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Interpersonal and Group Process

 Understand the diagnostic issues associated with interpersonal relations and group dynamics
interventions.
 Illustrate the principles of the process consultation intervention.
 Describe the process of third-party conflict resolution.
 Discuss and evaluate the core organization development (OD) intervention of team building.
 Introduction

 This chapter discusses change programs related to interpersonal relations and group dynamics.
 They are among the earliest interventions devised in od, they remain very popular, and they have been
adapted for use in a variety of worldwide and cross-cultural settings.
 Interpersonal and group process approaches are aimed at helping group members assess their interactions
and devise more effective ways of working.
 Interpersonal and group process approaches, including process consultation, third-party interventions, and
team building, are among the most enduring od interventions
 Diagnostic Issues

 The primary inputs to understanding group effectiveness are the organization’s design—its strategy,
structure, and culture
 The primary design components of group effectiveness are goal clarity, task structure, composition, group
functioning, and performance norms.
 Each of these design components must be considered in interpersonal and group process interventions
when group process promotes effective interactions, groups are likely to perform tasks successfully
 Group process
 Communications
 The functional roles of group members
 Group problem solving and decision making
 Group norms
 The use of leadership and authority
 Process Consultation

 Process consultation (PC) is a general framework for carrying out helping relationships, the creation of a
relationship that permits the client to perceive, understand, and act on the process events that occur in his
or her internal and external environment in order to improve the situation as defined by the client
 The process consultant works to help managers, employees, and groups assess and improve human
processes, such as communication, interpersonal relations, decision making, and task performance
 PC is as much a philosophy as a set of techniques aimed at performing this helping relationship. The
philosophy ensures that those who are receiving the help own their problems, gain the skills and expertise to
diagnose them, and solve them themselves
 Basic Process Interventions

 Individual Interventions
 Group Interventions
 Individual Interventions

 These interventions are designed primarily to help people be more effective in their communication with
others. For example, the process consultant can provide feedback to one or more individuals about their
overt behaviors during meetings.
 A useful model for this process has been developed by famous scholar, Luft in what is called the Johari
Window.
 Johari Window

 The individual interventions described in practice encourage people to be more open with others and to
disclose their views, opinions, concerns, and emotions, thus reducing the size of the hidden window.
 Further, the consultant can help individuals give feedback to others, thus reducing the size of the blind
window. Reducing the size of these two windows helps improve the communication process by enlarging
the open window, the “self” that is open to both the individual and others.
 Before OD practitioners give individual feedback or encourage others to engage in feedback activities, they
first must observe relevant events, ask questions to understand the contextual and cultural issues fully, and
make certain that the feedback is given to the client in a usable manner
 Group Interventions

 These interventions are aimed at the process, content, or structure of the group.
 Process interventions sensitize the group to its own internal processes and generate interest in analyzing
them.
 Interventions include comments, questions, or observations about relationships between and among group
members; problem solving and decision making; and the identity and purpose of the group.
 It is important that the process consultant encourage the group not only to allocate time for diagnosis but to
take the lead itself in trying to articulate and understand its own processes
 Content interventions help the group determine what it works on. They include comments, questions, or
observations about group membership; agenda setting, review, and testing procedures; interpersonal issues;
and conceptual inputs on task-related topics.
 Group Interventions

 Finally, structural interventions help the group examine the stable and recurring methods it uses to
accomplish tasks and deal with external issues.
 They include comments, questions, or observations about inputs, resources, and customers; methods for
determining goals, developing strategies, accomplishing work, assigning responsibility, monitoring progress,
and addressing problems; and relationships to authority, formal rules, and levels of intimacy.
 A number of difficulties arise in trying to measure performance improvements as a result of process
consultation. One problem is that most process consultation is conducted with groups performing mental
tasks (e.g., decision making); the outcomes of such tasks are difficult to evaluate.
 A second difficulty with measuring PC’s effects occurs because in many cases process consultation is
combined with other interventions in an ongoing OD program.
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 Third-Party Interventions

 Third-party interventions focus on conflicts arising between two or more people within the same
organization.
 Conflict is inherent in groups and organizations and can arise from a variety of sources, including differences
in personality, task orientation, goal interdependence, and perceptions among group members, as well as
competition for scarce resources.
 Third-party interventions vary considerably depending on the kind of issues underlying the conflict.
 Conflict can arise over substantive issues, such as work methods, pay rates, and conditions of employment,
or it can emerge from interpersonal issues, such as personalities and misperceptions
 Third-Party Interventions

