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Organizational Organizational Behavior, 9/EBehavior, 9/E

Schermerhorn, Hunt, and Schermerhorn, Hunt, and OsbornOsborn

Prepared byMichael K. McCuddyValparaiso University

John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Organizational Behavior: Chapter 9 2

Chapter 9 Study Questions

What is the nature of groups in organizations?

What are the stages of group development?What are the foundations of group

performance?How do groups make decisions?


Study Question 1: What is the nature of groups in organizations?A group is a collection of two or more

people who work with one another regularly to achieve common goals.

In a true group, members are mutually dependent on one another and interact with one another.

Hot groups thrive in conditions of crisis and competition.


Study Question 1: What is the nature of groups in organizations?

Effective groups achieve high levels of:– Task performance.

• Members attain performance goals regarding quantity, quality, and timeliness of work results.

– Members satisfaction.• Members believe that their participation and experiences are

positive and meet important personal needs.– Team viability.

• Members are sufficiently satisfied to continue working together on an ongoing basis.



How groups help organizations– Groups are good for people.– Groups can improve creativity.– Groups can make better decisions.– Groups can increase commitments to action.– Groups help control their members.– Groups help offset large organization size.



Situations in which groups are superior to individuals.– When there is no clear expert in a particular

problem or task.– When problem solving can be handled by a

division of labor and the sharing of information.

– When creativity and innovation are needed.



Potential benefits for group members.– People learn from each other and share job skills and

knowledge.– Groups are important sources of need satisfaction for

their members.– Members can provide emotional support for each

other in times of crisis or pressure.– Members’ contributions can help them experience

self-esteem and personal involvement.



Social loafing.– The tendency of people to work less hard in a

group than they would individually.– Reasons for social loafing.

• Individual contributions are less noticeable in the group context.

• Some individuals prefer to see others carry the workload.


Study Question 1: What is the nature of groups in organizations?Ways of preventing social loafing.

– Define member roles and tasks to maximize individual interests.

– Raise accountability by identifying individuals’ performance contributions to the group.

– Link individual rewards to performance contributions to the group.



Social facilitation.– The tendency for a person’s behavior to be

influenced by the presence of others.

– Positively affects performance when a person is proficient on the task.

– Negatively affects task performance when the task is not well-learned.


Study Question 1: What is the nature of groups in organizations?Formal groups.

– Officially designated to serve a specific organizational purpose.

– The head of a formal group is responsible for the group’s performance and serves a “linking-pin” role.

– May be permanent or temporary.• Permanent work groups are command

groups.• Temporary work groups are task groups.


Study Question 1: What is the nature of groups in organizations?Types of formal groups.

– Cross-functional teams or task forces.• Engage in special problem-solving efforts

drawing on input of the functional areas.– Project teams.

• Formed to complete a specific task with a well-defined end point.

– Virtual group.• Members work together via computers.



Informal groups.– Emerge without being officially designated by

the organization.

– Types of informal groups.• Friendship groups.

• Interest groups.


Study Question 1: What is the nature of groups in organizations?Effects of informal groups.

– Can help people get their jobs done.– Can speed up workflow by supplementing

formal lines of authority.– Can satisfy needs that are thwarted or unmet

by the formal group.– Can provide members with social satisfaction,

security, and a sense of belonging.


Study Question 2: What are the stages of group development?



Forming stage.– Initial entry of members to a group.– Member challenges.

• Getting to know each other.• Discovering what is considered acceptable

behavior.• Determining the group’s real task.• Defining group rules.


Study Question 2: What are the stages of group development?Storming stage.

– A period of high emotionality and tension among group members.

– Member challenges.• Hostility and infighting.• Formation of coalitions and cliques.• Clarification of members’ expectations.• Giving attention to obstacles to group goals.• Understanding one another’s interpersonal styles.• Finding ways to accomplish group goals while

satisfying individual needs.



Norming stage.– The point at which the group really begins to

come together as a coordinated unit.– Member challenges.

• Holding group together by maintaining a positive balance.

• Letting the desire for group harmony obscure group problems.

• Being mistaken about reaching ultimate maturity .


Study Question 2: What are the stages of group development?Performing stage.

– Marks the emergence of a mature, organized, and well-functioning group.

– Member challenges.• Meeting complex tasks and conflicts in creative

ways.• Being motivated by group goals and achieving

satisfaction. • Continuing to improve relationships and

performance.• Adapting to changing opportunities and demands.



Adjourning stage.

– A well-integrated group is:

• Able to disband when its work is finished.

• Willing to work together in the future.

– Particularly important for temporary groups.


Study Question 3: What are the foundations of group performance?



Tasks.– Technical demands of a task.

• Routineness, difficulty, and information requirements.

– Tasks that are complex in technical demands require unique solutions and more information processing.



Tasks (cont.).– Social demands of a task.

• Relations, ego involvement, and controversies over ends and means.

– Tasks that are complex in social demands involve difficulties in reaching agreement on goals or methods for accomplishing them.


Study Question 3: What are the foundations of group performance? Goals, rewards, and resources.

– Long-term performance relies on:• Appropriate goals.• Well-designed reward systems.• Adequate resources.

