Groups and Teams

Formal and Informal Groups:

Formal Groups:
Groups created by the organization and that are intentionally designed to
direct members toward some important organizational goal are known as
formal groups.

One type of formal group is referred to as a command group

Command groups are determined by the organization's rules regarding
who reports to whom, and they usually consist of a supervisor and his or
her subordinates.

A formal organizational group also may be formed around some specific

task. Such a group is referred to as a task group.
Informal Groups:
Informal groups develop naturally among an organization's personnel
without any direction from the management of the organization within
which they operate.

A group of employees who band together to seek union

representation, or who march together to protest their company's
pollution of the environment, may be called an interest group.

Groups may develop out of a common interest in participating in

sports, or going to the movies, or just getting together to talk. These
kinds of informal groups are known as friendship groups.
Within organizations there are likely
to be both formal groups (such as
command groups and task groups)
and informal groups (such as interest
groups and friendship groups).
Key Characteristics of Teams:
Care for each other:
The teams that are most effective care about each other..

Open and truthful:

Openness and truthfulness is the second key characteristic of
effective teams.

High levels of trust:

Teams who don't believe they can rely on others and are
looking to points score will not create high levels of trust. If
there are low levels of trust, it is extremely difficult to excel as
a team.
Consensus decisions:
Consensus decision making is not about avoid taking decisions or watering
down decisions. It is about looking for the best win-win outcome for the team.

Commitment:
The teams that are effective are committed to getting the results they desire.
Commitment in many ways is about doing what it takes to get the result you
want.

Address conflict:
Sometimes people wrongly believe that in effective teams there is no conflict.
Rather than seeing it as something negative, teams recognize it as healthy and
to be worked through in order to get the desired results.
Real listening:
Listening is key to effective communication and effective teams
know that it is important to really listen and understand.

Express feelings:
We are often told to keep emotions and feelings out of the
work place. Yet in truth, if teams want to be effective they need
to create a safe and courageous space for feelings to be
expressed.
Types of Teams:

Task Force - a temporary team assembled to investigate

a specific issue or problem.
Problem Solving Team - a temporary team assembled to
solve a specific problem.
Product Design Team - a temporary team assembled to
design a new product or service.
Committee - a temporary or permanent group of people
assembled to act upon some matter.
Work Group - a permanent group of workers who receive
direction from a designated leader.
Work Team (also called Self-Directed Work Team or Self-
Managed Work Team) - an ongoing group of workers who
share a common mission who collectively manage their own
affairs within predetermined boundaries. 

Quality Circle - a group of workers from the same functional

area who meet regularly to uncover and solve work-related
problems and seek work improvement opportunities.

The name of the group or team type is less important

than the purpose for which it exists. These names simply
give us a common language to help us define team types.
Why People Join Groups and Teams:
Interpersonal Attraction:
One reason why people choose to form informal or interest
groups is that they are attracted to one another. Many different
factor contribute to interpersonal attraction.

Group Activities:
Individuals may also be motivated to join a group because the
activities of the group appeal to them. Jogging, Playing war
games and flying model airplanes are all activities that some
people enjoy.

Group Goals:
The goal of a group may also motivate people to join. The
Sierra Club, which is dedicated to environmental conservation
is a example of this kind of interest group.
Need Satisfaction:
Still another reason for joining a group is satisfy the
need for affiliation.. Newly divorced people often join
support groups as away to have companionship.

Instrumental Benefits:
A final reason why people join groups is that
membership is sometimes seen as instrumental in
providing other benefits to the individuals.
 
Causes of Conflict:
These are the main 5 causes of conflict.
 Differing values can lead to conflicts:
When people have differing values, conflicts can result.
Making assumptions can lead to conflicts:
If the husband assumes that his wife will have a hot meal waiting for
him when he gets home from work and when that hot meal is not
ready, conflict between the husband and wife can result.
Differing expectations can lead to conflict:
Having differing expectations of people, such as expecting the
single person in the office to work during the Christmas vacation
while those married people with children expect to have the
vacation time to spend with their family.
Differences in the way you were brought up can result in
conflict:
The way that you were brought up, your religion, your gender,
your race, and your ethnicity can result in conflict with people
who are different than you.

Knowledge and ability to deal with conflict can result

in conflict:
If you don’t know how to resolve conflict or are unwilling to try
to resolve conflict, this in itself can conflict with someone else
who has more knowledge and is more willing than you are.
Managing conflict:
There are 5 main conflict resolution scenarios.
 Ignore the conflict:
If you have a tendency to avoid or postpone talking about the
conflict, you are trying to ignore it and hope it goes away. This
rarely works with serious conflicts.
 Smooth over the conflict:
Smoothing over any conflict just to avoid confrontation or dealing
with both sides of the argument can also result in a temporary
reprieve.
 Use your authority to settle the conflict:
This is the way that it’s going to be because I said so!  Parents
say this all the time to their children when they want them to go to
bed and the child wants to stay up and watch TV.
Negotiate a resolution to the conflict:
Ah, I love a good negotiation. You get what you want and I
get what I want. Most of the time this works out really well.
But with all negotiation, I have to give up something and so
do you.

 Use collaboration to resolve the conflict:

This is your typical win-win scenario. Both parties win when
they use collaboration.
But, collaboration only works when people trust each other
to come to a mutually beneficial agreement.