GROUP DYNAMICS Questions Q1 Describe the organisational conditions which would make the use of project teams desirable.

When using project teams, which management requirements must be specified? Q2 Describe four factors which managers can manipulate to influence group cohesiveness. Q3 Does work group cohesiveness mean that the group will be productive relative to organisational standards? Please explain your answer. Q4 Describe groupthink. What are the characteristics of a work group that is experiencing groupthink? Q5 How do the problems facing a work group change as it moves through the four stages of development? Q6 Assuming a work group has members who value creativity and the group is in an organisation which expects it to be creative, which factors (process losses) can prevent the group from actually being creative? Q7 Why is the deferral of judgement about creative suggestions in a work groupan important prerequisite for sustained creativity? Q8 If a manager does not wish to use the brainstorming, NGT or Delphi methods, what should he do to keep his work group creative? Q9 What diagnostic questions should be considered as a manager considers the proper level of team involvement in organisational decision-making? Q10 As organisations move from centralised decision-making to decentralised decision-making centred in selfdirected teams, what will have to be done in terms of team integration and interdependence? Answers . 1. Project teams work best under these conditions: (a) the problem or its solution affects the entire organisation; (b) the usual decision hierarchy has not adequately resolved the problem in the past; (c) the solution will require commitment from most or all of the organisations members; (d) top management values employee participation and development; (e) sufficient time exists to arrive at a satisfactory solution; and (f) top management intends to involve many employees in the implementation of the solution. The management requirements for project teams are: (a) keep the teams life span short; (b) rely on voluntary participation; (c) select members for their expertise and keep the process simple; (d) coordinate the team with top management to ensure prompt management review of project work; and (e) keep support staff small and operating systems simple. 2. The manager can choose to influence cohesiveness by controlling factors in creating a work group or by influencing the group after it is formed. In the first situation, the manager could (a) influence group composition by altering member similarity or diversity; (b) manage the size of the work group; or (c) control the basis for interpersonal attraction (proximity, attitude similarity, attractiveness of group goals and activities). Once a group is formed, the manager still has the capacity to influence the level of cohesiveness exhibited by the work group. He can: (a) clarify 1

GROUP DYNAMICS group goals and activities; (b) handle disturbances quickly; (c) create a common enemy for the group to compete with; and (d) carefully time positive feedback to match work group successes. 3. No. Managerial experience and research evidence agree that high cohesiveness in teams can be related to either high or low performance. The factor which integrates these inconsistent findings is the degree of agreement between the teams norms and the organisations team performance requirements. When a team is cohesive, and its performance norm is consistent with the organisations standard for team performance, then the team will be a high performer. On the other hand, if a cohesive team has a performance norm which counters the organisations performance standard, then it will not be an highperforming team. 4. Groupthink occurs in work groups which are highly cohesive, value conformity and lose their capacity to criticise their decisions. These symptoms indicate its presence: (a) members believe the group is invulnerable; (b) members believe the group cannot fail; (c) some members function as mindguards to prevent negative, external information from reaching other members; (d) the groups position can be justified on morality alone; (e) those opposed to the groups actions are characterised as insensitive, ignorant and ineffective; (f) pressure is applied to dissenters; (g) members are afraid to speak out because they believe they are the only ones to disagree with the majority view; and (h) the absence of criticism is mistaken for unanimity. 5. In the most basic sense, the group begins with a keen preoccupation with its composition, structural characteristics and maintenance activities. Work groups in their early development may have members who believe the costs of membership clearly exceed its benefits. During forming and storming, work groups tend to focus on their composition, appropriate roles, develop norms and solidify the leadership position (if the group starts as a leaderless group). These activities greatly reduce the groups experienced process losses through maintenance activities. In the norming and performing stage, the emphasis on task activities continues to grow and process losses subside. Actual group performance begins to rise. As the work group refines its abilities to detect process losses and its task activity emphasis consistently exceeds its emphasis on maintenance activities, then it becomes a mature group. Work groups in the last two stages of development must prevent groupthink and maintain norms in the face of task changes and group composition changes. In conclusion, the mature, performing group must devote some of its energies to membership stability and socialisation of new members while maintaining a strong task focus. If membership declines or becomes turbulent through the addition of new members, or if the environment or the groups tasks change in some way, the mature group can be pushed out of the performing stage. 6. This answer can be found in Table 6.6. It is important to note that a work group experiencing the problems noted in Table 6.6 could not be defined as a mature, stage 4 group. The 12 items noted all represent process losses which undermine creativity and innovation in a work group. These problems surface in immature groups which have not developed a norm about the importance and value of deviance (creativity). Thus, members who demonstrate creative flair (and who value it personally) may be censored by members with more personal and positional status. 7. Groups tend to be very undisciplined in creative problemsolving since they often evaluate the first creative suggestion offered. Once the evaluation process has started (deferral of judgement is suspended) in a group, further creative contributions diminish in number. The group has prematurely jumped to idea evaluation. If the suggestion were made by a group member with high personal and positional status, participation becomes ritualised as less powerful members rubber stamp the suggestion. If the group is also highly cohesive, the conditions for groupthink are created. Without a norm about the importance of deferral of judgement, work groups face serious process losses. 2

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8. The methods noted in the question are somewhat stylised and ritualistic methods for enhancing work group creativity. A manager will improve his groups creativity if he: (a) carefully defines the work groups task or problem; (b) develops a norm to separate idea generation from idea evaluation; (c) monitors process losses and avoids groupthink; (d) gains approval for making meritbased rewards available to members who make substantial contributions to group success; and (e) gains approval for distributing groupbased rewards contingent on the groups contributions to organisational success. Work group creativity is very dependent on the availability of rewards as well as the composition of the group and the task(s) it performs. 9. Determining the proper level of team involvement in decisionmaking is influenced by: (a) the time available to make the decision; (b) the significance of quality in the decision; (c) the extent to which the subordinates commitment to the decision is critical to implementation; and (d) the extent to which the group has information that can influence the decisions quality. 10. Such organisations will have to integrate complex information flows that will keep groups apprised of their realtime performance. Some of that performance will reflect how well they serve the needs of other self directed teams in the organisation. For instance, teams in procurement will have to work closely with customer service representatives who simultaneously: (a) diagnose product problems; (b) order repair parts; and (c) dispatch field service representatives. The high levels of interdependence among work teams that are all focused on delivering superior products backed by excellent service will require organisations to maintain a very flat organisational structure. The structure facilitates horizontal communication and coordination in a management system that favours decentralisation of decisionmaking. This arrangement removes barriers between customers and the companys selfdirected workteams.