HUMANBE REVIEWER CHAPTER 12 Informal and Formal Groups Group Dynamics Social progress by which people interact face-to-face

e in small groups Dynamics (came from the Greek word for force) o Group dynamics is the study of forces operating within a group Two historical landmarks o Research of Elton Mayo Workers tend to establish informal groups that affect job satisfaction o Experiment of Kurt Lewin (founder of the group dynamics movement) Different kinds of leadership produced different responses in groups Groups have properties of their own that are different from the properties of individuals in the group 1 + 1 = 3 (the third component is the relationship) Types of Groups Formal Groups established by the organization and which have a public identity and goal to achieve (centered on authority and responsibility) o Temporary created to accomplish a short-term task and then disband Meeting event at which group members discuss ideas or solve problems o Permanent most natural and enduring work group Team people regularly perform tasks together as part of their job assignments Informal Groups emerge on the basis of common interests, proximity, and friendships (centered on people and their relationships) Informal Organization A network of personal and social relations not established or required by the formal organization but arising spontaneously as people associate with one another Western Electric Studies informal organization is an important part of the total work situation Institutional Power (Formal) and Personal Power (Informal) A manager typically holds some informal power along with formal power The managers and informal leader usually are two different persons in work groups Large organizations tends to have hundreds of informal organizations operating throughout it An informal organization can have external members Informal organizations complement the formal one Basis of Comparison General Nature Major Concepts Primary Focus Source of Leader Power Guidelines for Behavior Informal Organization Unofficial Power and Politics Person Given by groups Norms Formal Organization Official Authority and Responsibility Position Delegated by management Rules and policies

Sources of Control

Sanctions

Rewards and Penalties

Organizations Structure Consistent with its environment, technology, and strategy Creates a set of broad policy guidelines and narrower prescriptions for employees to follow Result of Informal Groups Employees act differently than required Employees often interact with different people Workers may embrace a set of attitudes, beliefs, and sentiments Informal Leader Employee with the largest amount of status in the informal organization Sets up the norms (informal standards of behavior) Does not always make the best formal manager o Rates quite highly as quarrelsome but not typically sensible Informal Leadership A form of job enrichment Helps satisfy social needs by dramatically increasing interpersonal contacts during the day Source of recognition that fulfills their esteem needs Benefits of Informal Organization Makes a more effective total system Lightens workload on management Helps get the work done Tends to encourage cooperation Fills in gaps in a managers abilities Gives satisfaction and stability to work groups Improves communication Provides a safety valve for employee emotions Encourages managers to plan and act more carefully Contributes to higher cohesiveness Cohesiveness How strongly the employees stick together, rely on each other, and desire to remain members of the group Likely to be lower in large groups Increased by o Creating competitions against other groups o Providing opportunities for frequent interactions among members o Selecting members with similar attitudes, backgrounds, and values o Identifying a challenging group goal that unifies member efforts o Recognizing a major threat or common enemy to the group Problems of Informal Organizations

Develops undesirable rumor Encourages negative attitudes Resists change Leads to interpersonal and intergroup conflicts Rejects and harasses some employees Weakens motivation and satisfaction Operates outside of managements control Support conformity o Encourages by norms (informal group requirements for the behavior of members) o Reference Group the group whose norms a person accepts o In Britain (a person isolated from the group is being sent to Coventry Develops role conflicts

Network Charts (Informal Organization Charts) Visual portrait of the informal system Focus on: o Interpersonal feelings expressed among individuals o Actual behaviors exhibited Useful in determining: o Who trusts whom o Selecting an individual to negotiate a satisfactory compromise on a sticky issue Can be done through: o Personal observation of interactions o Collecting data on communication patters o Directly asking individuals involved Reveals o Central individuals o Isolated persons who are likely to feel overlooked o Dramatic differences between what outsiders think is happening versus what is actually occurring Influencing Informal Organizations Guidelines for Action o Accept and understand informal organizations o Identify various levels of attitudes and behaviors within them o Consider possible effects on informal systems when taking any kind of action o Integrate as far as possible the interests of informal groups with those of the formal organization o Keep formal activities from unnecessarily threatening informal organizations Predominant Formal System the formal organization needs to be strong enough to be supportive, but not strong enough to dominate Formal Groups Negative Attitude About Meetings o Lack of Trust o Negative Mind-Set o Missing or Incomplete Information

