defining and classifying groups
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Defining and Classifying Groups. Departments. Formal. Task Groups. Interest Groups. Informal. Friendship Groups. Problem- Solving. Self- Managed. Types of Teams. Virtual. Cross- Functional. The Resources of Group Members. Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities. Personality - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Prentice Hall, 2001 Chapter 8 1
Defining and Classifying Groups
FormalFormalDepartmentsDepartments
Task GroupsTask Groups
Interest GroupsInterest Groups
Friendship GroupsFriendship GroupsInformalInformal
Prentice Hall, 2001 Chapter 9 2
Cross-Cross-FunctionalFunctional
Self-Self-ManagedManaged
Problem-Problem-SolvingSolving
VirtualVirtual
Types ofTypes ofTeamsTeams
Prentice Hall, 2001 Chapter 8 3
The ResourcesThe Resourcesof Group Membersof Group Members
Knowledge,Knowledge,Skills, andSkills, andAbilitiesAbilities
PersonalityPersonalityCharacteristicsCharacteristics
Prentice Hall, 2001 Chapter 8 4
Stages of Group DevelopmentStages of Group Development
Prestage I Stage IForming
Stage IIStorming
Stage IIINorming
Stage IVPerforming
Stage VAdjourning
Characteristics of Effective Teams
• Common goal– Defined & accepted mission/objective
• Shared leadership– Based upon expertise
• Civilized disagreements– Centered around ideas and methods, not people
Characteristics of Effective Teams (cont.)
• Listening– Questioning, paraphrasing, summarizing
• Participation– Everyone is encouraged to be involved and
share relevant knowledge• Self-assessment
– Pay attention to group process• How well are we functioning?
Prentice Hall, 2001 Chapter 8 7
Punctuated-Equilibrium Model
Time(Low)
(High)
First Meeting
Phase 1
Phase 2
Transition
Completion
A B(A+B)/2
Perf
orm
ance
Prentice Hall, 2001 Chapter 8 8
PerformancePerformance
GroupNorms
AppearanceAppearance
ResourcesResources
Development of Norms
• Organizational stories– Bill Gates: An employee was leaving work at
8:00pm, Bill says “only working ½ a day?”• Founders Values
– Nordstrom employee handbook• Responses to significant organizational
events– Johnson & Johnson and Tylenol recalls
Purpose of Norms
• Identifies desired behaviors or attitudes• Way of controlling behavior instead of explicit
formal rules • What happens when someone violates a
norm?– Deviant
• Pressures to get back in line– Isolate
• Loss of influence
Prentice Hall, 2001 Chapter 8 11
Effects of Group ProcessesEffects of Group Processes
PotentialGroup
Effectiveness
GroupEffectiveness
Process Losses
ConformityGroupthink
Social Loafing
Process Gains
Synergy
Prentice Hall, 2001 Chapter 8 12
Conformity to Group NormsConformity to Group Norms
X A B C
Studies by Solomon Asch
Issues Raised by Asch & Milgram Studies
• Group pressures to conform– What percentage of people conformed in the
Milgram study and shocked to the highest level?
– Percentage conforming in the Asch study?• What happened when people wrote down
responses?• Organizational implications?
– Methods of voting
Influencing the Majority Opinion Holders
• Persuasion techniques– Be positive and tactful in tone– Uncover the reasoning & logic behind positions
• Ask questions/challenge the assumptions & reasoning– Do not argue from position
• “I don’t know”– Consider what type of evidence is most relevant to
those you are trying to persuade• Facts & figures• Testimonials, personal experience
Group Decision Making
• Brainstorming– Group members are physically present in a “freewheeling”
idea generation process• All ideas are encouraged and are not to be critiqued
• Nominal group technique– Face to face meeting, all individual ideas are presented
with the goal of making a decision by the end of the meeting
• Electronic meeting– Ideas are presented, discussed, and voted on anonymously
via computer
Social Loafing
• Tendency to exert LESS effort when working in a group than when working alone
• Why does this happen?– Diffusion of responsibility– If you see others working less hard or not
contributing, people may attempt to reestablish equity by reducing work effort & productivity
Social Loafing Issues
• Methods to reduce its occurrence– Make individual contributions identifiable
• Hold individuals accountable– Make the receipt of group-based rewards contingent
upon individual contributions (GE info systems gainsharing plan)
• Social loafing tends to be a cultural phenomenon– Individualism versus collectivism (group is the
focus)• USA versus Japan
Cohesion
• Degree to which members are attracted to the group and are motivated to stay in the group
• Factors that generate cohesion– Common goal– Prior success– External threats &/or competition (“enemy”)– Difficult initiation or difficult to be a member– Time spent together & increased interaction
Prentice Hall, 2001 Chapter 8 19
High Productivity
Moderate Productivity
Moderate to LowProductivity
LowProductivity
CohesivenessPe
rfor
man
ce N
orm
s
High Low
Cohesiveness-Productivity RelationshipCohesiveness-Productivity Relationship
High
Low
Cohesion & Effective Group Decision Making
• Inverted U with effectiveness on the vertical and cohesion on the horizontal– When cohesion is too high, threat of groupthink
exists– When cohesion is too low, decisions may not
be made as group members are still “storming”
Groupthink
• When group members striving for agreement (norm for unanimity), fail to realistically appraise alternative courses of action– A means for a group to protect its positive
image (extremely high in cohesion)
Groupthink video
• Identify factors that may lead to groupthink
• Identify “symptoms” of groupthink
• Identify methods to minimize groupthink
• After the video, take 5 minutes and write a response to the following 2 questions:– In your own words, why do you think the
shuttle was launched?– Why did NASA seem to readily accept Morton
Thiokol’s reversal on the O-ring problem?
Antecedents of Groupthink
• Factors that may lead to groupthink– High levels of cohesion– Stressful decision-making context
• External pressure• Tight budgets• Recent failures
Symptoms of Groupthink
• Illusion of unanimity (false consensus)– Silence implies agreement
• “I’m not going to call for a vote, I think we are all in agreement here”
• “We’ve decided..”
• Self-censorship– Not speaking up (feeling of tension caused by pressure
to be silent & internally wanting to speak up) • “I had a few objections, but since everybody seems
committed, I won’t bring them up.”
Symptoms of Groupthink (cont)
• Illusion of invulnerability & Rationalization– “Our strategy has worked in the past, odds are
it will again”• Mindguards
– “No need for you to be at the meeting; I’ll summarize your concerns for the board”
Ways to Minimize Groupthink
• Avoid isolating the group– Bring in outside experts
• Critical evaluators / Devil’s advocate– Role is to question assumptions and uncontested
information• Open climate
– Leader invites and accepts divergent thinking• Avoid being directive
– Strong leaders speak last or sometimes not at all