Defining and Classifying Groups

1. Defining and Classifying Groups Departments Formal Task Groups Interest Groups Informal Friendship Groups Chapter 8

2. Problem- Solving Self- Managed Types of Teams Virtual Cross- Functional Chapter 9

3. The Resourcesof Group Members Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities Personality Characteristics Chapter 8

4. Prestage I Stage I Forming Stage II Storming Stage III Norming Stage IV Performing Stage V Adjourning Stages of Group Development Chapter 8

5. Characteristics of Effective Teams • Common goal • Defined & accepted mission/objective • Shared leadership • Based upon expertise • Civilized disagreements • Centered around ideas and methods, not people

6. Characteristics of Effective Teams (cont.) • Listening • Questioning, paraphrasing, summarizing • Participation • Everyone is encouraged to be involved and share relevant knowledge • Self-assessment • Pay attention to group process • How well are we functioning?

7. (High) Performance Phase 2 First Meeting Completion Transition Phase 1 Time (Low) A (A+B)/2 B Punctuated-Equilibrium Model Chapter 8

8. Performance Appearance Group Norms Resources Chapter 8

9. Development of Norms • Organizational stories • Bill Gates: An employee was leaving work at 8:00pm, Bill says “only working ½ a day?” • Founders Values • Nordstrom employee handbook • Responses to significant organizational events • Johnson & Johnson and Tylenol recalls

10. Purpose of Norms • Identifies desired behaviors or attitudes • Way of controlling behavior instead of explicit formal rules • What happens when someone violates a norm? • Deviant • Pressures to get back in line • Isolate • Loss of influence

11. Effects of Group Processes Process Gains Synergy Potential Group Effectiveness Group Effectiveness Process Losses Conformity Groupthink Social Loafing Chapter 8

12. Conformity to Group Norms vvv Studies by Solomon Asch vvv X A B C Chapter 8

13. Issues Raised by Asch & Milgram Studies • Group pressures to conform • What percentage of people conformed in the Milgram study and shocked to the highest level? • Percentage conforming in the Asch study? • What happened when people wrote down responses? • Organizational implications? • Methods of voting

14. Influencing the Majority Opinion Holders • Persuasion techniques • Be positive and tactful in tone • Uncover the reasoning & logic behind positions • Ask questions/challenge the assumptions & reasoning • Do not argue from position • “I don’t know” • Consider what type of evidence is most relevant to those you are trying to persuade • Facts & figures • Testimonials, personal experience

15. Group Decision Making • Brainstorming • Group members are physically present in a “freewheeling” idea generation process • All ideas are encouraged and are not to be critiqued • Nominal group technique • Face to face meeting, all individual ideas are presented with the goal of making a decision by the end of the meeting • Electronic meeting • Ideas are presented, discussed, and voted on anonymously via computer

16. Social Loafing • Tendency to exert LESS effort when working in a group than when working alone • Why does this happen? • Diffusion of responsibility • If you see others working less hard or not contributing, people may attempt to reestablish equity by reducing work effort & productivity

17. Social Loafing Issues • Methods to reduce its occurrence • Make individual contributions identifiable • Hold individuals accountable • Make the receipt of group-based rewards contingent upon individual contributions (GE info systems gainsharing plan) • Social loafing tends to be a cultural phenomenon • Individualism versus collectivism (group is the focus) • USA versus Japan

18. Cohesion • Degree to which members are attracted to the group and are motivated to stay in the group • Factors that generate cohesion • Common goal • Prior success • External threats &/or competition (“enemy”) • Difficult initiation or difficult to be a member • Time spent together & increased interaction

19. Cohesiveness-Productivity Relationship Cohesiveness High Low High Productivity Moderate Productivity High Performance Norms Moderate to Low Productivity Low Productivity Low Chapter 8

20. Cohesion & Effective Group Decision Making • Inverted U with effectiveness on the vertical and cohesion on the horizontal • When cohesion is too high, threat of groupthink exists • When cohesion is too low, decisions may not be made as group members are still “storming”

21. Groupthink • When group members striving for agreement (norm for unanimity), fail to realistically appraise alternative courses of action • A means for a group to protect its positive image (extremely high in cohesion)

22. Groupthink video • Identify factors that may lead to groupthink • Identify “symptoms” of groupthink • Identify methods to minimize groupthink

23. After the video, take 5 minutes and write a response to the following 2 questions: • In your own words, why do you think the shuttle was launched? • Why did NASA seem to readily accept Morton Thiokol’s reversal on the O-ring problem?

24. Antecedents of Groupthink • Factors that may lead to groupthink • High levels of cohesion • Stressful decision-making context • External pressure • Tight budgets • Recent failures

25. Symptoms of Groupthink • Illusion of unanimity (false consensus) • Silence implies agreement • “I’m not going to call for a vote, I think we are all in agreement here” • “We’ve decided..” • Self-censorship • Not speaking up (feeling of tension caused by pressure to be silent & internally wanting to speak up) • “I had a few objections, but since everybody seems committed, I won’t bring them up.”

26. Symptoms of Groupthink (cont) • Illusion of invulnerability & Rationalization • “Our strategy has worked in the past, odds are it will again” • Mindguards • “No need for you to be at the meeting; I’ll summarize your concerns for the board”

27. Ways to Minimize Groupthink • Avoid isolating the group • Bring in outside experts • Critical evaluators / Devil’s advocate • Role is to question assumptions and uncontested information • Open climate • Leader invites and accepts divergent thinking • Avoid being directive • Strong leaders speak last or sometimes not at all