Summary BUS2018F: Organisational behaviour exam notes

Ch8: Group Dynamics & Team Work
What is a group?
Definition
 2 or more interacting individuals
o Social interaction
 Have a stable and consistent pattern of relationships between them
o Stability
 Share common goals/interests
o Common goals/interests
 Perceive themselves as a group
o Mutual recognition that they are a group

Social Interaction
 Members must have an influence on each other
 Influence through their interactions
o Verbal
 Sharing strategies
o Nonverbal
 Exchanging smiles

Stability
 Must possess a stable structure and relationships that
o Keep members together
o Keep members functioning as a unit

Common goals/interests
 Mutual interest
o Chess club
o Brought together by their common interest of playing chess
 Common goal
o Study group delegating the task of making notes
o Common goal of getting good marks and lightening their workload
 Mutual interest & common goal
o Employees and owners of a small mathematics tutoring business
o Common interest of mathematics
o Common goal of making money

,Mutual recognition that they are a group
 Must perceive themselves as a group
o Recognize one another as members of the group
o Can distinguish these members from nonmembers
 Examples
o Chess club
 Know who is part of the group
 Can recognize people who aren’t part of the group
o Shoppers in a checkout line
 Don’t identify with the other shoppers
 Nothing in common
 Little interaction, stability, or common ground

,Types of groups
Formal groups
Description
 Group and hierarchy formally written down
 Designed to direct members towards an organizational goal
Command groups
 Formal connections between individuals within the organization
 Determines
o Who reports to who
o Who can legitimately give orders to who
 Don’t choose to be put into this group
o Rather placed by others
 Example
o Supervisor
o Employees under the supervisor
Task groups
 Formed around & focused on completing a task
 Comprised of individuals with the specific skills needed
o Regardless of their position in the organization’s hierarchy
 No hierarchy
o Work as equals on a task
 Standing committees
o Permanent task groups
 Ad hoc committees/task forces
o Temporary task groups
o Formed to complete a specific once off task

,Informal groups
Description
 Not written down
Interest groups
 Come together because of a common interest
Friendship groups
 Formed because people get along



Why people join groups
 Satisfy mutual interest
 Security
 Satisfying social needs
 Self esteem

,5 Stage model of group development
Description
 By Tuckman & Jenson
 Stages have varying lengths depending on the context
 Can regress to previous stage
1) Forming stage
 More about relationships than work
 Not very productive
2) Storming stage
 Working out hierarchy
 Conflict apparent
 Not very productive
3) Norming stage
 Develop roles
 Usually informal
 Group now starts working
4) Performing stage
 Group its most productive
 Runs smoothly
5) Adjourning stage
 Added later
 Sense of grief from members when a good group comes to an end

,Punctuated equilibrium model
 In a group that’s given a task
 Period of equilibrium
o Last till half way to the deadline
o Discuss, but do very little
 Period of change
o From halfway to the deadline
o Group makes changes
o Then make final changes
o Task then completed

,Group Structure
Norms
 Informal rules
o Not the formal rules written down in company documents
o The norms can be the different ways formal rules are interpreted
 Example
 Keep your office door open
 Prescriptive norms
o Group expectations regarding what is supposed to be done
 Proscriptive norms
o Group expectations regarding what is not supposed to be done

Status
 Prestige or rank
o Given to individuals or groups
 Example
o The parking situation at UCT
 Higher a persons’ status, the better parking spot they get
 Formal status
o Prestige someone has because of their formal position in the org.
 Status symbols
o Objects reflecting one’s position in the organizational hierarchy

Cohesiveness
 How well the group members get along
 The strength of group members’ desires to remain a part of the group
 The better they get along, the more they would want to
o Remain part of the group
o Want to work together
 Too much cohesiveness
o Lowers productivity
 Focus more on relationships than the task
o Inhibits decision making
 Don’t want to challenge their “friend’s” ideas

, Roles
 Typical behavior
o That characterizes a person within a particular group
 A person can be different depending on which group they are in at that time
o Shy and introverted with friend group 1
o Confident and loud with friend group 2
 Unclear roles
o Leads to stress and anxiety
 Role incumbent
o A person holding a particular role
 Role expectations
o The behaviors expected of a person in a particular role
 Role ambiguity
o Confusion
o Arises from confusion from not knowing what is expected of you in
your role
 Role differentiation
o Tendency for various specialized roles to emerge as a group develops
Different role categories
 Task orientated roles
o Description
 Get things done and achieving goals
o Different types of people who take up this role
 Initiator-contributors
 Recommend new solutions to group problems
 Information seekers
 Attempt to obtain the necessary facts
 Opinion givers
 Share own opinions with others
 Energizers
 Stimulate the group into action whenever interest drops
 Relations-orientated role
o Description
 Bringing people together and motivate employees
o Different types of people who take up this role
 Harmonizers
 Mediate group conflicts
 Compromisers
 Shift own opinions to create group harmony
 Encouragers
 Praise and encourage others
 Expediters
 Suggest ways for the group to operate more smoothly
 Self orientated roles on next page