owners/team
leaders know how to build their team to that level of
competence and efficiency. Some employers spend a
lot of money hiring professional trainers to help them
develop their team which may not necessarily effect
significant changes in the team’s performance.

42. What exactly are High-Performing Teams?
• According to New York Times, they are teams or
organization that are highly focused on their goals
and achieve superior business results or objectives
set before them.
• Forbes says high-performance teams are a group of
people sharing a common vision, goals, metrics and
then go ahead to collaborate efforts, challenge each
other and are accountable towards achieving
outstanding results.

43. How to Develop a High-Performance Team
1) Get the Team Composition Right
This is probably the first and important
step. McKinsey advises that the team needs to be
kept small though not too small. The structure of the
organization does not in any way dictate the team’s
membership.
A smaller team facilitates decision making because of
lack of diversity. The team would make faster
decisions and less-poorer decisions. Also, it is easier
to choose during succession planning. In a small
team, every member’s opinion and voice can be
heard which will help increase the togetherness.

44. • Research implies that a team’s effectiveness becomes
to dwindle if there exist more than ten members. So
first step is slicing your team into a smaller and
compact one.
2) Focus on team dynamics :
• Selecting the team composition is important but not
enough towards developing a high-performing team.
• Team dynamics as team dynamics is what shapes the
team character to enable they achieve extraordinary
things or make them mediocre. Ensure that all
members totally understand the objectives and goals
and that they are motivated towards achieving the
pre-set goals.

45. • Furthermore, they must share the same vision else
they won’t be in synergy towards achieving the goals.
High-quality interaction by members as well as
effective communication boosts team dynamics
which helps produce results.
• Finally, team members must always have a strong
sense of renewal where they are energized because
they feel confident in taking risks, creating innovating
ideas and achieve results that matter.

46. 3) Be a Source of Inspiration:
Forbes says that as a team leader, you must go out
of your way to ensure your team is always inspired
and motivated towards achieving their goals.
• This is because a high-performing team goes beyond
pull and push. You must and should know how to
create energy and enthusiasm in the team. It is your
obligation to gauge the teams’ motivation every
point in time and give them a refill when you feel the
gauge isn’t looking good.

47. 4) You must be Trusted:
If your team can’t trust you then they can’t be loyal
to your or trust your judgements either. They would
not bring pressing matters i.e. conflicts, objective
issues, etc. to your table because they don’t trust
you.
• Lack of trust slows down everything because it is the
basic pillar in relationships. Build a positive
relationship by increasing your team’s trust in you.
After which, go ahead to ensure this trust exists
among themselves.

48. We can build trust through:
• Building positive relationship amongst the team and
yourself.
• Increasing expertise and knowledge- always seek to
develop your team’s technical capabilities as this
helps them trust their abilities in executing their
tasks, and
• Be Consistent in your actions, speech and stay true to
your pledges to them.