Ch. 8 Groups and Teams

Forming

-Group members tend to be uncertain and anxious about their roles, whose in charge and the group's goals -mutual trust is low

virtual team

-Members convene and work together through computer mediation rather than interacting face-to-face . -Can accomplish same tasks as face-to-face teams, but are free from geographic barriers.

Storming

-Time of testing -individuals try to determine how they fit into the power structure -procrastination may occur

Performing

-activity focused on solving task problems -climate of open communication, strong cooperation, and lots of helping behavior

Norming

-questions about authority and power are resolved through unemotional, matter-of-fact group discussion -group cohesiveness: the "we" feeling begins binding group members together

Adjourning

-work is done -time to move on to other things

-reduced real estate costs -ability to leverage diverse KSAs over geography and time -reduced commuting and travel expenses -reduced work-life conflicts -ability to attract and retain talent

Advantages of Virtual Teams

-getting to know each other -discovering what's considered acceptable behavior -determining the group's real task -defining group rules

Challenges for Forming Stage

-holding team together may over supersede task accomplishment -sense of cohesiveness may discourage minority views -can result in false sense of team maturity

Challenges for Norming Stage

-continuing efforts to improve relationships and performance

Challenges for Performing Stage

-hostility and infighting -formation of coalitions and cliques -clarification of members' expectations

Challenges for Storming Stage

-difficult to establish cohesion, work satisfaction, trust, cooperative behavior, and commitment to team goals -cultural differences -differences in local laws and customs -lack of nonverbal cues -lack of collegiality

Disadvantages of Virtual Teams

water cooler effect

Informal method for sharing knowledge, generally referring to random interactions among people.

it's important to discuss feelings and emotions constructively before reframing the experience and taking responsibility for what happened

Reina Model to rebuilding trust

1. Forming 2. Storming 3. Norming 4. Performing 5. Adjourning

Stages of Group Development Process

Team

a small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, performance goals, and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable

self-designing teams

have all the characteristics of self-managing teams, but they can also control and change the design of the teams themselves, the tasks they do and how and when they do them, and the membership of the teams.

traditional work groups

least autonomous; two or more people work together to achieve a shared goal. No direct responsibility or control over work, but responsible "executing the task"

employee involvement teams

meet on company time weekly or monthly to provide advice or make suggestions to management on issues (ex)plant safety, customer relations, or product quality. But no authority to make decisions or take ownership of the process

self-managing teams

members manage and control all major tasks related to product/service production without prior management approval

semi-autonomous work groups

not only provide advice and suggestions to management but also have the authority to make decisions and solve problems related to the major tasks required to produce a product or service

-keep group small -redefine roles to make slackers more visible -increase accountability by making expectations clear -make rewards contingent on an individual's performance contributions

preventing social loafing

social loafing

tendency of people to work less hard in a group than they would individually -individual contributions are less noticeable in a group -some prefer to see others carry the workload

inter-team dynamics

the relationships between groups cooperating and competing with one another