OB Groups Chapters 9-15 Exam

Personal appeals

friendship, loyalty

performance norms

- look at an acceptable work level or quality (output, how hard to work)

role expectations

- looks at how others believe a person should act in given situation (e.g., doctor, lawyer, mother, professor - your role, title, job determines your behavior)

Social loafing causes

-Dispersion of responsibility -clouds the relationship between -individual inputs and group output -Sucker effect -Free riding

Problem-solving teams

-Members often from the same department -Share ideas or suggest improvements -Rarely given authority to unilaterally implement any of their suggested actions -Often just make recommendations

Contextual components

-Resources = timely info, equipment, staffing, support, general admin assistance -Leadership + Structure = someone to help integrate all the skills, assign roles -Trust = coop, reduced time/effort spent babysitting/monitoring, leads to goal acceptance and commitment (cohesiveness) -Evals and Rewards = reward for both individ and team perfs, reward contributions to team individ and mutual accountability (won't let team down because there's a team goal/reward)

Social loafing prevention

-Set group goals -Increase inter-group competition -Engage in peer evaluation -Select members who have high motivation and like to work in groups -Distribute group rewards based on members' individual contributions -Individual accountability

Work design

-Skill Variety -Task Identity -Task Significance -Job Rotation & Enlargement & Enrichment -Team performance often depends on type of task...

Path-Goal theory

. Leader behavior (eg participative or achievement-oriented) only effective at influencing desired outcomes (perf and satisfaction) when considering the interaction of environmental and personal factors. Leader's primary goal is to remove blockades and help emps to obtain their goal; clear a path. Too complex, too many moving parts, difficult to test/validate makes intuitive sense but without validation, can't be trusted to predict future behavior

Five Stage Model of Group Development

1. forming: uncertainty about purpose, structure, and leadership 2. storming: intragraoup conflict as members resist contraints 3. norming: group is cohesive with strong group identity 4. performing: group fully functional and working toward goals 5. adjourning: for temporary groups: breaking up

Charismatic leadership

A charismatic leader will often gain followers through personality rather than through power or authority. There are four key characteristics that are associated with a charismatic leader. The leader must have vision, expressed as an idealized goal - proposed future better than current conditions The leader must be willing to take on high personal risk and engage in self-sacrifice to achieve the vision. The leader needs to remain sensitive/responsive to the feelings and needs of their followers. The leader may be engaging in behaviors that are perceived as counter to norms, thereby extra-ordinary.

Groupthink

A deterioration of individual's mental efficiency and moral judgments as a result of group pressures

Charisma and situational dependency

Charismatic leaders have shown to be effective but it often depends on the context. This leadership style works best in an environment where it is uncertain, stressful, and where there is some ideology involved. Like during a start-up or when there's a crisis, you need someone to step up, take charge, and inspire people to follow. Often, they want to follow a CEO.

Teams arent always the answer

Complexity of Work: Can the work be done better by more than one person? Common Purpose: Does the work create a common purpose or set of goals for the people in the group that is more than the aggregate of individual goals? Interdependence: Are the members of the group interdependent?

Global implications to communication

Cross-cultural factors can increase difficulty communicating. So it is important for managers to understand the culture in which they are working. Be careful of the words: Make sure they are translatable Make sure they don't hold double meanings (hai means "yes, I'm listening", not "yes, I agree") Mgrs must understand how their tone, body language, and perceptions will differ based on culture (i.e., tolerance for conflict)Context is so important to understanding what is being communicated. In low-context cultures people tend to rely more on words, whereas high-context cultures (Eastern, collectivist) will rely more on the whole situation, one's status, nonverbal behavior (low = mgr barks orders; high = mgr makes suggestions save face, rude to tell emp what to do, directly questions his/her judgments, competence, intelligence, ability)

Fiedler leadership model

Fiedler is trying to match the leader to the context. He proposes that leadership style is fixed. So, if the situation demands a charismatic* leader and your current leader does not exhibit that style you need to change leaders. This leadership style can be determined by taking the LPC questionnaire (least preferred co-worker). Favorable/tolerant of worst coworker = relationship-oriented; Hate the worst coworker = task-oriented. (*A charismatic leader = gains followers through personality rather than through power or authority; has a vision that inspires others) After the leadership style is determined you can match the leader to the situation. There are three dimensions that define the situation to find a successful match: Leader-member relationship - looks at the degree of trust and respect employees have for the leader Amount of task structure - degree to which job assignments are flexible vs SOP Position power - amount of influence the leader has over decisions that represent power such as hiring, firing, and rewards. In Fiedler's model you need to find a leader to fit the situation or change the situation to fit the leader in order to achieve effective leadership for org.

