Groups and Teams

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Groups and Teams

• How can we set in motion the kinds of actions
  that will allow us to work together and get our
  goals accomplished and leave us feeling good
  about ourselves and each other? William
  Dyer, 1987

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The value of teamwork

• Talent wins games, but teamwork wins
  championships.
• Michael Jordan
• Do you want a collection of brilliant minds or a
  brilliant collection of minds?
• R. Meredith

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Think about your experiences working within groups
What were the positive experiences? What were
the factors contributing to positive
experiences?
What were the negative experiences? What were
the factors that contributed to these negative
experiences?
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What characteristics are usually associated with
a successful team?

• Goals are clear and understood by all
• Efficient and effective organization of tasks
  (includes member roles)
• Honest and open communication
• Consensus decision making
• Low levels of interpersonal conflict

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What characteristics are usually associated with
a successful team?

• Results of team work are known and understood by
  all members of the team
• Periodic measurement and evaluation of team
  performance
• Positive and supportive team environment
• Individual members utilize their talents and
  develop new ones

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Developing a New Team

• Types of teams
• Stages of group development
• Development of group structure
• Membership
• Roles
• Rules
• Norms
• Interactions
• Task and social process issues that need to be
  considered in developing an effective team

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Types of Teams
Autonomy
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Special Kinds of Teams
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Group Development
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Membership

• Size how many?
• Group composition homogeneous vs. heterogeneous
• Demographic characteristics (e.g., age, gender,
  race, ethnicity, educational background)
• Personality traits, beliefs, and values
• Skills and abilities
• Work experience

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Roles

• A set of behaviors or tasks that a person is
  expected to perform by virtue of holding a
  position in a group
• Task, group maintenance, and self-centered roles
  may exist in the team

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Task Roles

• Initiator-contributor
• Information seeker
• Information giver
• Opinion seeker
• Opinion giver
• Elaborator-clarifier

• Coordinator
• Diagnostician
• Summarizer
• Energizer
• Procedure developer
• Secretary
• Evaluator-critic (devils advocate)

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Group Maintenance Roles

• Supporter-Encourager
• Harmonizer
• Tension Reliever
• Compromiser

• Gate Keeper
• Feeling Expresser
• Standard Setter
• Follower

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Self-Centered Roles

• Blocker
• Aggressor
• Deserter
• Dominator

• Recognition Seeker
• Confessor
• Playboy/Jokester/Group Clown
• Special Interest Pleader

Effective groups keep these roles to a minimum
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Team Roles Preferences Scale

• What were your scores on these team roles?
• Encourager
• Gatekeeper
• Harmonizer
• Initiator
• Summarizer

Are you more focused on task or group process?
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Group Rules

• Formal statements that specify which behaviors
  are required of group members and which behaviors
  are forbidden.
• Facilitate behavioral control of members
• Help newcomers adjust quickly
• Used as standards by which to measure and
  evaluate member behavior
• Need periodic review, especially when new members
  join

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Norms

• Informal rules of conduct for behaviors
  considered important by most group members
• Pivotal, peripheral, preferred value norms
• Member can comply with, identify with, or
  internalize norms
• Balance conformity and deviance too much of
  either is harmful to a group
• Extreme deviance groupthink

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Groupthink

• Type of thinking that a cohesive group engages in
  when members needs for unanimity override
  critical appraisal of process and outcomes

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Symptoms of Groupthink

• Invulnerability
• Inherent morality
• Rationalization
• Stereotyped views of opposition
• Self-censorship
• Illusion of unanimity
• Peer pressure
• Mindguards

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Interactions Task Interdependence

• Extent to which the work performed by one member
  of a group affects what other members do. Three
  types
• 1. Pooled
• 2. Sequential
• 3. Reciprocal

The potential for problems develop as groups
move to reciprocal tasks, but synergy is also
greater in reciprocal tasks
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Group Performance and Process Issues
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Task issues in new teams

• Methods of working
• Goal setting
• Decision making
• Leadership
• Handling group meetings
• Ensuring follow-through and completion of tasks
• Communication network
• Handling disagreement and deviance
• Process diagnosis

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Group process issues in new teams

• Building good relationships among members
• Encouraging others to participate fully
• Inclusion of all members
• Resolving interpersonal disagreements
• Evaluating group process
• Handling members exhibiting self-centered roles
• Developing support systems
• Encouraging individuals to stretch outside their
  comfort zones

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Designing a New Team

• Step 1 Develop realistic priority levels for
  team work
• Step 2 Share expectations of group members
• Step 3 Clarify goals
• Step 4 Formulate operating guidelines

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Team Training