GROUPS and TEAMS

Objectives
Define and discuss group dynamics:
 Why are groups & teams important?
 Groups
– Types of groups
– How do groups form
– Why people join groups
– Influence of Groups on Individuals
 Teams
– Groups vs. Teams
– Turning Individuals into Team Players
– Virtual Teams
Why Important?
Groups

 Group – two or
more individuals,
interacting and
interdependent, who
have come together
to achieve particular
objectives.
Groups - Types
 Formal Groups
– Command
– Task

 Informal Groups
– Interest
– Friendship
Groups - Formation
 Stages of Group
Development
– Forming
– Storming
– Norming
– Performing
– Adjourning
Groups – Why Join?
 Why People Join Groups
– Security
– Status
– Self-esteem
– Affiliation
– Power
– Goal Achievement
Influence of Groups

 The presence of others strongly

influences individual behavior.
 Conversely, the behavior of individuals
is affected by being part of a group.
 Business requires groups, therefore
how groups work influences how
individuals behave and work.
Influence of Groups

 Patterns of
Behavior in Groups
– Social Striving
– Social Loafing
– Social Facilitation
– De-individuation
Influence of Groups

 Social Striving
– People work harder
when they are in
groups, then when
they are alone.
Influence of Groups

 Social Loafing
– People tend to expend
less effort on group tasks
then when performing the
same task alone.
Influence of Groups

 Social Facilitation
– The presence of
others can enhance
an individual’s
performance for
simple or well
rehearsed tasks.
Influence of Groups

 De-individuation
– This pattern happens when
you have the increased
desire to please
management with the
diffusion of responsibility
from social loafing.
Groups vs. Teams

 Group – interacts to share information

and make decisions to help each group
member perform his or her area of
responsibility.
 Team – a group whose individual
efforts result in a performance that is
greater than the sum of the individual
inputs
Groups vs. Teams
 Groups
– Strong leader
– Individual accountability
– Organizational purpose
– Individual work products
– Efficient meetings
– Delegates work
– Random and varied
skills
 Teams
– Shared leadership
– Individual and mutual
accountability
– Specific team purpose
– Collective work products
– Open-ended meetings
– Does real work together
– Complementary skills
Groups vs. Teams

 Swim “Team” - Is this a group or a team?

Team Players

 Turning individuals into team players

 Example:
– Sacramento City
College Baseball
– Derek Sullivan,
Assistant Coach
Team Players
 Recruiting
– Involves selling players on what
the program can do for them
(scholarships, professional
contracts, etc).
– Is an individual focus on personal
development (telling players to
be selfish).
– Tends to de-emphasize “TEAM”
and their obligations to the
program (sacrifice, patience, and
winning)
Team Players

 The “Challenge”
– Convincing players that
their individual sacrifices
are good for the program
and WILL pay off
individually at the end
(for everyone).
Virtual Teams

Virtual Teams:
What are their
Characteristics and
Impact on Team Performance?
Sze-Sze Wang and Richard Burton
Computational and Mathematical Organization Theory 6;
339-360, 2000.
Virtual Teams
 Virtual team characterized by members:
– Physically dispersed
– Culturally differentiated
– Organizationally differentiated
 Communication must transcend:
– Space
– Time
– Culture
Virtual Teams

 Characteristics of virtual teams

– Context = little history, novel tasks,
physically distributed
– Composition = heterogeneous culture
and organizational backgrounds
– Structure = relationships are lateral but
weak
Virtual Teams - Findings

 For teams physically distributed and

engaged in novel tasks, ease of
communication and “routine-ness” of
tasks leas to higher performance.
 For teams culturally and organization-
ally diverse, clarification of roles and a
common team culture lead to higher
performance.
Virtual Teams - Findings

 For teams physically distributed and

performing novel tasks, lateral
communication between weakly tied
team members improves performance.
 For teams culturally and
organizationally diverse, lateral
communication between weakly tied
members improves performance.