Groups in Organizations

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Groups in Organizations

• Organizations consist of groupsthey can
  accomplish much that is good, or they can cause
  great harm. From the organizations perspective,
  they can be highly effective or highly
  ineffective. There is nothing implicitly good or
  bad, weak or strong, about a group.
• Nancy Adler, Managing a Multicultural Workforce.
• Its not that teams dont work. Its that there
  are lots of obstacles.
• Eileen Applebaum, The New American Workplace

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Groups In Organizations Some Examples

• Boards of Directors
• Top Management Teams
• Ad Hoc Task Forces
• Process Improvement Teams
• Project Teams
• International committees (the World Bank,
  international peacekeeping forces)
• Student Teams

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GROUP EFFECTIVENESS DEFINED AS

• Output meets or exceeds the performance standards
  (quantity, quality, timeliness) of those who
  receive, review, or use the output
• Group processes used to execute the task maintain
  or enhance members capability to work together
  on subsequent group tasks
• Group experience contributes to the personal
  needs and interests of group members

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GROUP EFFECTIVENESS MODEL

• Organizational
• Context
• Reward system
• Education system
• Information system

• Process
• Criteria
• Effort
• Knowledge
• and skills
• Strategies

• Group
• Effectiveness
• Output quality,
• Member satisfact.
• Willingness to
• work together
• again.

• Group Design
• Task structure
• Group composition
• Group norms
• e.g., examine own
• process

• Coaching
• Maximize synergy

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A Teams Actual Performance Does Not Always Equal
its Potential Performance
Actual Performance
Potential Performance
Process Gains
Process Losses
-


Potential performance The level of performance
that one would expect given the capabilities of
the individual members Process gains Increases
in performance resulting from effective
coordination and motivation Process losses
Performance difficulties that a group experiences
due to coordination and motivation problems (e.g.
social loafing)
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Some Examples of Process Losses

• Process losses include
• Failure to use knowledge and skills of members
  due to poor process
• Failure to exert sufficient effort (e.g.,
  laziness, individuals are not prepared)
• Members being unduly influenced by each other
  (groupthink, the Abilene paradox)
• Poor group process leads to inefficient
  information sharing.
• Log rolling behavior

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Common Characteristics of Effective Teams

• Shared Goals and Clear Group Identity
• High Felt Responsibility and Accountability
• Open and Two-Way Communication
• Shared Decision Making
• Encouragement of Dissent
• Explicit Attention to Process
• Flexibility
• Continuous Improvement

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Group Versus Individual Decision
MakersPotential Advantages of Using Groups to
Make Decisions

• More information and knowledge is available. In
  general, groups generate more alternative
  solutions than individuals.
• The number of alternatives generated has been
  consistently shown to be related to decision
  quality.
• Decisions are more likely to be accepted when
  people have had a chance to participate in making
  them.
• Involvement of a group facilitates the
  communication of a decision and of decision
  premises.

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Potential Disadvantages of Using Decision Making
Groups

• Process can be time consuming
• Personal or political agendas may dominate.
• Non-optimal decision making strategies may be
  used leading to poor quality decisions(e.g.,
  logrolling)
• Groups may be dominated by one or more members
• will pull groups performance in the direction of
  their individual performance level
• Diffusion of responsibility ? less effort,
  increased tendency to adopt extreme positions
• Conformity pressures (Groupthink, the Abilene
  Paradox)
• Dysfunctional conflict

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MANAGING GROUP DECISION MAKING

• Diversity of opinions, experiences, backgrounds
  is an asset not a liability.
• Use of various group structuring techniques can
  facilitate a groups ability to come up with high
  quality decisions.
• Brainstorming
• The Devils Advocate technique
• The Dialectical Inquiry technique
• The Nominal Group technique
• As a manager, if you elect to use a group to make
  a decision because you want a high quality
  decision, do not state your opinion before the
  group deliberates.

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FACTORS AFFECTING EFFORT

• Interest level of tasks in which group is engaged
• variety
• task significance
• autonomy
• feedback
• Organizational Reward System provides
  challenging, specific objectives
• Rewards are given for group behavior.
• Group norms act to minimize social loafing and
  coordination losses.

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STRATEGIES FOR AVOIDING OR HANDLING SOCIAL
LOAFING
1. Assign specific tasks to specific
people. 2. Hold people responsible for their
work. Have everyone report on their
progress. 3. As a leader, express high
expectations for performance. 4. Rotate the
role of a leader.
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FACTORS AFFECTING USE OF KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS

• Group Composition
• size
• appropriate diversity of skills and abilities
• reasonable level in interpersonal skills
• Organizational education system needs to educate
  members on skills related to the task(s) at hand
• Group synergy achieved through use of appropriate
  task performance strategies

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FACTORS AFFECTING USE OF APPROPRIATE TASK
PERFORMANCE STRATEGIES

• Group Norms support explicit assessment of the
  performance situation and active consideration of
  alternative ways of proceeding with the work.
  (group self-monitoring)

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STRATEGIES FOR AVOIDING GROUPTHINK
1. Leader should assign role of critical
evaluator to everyone in the group. 2. Leader
should not state his/her preference or point of
view early on in the discussion. 3. Can have
subgroups work independently to develop
solutions, then compare. 4. Assign one person in
the group the role of devils advocate. 5. Hold
second chance meetings that allow people to
express any doubts they have after having had a
chance to think about it. 6. Ensure the group
is diverse with respect to backgrounds and
perspectives.
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EFFECTS OF DIVERSITY
??ACTUAL PRODUCTIVITY (HIGHER POTENTIAL
PRODUCTIVITY) (HIGHER POTENTIAL PROCESS
LOSSES)
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What is Diversity?

• Diversity is variety.
• Common to distinguish between two types
• Diversity in readily apparent differences
  (gender, age, physical disabilities,
  race/ethnicity)
• Diversity in unobservable characteristics (e.g.,
  values, functional backgrounds, educational
  backgrounds, occupational rank, sexual preference)

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BENEFITS CHALLENGES

• Increases potential for creative solutions to
  problems
• - Wider range of perspectives.
• - Lower likelihood of groupthink.
• Wider range of perspectives can lead to
• - Better problem definition.
• - More options being considered.
• - Higher quality decisions.
• Enhanced opportunities for learning.

• Higher likelihood of disagreement on content
  (task conflict).
• Increased potential for mistrust, stereotyping,
  low cohesion ( emotional conflict).
• Low cohesion leads to inability to
• - Validate ideas.
• - Gain consensus on decisions.
• - Take concerted action.
• Lower satisfaction Identification with the
  group.

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Diversity and Opportunity at the Organizational
Level of Analysis

• Why are women and minorities advancing up
  corporate hierarchies at a seemingly different
  rate from men, especially white men?
• Is there a glass ceiling? If so, what are its
  causes?

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Theories Explaining Race Sex Differences Within
Management

• Different attributes.
• The differential advancement of women and people
  of color up corporate hierarchies can be traced
  to differences between the groups in traits,
  behaviors, attitudes, and socialization necessary
  for being successful as a manager.
• Discrimination.
• Prejudice and discrimination on the part of the
  majority creates differential treatment.
• Systemic barriers.
• Forces stemming from the similarity/attraction
  effect and identification processes result in an
  unequal distribution of interaction and
  communication opportunities.