– A group’s performance can suffer when:• Goals are unclear, unchallenging, or arbitrarily imposed.• Goals are focused too much on individuals.• Adequate budgets, facilities, good work methods and

procedures, and the best technologies are not available.



Technology.

– Provides the means to get work accomplished.

– The right technology must be available for the

task at hand.

– Workflow technology can affect the way

group members interact.


Study Question 3: What are the foundations of group performance?Membership characteristics.

– A group must have the right skills and competencies available for task performance and problem solving.

• Homogeneous groups may not perform well if they lack the requisite experiences, skills, and competencies.

• Heterogeneous groups may perform well if they effectively utilize a variety of experiences, skills, and competencies.



Membership characteristics (cont.).– Diversity-consensus dilemma.

• Increasing diversity among group members makes it harder for group members to work together, even though the diversity itself expands the skills and perspectives available for problem solving.


Study Question 3: What are the foundations of group performance?Membership characteristics (cont.).

– FIRO-B theory.• Identifies individual differences in how people

relate to one another in groups.• Based on needs to express and receive feelings of

inclusion, control, and affection.• Groups whose members have compatible

characteristics are likely to be more effective.• Groups whose members have incompatible

characteristics are likely to be less effective.


Study Question 3: What are the foundations of group performance?Membership characteristics (cont.).

– Status.• A person’s relative rank, prestige, or standing in a

group.– Status congruence.

• Occurs when a person’s position within the group is equivalent in status to positions held outside the group.

• When status incongruence is present, problems will likely occur.


Study Question 3: What are the foundations of group performance?Group size.

– Can make a difference in a group’s effectiveness.

– As group size increases, performance and member satisfaction increase up to a point.

– As a group size continues to grow, communication and coordination problems often set in, and performance and satisfaction may decline.

– Problem-solving groups should have 5 to 7 members.



Group dynamics concern the forces operating within groups that affect the way members relate to and work with one another.

From a systems perspective, the throughputs for a group or team are group dynamics.



What goes on within groups.– Work group behaviors.

• Required behaviors — those that are formally defined and expected by the organization.

• Emergent behaviors — those that group members display in addition to what the organization asks of them.



What goes on within groups.– Member relationships.

• Activities — the things people do or the actions they take.

• Interactions — interpersonal communications and contacts.

• Sentiments — the feelings, attitudes, beliefs, or values held by group members.


Study Question 3: What are the foundations of group performance?What goes on between groups.

– Intergroup dynamics.• The dynamics that take place between two or more

groups.– Ways to achieve positive intergroup dynamics.

• Refocusing members on a common enemy or goal.• Negotiating directly.• Training members to work more cooperatively.• Refocusing rewards on contributions to the total

organization and how much groups help each other.


Study Question 4: How do groups make decisions? How groups make decisions.

– Decision by lack of response.• One idea after another is suggested without any discussion-

taking place; when the group finally accepts the idea, all others have been bypassed and discarded by simple lack of response rather than by critical evaluation.

– Decision by authority rule.• The chairperson, manager, or leader makes a decision for the

group.– Decision by minority rule.

• Two or three people are able to dominate or “railroad” the group into making a decision to which they agree.


Study Question 4: How do groups make decisions? How groups make decisions (cont.).

– Decision by majority rule.• Formal voting may take place, or members may be polled to

find the majority viewpoint.

– Decision by consensus.• Discussion leads to one alternative being favored by most

members and the other members agree to support it.

– Decision by unanimity.• All group members agree totally on the course of action to be

taken.


Study Question 4: How do groups make decisions?Potential advantages of group decision

making.– More knowledge and expertise is applied to

solve the problem.– A greater number of alternatives are

examined.– The final decision is better understood and

accepted by all group members.– More commitment among all group members

to make the final decision work.


Study Question 4: How do groups make decisions?

Potential disadvantages of group decision making.– Individuals may feel compelled to conform to

the apparent wishes of the group.– The group’s decision may be dominated by

one individual or a small coalition.– Group decisions usually take longer to make.


Study Question 4: How do groups make decisions?Ways to avoid groupthink.

– Assign the role of critical evaluator to each group member.

– Have the leader avoid seeming partial to one course of action.

– Create subgroups that each work on the same problem.

– Have group members discuss issues with outsiders and report back.


Study Question 4: How do groups make decisions?Ways to avoid groupthink (cont.).

– Invite outside experts to observe and react to group processes.

– Assign someone to be a “devil’s advocate” at each meeting.

– Write alternative scenarios for the intentions of competing groups.

– Hold “second-chance” meetings after consensus is apparently achieved.


Study Question 4: How do groups make decisions?How to improve group decisions.

– Brainstorming.• Group members actively generate as many ideas

and alternatives as possible, and they do so relatively quickly and without inhibitions.

– Nominal group technique.• Puts people in small groups of six to seven

members and asks everyone to respond individually and in writing to a “nominal” question.


Study Question 4: How do groups make decisions?How to improve group decisions (cont.).

– Delphi technique.• Involves generating decision-making alternatives

through a series of survey questionnaires.

– Computer-mediated decision making.• Group decision making takes place across great

distances with the aid of group decision support systems.


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