Barriers to effective communication

Filtering - where the sender manipulates or restricts info shared so that it will be seen as more favorable by the receiver/mgr (fear of conveying bad news) Selective perception - done by both sender and receiver; selectively interpret what they see/hear based on their own experiences and attitudes all about interpretation distorts msg Information overload - can't process it all leads to select, ignore, forget info Emotions of the receiver at the time the message is received will influence interpretation of the message (bad mood = more sensitive) Language - clearly, speaking different languages would be tough, but also words will mean different things to different people within same language (age and context affect how words are interpreted teen slang, acronyms) Comm Apprehension - nervous about oral or written modes of comm, reluctant to speak, unable to clearly communicate because of their anxiety

Work team

Generates positive synergy through coordinated effort; individual efforts result in a level of performance that is greater than the sum of those individual inputs

Group Decision Making

Group decision making can be beneficial, but it also has its disadvantages. Groups do tend to generate more complete information and knowledge as well as offer a greater diversity of views and increased creativity. But since more people are involved in the decision there is a risk of conformity, and no clear responsibility for outcomes. Moreover, discussions can be dominated by a few members = "railroading"

Disjunctive task

Group performance is disproportionately dependent on the strongest member Examples:  - a group problem set  - college quiz bowl  - complex math problems One good performer can bring the whole group up

Conjunctive task

Group performance is disproportionately dependent on the weakest member Examples:  - a musical trio  - mountain climbing group  - circus performers One bad performer can bring the whole group down

Effectiveness and Efficiency

In some situations groups are more effective or efficient, and in other situations, individuals are. When it comes to accuracy, groups tend to perform better, but they are not as fast. Groups can be more creative and their decisions may be better accepted because of multi-person buy in.

Two categoies of leadership

Initiating structure is when the leader is able to define and structure their role and that of their employees to work towards the goals of the org. Assign tasks, maintain SOP. Place for everything and everything in its place. Cares about productivity, efficiency, and performance. Consideration is the ability of the leader to gain the trust and respect of their followers and to help them feel appreciated for what they do. Leaders who emphasize this dimension tend to be friendly, approachable, linked to job satisfaction. Both behaviors have proven to be very important in an effective leader.

Work group

Interacts primarily to share information and to make decisions to help one another perform within each member's area of responsibility

Groupthink symptoms

Members are more likely to engage in groupthink when they tend to rationalize away any resistance to assumptions (CONFIRMATION BIAS), and they feel pressure to support the majority. Doubters tend to keep silent and minimize their thoughts on what might be wrong with a proposed solution ("Oh, I'm sure my concern isn't a big deal"), and the rest of the group interprets this to be a yes vote.

Team composition components

Mgr must pay close attention to how a team is put together to assure group cohesiveness and effectiveness. Team must have appropriate KSAs (knowledge, skills, abilities), but also consider personality (specifically conscientiousness and openness to new experiences) so that team can bond, form trust still sometimes difficult getting people to work together and allocating work assignments to fit each individ's work style/prefsMgr must assign the right people to fill the roles needed, maintain adequate diversity so that idea generation occurs, not make the team too big (loafing, lack cohesiveness) or too small (inadequate staffing/mental resources). Mgr must also pay attention to whether members want to be on the team and enjoy teamwork (individual values and attitudes). Org demo - degree to which members of work unit share certain similarities (too low, too much internal/interpersonal conflict; too high = homogenous, get along but lack creativity, more susceptible to groupthink; finding sweet spot difficult to accomplish, which is why studies show mixed results btwn demographic diversity and team perf too much potential for interpersonal conflict)

The Bystander Effect

More people around = shared responsibility, somebody else's problem, I just walked by because that's what HE did; When there's an emergency, people are slower to respond: I thought someone else would call/intervene... I assumed other people were more qualified to help... want to avoid responsibility for taking control of situation

Turning indiviudals into team players

Selection: Need employees who have the interpersonal as well as technical skills Training: Workshops on problem-solving, communications, negotiation, conflict-management and coaching skills Rewards: Encourage cooperative efforts rather than individual ones

