Foundations of Group Behavior

Shivkumar Menon

Learning Objectives

Define Group & distinguish different groups

Different Stages of Group Development

Group Properties: Roles, Norms, Status, Size, Cohesiveness, Diversity

Group Decision making, Strengths and Weaknesses

Effectiveness of interacting, brainstorming, nominal & electronic meeting groups

Define Group

“two or more individuals, interacting and interdependent who have come together to achieve particular objectives”

Types of Groups

Formal Groups

Groups formed with designated work assignments establishing tasks. Behavior of formal groups are directed by organizational goals

Informal Groups

Not formally structured and a natural formation out of need for social contact

Social Identity TheoryIt proposes that people have emotional reactions to the failure or success of their groups because their self esteem gets tied into the groups’ performance. People develop a lot of identities in the form of organization, family, friends and environment and their self esteem gets linked to the social identity

It proposes that people have emotional reactions to the failure or success of their groups because their self esteem gets tied into the groups’ performance. People develop a lot of identities in the form of organization, family, friends and environment and their self esteem gets linked to the social identity

Stages of Group Development

The Five Stage Model

Temporary Groups – Punctuated Equilibrium Model

Temporary groups do not follow the same sequence and form their own sequences.

1st Meeting – Sets the group’s direction

2nd Meeting - inertia sets in the first phase of group activity

3rd Meeting – transition takes place when the group has taken up more than half of their allotted time

4th Meeting – this transition initiates major changes

5th Meeting – a second phase of inertia sets in after the transition

6th meeting – frenzied activity to complete tasks

Group Properties: Roles, Norms, Status, Size, Cohesiveness & Diversity

Work groups have different properties and individual behavior within the group as well as the performance of the group itself is shaped by these properties.

Roles – Our view of how we are supposed to act in a given situation is driven by role perception, role expectations and role conflicts, where in role perception is an individual’s perception of the behavior expected in his role, Role expectation is the expectation of other employees from an individual in a given role and Role Conflicts is the conflict which employees face when they play different roles in the organization as well as outside the organization which have direct conflict

Roles – Our view of how we are supposed to act in a given situation is driven by role perception, role expectations and role conflicts, where in role perception is an individual’s perception of the behavior expected in his role, Role expectation is the expectation of other employees from an individual in a given role and Role Conflicts is the conflict which employees face when they play different roles in the organization as well as outside the organization which have direct conflict

Norms – Groups have established norms of behavior. Most of these norms are unwritten and not formal ones, but they are meticulously followed by members in the group.

Conformity to group norms and pressures applied on group members to conform to these norms.

Deviant workplace behavior is another common organizational norm which gets violated often in organizations.

Norms – Groups have established norms of behavior. Most of these norms are unwritten and not formal ones, but they are meticulously followed by members in the group.

Conformity to group norms and pressures applied on group members to conform to these norms.

Deviant workplace behavior is another common organizational norm which gets violated often in organizations.

Status – Higher status individuals are often given more freedom to deviate from norms than other group members. Hence status tends to get derived from one of the three sources: power a person wields over others, person’s ability to contribute to a group’s goals, an individual’s personal characteristics

Status – Higher status individuals are often given more freedom to deviate from norms than other group members. Hence status tends to get derived from one of the three sources: power a person wields over others, person’s ability to contribute to a group’s goals, an individual’s personal characteristics

Group Properties: Roles, Norms, Status, Size, Cohesiveness & Diversity

Size – size of the group also affects group behavior. Social loafing is the tendency for individuals to expend less effort when working collectively than alone. Research proves that the productivity of the group is not equal to the sum of the productivity of the individuals in the group.

Size – size of the group also affects group behavior. Social loafing is the tendency for individuals to expend less effort when working collectively than alone. Research proves that the productivity of the group is not equal to the sum of the productivity of the individuals in the group.

Cohesiveness – the degree to which members are attracted to each other and motivated to stay in the group. High Cohesiveness and high performance norms brings high productivity, but if cohesiveness is high & performance norms are low, than productivity will also be low.At the same time, if cohesiveness is low and performance norms are high, productivity will be high even though it may not be to the scale of high cohesive and high performance norm group.

Cohesiveness – the degree to which members are attracted to each other and motivated to stay in the group. High Cohesiveness and high performance norms brings high productivity, but if cohesiveness is high & performance norms are low, than productivity will also be low.At the same time, if cohesiveness is low and performance norms are high, productivity will be high even though it may not be to the scale of high cohesive and high performance norm group.

Diversity- research points at benefits as well as costs from group diversity. When the group is very diverse, the surface level characteristics can take over and influence group behavior and bring group conflict especially in the early stages of a group’s tenure. Tenure diversity has no direct impact on performance if human resource practices are in place.

But the difference is in the leaders who can get the group to focus on the task at hand and encourage group learning.

