Management

Fifteenth Edition, Global Edition

Chapter 8
Group and Team

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Learning Objectives
8.1 Definition of a group
8.2 Stages of a group development
8.3 Factors determining group performance and satisfaction
8.4 Differences between a group and a team
8.5 Types of work teams
8.6 Creating effective work teams

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8.1 Definition of a group
• Group: two or more interacting and interdependent
individuals who come together to achieve specific goals
– Formal groups
 are work groups defined by the organization’s
structure and have designated work assignments
and specific tasks directed at accomplishing
organizational goals
– Informal groups
 social groups (futsal, lunch break)

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Exhibit 8.1 Examples of Formal Work Groups
Group Description

Command groups Groups determined by the organizational chart and composed of

individuals who report directly to a given manager.

Task groups Groups composed of individuals brought together to complete a

specific job task; their existence is often temporary because
when the task is completed, the group disbands.

Cross-functional Groups that bring together the knowledge and skills of

teams individuals from various work areas or groups whose members
have been trained to do each other’s jobs.

Self-managed teams Groups that are essentially independent and that, in addition to
(independent) their own tasks, take on traditional managerial responsibilities
such as hiring, planning and scheduling, and evaluating
performance.

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8.2 Stages of a group development (1 of 2)
Research shows that groups develop through five stages:
1. Forming: the first stage of group development in which
people join the group and then define the group’s
purpose, structure, and leadership
2. Storming: the second stage of group development,
characterized by intragroup conflict
– There’s conflict over who will control the group and
what the group needs to be doing.
3. Norming: the third stage of group development,
characterized by close relationships and cohesiveness

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Stages of Group Development (2 of 2)
4. Performing: the fourth stage of group development when
the group is fully functional and works on group task
5. Adjourning: the final stage of group development for
temporary groups during which group members are
concerned with wrapping up activities rather than task
performance

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Copyright © 2021 Pearson Education Ltd.
Exhibit 8.2 Stages of Group Development

As shown in Exhibit 13.2, the stages of group development are forming, storming, norming,
performing, and adjourning.

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8.3 Factors determining group
performance and satisfaction
• External Conditions Imposed on the Group
• Work groups are affected by the external conditions
imposed on it, such as the organization’s strategy,
authority relationships, formal rules and regulations,
availability of resources, employee selection criteria,
the performance evaluation system and culture, and
the general physical layout of the group’s work space.
• For instance, a quality improvement group at Boeing has
to live with Boeing’s corporate hiring criteria, budget
constraints, company policies, and employee evaluation
system.

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8.3 Factors determining group performance
and satisfaction
• Group Member Resources
• A group’s performance potential depends to a large extent on the
resources each individual brings to the group.
• These resources include knowledge, abilities, skills, and
personality traits, and they determine what members can do and
how effectively they will perform in a group.
• Interpersonal skills—especially conflict management and resolution,
collaborative problem solving, and communication—consistently
emerge as important for high performance by work groups.
• Personality traits also affect group performance because they
strongly influence how the individual will interact with other group
members.

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8.3 Factors determining group performance
and satisfaction
• Group Structure
• Work groups aren’t unorganized crowds.
• They have an internal structure that shapes members’ behavior
and influences group performance.
• The structure defines roles, norms, conformity, status systems,
group size, group cohesiveness, and leadership.
– Role: A role refers to behavior patterns expected of
someone occupying a given position in a social unit. In a
group, individuals are expected to do certain things because
of their position (role) in the group. These roles are
generally oriented toward either getting work done or
keeping up group member morale
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8.3 Factors determining group performance
and satisfaction

– Norms: All groups have norms—standards or expectations that

are accepted and shared by a group’s members. Norms dictate
things such as work output levels, absenteeism, promptness, and
the amount of socializing on the job. For example, norms in
Korean culture pressure workers to “pull late nights” because they
feel the need to please their superiors.

– Status System: A prestige grading, position, or rank within a

group. As far back as researchers have been able to trace groups,
they have found status hierarchies. Status can be a significant
motivator with behavioral consequences, especially when
individuals see a disparity between what they perceive their status
to be and what others perceive it to be.

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8.3 Factors determining group performance
and satisfaction
– Conformity: Because individuals want to be accepted by groups
to which they belong, they’re susceptible to pressures to conform.
Group members often want to be seen as one of the group and
avoid being visibly different.
 Groupthink: When a group exerts extensive pressure on an
individual to align his or her opinion with others’ opinions.
– Sometimes, groupthink can lead to catastrophic outcomes.
– For example, NASA’s so-called “go for launch” mentality is
believed to have hastened the launch of the space shuttle
Challenger in 1986 in spite of expressed concerns that the
O-ring seal could malfunction. Unfortunately, the shuttle
exploded shortly after takeoff, and investigations into this
disaster revealed that the O-ring’s malfunction was likely
the cause.