Electronic communication

Over 70% of all communication in an organization is done electronically and that # is likely rising. PRO: efficient for orgs because of the quick turn around, written record, and low cost of distribution CON:msg is often misinterpreted, lacks nonverbal or emotional cues, harder to decode Interpreted as being insensitive (some prefer personal touch... "say it to my face"... especially when it's an important emotionally-charged msg) Overloads readers causing frustration or anxiety - emails just keep piling up, a million more to-dos DECLARE EMAIL BANKRUPTCY Tends to make the sender feel more removed from the situation and it may remove their inhibitions and cause them to write things they normally would not have said Emails may be monitored, or forwarded to additional and unintended recipients

Written communication

PRO: Tangible, easy to go back to verify, written format often forces one to be more logical and clear, hence written vs oral exams!!! CON: More time consuming, doesn't provide immediate feedback, and might not even be read Don't know if it reached intended party or was properly understood Easy to store allows for future verification and potential clarification which is in itself a problem outdated, static, constant, open to interpretation without any additional insight/help what is it that the original author meant?

Effective power bases

Personal Power (Expert and referent power) tend to be more effective when goals are related to job satisfaction, performance and commitment. Reward and legitimate (formal) power do not seem related to organizational outcomes. We have seen that coercive power tends to be negatively related to work outcomes such as employee satisfaction and commitment. Backfires!

Why do people join groups?

Security - reduce uncertainty of standing alone, strength in numbers Status - group that viewed as important by others Self-esteem - provide people with sense of self-worth Affiliation - social needs (belong - relatedness) Power - ties in with status; power in numbers (marches, unions) Goal achievement - pool talents and knowledge to accomplish a task

Servant leadership

Servant leaders don't use power to achieve their goal, instead they focus on persuading followers. Less about articulating a vision, more about taking interest in emps and going extra mile to make sure they're satisfied with opportunities for growth, self-actualization, etc. The effects of servant leadership include higher levels of commitment to the supervisor, self-efficacy, and perceptions of justice, all of which are related to organizational citizenship behavior. Helps w/creativity by encouraging emps to grow/develop and advance.

Impact of status

Status can impact norms within a group where high-status members don't feel the need to conform to group norms, but can pressure others to conform. Second, it can impact group interaction where members who hold more status tend to be more assertive and can hinder new ideas being presented.

Process components

Teams must have a strong commitment to a common purpose that provides direction, but yet incorporates reflexivity so that plans can be adjusted if necessary. The goals of the team must be set up so they are specific & measurable, realistic yet challenging in order to keep the team members engaged, providing them with a clear, orienting direction for effort. Members must believe they can succeed (confidence in team's KSAs) leads to increased motivation and persistence (team efficacy). They must have a mental map of how to get the work done, like shared team-level cognition all thinking about same prize and how they need to accomplish it, what each individ needs to do helps to prevent social loafing by promoting mutual accountability through everyone knowing their parts (individ contribution) and how it fits into the whole (overall importance to the team) Finally, members must navigate through (relationship vs task???) conflict and to encourage a healthy and effective group.

Leadership

The ability to influence a group toward the achievement of a vision or a set of goals. A leader does not have to be someone who holds a formal position or title. Leaders emerge and provide vision and motivation to those around them. They challenge status quo, inspire others through their compelling visions, and communication skills. Leaders set a direction, aligning and motivating others through vision of a compelling alternative future (empowering others by showing them how working together, collectively, interdependently can make a difference) VS Mgmt deals with the complexity of the organization and works with planning, organizing, and controlling to bring about order and consistency in the org.  Even though the two roles have different areas of focus, both are necessary for org success.

Behavioral theories

The behavioral theories of leadership focuses on the premise that behaviors can be taught (vs traits, which says NO), so leaders are trained not born.

Are charismatic leaders born or made?

The charismatic traits are often traits that a leader is born with, thus continuing the debate whether leaders are born or developed. Project a powerful, confident, dynamic presence lean in, maintain eye contact, have a relaxed posture, be animated

Size

The larger the group the harder it is to get contributions from all members in a timely manner. In contrast, small groups can be limited in their problem-solving ability and the availability of resources could be limited. There are some detrimental behaviors that can occur around group size as groups get larger social loafing can occur (some individuals may put in less effort because they think others in the group will make up for them)

Leader-member exchange theory

The premise is that because of time pressures, leaders very quickly form special relationships with a small group of employees, known as the "in-group". This group tends to be like the leader in terms of gender, race, age and other characteristics. The cool kids. This group quickly becomes part of the leader's trusted inner circle of communication and will receive more time and attention from the leader. Simply put: a clique. The "outgroup" is made of people who tend to be different than the leader and correspondingly receive fewer exchanges. As a result they are more likely to experience stress because of their relationship and may retaliate against the organization as they become discontent with their assignments. Important to mention that this all happens IMPLICITLY, without the leader's intention or planning. Just how humans operate. Brings in closer those s/he wants to be around TRUSTED VS INSECURE.... Think of that scene from the Office... my apologies for the low quality video... Importantly, the characteristics of the followers are what drives the decision-making with the leader Anyone ever experienced anything like this? Been inside or outside of the circle? Were you aware of it at the time? Do you think you're more likely to be aware of the circle if you're inside or outside of it? Why? Probably depends on race and/or gender. All men in that video, right?

