Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
Dynamics of working in (distributed) teams (Ingroup love and outgroup hate…
Dynamics of working in (distributed) teams
(Self-regulating) teams
Advantages of teams
Developing ideas
Discovering and compensating individual errors
Promoting systems view
Supporting shared task orientation
Offering reciprocal support
Alleviating individual work load
Disadvantages of teams
Friction
Conformity
Levelling of individual performance
Diffusion of responsibility
Devaluation of other groups
Psychological group phenomena
Social comparison theory
We have a need to assess own attitudes and abilities
If objective standards for these comparisons are missing, we
compare ourselves with other people
We favor comparisons with people similar to ourselves
How may social comparison affect team work? Discuss
Bystander effect
The more people are present the less likely
individuals are to take initiatives
(e.g. helping someone who very obviously
needs help)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcowGVd6GqY
Underlying processes:
Diffusion of responsibility
Reinterpretation of the situation (necessity for action is negated)
Evaluation anxiety
How could you overcome the bystander effect in organizations?
Conformity
http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=asch+experiments&&view=detail&mid=4
3D295512C0A96631C9843D295512C0A96631C98&rvsmid=0FB5E6CB5CD2
C251C9720FB5E6CB5CD2C251C972&fsscr=-1980&FORM=VDFSRV
As soon as three or more group members express an opinion that is different
from the opinion of another single member, there is a strong tendency for that
member to adapt his/her opinion
Pressure to conform can lead to a change in the publicly expressed opinion
without necessarily changing the privately held conviction
Examples from the organizational context? How do deal with it?
Groupthink
Groupthink occurs when a group makes faulty decisions because group
pressures lead to a deterioration of “mental efficiency, reality testing, and moral
judgmen
Phases of development
Forming (Orientation phase):
All new – insecurity
Test behaviors
Search for acceptable behaviors
Storming (Conflict phase):
Fight for roles/positions ("Hackordnung")
Power struggles
Norming (Organisation phase):
Agreeing on team rules and cooperation forms
Developing a sense of belonging together
Performing (Performance phase):
Constructive task distribution and flexible role behavior
Energy is focused on task completion and goal attainment
Ingroup love and outgroup hate
Ingroup love: cooperative desire to help the ingroup
Formed from positive interdependence in pursuit of common goals (Sherif, 1966)
Outgroup hate: an aggressive/competitive motivation to hurt the outgroup or
increase the gap between the groups
Formed from negative interdependence and competition (Sherif, 1966)
Much ingroup bias and intergroup discrimination is motivated by preferential
treatment of ingroup members rather than direct hostility toward outgroup
members
How to avoid intergroup bias in teams?
Create contact between different teams, have the work towards common goals
Avoid competition for resources (zero-sum)
Encourage perspective taking
Team diagnonis
Characteristics of effective teams
Forming (Orientation phase):
All new – insecurity
Test behaviors
Search for acceptable behaviors
Storming (Conflict phase):
Fight for roles/positions ("Hackordnung")
Power struggles
Norming (Organisation phase):
Agreeing on team rules and cooperation forms
Developing a sense of belonging together
Performing (Performance phase):
Constructive task distribution and flexible role behavior
Energy is focused on task completion and goal attainment
Critical team situattions
Different interests cannot be integrated
Team is overloaded or underloaded
Mistrust among team members
Hierarchy impedes development of cohesion
Little interaction and knowledge exchange
Fear of mistakes and responsibility
Non-complementary team composition
Goals are lost sight of
Problematic roles of some team members (wingers, freeloaders,
talkers, silent people etc.)
Prerequisites for good team work
Common task
Complexity higher than individual competencies
Clear performance criteria
Collective decision competence
Positive goal coupling
Group composition
Adequate group size
Different perspectives on the task
Shared language
Team processes
Development of group rules
Support for team development (form, storm, norm, perform)
Handling conflicts between individual and collective autonomy
Explicit moderation of critical team meetings
Who should be moderator?
Moderator should always be explicitly assigned
Formal team leader often is ineffective moderator due to role
conflicts
Rotating moderation task among team members can be very
effective
External moderator desirable in critical team situations, e.g.
personal attacks and conflicts
destructive team members
time pressure
complex decision making