1. Group Dynamics and Team Effectiveness
Chapter Nine
Group Dynamics and
Team Effectiveness
Thomson South-Western Wagner & Hollenbeck 5e

2. Chapter Overview This chapter examines the following topics:
Formation and Development of Groups
Group Formation
Group Development
Group Versus Individual Productivity
Process Loss
Group Synergy
Groups Versus Teams
Keys to Team Effectiveness: Setting the Stage
Task Structure
Communication Structure
Group Size
Group Composition
Keys to Team Effectiveness: Managing the Process
Motivation in Groups
Group Cohesiveness
Group Conflict

3. Introduction
Contemporary organizations are recognizing the power of work teams and are increasingly structuring themselves around flexible project teams that are temporarily bound rather than fixed
3M example
Managers need to keep in mind that teams are often the solution to one set of problems, but the source of a second set of problems

4. Formation and Development of Groups
A group is a collection of two or more people who interact with one another in a way such that each person influences and is influenced by the others
Members of a group draw important psychological distinctions between themselves and people who are not group members
Generally, group members share ten characteristics
These characteristics contribute to group effectiveness
A group is effective when it satisfies three important criteria:
Production output
Member satisfaction
Capacity for continued cooperation
An effective group is able to satisfy immediate demands for performance and member satisfaction, while making provisions for long-term survival
NBA example

5. Group Formation
Group formation: groups are formed based on similarities either in what people do or in what they make
Functional grouping: grouping employees by the tasks they perform
Work flow grouping: grouping employees by the flow of work from initiation to completion
Each alternative offers advantages and disadvantages

6. Group Formation Functional work groups advantages:
Help integrate and coordinate employees who perform similar tasks
Exchange of information
Allow organizations to take advantage of cost savings
Functional work groups disadvantages:
Separates people performing different tasks
Encourages slowdowns
Work flow groups advantages:
Integrates all activities required to manufacture a product or provide a service
Enhances adaptability
Work flow groups disadvantages:
Does not permit the scale economies associated with functional grouping
Can add to the firm’s overall costs

7. Group Development
Group formation is a process of determining the formal, established characteristics of groups
Group development allows informal aspects of groups to emerge
Research indicates that these developmental processes tend to advance through four stages:
Initiation: characterized by uncertainty and anxiety
Differentiation: conflicts may erupt
Integration: focuses on reestablishing the central purpose of the group
Maturity: members fulfill their roles and work toward attaining group goals

8. Group Versus Individual Productivity
A large body of evidence indicates that groups of individuals working together are sometimes less productive than the same number of people working alone
It often takes longer to make decisions in a group
Several reasons explain why groups sometimes falter

9. Process Loss
The difference between what a group actually produces and what it might theoretically produce constitutes process loss
Production blocking occurs when people get in each other’s way as they try to perform a group task
Group members must fulfill the requirements of several group maintenance roles
Encouragers
Harmonizers
Standard setters
Process loss can also result from social loafing, which is the choice of some members to take advantage of others by doing less work, working slowly, or in other ways, decreasing their contributions to group productivity

10. Group Synergy
Group synergy deals with productivity of a group that exceeds expectation, based on the potential individual contributions
Social facilitation may allow the presence of others to increase an individual’s performance
The within-group competition aspect of group tasks motivates some people to work harder than they would if left on their own

11. Groups Versus Teams
Teams are a special subset of groups and share all ten characteristics of groups plus three additional distinguishing features
Team-based structures have two primary advantages over traditional hierarchical structure:
Enable organizations to bring products to market faster
Eliminate the need for having multiple levels of middle management

12. Task Structure
Task interdependence refers to the degree to which task members interact cooperatively and work interactively to complete tasks
When task interdependence is high, two aspects of structuring the team can promote coordination and performance:
Rotation of members via cross-training
Rotating leadership so all members get a “big picture” appreciation
In an additive task each group member contributes in proportion to his or her ability
A disjunctive task is structured such that one person could perform effectively alone
In a conjunctive task the group’s level of performance depends on the resources the least able member brings to the task

13. Communication Structure
Communication structure deals with who within the team can talk to whom
Communication speed and accuracy in a group are affected by the nature of the group's communication network and by the relative complexity of the group’s task
Centralized networks lower speed and accuracy because people succumb to information overload

14. Group Size Group Composition
In considering group composition, having the appropriate level of expertise in the right positions helps ensure the team can accomplish its tasks and subgoals
It must be decided as to whether team members are heterogeneous or homogenous
The homogeneity-heterogeneity issue should be considered with respect to three factors:
Function
Personality
Demography/culture
Regardless of whether team members differ on skills, traits, or culture, the critical consideration is their ability to arrive at a shared mental model about each other and the task at hand
In considering group size, a good principle is that a group should be as small as possible
On average, people working in smaller groups are more productive than people in larger groups
This relationship can be traced to several factors:
Less physical constraint
Less social distraction
Lower coordination requirements
Less behavior masking
Less diffusion of responsibility

15. Motivation in Groups
Member motivation is an important factor that affects group productivity and must be managed to minimize process loss and maximize synergy
A major aspect of motivation in team contexts is getting people to sacrifice self-interests for the overall good of the collective
Two fundamentally different types of group rewards exist:
Cooperative group rewards: are distributed equally among members of a group
Competitive group rewards: members are rewarded for successful performance as individuals in a group
The nature of team members’ personalities affects the choice of which structure to employ

16. Group Cohesiveness
A group’s cohesiveness reflects the degree to which a group sticks together
A variety of factors encourage group cohesiveness:
Shared personal attitudes, values, or interests
Agreement on group goals
Frequency of interaction
Group size
Group rewards
Favorable evaluation
External threats
Isolation

17. Group Cohesiveness
Group cohesiveness is a potential source of competitive advantage because less time is needed to spend on group maintenance activities giving more time to spend on focusing on alternative activities
Cohesiveness is not always an unmixed blessing:
Affects the degree to which members agree on productivity norms
Can increase the probability that the group will come to premature consensus (groupthink)

18. Group Conflict
Groups that lack cohesiveness often experience a great deal of within-team conflict
In cognitive conflict all members asgree on the goals, but differ in views of how to meet the goals
In mixed motive conflict members may not agree on goals and the conflict can become personal and emotional