Diversity- research points at benefits as well as costs from group diversity. When the group is very diverse, the surface level characteristics can take over and influence group behavior and bring group conflict especially in the early stages of a group’s tenure. Tenure diversity has no direct impact on performance if human resource practices are in place.

But the difference is in the leaders who can get the group to focus on the task at hand and encourage group learning.

Group Properties: Roles, Norms, Status, Size, Cohesiveness & Diversity

Group Decision making

Strengths

Weaknesses

More complete information & knowledge

More inputs and heterogeneity in the decision making process

Increased diversity of view

Bias is eliminated or reduced

Acceptance of a solution is by consensus

More time consuming

Conformity pressures present

Minority representation and opinions are very often not put forth and if put forth are not entertained

High status individuals or assertive individuals will dominate the decision making process

Byproducts of group decision making

Group ThinkGroup Think

This relates to norms. It describes situations in which group pressures for conformity deter the group from critically appraising unusual, minority or unpopular views. This can dramatically hinder the performance of even strong groups

Group ShiftGroup Shift

This describes the manner in which group members tend to exaggerate the initial positions they hold, when discussing a given set of alternatives and arriving at a solution.

Conservatives tend to get more conservative and the aggressive types get more risky.

Understanding Work Teams

Learning Objectives

a. GROWING POPULARITY OF TEAMS IN ORGANIZATIONS

b. CONTRAST GROUPS AND TEAMS

c. COMPARE AND CONTRAST 4 TYPES OF TEAMS

d. CHARACTERISTICS OF EFFECTIVE TEAMS

e. HOW ORGANIZATIONS CAN CREATE TEAM PLAYERS

f. WHEN TO USE INDIVIDUALS INSTEAD OF TEAMS

Differences between Groups & Teams

Groups and teams are not the same thing.

Difference between Groups & Teams

A group that interacts primarily to share information and make decisions to help each member perform within his or her area of responsibility.

No need/opportunity to engage in collective work that requires joint effort & hence performance is a summation of each group member’s individual contribution

Work Groups

Work Team

A work team generates positive synergy through coordinated efforts. Individual efforts result in a level of performance greater than the sum of those individual inputs.

Extensive use of teams creates the potential for an organization to generate greater outputs with no increase in inputs

Types of Teams

Teams can make products, negotiate deals, coordinate projects, offer advice and make decisionsTeams can make products, negotiate deals, coordinate projects, offer advice and make decisions

Problem Solving Teams: teams typically composing of 5 to12 hourly employees from the same department who meet for a few hours each week to discuss ways of improving quality, efficiency and the work environment.

Rarely have the authority to unilaterally implement any of the suggestions.

Self Managed Work Teams: teams that not only solve problems but implement solutions and take responsibility for outcomes. Self Managed Teams are groups of employees who perform highly related or interdependent jobs & take on many of the responsibilities of their former supervisors.

They do not manage conflicts well. When disputes arise, members stop cooperating & power struggles ensue, which leads to lower group performance

Types of Teams

Cross Functional Teams: made up of employees from about the same hierarchical level but different work areas, who come together to accomplish a task.

Their early stages, of development are often long, as members learn to work with diversity and complexity. It takes time to build trust and teamwork, especially among people from different backgrounds with different experiences and perspectives.

Virtual Teams: use computer technology to unite physically dispersed members and achieve a common goal.

Despite their ubiquity virtual teams face special challenges. They may suffer because there is less social rapport and direct interaction among members.

Characteristics of effective teams

Team Effectiveness Model

ContextAdequate ResourcesLeadership & StructureClimate of trustPerformance evaluation Reward Systems

ContextAdequate ResourcesLeadership & StructureClimate of trustPerformance evaluation Reward Systems

CompositionAbilities of membersPersonalityAllocating RolesDiversitySize of TeamsMember flexibilityMember Preferences

CompositionAbilities of membersPersonalityAllocating RolesDiversitySize of TeamsMember flexibilityMember Preferences

ProcessCommon PurposeSpecific GoalsTeam EfficacyConflict LevelsSocial Loafing

ProcessCommon PurposeSpecific GoalsTeam EfficacyConflict LevelsSocial Loafing

Team Effectivene

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Team Effectivene

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How organizations create team players

How can organizations enhance team effectiveness – to turn individual contributors into team members?

Selection : Hiring Team PlayersTraining : Creating Team Players Rewarding : Providing Incentives to a good team player

Teamwork takes more time and often more resources than individual work. They have increased communication demands, conflicts to manager and meetings to run.

Benefits of using teams have to exceed the costs and hence before we rush to implement teams, careful assessment whether the work requires or will benefit from a collective effort is imperative.

3 tests to be applied to evaluate and decide the efficacy of having a team in place of individuals.

i.Complexity of work and the need for different perspectives

ii.Does the work create a common purpose or set of goals for the people in the group that is more than the aggregate of the individual goals

iii.Are the members of the group are interdependent? Success of each one depends on the success of others

Thank you