Organizational Behavior

Session 20

Groups and teams: Part I

Differences between ‘group’ and ‘team’

Team is a group that generates positive synergy through coordinated effort.

Collective performance in a team may be more than the sum of individual performance.

A team is formed for a limited time.

Team tasks require members to work interdependently.

Types of team tasks

Approach 1 (Steiner):

1- additive tasks: require the summing of every team member’s performance.

2- conjunctive tasks: every team member should perform their tasks at least at a minimally acceptable level.

3- disjunctive tasks: refer to tasks that require only one team member to perform well in order to gain group achievement.

Types of team tasks (continued)

Approach 2 (McGrath):

1. Generative2. Executing3. Negotiating4. Decision making

Types of teams

Problem solving teams: Members share ideas and offer suggestions on how a situation or a process can be improved.

Self-managed teams: are groups of employees who perform interdependent tasks and take the responsibilities of their actions.

Self-managed teams may be involved in planning, scheduling, assigning tasks to members, collective controlling, decision making, and even selecting their own members.

Types of teams (continued)

Cross-functional teams: consist of employees from different work areas but with similar hierarchical levels who come together to accomplish a task.

The main idea in forming cross-functional teams is that every aspect of a client’s work can be handled within

one team instead of separate departments.

Types of teams (continued)

Virtual teams: collaboration on-line.

Virtual teams can be effective in many situations. However, it may have limitations in non-verbal communications and using emotional signs.

Some have recommended using virtual teams for task-oriented jobs.

Important factors in forming a team

Inspirational team leadership;

Clarification of team tasks;

designing different roles to cover all aspects of team tasks;

Allocation of roles based on individuals’ strengths;

Considering appropriate size (5-10)

Composition/Diversity (gender, age, expertise, ethnic backgrounds, cultural/industrial/departmental values and norms, etc.);

Socialization and trust building.

Social loafing

What is social loafing?

Consciously or unconsciously, individuals may not exert as much effort in group settings as when they are alone.

Social loafing is based on the de-individuation that can occur when people work in groups as opposed to working alone.

Important antecedents of social loafing

Lack of identification and uniqueness of individual contribution to the group;

Low intrinsic involvement;

Individualistic orientation;

Lack of peer appraisal;

Large group size;

Task visibility (hiding in the crowed);

Distributive justice

Social loafing and expectancy theory

Expectancy: A group member may realize that other factors aside from their own effort will influence his/her group’s performance.

Instrumentality: A group member may realize that valued outcomes (rewards) are divided among all group members, and she/he may not receive a fair share given his or her level of effort.

Reading

Please read page 242 to 267 and 280 to 296 of the text book.

Please read the social loafing document.