Managing Work Groups and Teams

1. Managing Work Groups and Teams

2. Learning Objectives
1. Define and identify types of groups and teams in
organizations, discuss reasons why people join groups
and teams, and list the stages of group and team
development.
2. Identify and discuss four essential characteristics of
groups and teams.
3. Discuss interpersonal and intergroup conflict in
organizations.
4. Describe how organizations manage conflict.
22–2

3. GROUPS AND TEAMS IN ORGANIZATIONS
22–3
• Group
• Two or more people who interact regularly to accomplish a common purpose or goal.
• Types of Groups and Teams
• Functional groups
• Informal or interest groups
• Task groups

4. TEAMS
22–4
• Team
• An interdependent group of workers who function as a unit, often with little or no
supervision, to carry out work-related tasks, functions, and activities.
• Types of Teams
• Self-managed teams
• Cross-functional teams
• High performance teams.

5. Type of Team Purpose of Team
Problem-solving team Most popular type of team; comprises knowledge
workers who gather to solve a specific problem and
then disband
Management team Consists mainly of managers from various functions like
sales and production; coordinates work among other
teams
Work team An increasingly popular type of team; work teams are
responsible for the daily work of the organization; when
empowered, they are self-managed teams
Virtual team A newer type of work team whose members interact in a
virtual arena; members enter and leave the network as
needed and may take turns serving as leader
Quality circle Declining in popularity, quality circles, comprising
workers and supervisors, meet intermittently to discuss
workplace problems
22–5
22.1 Types of Teams

6. TEAMS (CONT’D)
22–6
• Benefits of Teams
• Give more responsibility for task performance to workers who do the
tasks.
• Empower workers by giving them greater authority and decision-
making freedom.
• Allow organizations to capitalize on the knowledge and motivation of
their workers.
• Enable the organization to shed its bureaucracy and to promote
flexibility and responsiveness.

7. WHY PEOPLE JOIN GROUPS AND TEAMS
22–7
• Interpersonal attraction
• Group activities
• Group goals
• Need satisfaction
• Instrumental benefits

8. Slow
evolution
to next
stage
Slow
evolution
to next
stage
Burst of
activity
to next
stage
Forming
Members get acquainted
test interpersonal behaviors
Storming
Members develop group
structure and patterns of
interaction
Performing
Members enact roles, direct
effort toward goal attainment
and performance
Norming
Members share acceptance
of roles, sense of unity
22–8
22.2 Stages of Group Development

9. GROUPS AND TEAMS
22–9
CohesivenessNorms
Role
structure
Characteristics of
Groups and Teams
Informal
leadership

10. GROUP AND TEAM ROLES
22–10
• Role
• Is the part an individual plays in helping the group reach its goals.
• Task-specialist role
• Socioemotional role
• Role Structures
• Is the set of defined roles and interrelationships among those roles that the group or
team members define and accept.
• Result from role episodes in which the expected role is translated into the enacted
role by an individual.

11. 22–11
22.3 The Development of a Role

12. DISRUPTIONS IN ROLES
22–12
• Role Ambiguity
• Occurs when the sent role is unclear.
• Role Conflict
• Occurs when messages and cues of the sent role are clear but contradictory or
mutually exclusive.
• Interrole conflict  Intrarole conflict
• Intrasender conflict Person-role conflict
• Role overload
• Occurs when role expectations exceed
an individual’s capacities.

13. BEHAVIORAL NORMS
22–13
• Norms
• Are standards of acceptable and unacceptable behaviors that a group sets for its
members.
• Norm generalization (external)
• Norm variation (internal)
• Norm Conformity by Individuals
• Socialization in fully adopting group norms.
• Obeying the “spirit” of the norms while retaining individuality.
• Ignoring the norms

14. GROUP BEHAVIORAL NORMS
22–14
Individual
Traits
External
Stimulus
Group and Team
Pressure
Sources of
Norm Conformity
Situational
Factors

15. TEAM AND GROUP COHESION
22–15
• Cohesiveness
• The extent to which members are loyal and committed to the group; the degree of
mutual attractiveness within the group.
• Consequences of Cohesiveness
• The interaction between cohesiveness and performance norms
• The best situation: high cohesiveness with high performance
• The worst situation: high cohesiveness and low performance

16. Factors That Increase
Cohesiveness
Factors That Reduce
Cohesiveness
Intergroup competition Group size
Personal attraction Disagreement on goals
Favorable evaluation Intragroup competition
Agreement on goals Domination
Interaction Unpleasant experiences
22–16
22.2 Factors That Influence Group Cohesiveness

17. 22–17
22.4 The Interaction Between Cohesiveness
and Performance Norms

18. FORMAL AND INFORMAL LEADERSHIP
22–18
• Formal Leaders
• Have been elected or designated to engage in leadership activities by
the group members or have been formally appointed or recognized by
the organization as the leader for the group.
• Informal Leaders
• Engage in leadership activities but their right to do so is not formally
recognized by the organization or group.
• May also be the formal leader for the group or may supplement the
formal leader in fulfilling leadership roles.
• Draw on referent or expert power to establish themselves as leaders.

19. INTERPERSONAL AND INTERGROUP CONFLICT
22–19
• The Nature of Conflict
• Conflict
• A disagreement between two or more individuals, groups, or organizations.
• Optimal level of conflict in an organization:
• Too little conflict and the organization becomes complacent and apathetic, and
lacking in innovation and underperforms.
• Too much conflict creates a dysfunctional organization where hostility and non-
cooperation predominate, and suffers from low performance.
• A moderate level of conflict in an organization fosters motivation, creativity,
innovation, and initiative and can raise performance.

20. • Interpersonal Conflict
• Personality clash
• Differing beliefs or perceptions
• Competitiveness
• Intergroup Conflict
• Interdependence
• Different goals
• Competition for scarce
resources
• Conflict Between an
Organization and its
Environment
• Conflict with competition
• Conflict with consumer
groups
• Conflict with employees
CAUSES OF CONFLICT
22–20

21. Managerial Action Method
Stimulating Conflict Increase competition among individuals and teams.
Hire outsiders to shake things up.
Change established procedures.
Controlling Conflict Expand resource base.
Enhance coordination of interdependence.
Set superordinate goals.
Match personalities and work habits of employees.
Resolving and
Eliminating Conflict
Avoid conflict.
Convince conflicting parties to compromise.
Bring conflicting parties together to confront and
negotiate conflict.
22–21
22.3 Methods for Managing Conflict

22. CONFLICT RESOLUTION
22–22
• Negotiation
• The process in which two or more parties (people or groups) reach agreement on an
issue even though they have different preferences regarding that issue.
Psychological
Individual
differences
Contextual
Situational
characteristics
Mathematical
Game
theory
Behavioral
Cognitive
approaches
Approaches to Negotiation

23. • group
• functional group
• informal or interest group
• task groups
• role structure
• role ambiguity
• role conflict
• role overload
• cohesiveness
• norms
• socialization
• informal leader
• conflict
KEY TERMS
22–23