Group & Team

Groups & Teams

Group - two or more people with common interests, objectives, and continuing interaction

Work Team - a group of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common mission, performance goals, and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable

Characteristics of a Well-Functioning, Effective Group

Relaxed, comfortable, informal atmosphere

Task well understood & accepted

People express feelings & ideas

Members listen well & participate

Characteristics of a Well-Functioning, Effective Group

Consensus decision making

Conflict & disagreement center around ideas or methods

Clear assignments made & accepted

Group aware of its operation & function

Difference between Groups and Teams

GROUPS TEAMS

1.  Strong, clearly focused leader 1. Shared leadership roles.

2.  Individual accountability 2.Individual & mutual accountability

3.  Purpose is same as a organizat- 3. Purpose is broader than what ional mission, and percolates from top, and accepted from the top by team members, helping to focus on specific goal that team itself delivers.

4.  Productivity is largely as a result 4.Productivity is largely due to

of individuals in the group. Collective team efforts.

Difference between Groups and Teams

GROUPS TEAMS

5.  Run efficient meetings 5. Encourage open-ended discussions & active problem-solving meetings.

6.  Measure their effectiveness 6. Measure performance directly by

indirectly by their influence on assessing collective work output. others (e.g. financial perform- -ance of the business, promot- -ions etc)

.

Four Stages of Group Development

�  Forming

�  Storming

� Norming

�  Performing

Stage One: Forming

�  Definition: Stage 1 teams are generally new teams that are learning how to work together

�  Characteristics of stage 1 teams: Members tend to be tentative and polite and to have little conflict

�  Critical skills and activities: Stage 1 teams need to identify their purpose, develop group norms, identify group processes, define roles, build relationships and trust

�  Role of facilitator/leader: Stage 1 teams usually need a strong leader who can help the team go through its forming activities

Storming �  Definition: Stage 2 teams have moved past the early forming stages and are

now encountering some disagreements and/or conflict. This is natural, but teams need to find effective ways to handle conflict before they can move on to stage 3.

�  Group characteristics: Members of stage 2 teams tend to exhibit increased conflict, less conformity and “jockeying” for power.

�  Critical skills and activities: Stage 2 teams need to learn how to resolve conflict; clarify their roles, power, and structure; and build consensus through re-visiting purpose.

�  Role of leader(s): Stage 2 teams need leaders and other team members who

are willing to identify issues and resolve conflict.

Norming

�  Definition: Stage 3 teams have successfully moved out of the storming stage and are ready to move to a higher level of communication and problem-solving.

�  Group characteristics: Members of stage 3 teams demonstrate an improved ability to complete tasks, solve problems, resolve conflict.

�  Critical skills and activities: Stage 3 teams need to learn to engage in more sophisticated problem-solving and decision-making, continue the use of effective strategies for conflict resolution and take greater levels of responsibility for their roles

�  Role of leader(s): In stage 3, leaders become less directive, team members feel empowered, and multiple leaders emerge

Performing

�  Definition: Stage 4 teams are at the highest level of performance and can process their strengths and weaknesses while accomplishing their goals.

�  Group characteristics: In stage 4, the team takes a flexible approach to roles and structures depending on the task at hand. The team is able to evaluate its effectiveness and views conflict is viewed as an opportunity. Stage 4 teams tend to be energetic, creative, and fun!

�  Critical skills and activities: Stage 4 teams need to hold high expectations for their performance. They often use sub-groups as well as the large group for decision-making and task completion. Teams also recognize the need to ensure that all members are in agreement with the role and purpose of sub-groups.

�  Role of Leader: In a stage 4 team, it’s often difficult to identify the leader, because everyone is sharing in leadership.

Types of groups �  Formal groups refer to those which are established under the

legal or formal authority with the view to achieve a particular end result and The group is designated by the organizational structure, having work assignments establishing tasks. E.g People making up the airline flight crew, trade unions.

TYPES OF GROUP

Formal

Standing Task Group Task Group

Standing Task / Command Group The Standing Task group are formed by subordinates reporting

directly to the particular manager and are determined by the formal organizational chart. E.g. an assistant regional transport officer and his two transport supervisors form a command group.

Task Group �  The task groups are composed of people who work together to

perform a task but involve a cross- command relationship. Its boundaries are not located within its immediate hierarchical superior. E.g. for finding out who was responsible for causing wrong medication order would require liaison between ward in charge, senior sisters and head nurse.

Informal

Friendship Interest Reference

Interest Group �  The interest group involves people who come together to

accomplish a particular goal with which they are concerned .Office employees joining hands to go to vacation or get vacation schedule changed form an interest group .

Friendship group �  The friendship group are formed by people having one or

more common features . The people coming from a same college ,martial status, political views or having same language to speak belong to a friendship group.

Reference Group �  Base of Interest & Friendship. �  Have in common race, gender, religion, social class,

educational level, profession.

What are Different Types of Teams

Team

Management Team Work team Problem

Solving Team Virtual team

Theories of group formation �  Propinquity theory. �  Social System theory �  Balanced theory. �  Exchange Theory

Propinquity Theory �  Most basic theory is of Propinquity which asserts that people

tend to affiliate with other because of spatial or geographical closeness. People from the same area or city tend to be more bound to each other.

Theories of group formation Balance Theory of Group Formation

�  Individual X Individual Y

Common Attitude & Values Religion Politics Lifestyle Work

Social System theory �  The other theory of importance is Social System Theory

given by Homans. The theory corporate the interrelatedness of elements of activities , interaction , sentiments and the people usually interact to solve problems, reduce tension , attain goals and achieve balance. The workers interacting in this way in organizational setting tends to form groups.

Exchange Theory �  The Exchange theory is based on rewards and its cost . The

interaction between members is taken as reward and if any relationship which is not rewarding may be costly enough to cause tensions.