GROUP DYNAMICS

Terminology - i

 A group is a collection of individuals with a

unified, usually positive, purpose
 A mob is a collection of individuals with a
unified, albeit emotional and negative, purpose
 Cont...

 A team is a group of people with

specific tasks who work intensively
with each other to achieve a common
goal
 All teams are groups but not all groups
are teams
 Terminology - ii

 The process of people working together in groups

to achieve common goals is called teamwork
 Group dynamics refers to the varying (dynamic)
group characteristics that affect its functions and
performance
 Such dynamics include group size, task
interdependence, group norms, group
cohesiveness and processes
 Typology –i

 Formal groups/teams – those created by mgt to

pursue the firm’s goals. Some examples:
1. A mgt team – charged with oversight of the daily
activities of a firm or an organisation
2. A project team – a variety of people helping to
plan and implement a project
3. A product team – concerned with designing
production and marketing of a certain product
 Typology –ii

4. A process team – concerned with a particular

internal process and how to improve it
5. Task force – created to meet a given objective
6. Standing committees – permanent task forces
7. Self managed teams – all the members are
empowered to complete some given work and all
decide how to do the task
 Typology –iii

 Informal groups – groups not officially

constituted but existing in organizations

1. Friendship groups – members enjoy each

others’ company
 Cont...

1. Interest groups – members share common

interests e.g social support, leisure
activities etc
 Managers should understand informal
groups and harness their relationships and
connections to speed up communication
 X-TICS OF GROUPS AND TEAMS-
ii
X-tic Group Team

Operation Decide and delegate Discuss, decide and

collaborate

Meeting style Mgr talks most Everyone contributes

Decision mkg Majority opinion consensus

Mgt opinion
 Informal groups cont’d
 Informal groups have the potential of
providing needs unmet in the formal work
setting such as
1. social satisfaction
2. Security
3. Support
4. a sense of belonging
5. esteem needs, etc.
 Cont...

 When teamwork exists in groups whether formal

or informal, an organisation may gain the
benefits of group synergy (the creation of a
whole that is greater than the sum of its parts)
 X-TICS OF GROUPS AND TEAMS-i

X-tic Group Team

Leadership. Centralized Shared
Group leader Team facilitator
Accountability Individual Collective and
individual

Purpose Pre-defined by Pre-defined by

management alone members and mgt
 THE ROLE OF GROUPS AND TEAMS

 Facilitate communication
 Do staff orientation
 Motivate staff
 Fulfill unmet personal needs
 Provide social support
 Enhance harmony and reduce conflicts
 Provide grapevine communication that assists in
decision making
 Assist in human resource retention
 Enhance benefits of group synergy
 GROUP EFFECTIVENESS

An effective group is that which is able to meet its

performance needs as well as member satisfaction
over time

 Meeting performance needs means that a group is

able to transform its resource inputs (e.g. ideas,
materials, objects) into product outputs (e.g.
reports, decisions, services, goods) of some value
to the org.
 GROUP EFFECTIVENESS

Groups risk not being effective if and when:

 There are membership differences
 Poorly defined tasks
 Poor readiness to work
 Poor group process
 There are free-riders
 They are too large (the paradox of
effectiveness)
 Cont…
 A successful manager should understand the
complex nature of groups and their internal
dynamics

 S/he should understand factors that threaten group

cohesiveness and work to neutralize them

 Group cohesion means the degree to which group

members are attracted to work together and remain
together in a group.
 GROUP COHESION

Group cohesion:
Refers to the bonding between group members.
Or the forces that lead to members sticking or
strongly bonded together and loosely attached
to other members within the same group
 GROUP COHESIVENESS

It depends on several factors:

 Group size
 Membership x-tics
 Org. setting
 Clarity of tasks
 Group processes e.g. comm., conflict mgt, etc.
 Clarity of group norms
 Group norms are behaviors
 GROUP COHESION AND
EFFECTIVENESS

To increase group cohesion, hence effectiveness, a

manager should:
 Induce agreement on group goals
 Increase membership homogeneity
 Increase interaction among members
 Decrease group size
 Introduce competition with other groups
 Reward group rather than individual results
 Provide physical isolation from other groups
 GROUP PROCESSES

This is the way members work together to transform

resource inputs into outputs. The include, interalia:
 Communication within a group
 Conflict management
 Decision making
 Time management
 Performance management
 Leadership styles etc.
These have been (or will be) covered in other topics
 STAGES OF GROUP DEVELOPMENT

Newly formed groups can act differently from old and

mature ones. It is therefore necessary for one to
understand the stage where ones group is. There are five
of them:
1. Forming stage – initial orientation and interpersonal
testing. There is polite, superficial interaction,
disappointment is rare, and goals begin to be defined
2. Storming stage – x-terised by conflict over tasks,
competition for leadership, struggle to front individual
interests and ways of operating as a group
 STAGES OF GROUP DEVELOPMENT

3. Norming stage – general acceptance, information

sharing, creation of some order, rules are defined, clear
operating tasks and agendas.

4. Performing stage – team work, use of individual talents

and skills, focused task performance, interdependence,
frank collaboration and listening, implementation.

