Chapter 10 PDF

Preview

Summary

Chapter 10...

Description

MGMT 452 Chapter 10: Groups, Teams, and Their Leadership

 What leaders do depends on where a team is in its development Group perspective – how different group characteristics can affect relationships both with leader and followers Differences Between Groups and Teams  Team members have stronger sense of identification among themselves than group members do  Teams have common goals or tasks  Task interdependence typically is greater with teams than with groups  Teams have more differentiated and specialized roles Group – two or more persons interacting with one another to influence and be influenced  Reciprocal influence; an individual is not constrained to one group Differences Between Organizations and Groups  An organization can be so large that most members do not know most of the other people within it  Groups are small and immediate enough to impact both feelings and self image  People tend to be more psychologically invested with groups to which they belong  Certain psychological needs are better satisfied by groups Six Basic Concepts For Understanding Group Perspective  Group size  Stages of group development  Roles  Norms  Communication  Cohesion Group Size  Cliques – subgroups of individuals who often share same goals, values, and expectations o Have more influence over individuals  Leader’s behavioral style and span of control o Large span of control  directive, impersonal, less time with individuals o Small span of control display more consideration, personal  Leader emergence is partly a function of group size  with large group, a leader will most likely emerge  As groups become larger, cliques are more likely to form, and many intergroup conflicts are the result of cliques  Group size can affect a leader’s behavioral style  span of control  Group size affects group effectiveness o Additive task – group’s output involves combination of individual outputs o Process loss – inefficiencies created by more and more people working together o Social loafing – reduced effort by people when they are not individually accountable for their work o Social facilitation – working in presence of others may increase effort or productivity o Coordinating and communication Developmental Stages of Groups  Forming  Storming  Norming  Performing

MGMT 452 Chapter 10: Groups, Teams, and Their Leadership



Forming – groups are starting to get to know each other, low trust, reject emerging potential leaders with negative characteristics  Storming – intragroup conflict, heightened emotional levels, status differentiation, leadership roles, building alliances  Norming – group becomes more cohesive, clear emergence of leader o Understand and consider group behaviors  Performing – actual works gets done at this point, functional  Most groups start out leaderless Punctuated equilibrium  Project teams  Not as linear as the development stages of groups (see above)  Spend first half coming up with ideas and strategies  “Mid-life crisis” happens and they begin reexamining strategies to complete work Group roles – sets of expected behaviors associated with particular jobs/positions Task Roles in groups  Initiating – defining the problem, suggesting activities, and assigning tasks  Information seeking – asking questions and seeking relevant data or views  Information sharing – providing data and offering opinions  Summarizing – reviewing and integrating others’ points, checking for common understanding and readiness for action  Evaluating – assessing validity of assumptions, quality of information, and reasonableness of recommendations  Guiding – keeping group on track Relationship roles in groups  Harmonizing – resolving interpersonal conflicts and reducing tension  Encouraging – supporting and praising others, showing appreciation for others’ contributions, and being warm and friendly  Gatekeeping – assuring even participation by all group members, making sure that everyone has a chance to be heard and that no individual dominates Role Problems  Dysfunctional roles o Dominating – monopolizing group time, forcing views on others o Blocking – stubbornly obstructing and impeding group work, persistent negativism o Attacking – belittling others, creating a hostile or intimidating environment o Distracting – engaging in irrelevant behaviors, distracting others’ attention  Role conflicts = receiving contradictory messages about expected behavior and affects person’s emotional well-being and performance o Intrasender role conflict – same person sends mixed signals o Intersender role conflict – someone receives inconsistent signals from several others about expected behavior o Interrole conflict – someone is unable to perform all of his roles as well as he would like o Person-role conflict – role expectations violate a person’s values o Role ambiguity – lack of clarity in expectations