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8.3 Factors determining group performance
and satisfaction
– Group size: Research indicates, for instance, that small
groups are faster than larger ones at completing tasks.
However, for groups engaged in problem solving, large
groups consistently get better results than smaller ones.
 Social loafing: The tendency for an individual to expend
less effort when working collectively than when working
alone.
– These conditions can encourage individuals to
become “free riders” and coast on the group’s efforts.

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8.3 Factors determining group performance
and satisfaction
– Group cohesiveness: The degree to which members are
attracted to a group and share the group’s goals.
Cohesiveness is important because it has been found to be
related to a group’s productivity.

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8.3 Factors determining group performance
and satisfaction
• Group Processes
• Group decision making and conflict management.
– Group decision making: Electronic meetings,
brainstorming, nominal group technique
– Conflict management: Another important group
process is how a group manages conflict. As a group
performs its assigned tasks, disagreements inevitably
arise.

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8.3 Factors determining group performance
and satisfaction
• Group Tasks:
• Tasks can be characterized as either simple or complex.
• Simple tasks are routine and standardized.
• Complex tasks tend to be novel or nonroutine.
• Evidence indicates that the more complex the task, the
more a group benefits from group discussion about
alternative work methods.

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8.4 The Difference Between Groups and
Teams
• Work teams: groups whose members work intensely on a
specific, common goal using their positive synergy,
individual and mutual accountability, and complementary
skills
• Work groups: There’s no need or opportunity for work
groups to engage in collective work that requires joint
effort.

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Exhibit 8.4 Groups Versus Teams
Work Teams Work Groups
Leadership role is shared One leader clearly in charge
Accountable to self and team Accountable only to self
Team creates specific purpose Purpose is same as broader organizational
purpose
Work is done collectively Work is done individually
Meetings characterized by open-ended Meetings characterized by efficiency; no
discussion and collaborative problem- collaboration or open-ended discussion
solving
Performance is measured directly by Performance is measured indirectly
evaluating collective work output according to its influence on others
Work is decided upon and done together Work is decided upon by group leader and
delegated to individual group members
Can be quickly assembled, deployed, blank
refocused, and disbanded

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8.5 Types of work teams (1 of 2)
• Problem-solving team: a team from the same department
or functional area that’s involved in efforts to improve work
activities or to solve specific problems
– Members share ideas or offer suggestions on how work
processes and methods can be improved
• Self-managed work team: a type of work team that
operates without a manager and is responsible for a
complete work process or segment
– A self-managed team is responsible for getting the
work done and for managing themselves, which usually
includes scheduling work, assigning tasks to members,
collective control over the pace of work, making
operating decisions, and taking action on problems.
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8.5 Types of work teams (2 of 2)
• Cross-functional team: a work team composed of
individuals from various functional specialties
– For example, General Motors uses cross-functional
teams of sculptors, systems analysts, engineers, and
creative designers to come up with innovative car
designs.
• Virtual team: a type of work team that uses technology to
link physically dispersed members in order to achieve a
common goal
– They collaborate online—using communication links
such as wide-area networks, corporate social media,
videoconferencing, and email

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8.6 Creating effective work teams
• Clear goals
– Members are committed to the team’s goals, know what they’re
expected to accomplish, and understand how they will work
together to achieve these goals.
• Relevant skills
– Composed of competent individuals who have the necessary
technical and interpersonal skills to achieve the desired goals
while working well together.
• Mutual trust
– That is, members believe in each other’s ability, character, and
integrity.
• Unified commitment
– Dedication to the team’s goals and a willingness to expend
extraordinary amounts of energy to achieve them.
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8.6 Creating effective work teams
• Good communication
– Members convey messages, verbally and nonverbally,
between each other in ways that are readily and clearly
understood.
• Negotiating skills
– Because problems and relationships regularly change
within teams, members need to be able to confront and
reconcile differences.
• Appropriate leadership
– They help guide and support the team but don’t control
it.

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8.6 Creating effective work teams
• Internal and external support
– Internally, the team should have proper training, a clear
and reasonable measurement system that team
members can use to evaluate their overall
performance, an incentive program that recognizes and
rewards team activities, and a supportive human
resource system.
– Externally, managers should provide the team with the
resources needed to get the job done.

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Exhibit 8.5 Characteristics of Effective Teams

Exhibit 13.9 illustrates the characteristics typically exhibited with effective teams.

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