o Meetings are poorly run o Meetings are viewed as the end result, not the means to an end Committee a specific type of group in which members who have been delegated the authority to handle the problem at hand meet one or more times to address and resolve it System Factors to Consider o Inputs Size (A group of five is often preferred for typical situations) Composition Agenda Surface Agenda the official task of the group o Distributed far enough in advance to allow members to prepare for the discussion o Clearly specify the date, time, and place of the meeting o Indicate a primary purpose for the meeting o List presenters, the time allotted to them, and the time available for discussion o Help the group focus on decisions, not just discussions o Have room for new items to be added o Address items in priority order (highest to lowest) o Identify the date, time, and place of the next meeting Hidden Agenda members private emotions and motives, which they have brought with them but kept hidden o Group Process Leadership Roles Task Leader o Define a problem or goal for the group o Request facts, ideas, or opinions from members o Provide facts, ideas, or opinions o Clarify a confused situation; give examples; provide structures o Summarize the discussion o Determine whether agreement has been reached o Check for consensus o Test for ethicality Social Roles o Support the contributions of others; encourage them by recognition o Sense the mood of the group and help members become aware of it o Reduce the tension and reconcile disagreements o Modify your position; admit an error o Facilitate participation of all members o Evaluate the groups effectiveness o Deal with team stress Alternative Group Structures or Structured Approaches Brainstorming o Creative thinking in groups of about eight people

o Guidelines: Generate as many ideas as possible Be creative, freewheeling, and imaginative Build upon, extend, or combine earlier ideas Withhold criticism of others ideas o Five-Step Process (Bachman Consulting) Identify the causes of the problem to be solved Criteria that the solutions must meet Looking for all possible sources of models for solutions Participants are asked to relate the models and resources to the original objectives to see how they might help Solutions identified are communicated to relevant stakeholders in the organization who might benefit from the product o Two principles Deferred Judgment (separates creation of novel ideas from idea censorship) Quantity is valued most o Lasts from 10 minutes to one hour and require little preparation o Electronic Brainstorming Nominal Group o Members having minimal interaction prior to producing a decision o Steps Individuals are brought together and presented with a problem They develop solutions independently, often writing them on cards Their ideas are shared with others in a structured format Brief time is allotted so that questions can be asked but only for clarification Group members individually designate their preferences for the best alternatives by secret ballot The group decision is announced Delphi Decision Making o A panel of relevant people is chosen to address an issue o Does not need to be done face to face o Explanations of the conclusions can be shared o Major Merits: Elimination of the detraction from interpersonal problems among panelists Efficient use of the experts time

Adequate time for reflection and analysis by respondents Diversity and quantity of ideas generated Accuracy of predictions and forecasts made or scenarios generated o Dialect Decision Method (DDM) Statement of the problem Competing proposals Identify the explicit or implicit assumptions that underlie each proposal Group Decision Support System o Using computers, decision models, and technological advances to remove communication barriers, structure the decision process, and generally direct the groups discussion

o Outcomes Quality of the Decision Groups Support for It Potential Outcomes of Formal Group Processes People who participate in making a decision feel more strongly motivated to accept it and carry it out Groups can frequently produce more and better-quality solutions to some problems than individuals can Participation also increases the likelihood of each members developing new interactive skills that can be used later in other groups o Social Facilitation group members often try harder to contribute on a task just because other people are around Three Reasons: Having other people around simply increases a persons general level of arousal and awareness, stimulating mental activity Presence of others make some people apprehensive about the likelihood of being appraised, formally or informally, by others Presence of others may raise ones awareness of discrepancy between the actual and ideal self o Consensus group engaged in widespread input gathering, which resulted in a shared level of understanding o Facilitation process of helping a group attain resounding success, maximize its efficient use of time, and feel satisfied with its efforts o Processing setting aside several minutes at the end of a meeting to examine what went well, what went poorly, and how the groups behavior could be improved in future sessions Weaknesses of Committees Slowness and Expensiveness Groupthink (Leveling Effect) tendency of a tightly knit group to bring individual thinking in line with the groups thinking

o Devils Advocate expected to question the ideas of others, probe for supporting facts, and challenge their logic Polarization individuals bring to the group their strong predispositions, either positive or negative, toward the topic o Risky Shift people are more willing to take chances as a group Escalating Commitment advocating a course of action despite rational evidence that it will fail Divided Responsibility o Social Loafers people who are shrinking responsibility Linearity Bias making overly simple cause-effect conclusions Egocentrism overemphasizing our own importance while forcing a decision Framing Bias being overly influenced by how the problem was presented Self-Confidence Bias the best solution has already been uncovered Anti-Statistical Bias reluctance to examining relevant statistical information and give weight to it

CHAPTER 13 Teams and Team Building Classical Organization Theory The process of starting with the total amount of work to be done and dividing it into divisions, departments, work clusters, jobs, and assignments of responsibilities to people Efficiency and integration of efforts are achieved through: o Division of Work creating levels of authority and functional units o Delegation assigning duties, authority, and responsibility to others Essentially mechanistic Strong task support but weak psychological support Silos rigid barriers between functional units Modern Organizations more flexible, organic and open Matrix Organization Overlay of one type of organization on another so that two chains of command are directing individual employees Large specialized projects that temporarily require large numbers of technical people with different skills to work in project teams Cross-Functional Teams matrix organizational process applied on a large scale across internal organizational boundaries Task Team Cooperative small group in regular contact that is engaged in coordinated action Measure on the basis of their collective outputs Dimension for Comparison Work Products Performance Monitoring Source Focus of Activity Leadership Group Individual External Efficient Task Performance Single Team Collective Internal Problem Solving Shared

