Group Dynamics & Leading Effective Teams

Groups

2 or more freely interacting individuals who share collective norms & goals & have common identity

Types of Groups

Function of Formal Groups:

  1. Organisational Functions
  2. Individual Functions

Informal Group

Tuckman's 5-stage Theory of Grp Development

Forming>Storming>Norming>Peforming>Adjourning

Extended Tuckman's Thoery: +Group Decay

Roles

Expected behaviours for a given position

Role Conflict: Others have conflicting/inconsistent expectations

Role Overload: Other's expectations exceed one's ability

Norm

Shared attitudes, opinions, feelings/actions that guide social behaiour

How norms are developed:

  1. Explicit statements by supervisors/co-workers
  2. Critical events in grp's history
  3. Primacy
  4. Carryover behaviour from past situation

Why norms are enforced:

  1. Grp/Org survival
  2. Clarification of behavioural expectations
  3. Avoidance of embarrassment
  4. Clarification of central values/unique identity

Task roles: Keep group on track

Maintenance Roles: Keep Group tgt

Threats to grp effectiveness:

Asch effect: Distortion of individual judgment by a unanimous but incorrect opposition

Groupthink: High pressure to conform & agree & are unwilling to realistically view alternatives

Social Loafing: Decrease in individual effort as grp size increases

Team

Small grp with complementary skills who hold themselves mutually accountable for common purpose, goals & approach

Evolution of teams

Characteristics of effective teamwork: Clear purpose, informality, participation, listening, civilised disagreement, consensus decision, open communication, clear roles & work, shared leadership, external relations,style diversity, self-assessment

Why work team fails

Mistakes by manager

Mistakes by team members

Effective teamwork

Requires cooperation rather than competition

Cohesiveness

Trust reciprocal faith in others' intentions & behaviour

Cognitive leap

Faith in other person's good intention
Assumption that other person will behave as desired

To build trust

Communication, Support, Respect, Fairness, Predictability, Competence

Cohesiveness

Sense of we-ness in a grp

Socio-emotional cohesiveness, based on emotional satisfaction

Instrumental cohesiveness, based on mutual dependency needed to get job done

Steps to enhance

Manage virtual teams

Attribute of high performance teams:
Participative leadership, shared responsibility, aligned on purpose, high communication, future focused, task focused, creative talents, rapid response