Topic 6: Groups

6.1 Types of Groups/Teams

6.1.1 Formal & Informal Team (Jun 2014)
6.1.2 Advantages & Disadvantages Of Teams
6.2 Model of Team Effectiveness
6.2.1 Effects of Organizational & Team Environmental Elements
6.2.2 Effects of Team Design Elements
6.2.3 Effects of Team Processes Elements (Jun 2014 & Dec 2014)

6.1 Types of Groups/Teams

Teams are groups of two or more people with complementary skills, who interact/influence each other, are mutually accountable
for achieving common objectives, goals and approach, and perceive themselves as a social entity within an organization.

Question:

Are teams more effective in performance compared to individual ?

6.1.1 Formal & Informal Groups/Teams

Jun 2014
a)Define informal group and explain 2 reasons why people are motivated to join
informal groups. (10m)

Formal Team

Informal Team

(formed by organization)

(Formed by friends/those with

common interests)

Permanent:
1) Production Team (daily operation)
e.g. assembly team, maintenance crew
2) Project Team (specialized knowledge)
e.g. research group, development team
3) Action Team (high specialization & coordination)
e.g. negotiation teams, security team
4) Advice Team (managerial decisions)
e.g. Quality circles, advisory councils

Permanent:
1) Friendship Group

Temporary:
Similar to permanent team but usually refer to as
1) Task Force
2) Ad-Hoc Team/Committee
3) Review Panel
4) Virtual Team
5) Self-Managed Team

Temporary:
1) Interest Group
e.g. sports team, entertainment team

6.1.2 Advantages & Disadvantages Of Teams

Advantages of Team
1) Make better decision
Identify problems, develop alternatives &
choose
best alternative contributed by members various

Disadvantages of Team
1) Individual domination in decision making

expertise
2) Develop better products & services
Members share information & coordinate
tasks
due to broader breadth of knowledge
and
expertise

2) Social pressure to conform to team norm

Refer to Groupthink which is a practice
of
approaching problems as matters that are best
dealt
with by consensus of a group, resulting typically in
unchallenged, poor quality decision making

3) More energized workforce

Team has stronger sense of belongingness
and
motivation as they are more accountable
to
fellow members who monitor each
other
performance compare to a traditional supervisor

3) Social loafing (free riding) may occur

Social loafing can be minimized through:
- use smaller team
- assigned specific task to each member
- measure individual members performance
- increase job enrichment
- choose only highly motivated members
4) Process losses may occur
Refer to time & energy losses spend for

6.2 Model of Team Effectiveness

Organizational
& team environment
Reward Systems
Communication Systems
Physical Space
Organizational Environment
Organizational Structure
Organizational Leadership

Team Design

Team Effectiveness

Task Characteristics
Team Size
Team Composition

achieve organizational goals

satisfy customers needs

Team Processes
Team Development
Team Norms
Team Trust
Team Cohesiveness

maintain team survival

i.

reward systems
6.2.1
Effects of Organization & Team Environment Elements

members tend to work together more effectively if rewards is tied to

team
performance

ii. communication systems

poorly designed communication system may result in members not
being
updated with latest/valuable information & feedback, especially virtual teams
iii. physical space
use U-shaped cells work space to allow
effective
communication to encourage a sense of being a team

F2F

contact

&

iv. organizational environment

e.g. healthy competitiveness spirit amongst team members, facilities
given to
encourages/allow team members to work together
v. organizational structure
e.g. team members given more autonomy, structure
interaction
with team members instead of with supervisors, etc.

encourages

vi. organizational leadership

e.g. leadership support team performance versus individual success

6.2.2 Effects of Team Design Elements

i.

Task characteristics
Task interdependence is the extent to which team members must share
materials, information or expertise to perform their jobs, need to interact
in the process of executing their work or receive rewards that are partly
determined by the performance of others.
Shared Resources

Pooled interdependence:

Member 1

Member 2

Member 3

Sequential interdependence:

Member1

Member 2

Member 3

Reciprocal interdependence:

Member 1
Member 4

Member 2
Member 3

ii. Team Size

Rule of Thumb (ROT) is, team size should be large enough to provide
the necessary competencies to perform yet small enough to maintain
efficient coordination & involvement of each member
best to start small and add members when necessary
require some time for team members to figure out best number of
team members

iii. Team Composition

- team diversity is commonly encourage i.e. heterogeneous team
- homogeneous team may also be effective
- ROT is, since both team composition have advantages and
disadvantages, their effectiveness depends on the situation
Team Members Competencies to ensure Team Effectiveness (5 C)
5C

Explanation

Cooperating

willing and able to work together rather than alone

-include sharing resources and being sufficiently adaptive or flexible to accommodate
the needs and preferences of other team members.

