Group Dynamics

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Group Dynamics Team Concepts

• HRT 383

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Groups and Teams Why are they important to
Organizations?

• Teams are common in todays workforce
• Workforce Readiness reports a need for team
  attributes (Harold ONeil, Jr.)
• Within organizations, there are a variety of work
  groups, but not all are teams
• Groups and teams can be formal or informal,
  ongoing or ad hoc, emerging or established, or
  even virtual in nature
• The success or failure of an organization is a
  result of the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of
  teams within the organization

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Group Dynamic/Teams Concept Map
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Group Dynamic/Teams Concept Map
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What is a Group?

• In organizations, a work group is
• a number of persons, usually reporting to a
  common superior and
• having some face-to-face interaction,
• who have some degree of interdependence in
  carrying out tasks for the purpose of
• achieving organizational goals.
• Wendell French
• Cecil Bell

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When is a Group a Team?

• In organizations, a team is
• an energetic group of people
• committed to common objectives
• who work well together and enjoy doing so.
• As a result, they produce high quality results.
• Carol Roberts

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What are Group Dynamics?

• Group dynamics are the characteristics of groups
  and/or teams that are studied in order to analyze
  the effectiveness or dysfunction of the group or
  team
• Psychology studies the individual
• Social Science studies the group
• Adapted from
• Daniel Levi

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Stages of Development for Teams

• Teams go through the following stages of
  development
• Forming
• then
• Storming
• then
• Norming
• then
• Performing
• and
  eventually
• 
  Adjourning
• Bruce Tuckman
• Mary Ann Jenson

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Group Dynamic/Teams Concept Map
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Group Dynamic/Teams Concept Map
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Task Relationship Behaviors

• Task
• Orientation
• Organization
• Open Data Flow
• Problem-Solving Strategies

• Relationship
• Dependency
• Conflict
• Cohesion
• Interdependence
• John Jones
• William Bearley

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Task Relationship Behaviors

• Form a Group Development Matrix
• As teams mature, they show movement from the
  lower left-hand corner to the upper right-hand
  corner
• Performance measured in two basic ways
  happens in the upper right quadrant
• John Jones
• William Bearley

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Team Roles and Responsibilities

• Well-defined, clear and balanced roles and
  responsibilities are characteristics of an
  effective team
• Thomas Harvey
• Bonita Drolet
• Examples include
• Facilitator
• Timekeeper
• Recorder
• Process-observer
• Facilities
• Materials
• Editor
• Others?

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Types of Teams

• There are many different types of teams for
  example
• Functional operating
• Cross-functional
• Self-managing
• Self-defining
• Top executive
• Virtual teams
• Gary Yukl
• In the study of Group Dynamics the focus is
  primarily on general characteristics that make
  teams effective or dysfunctional (ineffective)

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Common Characteristics(From Gary Yukl)
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Types of Teams

• Functional Operating Team
• Formal Leader
• Members with similar, but specialized functions
• Example Maintenance crew, SWAT team, sports
• Cross-Functional Team
• Usually has a formal leader
• Members with different functions various
  stakeholders
• Example Team to begin HACCP or TQM program, or
  to kick-off a new promotion

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Types of Teams

• Self-Managing Team
• No formal leader - leadership may rotate
• Membership similar functions
• External leader, in the same organization, to
  direct, coach, support, and delegate
• 382 is similar to this model

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Types of Teams

• Self-Defining Team
• No formal leader - leadership may rotate
• Facilitator acts as leader role rotates
• Membership similar goals or business purpose,
  but specialization of roles is possible
• Examples Moosewood Restaurant, 383
• Top Executive Team
• Board
• Cabinet

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Effective Team Characteristics

• Open flow of data
• Effective problem-solving behaviors
• Group cohesion
• Interdependence
• Recognition of common performance goals
• These are represented

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Group Dynamic/Teams Concept Map
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Effective Team Characteristics continued

• Mutual trust
• Open and direct conflict
• Commitment
• Accountability
• Attention to results
• These are represented

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Group Dynamic/Teams Concept Map
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Dysfunctional Teams are Less Effective

• The Five Dysfunctions of Teams are
• Absence of Mutual Trust
• Fear of Open/Direct Conflict
• Lack of Commitment
• Avoidance of Accountability
• Inattention to Results
• 
  Patrick Lencioni

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Group Dynamic/Teams Concept Map
Absence of
Fear of
Lack of
Avoidance of
Lack of
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The Study of Teams

• Much has been research and presented on
• Teamwork
• Team Leadership
• Team Development
• The evolution of teams in organizations now has
  newer information on
• Team Maintenance
• Team Followership

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The Team Player

• Team Followership is
• A focus on team members
• Members, when not performing in leadership roles
• Team Development
• Team Player Attributes
• Workforce Readiness (ONeil) uses work place
  data to capture information related to
  individuals and teams
• A list of knowledge, skills, and attitudes (KSA)
  of the individual was generated

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The Team Player

• ONeil use 6 categories
• Adaptability
• Coordination
• Decision-making
• Interpersonal skills
• Leadership
• Communication
• Maxwell uses 17 attributes

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For You?

• When you are not the leader, you are player
• Especially early in your career, you will spend
  far more time as a member than a leader
• It is important to understand and be able to play
  either role well!
• Questions?

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Sources Cited

• Doyle, Michael, and David Straus. 1993. How to
  make meeting work! New York NY Berkley
  Publishing Group.
• French, Wendell L. 1998. Human resource
  management. 4th ed. In Organizational
  development. 6th ed. Wendell L. French and Cecil
  H. Bell, Jr., 155. Upper Saddle River, NJ
  Prentice Hall.
• Harvey, Thomas R., and Bonita Drolet. 1994.
  Building teams, building people Expanding the
  fifth resource. Lancaster, PA Technomic
  Publishing Company.
• Jones, John E., and William L Bearley.
  Facilitating team development A view from the
  field. Group Facilitation, no. 3 (Spring 2001)
  56-65.
• Lencioni, Patrick. 2002. The five dysfunctions
  of a team A leadership fable. San Francisco,
  CA Jossey-Bass.
• Levi, Daniel. 2001. Group dynamics for teams.
  Thousand Oaks, CA Sage Publications, Inc.
• ONeil, Harold F., Jr. (ed.) 1997. Workforce
  readiness competencies and assessment. Mahwah,
  N.J Lawrence Erlbaum Associates
• Roberts, Carol. 2004. University of La Verne
  spring 2004 road show notebook. Section 5
  Teams. La Verne, CA University of La Verne.
• Tuckman, Bruce W. 2001. Developmental sequence
  in small groups. Group Facilitation, no. 3
  (Spring 2001) 66-81.
• Yukl, Gary A. 2002. Leadership in
  organizations. 5th ed. Upper Saddle River, New
  Jersey Prentice-Hall, Inc.