Commerce 2BA3 Organizational Behaviour Class 5 Groups and Teamwork Dr. Christa Wilkin

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Last Class Content and process theories of motivation Money and job design as a motivator THIS CLASS Groups and teamwork

Agenda Team development Team structure Team decision-making Types of teams Ultimate Student Chair task

CH 7: groups and teamwork

Question What is your best/worst team experience? Describe the behaviours of team members/ team as a whole and what made it so good/bad?

Teams vs. Groups Teams are generally distinguished from groups by: Team goals: groups don’t need to have goals Shared leadership Shared accountability Self-developed mission Continuous problem-solving Formal vs. Informal Established by organizations vs. emerging naturally E.g., work on project vs. play on softball team

Typical Stages of Team Development Teams develop through a series of stages over time Each stage presents the members with a series of challenges they must master in order to achieve the next stage Not all teams go through these stages

Individual Task: Put the Stages in Order Storming: Conflict often emerges; sorting out roles and responsibilities is often at issue Adjourning: Group disperses after achieving goals Forming: What are we doing here?, what are others like?, what is our purpose? Performing: The group devotes its energies toward task accomplishment Norming: Norms are agreed on and the group becomes more cohesive

Punctuated Equilibrium Model How teams with deadlines are affected by first meetings and crucial midpoint transitions Phase 1: first meeting to midpoint of existence, little progress is made Midpoint Transition: need to move forward is apparent Phase 2: decisions and approaches are played out

Comparing Both Models

Team Structure What is the ultimate team size? Additive Task Team performance is dependent on the sum of the performance of individual members Disjunctive Task Team performance is dependent on the performance of the best member Conjunctive Task Team performance is limited by the performance of the poorest member

Team Size As groups become larger, they suffer process losses Performance difficulties that result from the problems of motivating and coordinating larger groups

Diversity in Teams Diverse teams might take longer to do their forming, storming and norming Diverse teams sometimes perform better when the task requires cognitive, creativity-demanding tasks and problem solving rather than routine work

Question When will teams perform better than individuals?

Teams vs. Individuals Group members differ in skills and abilities Some division of labour can occur

Quiz Question One reason for members reporting less satisfaction in larger groups is A) individual members can identify less easily with the success of the group. B) opportunities for participation increase in larger groups. C) people are less inhibited about participating in larger groups. D) conflict and dissension are less likely in larger groups. E) they have more time to develop friendships with other group members.

Team Norms Acceptable standards of behaviour within a team Agreed upon by members Relate to Performance e.g., how hard to work Appearance Social interaction Allocation of resources e.g., assignments

Team Roles Positions in a group that have a set of expected behaviours attached to them Role ambiguity Lack of clarity of job goals or methods Role Conflict Exists when faced with incompatible role expectations Something unethical, demands in other roles at home Both can result in job disatisfaction, stress reactions, lower commitment, and turnover

Team Cohesiveness The degree to which a group is especially attractive to its members. Increase cohesiveness: Threat: External threat to the survival of a group Success: Groups become more cohesive when they successfully accomplish an important goal Size: Larger groups have a more difficult time becoming and staying cohesive Toughness of initiation: Groups that are tough to get into tend to be more attractive than those easy to join

Team Cohesiveness Consequences of Cohesiveness More participation in group activities More conformity More success In more cohesive groups, individual performance is similar

Question What is social loafing?

Social Loafing Members exert less effort when working in teams than working alone Factors that affect: Team size (+) Team produces single output (e.g., report) (+) Interestingness of the task (-) Importance of objective (-) Value team membership and objectives (-)

How to Manage Social Loafing Discuss expectations Make individual performance more visible Specialize tasks Feeling that inputs are necessary for team success Increase performance feedback Might not be aware of poor performance Make tasks more interesting and important Divide tasks based on expertise and preference Punishment warnings in advance (deter)

Question Why would you want to use groups to make decisions rather than individuals?

Group Decision Making Groups or teams can make higher-quality decisions than individuals Generate more ideas and evaluate them better Increases decision acceptance and commitment

Disadvantages Time Conflict Domination Groupthink

Groupthink (Teamthink) The capacity for group pressure to damage the mental efficiency, reality testing, and moral judgment of decision making groups Develops because of too much cohesiveness, concern for approval and isolation of the group E.g., video of Asch experiment

Video Clip Challenger Disaster

Question Take a moment to think about three concepts from the lecture that you can apply to your groups

Types of Teams Process-improvement teams Self-managed teams e.g., Team to improve efficiency of manufacturing a product Self-managed teams e.g., Teams in class Cross-functional e.g., Team with people from HR, marketing, accounting Virtual Teams e.g., Team that spans the globe

Ultimate Student Chair Team Simulation Exercise Simulating a virtual, cross-functional team with a very big challenge Form teams of 5 people Representing two separate offices of a full-service consulting company

Ultimate Student Chair Client briefing details on handout 20 minutes to prepare Each team will have half of its members located on one side of the room and can only communicate with them via email. Five minutes (max) to present your ideas One or two people per team will present to class

Ultimate Student Chair How was the coordination among team members? and across offices, specifically? How did you make decisions? What did you do well / not so well?

Questions?

Summary Team progress will depend on which stage team is in Teams are not necessarily more effective than individuals Require management: Establish norms (expectations), divide up labour/assign roles, build cohesiveness, manage social loafing Hopefully Together Everyone Achieves More (TEAM)

For Next Class Read chapter 8 on influence, socialization, and culture, and chapter 9 on leadership