View of Conflict

Dysfunctional and discouraged

Functional and encouraged

Teamwork when members of a task team know their objectives, contribute responsibly and enthusiastically to the task, and support one another Stages of Team Development Forming members share and exchange basic personal information, start to get to know and accept one another, ask questions about their assignment and objectives, and begin turning their attention toward the groups task; an aura of courtesy prevails, uncertainty is in the air, and interactions are often cautious Storming members compete for status, jockey for positions of relative control, and argue about appropriate directions for the group; external pressures interfere with the group, and tensions rise between individuals as they assert themselves and disagree about initial actions; if these stresses are not confronted, hard feelings may emerge and slow the groups progress Norming group begins moving together in a cooperative fashion, and a tentative balance among competing forces is struck; group norms and sense of cohesion become apparent Performing group matures and learns to handle complex challenges; sense of achievement may emerge Adjourning disbanding of the team Potential Team Problems Changing Composition most teams must learn to manage their internal turnover o Anticipate and accept that turnover within the team will happen and come to grips with that likelihood o Develop a plan for managing team turnover right from the start o Think through how it is best to integrate new members Social Loafing free-rider effect o Sucker Effect when a member believes others intend to withhold their efforts and thus he or she would be foolish not to do the same Lack of Trust o Five Major Impediments to the Creation of Cohesive Teams Inattentiveness to team results Failure to hold individuals accountable to their goals A lack of commitment to group effort Reluctance to engage in debate and conflict An absence of trust Other Problems o Blockers persons who find minor flaws in arguments and resist and fight against almost everything o Aggressors persons who question, attack, use sarcasm, and hurt others feelings o Distractors persons who tell anecdotes, play the role of comic, or build up their own egos via glowing success stories o Controllers persons who dominate discussions, assert their status, and try to get their own way

o Withdrawers passive individuals who daydream, stay consistently silent, or merely express personal problems in an attempt to gain sympathy Ingredients of Effective Teams Supportive Environment Skill and Role Clarity Superordinate Goals the higher goal that integrates the efforts of two or more persons Trust Team Rewards Empowerment o Share a sense of potency (can do attitude) o Experience meaningfulness (commitment to a worthwhile purpose) o Given autonomy (freedom and discretion to control resources and make decisions) o See their impact on results (asses, monitor, and celebrate their contributions and results) Positive Norms o Dissent team members find it acceptable to agree to disagree Team Building encourages team members to examine how they work together, identify their weaknesses, and develop more effective ways of cooperating Team Coaching a leaders intentional effort and interaction with a team to help its members make appropriate use of their collective resources Motivation of members Performance method improvements Knowledge or Skill Deficiencies The Need for Team Building Interpersonal conflicts among team members, or between the team and its leader Low degree of team morale or low team cohesiveness Confusion or disagreement about roles within the team Large influx of new members Disagreement over the teams purpose and tasks Negative climate within the team, evidenced by criticism and bickering Stagnation within the team, with members resisting change and new ideas Team Building Process Identification of a problem Collection of relevant data Data feedback and confrontation Problem-solving experience On-The-Job application and follow-up Skills Useful in Team Building Consultation Skills Interpersonal Skills Research Skills

Presentation Skills Critical to Success: o Process Consultation A set of activities that help others focus on what is currently happening around them Facilitators o Feedback

Characteristics of Mature Teams Performance/Productivity Improvements Improved product quality Faster Response Time More Rapid Innovation Increased customer/client satisfaction Better decision quality Greater efficiency Employee Territories spaces they could call their own, within which they could control what happens Neighborhoods of offices centers of related individual offices to encourage the formation of social groups Self-Managing Teams Self-reliant or Self-directed teams Natural work groups that are given substantial autonomy and in return are asked to control their own behavior and produce significant results Empowerment + Training Multitasking members learn a wide range of relevant skills Intentionality using analytical ability to sort out which roles are needed at the moment, have the flexibility to shift from role to role at a moments notice, be willing to attempt playing even the uncomfortable ones, and prepare the team to expect and be receptive to multiple roles Boundary Spanners keeping communication channels open and active by constantly sharing information with other units in the organization and with people at other levels o Social awareness o Relating to others o Genuine caring for team members o Investigating problems o Obtaining external support o Influencing the team o Persuading Member Behaviors Lower absenteeism Diminished turnover Improved safety record Increased acts organizational citizenship Member Attitudes Higher individual satisfaction Better interpersonal trust of Stronger organizational commitment Enhanced team cohesiveness

Virtual Teams Groups of individuals from around the globe that meet through the use of technological aids without all of their members being present in the same location o Clarified goals and definitions of the major issues o Few short face-to-face meetings o Temporary on-location projects among virtual team members o Explicit definitions of role expectations o Identification of potential problems likely to arise o Frequent use of email and videoconferencing to encourage information exchange and collaboration