Topic 11: Creating & Managing Groups and Teams

Group or Team: It is a group of people who share certain norms and who attain their
goals through their group goals. It means when you are a member of a group your goal can not
be separate from a team’s goal. They have to be aligned.
Norms: It means acceptable standards of behaviour that are shared by a group of people.
Groups can be formal or informal.
Formal groups: any group that is officially appointed by the management. Management
recognizes those groups.
Informal groups: It means groups that involve nature. These are set up naturally and not
deliberately. There is no specific reason for this and management does not recognize them.

Types of groups:
Command group: A group that is highly formal, officially appointed and represented in the
farm’s organogram.

Task group: their members come together to complete a task, to complete a project. It is a
project-based group. Once the task is completed the group will be disbanded.

Cross-functional team: here members come from different departments or areas to form a
team but they all belong to the same managerial rank.
Self-managed team: It is a group where members are responsible for the whole work
process or parts of it. Either they complete the whole task or parts of it and then they deliver that
working process to their next group of employees.

Problem-solving team/QC: A team from the same department or functional area that is
involved in efforts to improve work activities or to solve specific problems. This is also called a
quality circle. A group of employees who meet regularly and voluntarily once a week in the
company’s time and premise where they discuss quality-related problems or any other problem
regarding their department and will try to solve those ones by one.
Interest group: It means when workers are united to present a particular issue. For example,
a group of employees wants some special benefits from the management and they have joined a
team and want to negotiate with the management for a transportation service.

Committee: It is also a formal team set up by the management in order to investigate

something and offer some recommendations. A committee is usually headed by a convener.
Convener means someone who will head the committee and the others will be general members.
Why do people join a group: People joined in a group for physical proximity.
Stages of group Development: A group is usually formed following 5 steps.
i. Forming: Highly characterized by confusion meaning it is the very initial stage where
members do not know why they are here, why they have to join a group, what will be the
purpose, and what they have to achieve. Nothing is known. It is very unclear. A great
degree of uncertainty. A great degree of ambiguity.
ii. Storming: It means very frequent intra-member conflicts and negotiations. Members of
the team are arguing with each other, contesting with each other in terms of what roles
they have to play.
iii. Norming: It is a stage of friendship.
iv. Performing: When the group is fully functional and works on group task.
v. Adjourning: Last stage. The team has been disbanded because the group has served the
purpose they have achieved what they wanted to achieve.

Group structure:
Roles: means it is a set of expected behavior patterns that are attributed to someone occupying a
social position. People will expect you to behave in a certain way.

Norms: It means acceptable standards of behavior that are shared by a group of people.
Conformity: complying with the roles expectations and norms perceived by the majority as
appropriate in a particular situation. It actually means when somebody aligns his or her norms
with others.
Groupthink: this means when members of a team have a tendency to reach for consensus
without exploring different views of each other that means members of a team have a tendency
to reach for an agreement as quickly as possible without arguing with each other or contesting
with each other. It will not be very productive if groupthink is present there.

Group Cohesiveness: It is the degree to which members of the team feel that they are
attached to each other meaning they really like each other, they love to stay in that group. A
cohesive group is a highly-performing group.
Social loafing: means it is the tendency of some members in a group to hide inside the team
and not to contribute enough or just not contribute meaning they will walk away with equal
benefits without contributing.
Conflict Management
Categories of Conflict:
Intra-group conflicts: The members within the team have conflicts with each other.
Intergroup conflicts: When members from different groups have conflicts with each other.

There are many reasons why conflicts will occur within the group/intra-group conflict:
i. Limited resource: means when resources are limited and everybody gets bold of it;
ii. Communication problem: groups will not communicate with them the way they are
supposed to;
iii. Different interests and different goals;
iv. Different perceptions and attitudes;
v. Lack of clarity.