1. Chapter 9 Work Teams and Groups

2. Learning Outcomes Define group and work team
Explain the benefits organizations and individuals derive from working in teams
Identify the factors that influence group behavior
Describe how groups form and develop

3. Learning Outcomes
Explain how task and maintenance functions influence group performance
Discuss the factors that influence group effectiveness
Describe how empowerment relates to self- managed teams
Explain the importance of upper echelons and top management teams

4. Groups and Teams
Group: Two or more people with common interests, objectives, and continuing interaction
Work team: Group of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common:
Mission
Performance goals
Approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable

5. Table 9.1- New Team Environment versus Old Work Environment

6. Group Behavior
Norms of behavior: Group standards to evaluate the behavior of its members
Group cohesion: Interpersonal glue that makes members of a group stick together
Social loafing: Failure of a member to contribute personal time, effort, thoughts, or other resources
Loss of individuality: Individual group members' loss of self-awareness, sense of accountability, inhibition, and responsibility for individual behavior

7. Figure 9.1 - The Five Stage Model

8. Mature Group Characteristics
Purpose and mission
Questioned, reexamined, and modified by groups for its mission and purpose
Mission converted into specific agenda, clear goals, and a set of critical success factors
Behavioral norms
Well-understood standards of behavior in a group
Evolve around performance and productivity

9. Mature Group Characteristics
Groups with high cohesiveness demonstrate:
Lower tension and anxiety and less variation in productivity
Better member satisfaction, commitment, and communication
Status structure: Set of authority and task relations among a group’s members
Hierarchical or egalitarian, depending on the group

10. Table 9.2- Task and Maintenance Functions in Teams or Groups

11. Factors that Influence Group Effectiveness
Work team structure
Goals and objectives, guidelines, performance measures, and role specification
Work team process
Managing cooperative and competitive behaviors
Diversity
Enhances group effectiveness
Types of member contribution - Contributor, collaborator, communicator, and challenger
Creativity
Enhanced through encouraging greater diversity within the team

12. Cooperative and helping behaviors
Empowerment Skills
Competence skills
Process skills
Cooperative and helping behaviors
Communication skills

13. Upper Echelons Self-managed teams at the top-level of an organization
Upper echelon theory
Background characteristics of top management team predict organizational characteristics
Set standards for values, competence, ethics, and unique characteristics in the organization
Key to the strategic success of the organization

14. Upper Echelons Diversity at the top Multicultural top teams
Help sustain high levels of organizational performance at the peak
Help maintain the CEO’s vitality
Multicultural top teams
Diversity increases uncertainty, complexity, and inherent confusion in group processes
Culturally diverse groups generate more and better ideas and limit groupthink