 Conflicts also may arise at the boundaries of the organization, such as between suppliers and the company,
between a company and a public policy agency, or between multiple organizations or groups
 These third party interventions help the parties interact with each other directly, recognize the personal
choices each party is making, and facilitate their diagnosis of the conflict and its resolution.
 Third-party interventions cannot resolve all interpersonal conflicts in organizations, nor should they.
 Many times, interpersonal conflicts are not severe or disruptive enough to warrant attention. At other times,
they simply may burn themselves out.
 Evidence also suggests that other methods may be more appropriate under certain conditions
 Cyclical Model of Interpersonal Conflict

 Conflict has both costs and benefits to the antagonists and to those in contact with them.
 Unresolved conflict can proliferate and expand. An interpersonal conflict may be concealed under a cause or
issue that serves to make the conflict appear more legitimate.
 The episodic model identifies four strategies for conflict resolution.
 The first three attempt to control the conflict and may be appropriate under a variety of organizational and
cultural conditions.
 Only the last approach tries to change the basic issues underlying it.
 Cyclical Model of Interpersonal Conflict

 The first strategy is to prevent the ignition of conflict by arriving at a clear understanding of the triggering
factors and thereafter avoiding or blunting them when the symptoms occur.
 The second control strategy is to set limits on the form of the conflict.
 Conflict can be constrained by informal gatherings before a formal meeting or by exploration of other
options. It also can be limited by setting rules and procedures specifying the conditions under which the
parties can interact
 The third control strategy is to help the parties cope differently with the consequences of the conflict. The
third-party consultant may work with the people involved to devise coping techniques, such as reducing
their dependence on the relationship, ventilating their feelings to friends, and developing additional sources
of emotional support.
 The fourth method is an attempt to eliminate or to resolve the basic issues causing the conflict. Although this
objective seems the most direct and obvious approach, it is often the most difficult to bring about
 Facilitating the Conflict Resolution
Process

 One of the tactics in third-party intervention is the gathering of data, usually through preliminary
interviewing. Group process observations can also be used.
 The context in which the intervention occurs is also important.
 In addition, the third-party consultant must decide on an appropriate role to assume in resolving conflict
 Third-party consultants must develop considerable skill at diagnosis, intervention, and follow-up, and be
highly sensitive to their own feelings and to those of others.
 Team Building

 Team building refers to a broad range of planned activities that help groups improve the way they accomplish
tasks, help members enhance their interpersonal and problem solving skills, and increase team performance
 Organizations comprise many different types of groups including permanent work groups, temporary project
teams, and virtual teams.
 Team building is an effective approach to improving teamwork and task accomplishment in such
environments.
 It can help problem-solving groups make maximum use of members’ resources and contributions.
 Team building also can facilitate other OD interventions, such as employee involvement, work design,
restructuring, and strategic change.
 Team-Building Activities

 Interventions Relevant to Individual Behavior

 Diagnostic interviews and personal-style instruments can help members to better understand their
motivations, preferences, or emotions in the group context.
 Improvement activities that address an individual’s behavior in a group include coaching, 360-degree
feedback, and assistance with conflict.
 These interventions attempt to alter the group’s ongoing processes by focusing on the behaviors and
attitudes of individual members.
 Interventions Relevant to the Group’s
Behavior

 The most common focus of team-building activities is behavior related to task performance and group
process.
 In an effective team, task behavior and group process must be integrated with each other as well as with the
needs and wants of the people making up the group
 Diagnostic activities involve gathering data through the use of team surveys or, more commonly, through
interviews.
 Improvement activities aim to improve the group’s process and functioning.
 A variety of exercises have been described by different authors. They include role clarification, improving
goal clarity and member commitment, modifying or clarifying the decision-making or problem-solving
process, changing norms, increasing risk taking and trust, and improving communication.
 Interventions Affecting the Group’s Integration with
the Rest of the Organization

 A group’s relationship to the larger organizational context is an important aspect of group effectiveness.32
 Diagnostic activities usually focus on understanding the group’s organizational role, how its goals support
the larger organization, or how the group interacts with other groups by interviewing internal customers
and other stakeholders.
 Improvement activities involve strategic planning and stakeholder mapping interventions to modify the
group’s contribution to the organization, how it acquires resources, or alters its outputs in terms of cost,
quality, and quantity.
 The Results of Team Building

 Several studies reported positive results across a range of variables including feelings, attitudes, and
measures of performance
 team building can improve group performance, particularly on tasks that are complex, unstructured, and
interdependent
 The results of team building in virtual teams is still emerging, but shows that many of the lessons learned
from face-to-face team-building practice can be transferred
Questions?
Thank you!