5. Adjourning stage – task accomplishment, expression of

love, evaluation of work and eventual disengagement
 INDIVIDUAL X-TICS IN GROUPS AND
TEAMS - i

Sponsor Supplies funding and other resources. For

formal groups, this is upper management

Leader Coordinates individual efforts and facilitates

group progress “carries the ball”

Entrepreneu Generates ideas, is inventive and innovative

r (creative)
Gate keeper Links the group with those outside and with
information sources
 INDIVIDUAL X-TICS IN GROUPS AND
TEAMS - ii

The challenger Questions ideas and pushes the team to

take risks
The collaborator Works well with others on the team

The communicator Effective listener and presenter

The competitor Compulsively competes with everyone

The loner Can’t seem to work with others for long

 INDIVIDUAL X-TICS IN GROUPS AND
TEAMS - iii

The contributor Freely shares information and resources

The expert A great source of knowledge

The power broker A strong personality who wishes to

dominate
The loafer Inactive and ineffective
 Exercise i
 What are your own individual x-tics in the group or
team you work with?

 What likely problems/benefits do you envisage

about these personality x-tics?

 What actions would you take to minimize/maximize

them?
 Exercise ii

 How can you build a functional team?

 What x-tics would you liken to the following
animal personalities?

1. The donkey
2. The lion
3. The rabbit
4. The ostrich
 Exercise ii cont’d

5. The monkey
6. The hyena
7. The elephant
8. The giraffe
9. The tortoise
10. The cat
11. The peacock
 Managing disruptive group behavior

How would you handle the following group

members?
 The quarrelsome type
 The positive type
 The know-all type
 The talkative type
 The shy type
 The uncooperative type
 The intellectual type
 The challenging type
 Roles of group members
 The Coordinator- clarifies goals, promotes
decision-making, delegates to enable the
group to work effectively
 The Shaper- action oriented and encourages
the group to get on with its tasks
 The Plant- is the creative source of ideas
and proposals
 Roles cont…
 The Team Worker- supports the members of the
group and is a goog listener
 The Monitor/ Evaluator- is good at analysing and
critising
 The Resource Investigator- has a good network of
contacts and liaises with other people and agencies
 The Company Worker- is good at organising and
administration
 Roles cont…

 The Specialist- provides specialist

knowledge and skills
 The finisher- contributes foresight and
perseverance to ensure that the group
completes its tasks.
 Ways of making decisions by
groups
Five steps are called for in decision making
i.Problem identification
ii.Problem solution generation
iii.Evaluation of alternatives
iv.Solution action planning
v.Evaluation of the agreed solutions
 Five steps for group decision
making
i. Problem identification
 Group members should fully explore, clarify and
define the problem facing them
 After that, the group needs to collect more
detailed information to define the problem even
more clearly
 Defines the goals and objectives that they are
trying to achieve after solving the problem
 Steps for group decision
making cont…
ii. Problem solution generation
 Engages in idea generating process while
discouraging premature decisions
 Final decision can be better if many ideas and
possible solutions are considered at this point
 The more ideas generated by the group, the more
likely it is to come up with a great number of
possible solutions
 Steps for group decision
making cont…
iii. Evaluation of alternatives
 The group evaluates the possible alternatives and
examines the probable effects of the alternatives
 The group weeds out poor alternatives or non
cost effective alternatives and concentrate on
those that will benefit the group even though
they may be costly in terms of resources
 Steps for group decision
making cont…
iv. Solution action planning
 The group identifies what actions are needed to
be put into operation to achieve the agreed
solution.
 A list of action steps is generated and prioritized
along with the names of those who will be
responsible for each step.
 Steps for group decision
making cont…
v. Evaluation of the agreed solutions
 The group meets to decide on how the prioritized
solutions will be implemented setting out the
necessary milestones or indicators that will help
them to know whether their set goal and objectives
have been met.
 If the problem or some part of it remained, the
group can look at the information, redefine the
problem and seek alternative solutions
 Steps for group decision
making cont…
 Its valuable to spend sometime analyzing any
failures as well as the successes to see what
could have been done better or sustain the
achieved solutions in the near and distant future.
 This phase involves a review of the group
process i.e. membership, leadership or looking at
how well the group members have worked
together
 SELF MANAGED WORK TEAMS

 These are groups of workers whose jobs have been

redesigned to create a high degree of task interdependence
and authority to make decisions about how they should
carry out their work

 Self managing teams develop with participatory decision

making, shared tasks and responsibility for many of the
managerial tasks performed by supervisors in the
traditional work groups
 These are also called autonomous work groups
 SELF MANAGED WORK TEAMS

Generally in these teams, members:

 Are collectively accountable for performance results
 Have the discretion to distribute tasks within a team
 Have discretion of scheduling work within a team
 Are able to perform more than one job on the team
 Train one another to develop multiple job skills
 Evaluate one another’s performance
 Are responsible for total quality of group products
 REQUISITES FOR HIGH PERFORMING
WORK TEAMS - i

 Participatory leadership – all members are committed to

empowerment and mutual assistance
 Shared responsibility – all members, not just the leader,
feel responsible for performance results
 Clear purpose – all members understand and support the
team and its purpose
 Intense communication – all members communicate in an
open and trusting climate
 Future-oriented – all members are willing to accept
change and improve performance
 REQUISITES FOR HIGH
PERFORMING WORK TEAMS - ii
 Task-focused – all members are concerned about meeting
job expectations
 Creativity – all members talents and creativity are used to
benefit the team
 Fast – all are willing and able to act quickly on problems
and opportunities
 Continuous training and development
 Celebrate team achievement
 CONCLUSION
 Higher-level managers to whom self managing teams
report must learn to work with teams rather than
individual subordinates. This of course is a challenge to
managers who are used to more traditional operating ways

 Self managing teams are the way forward for progressive

mgrs