Coordinating

actively manage the teams work so that it is performed efficiently and harmoniously.
-typically requires the effective team members know the work of other team members,
not just their own

Communicatin
g

transmit information freely (avoid hoarding), efficiently (use the best channel and
language) and respectfully (minimize arousal of negative emotion)
- include active listening to co-workers

Comforting

help co-workers maintain a positive and psychological balance state

-include show empathy, provide psychological comfort and build co-workers feeling of
confidence and self worth

Conflict
resolving

use skills and motivation to resolves dysfunctional disagreements

-requires effective use of various conflict-handling styles as well as diagnostic skills to
identify and resolve the structural sources of conflict

6.2.3

Effects of Teams Processes Elements

i. Team development
Jun 2014
Use a diagram to summarize the team development process. (10m)
Dec 2014
Illustrate with the aid of diagram, explain the five (5) phases/stages of
group/team development process. (10m)

Team progress (or sometimes regress) according to 5 stages of development

before becoming an effective work unit.

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 Tuckmans Model of Team Development:

Forming - Period of testing and orientation

- Members learn team expectations and try to fit into the team

Storming

- more conflict as members compete for roles

- members try to establish norms or ground rules

Norming

- cohesion develops and feelings of camaraderie

- roles established, consensus forms around group objectives
- similar mental models & expectations about how goals should be

accomplish

Performing

- team becomes more task oriented

- efficient work coordination and conflict resolution
- highly cooperative, high trust, committed to goals & team

Adjourning - only exist for temporary types of groups

- some or all members are reassigned, laid off, etc.

- members shift from task to socio emotional focus

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 Team Building Strategies to Accelerate Team Development

Team Building refers to experiential learning aimed at better internal
functioning of groups.
Activities encompasses:
1.
role definition
2. goal setting
3. problem solving
4. interpersonal processes (to build trust & open communications)

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ii. Team Norms

In order to understand how team norms contribute toward Team Effectiveness,
team roles are discussed.
Roles are expected behaviors for a given position.
Types of Team Roles
Team roles if reinforce will contribute towards a team development process:
1.
Formal roles
- a set of behaviors/roles that people are expected to perform because
certain positions in a team
e.g. team coordinator, team leader, team monitor

2.
Informal roles
- a set of behaviors/roles that people voluntarily perform in a team to
team members relationship
e.g. team cheerleaders, team advisor

they hold

enhance

Problems of Team Roles

1.Role overload - others expectations exceed ones ability
2.Role conflict - others have conflicting or inconsistent expectations
3.Role ambiguity
- others expectations are unknown

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Norms are informal rules of conduct for behaviors & shared expectations
(include opinions, feelings and actions) that the team establish to
regulate/guide the behavior of their team members.
Team Norms are Developed through combination of these ways:
1.Explicit statements by supervisor or co-workers
e.g. group leader explicitly set norms about not drinking alcohol at lunch hour
2. Critical events in the groups history that sets a precedent
e.g. never bad mouth team members
3. Primacy
e.g. first group meeting is marked by very formal interaction, hence group
often expects future meetings to be conducted in same way
4.Carryover behaviors/values/experiences from past situations
e.g. waiters should not steal each others tables or orders in the kitchen
Reason Team Members Conform to Team Norms:
1.
compliance
- to attain rewards or avoid punishment
2.

identification

- associating oneself with supporters of a norm

3.

internalization - believe that the behavior dictated by a norm is truly right

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iii. Team Trust

Trust is a reciprocal (i.e. give and take) faith in others intentions and
behavior
- positive expectations one person has toward another person in
situations involving risk
Team Trust are base on certain foundations
1.
calculus
2.
knowledge
3.
identification

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Guidelines to Build & Maintain Team Trust (Fernando Bartolome)

Communication
- explain, tell the truth, give feedback, etc.
Support
- be available, approachable, etc.
Respect
- active listening to team members, willing to delegate, etc.
Fairness
- give credit/recognition to team members deserving it, etc.
Predictability
- be consistent in behavior, etc.
Competence
- demonstrate credibility, professionalism, etc.

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iv. Team Cohesiveness

Cohesiveness is a sense of we-ness to help group members
stick together
the degree of attraction people feel toward the team and their
motivation to remain members which leads to team effectiveness
Types of Team Cohesiveness
1. Socio-emotional cohesiveness
- sense of togetherness based on emotional satisfaction
2. Instrumental cohesiveness
sense of togetherness based on mutual dependency needed to get
the job done in the group

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Factors Influencing Team Cohesiveness

member similarity
team size
member interaction
difficulty to enter as member
team past & present successes
external competition or challenges

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