MGMT 452 Chapter 10: Groups, Teams, and Their Leadership

Group norms = informal rules groups adopt to regulate and regularize group members’ behaviors  Facilitate group survival  Simplify expected behavior  Helps group avoid embarrassing interpersonal problems  Expresses central values of group and clarifies what is distinctive about group’s identity  Group members should actively scan environment for opportunities that require change in operating strategy to capitalize upon them  Identify behaviors that members must always do/not do to conform to group’s objectives Group cohesion = sum of forces that attracts members to a group, provides resistance to leaving it, and motivates them to be active in it  keeps group together  Higher cohesiveness  less turnover and higher performance Why Group Cohesion Does Not Always Lead to Higher Performance  A highly cohesive but unskilled team is still an unskilled team  A cohesive group may develop goals that are contrary to the larger organization’s goals  Overbounding – groups can become so cohesive that they erect fences and boundaries between themselves and others  Group think – highly cohesive groups often become more concerned with unanimity than objectively appraising different courses of action o Symptoms of group think  Illusion of invulnerability  lots of risk taking  Unquestioned assumption of group’s morality  Collective rationalization to discount negative info/warnings  Stereotypes of opposition  Self-censorship from expressing ideas due to doubts about validity/importance of own ideas  Illusion of unanimity  Direct pressure of dissenting members  Mindguards – protect group from adverse info o How to reduce group think  Encourage all group members to take on role as critical evaluator  Create climate of open inquiry  Establish independent groups to make recommendations on same issue  Have a devil’s advocate  Ollieism – overzealous/loyal group members may perform illegal or unethical actions because they believe it will please their leaders  Overly cohesive groups occur infrequently Effective Team Characteristics and Team Building – Center for Creative Leadership Research  Clear mission and high performance standards  Use resources/training to help team and assess technical skills of team members  Secure resources and equipment necessary for team effectiveness  Plan and organize resources to select new members/improve skills  High levels of communication  minimizes interpersonal conflicts

MGMT 452 Chapter 10: Groups, Teams, and Their Leadership

Organizational shells  Critical factors essential for group effectiveness o Task structure – Does team know what the task is? Is it reasonable and consistent with mission? o Group boundaries – Is collective membership appropriate for task to be performed? Are there too few/many members? Do members have sufficient knowledge/skills/interpersonal skills? o Norms – Does team share set of norms? o Authority – Has team established authority? If so, are they effective?  Factors may be input from industry or organizational shell level going to team/group o Too little input from these levels can decrease effectiveness o Factors are determined before work is started Ginnett’s Team Leadership Model (TLM)  First identify what a team needs to be effective, and model points leader to “the way”  Outputs = result of the team’s work  Team is effective if output meets standards, group has ability to work together, enhances growth and personal well-being of individuals  Process = how the team goes about its work  Process measures o Work hard, have sufficient knowledge/skills, have strategy, and have positive and constructive group dynamics  Inputs = what is available for teams as they go about their work o Individual characteristics, team factors, organizational systems  Leadership Prescriptions of the Model o Creation o Dream – have a clear vision o Design – design the team o Development = ongoing work done with the team at the process level to continue to find ways to improve an already well-designed team  Leverage points diagnosed after process problems found at individual, team or org level  See Ginnett’s Model handout  Feedback at individual level can influence perceived efficacy of individual members  Information availability on which teams are doing well/struggling  Simpler/easier to identify and specify the ideal type of authority, but teams seldom operate effectively under one fixed type of authority over time o Authority dynamics should change over time  Ginnett’s research  highly effective leaders used a variety of authority dynamics the first few minutes of the team’s life  way to lay the ground for continuing expectations Concluding Thoughts About Ginnett’s Team Leadership Model  Material resources  Feedback loops provide information to various levels of the organization o Usually info provided to org as a whole on which teams are doing well/struggling o Feedback at individual level can influence perceived efficacy of individual members of team  Leaders can influence team effectiveness by:

MGMT 452 Chapter 10: Groups, Teams, and Their Leadership

o Insuring the team has a clear sense of purpose and performance expectations o Designing or redesigning input stage variables at individual, organizational, and team design levels o Improving team performance through ongoing coaching at various stages as task is being performed Virtual Teams  Geographically dispersed teams (GDTs) – also virtual teams  Five major areas that need to change if global teams work o Senior management leadership o Innovative use of communication technology o Adoption of an organization design that enhances global operations o Prevalence of trust among team members o Ability to capture the strengths of diverse cultures, languages, and people  Distance between members of virtual team is multi-dimensional o Geographical, organizational, temporal, and cultural distances o Psychological distance measure better than geographical distance  Differences in effects that distance has on work groups are due to these variables: o Integrating practices within a virtual team o Integrating practices between a virtual team and larger host organization...