GROUPS AND TEAMS Dynamics of Organizational Behavior Virginia Tech MBA Program Andrew Watson

Agenda Groups and Teams Two chapters 10: Nature of work groups and teams 11: Effective work groups and teams A problem to which you are the solution Break: among the G&T material Awards and debrief Looking forward

The Problem Look at the two group chapters ~60 pages, dense with definitions and models Should I PowerPoint at you for however long it takes? Yes, say: Profs Who Love Lectures Too Much And the students who rely on profs to cure insomnia No, say I, and some of you So there are only a few chapter-based slides in this file

You Are the Solution You, in groups, will explain most of the group material This is a group exercise Will it provide good explanation of the material on groups? Yes: I have faith in you But I will check group work, and we’ll edit if necessary Then I’ll take photos of your work And make them available to you online We’ll use a “trade show” format Show followed by: Awards: Best in show,… Debrief Looking forward

Chapter Sections and Student Groups Each chapter is divided into sections Section: thing with big blue heading in the textbook There are 10 sections (5 in each of the two chapters on groups) Excluding the short Overview sections I’ve allocated most of them to student groups I’ll use slides for: Ch. 10: Overview; Introduction; Characteristics Ch. 11: Overview; Important Groups and Teams Each other section allocated to a group Each group will do a poster for our trade show

Group Basics Definition of group: two or more people who interact with each other to achieve certain goals Goals Individual goals may vary within the group Group goal: goal that all or most members can agree on Chapters 10: Nature of groups and teams 11: Effective groups and teams Definition of team Special case of group Members work intensely together to achieve a common group goal G&J insist that a team must be a formal group

Types of Group Formal Command group: same supervisor Self-managed work team: no assigned supervisor Task force: specific goal, disband after it’s been achieved Informal Friendship Interest

Group Dynamics Five-stage model of development (Tuckman) Forming Storming Norming Performing Adjourning Intuitively appealing, but little empirical support What about periods of inertia?

Group Characteristics Size: number of full-time members Composition Homogeneous/heterogeneous Function Contribution toward organizational goals Status Top management team (TMT): example of high status group Efficacy Similar to self-efficacy, but at group level Social facilitation Effect of physical colocation

Important Organizational Groups Text describes four types Top management team (TMT) Self-managed work teams Research and Development (R&D) teams Virtual teams Which of the above are likely to be cross-functional? Other comments on the four types?

Nature of Groups Mostly Ch. 10 AW Overview, Introduction to Groups, Characteristics Important Organizational Groups (in Ch. 11) Student group posters 1. Roles and Rules 2. Norms 3. Socialization

Effective Groups Mostly chapter 11 Student group posters 4. Process losses, process gains, and group effectiveness 5. Social loafing 6. Task characteristics and group performance 7. Group cohesiveness and performance

OB Trade Show Protocol Before the show Each group will produce a “poster” On a flipchart sheet During the show Each group Explain your topic, with the aid of your poster, to visitors Don’t leave poster unstaffed Each student Visit each poster Spend some time staffing your poster After the show: debrief Schedule: see whiteboard

Group Debrief (1 of 2) Discuss the following questions, or as many of them as you can In groups Record a summary of your answers On paper, rather than in What is your group number? Who is present? What parts of the material best describe your Roman group? Explain your answer By “the material” I mean the material in Ch , and covered in this evening’s class meeting

Group Debrief (2 of 2) If there was a Best in Show award, which group would win it, and why? Are there any other awards you’d like to give? For each award, write down name and winner When you finish the above Hand me the paper with your answers, then discuss: Why might it have been better to form new groups? When an organization is divided into groups or other subunits: When is it best to gather input from groups to send to “the organization”? When is it best for individuals to send input directly (bypassing group level)?

Looking Forward Next week Power, etc.: skim Ch. 13 Influence: read Ch. 1 of this book Standard closing: we know it by now