30-08-2019

Groups and teams

Sessions 18-19

Identity and group behavior

• Member roles:
• Perception versus Expectations – psychological contract
• Role conflict – inter-role conflicts
• Individual asymmetries of:
• interest behind joining group
• Information possessed by members
• Diversity and Cohesiveness

1
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Identity and group behavior

• Social Identity Theory:
• Defining self in terms of consequences to group
• Self-enhancement: wish for favorable information about self from group members
• Belongingness: form and maintain positive and significant relationships with others
• Relational identification:
• Self-enhancement through connections, and role relationships with group members – reflected in co-operative
with relationships with group members
• Belongingness expressed in strong informal relationships with group members – develops into emotional glue
• Collective identification:
• Self-enhancement through extent to which group membership and shared characteristics of the group
• Belongingness through “oneness” to group as a whole, its characteristics, purpose etc. – explains individual
willingness to public service
• In-group vs. out-group
• Social Identity Threat:
• Fear of negative evaluation
• Loss of confidence and performance

Groupthink

• When does groupthink happen?

• A very cohesive group is deeply involved in solving some problem
• Group members strive for unanimous decisions and,
• They fail to realistically appraise many alternatives
• Factors that lead to groupthink:
• We are morally superior
• We are not vulnerable
• People who oppose us are evil and weak
• We are under threat
• Dissent is not tolerated

10

2
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Structure of groups
• Status within group:
• Power through control over resources
• Ability to contribute significantly to group goals
• Personal characteristics – intelligence, agreeableness etc.
• Status seeking behavior among members – jostling and power play
• Status inequity and member motivation
• Group size:
• Social loafing
• Sub-group formation

Punctuated Equilibrium Model

PGP1 | LIMITED
DISTRIBUTION| 6

3
 30-08-2019

Processes in groups: decision making

• Stages of group formation:
• Forming
• Storming
• Norming
• Performing
• Punctuated-Equilibrium: time-performance model
• Initial meeting
• Inertia period
• Transition (half-time)
• Inertia
• Past-paced work & completion
• Conformity – Solomon Asch experiment
• Group think
• Group shift

Processes in groups: behaviors

• Decision making techniques
• Face-to-face meetings
• Brainstorming
• Nominal group techniques
• Technology mediated techniques
• Deviant member behavior and group effectiveness
• Production related
• Property related
• Politics related
• Personal aggression

4
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Five-Stage Model

Groups vs teams

1
0

5
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Managing groups: Salient issues

• Structure
• Process
• Language
• Identity
• Technology

Team effectiveness model

Caveat 1: This is a
general guide only.

Caveat 2: The model

assumes that teamwork
is preferable to
individual work.

PGP1 | LIMITED
DISTRIBUTION| 1
2

6
 30-08-2019

Roles in teams

Tools for creative problem solving

• Brainstorming:
• An idea-generation process that specifically encourages any and all
alternatives while withholding any criticism of those alternatives
• Nominal group technique
• Discussion is limited
• Silent periods
• Ranking of ideas

7
 30-08-2019

Leadership in Teams

• Credibility
• With superiors
• With peers
• With subordinates
• Importance of fairness
• Use of both sided arguments
• Not always the same leader for everything
• Makes member care for one another
• Not losing sight of goals

20