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Mgmt 371Chapter Nineteen

Managing Work Groups and Teams

Much of the slide content was created by Dr, Charlie Cook, Houghton Mifflin, Co.©

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Groups and Teams in Organizations 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

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Types of Groups in Organizations

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Groups and Teams in Organizations Team - A group of workers who function as a

unit, often with little or no supervision, to carry out work-related tasks, functions, and activities. Sometimes called self-managed teams, cross-

functional teams, self-directed work teams or high performance teams.

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Groups and Teams in Organizations (Benefits) Benefits of teams

Give more responsibility for task performance to the 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.

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Groups and Teams in Organizations Why People Join Groups and Teams

Interpersonal attraction Group activities Group goals Need satisfaction Instrumental benefits

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Types of Teams

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Stages of Group Development

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Characteristics of Groups and Teams Role

The part an individual plays in helping the group reach its goals.

Task-specialist role Socioemotional role

Role Structures The set of defined roles and interrelationships

among those roles that the group or team members define and accept.

Emerge as a result of role episodes in which the expected role is translated and defined into the enacted role.

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Characteristics of Groups and Teams Expected Role – the degree to which all

members of a group believe what behaviors are appropriate to the focal person’s role.

Sent Role – role expectations sent to the focal person.

Perceived Role – what the focal person thought his or her role entailed.

Enacted Role – the way the focal person actually acts out his or her role.

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The Development of a Role

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Characteristics of Groups and Teams (cont’d) Role Structures

Role ambiguity occurs when the sent role is unclear.

Role overload occurs when role expectations exceed an individual’s capacities.

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Characteristics of Groups and Teams (Role conflict ) Role conflict occurs when the messages

and cues comprising the sent role are clear but contradictory or mutually exclusive.

Interrole conflict – worker overtime or taking your kid to a movie [Good employee v. good dad]

Intrarole conflict - conflicting demands in a single role [manager is told to reduce tardiness by her boss, while subordinates are pressing her to cut them some slack].

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Characteristics of Groups and Teams (Role conflict )

Intrasender conflict – when a person receives contradictory communications. [The Department chair says increase academic in classes in the morning then emphasizes retention in the afternoon].

Person-role conflict – the requirements of the role conflict with personal values [you are asked to terminate an employee who you know to be in dire financial straits].

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Characteristics of Groups and Teams (Norms) Behavioral Norms

Norms Are standards of acceptable and

unacceptable behaviors that a group sets for its members.

Norm generalization – finance faculty wearing ties to lecture. (external)

Different groups with in the same organization develop different norms.

Norm variation some members are afforded idiosyncratic behavior. (internal)

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Characteristics of Groups and Teams (Norms)

Individual responses to norm conformity: Adopt the norms of the group. Try to obey the “spirit” of the norms while

retaining individuality. Socialization

Norm conformity that occurs when a person makes the transition from being an outsider to being and insider in the organization.

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Characteristics of Groups and Teams (Cohesiveness) Cohesiveness

The extent to which members are loyal and committed to the group; the degree of mutual attractiveness within the group.

The degree to which they conform to group norms.

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Characteristics of Groups and Teams (Cohesiveness) Consequences of Cohesiveness

The interaction between cohesiveness and performance norms

The best situation: high cohesiveness combined with high performance

The worst situation: high cohesiveness and low performance

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Factors That Influence Group Cohesiveness

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The Interaction Between Cohesiveness and Performance Norms

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Characteristics of Groups and Teams (Formal Leaders) Formal leaders

Have been elected or designated to engage in leadership activities by the group members or has been formally appointed or recognized by the organization as the leader for the group.

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Characteristics of Groups and Teams (Informal Leaders) Informal leaders

Engage in leadership activities but their right to do so has not been 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.

Task and social leaders often emerge.

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Interpersonal and Intergroup Conflict Conflict - A disagreement between two or more

individuals, groups, or organizations. There is an 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.

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Interpersonal and Intergroup Conflict (Causes of Conflict)

Interpersonal Conflict Personality clash Differing beliefs or

perceptions Competitiveness

Intergroup Conflict Interdependence Different goals Competition for

scarce resources

Conflict Between Organization and the Environment Conflict with

competition Conflict with

consumer groups Conflict with

employees

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Methods for Managing Conflict