Role

The set of expected behavior patterns that are attributed to occupying a given position in a social unit

Virtual teams

This type of team uses computer technology to bring people together to achieve a common goal. Typically these types of teams get right to work with little socializing, but need to overcome time and space constraints to accomplish the task. In order to be effective, virtual teams need to find ways to establish trust among the members close monitoring (opposite of trust?) and results need to be publicized.

Groups

Two or more individuals, interacting and interdependent, who come together to achieve particular objectives

Power tactics

Used to translate power bases into specific actions that influence others Some are more effective than others

Communication

Verbal = make a noise that's supposed to mean something, convey some sort of info, and another person hears the message and is able to interpret/extract intended meaning = the transfer and understanding of meaning.Sender takes intended msg (originates as thought in your head), encodes it either through verbal or written methods, then passes it along through chosen channel to the receiver. Receiver then attempts to decode msg and extract intended meaning. The process is hindered by noise (distraction, not paying attention) or communication barriers (wrong language). Feedback is the check on how successful the sender was in passing the correct message to the receiver and if receiver interpreted it correctly.

Deviant workplace behavior

Voluntary behavior that violates significant organizational norms and, in doing so, threatens the well-being of the organization or its members. Likely to flourish when: people are in groups, and supported by group norms

Additive task

When all group members perform similar jobs and group performance is a sum of individual performance Social loafing leads to poor group performance Examples: -pushing car out of a ditch - licking stamps - relay race*

Comparing work groups and work teams

Work groups and work teams differ on their goals, level of synergy, accountability and skills. Work groups share info while work teams work together toward a collective performance (merely help each other vs act in unison, joint effort, collaboration). The synergy in groups is neutral whereas work teams have a positive synergy. Accountability can be individual in both but it is more often mutual in teams. The skills in a group can be varied whereas the skills on a team need to be complementary.

Team

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

Coalitions

asking others for help to convince target

Legitimacy

authority based on org position

Mutual accountability

binding each other together, sense of interdependence (can't do this without you)

Nonverbal communication

can be a nod, a look, or the crossing of arms. Supports other channels of communication and helps to express emotions and feelings. However, it is often riddled with misperceptions, which can greatly influence the receiver's interpretation of the message. Types of nonverbal comm: body movements (tapping your fingers), tone and emphasis, facial expressions, posture, even physical distance (distance placed between the sender and receiver can express whether you are interested in the project or if you feel more powerful than the other person. This will vary by cultural norms.) Higher status often more relaxed... think of being tense during job interview, thinking about body language/movements.

Minimizing Groupthink

can be minimized by limiting the group size, having a leader who actively seeks input from all members and by appointing a devil's advocate, or someone who is always trying to look at things from a different perspective.

Self-Managed work teams

comprised of a group of people who perform highly related or interdependent jobs, and take on the responsibilities of their former supervisors. They implement solutions and take collective responsibility.

Key components of effective teams

context, composition, process, work design

role perception

each individual has their own point of view of how they are supposed to act in the context of the group (learn how to act/behave based on cues and modeling after others with more experience role modeling when unsure again, group projects?)

role identity

each role is assigned a certain identity that explains/shapes expected attitudes and behaviors (regular emp (fun) vs interviewer (serious) roles on group projects???)

Coercive power

emps fear negative consequences if they don't do what they are told (punishment - dismiss, suspend, demote, remove something of value)

Teams

enhance the use of employee talents ; make org more flexible and responsive to change ; help to keep employees engaged in their work ; CAN increase employee participation in decision making and therefore their motivation. However, teams are not always effective, and so it is important to take a look at how to deploy teams effectively. In some instances, teams take longer than individs to come to a decision, they're less efficient, and not always the right tool for the job... it all depends on the task and team context, composition, and processes!

Inspirational appeals

est commitment based on appealing to individ's values, needs, hopes, aspirations

Ingratiatio

flattery, praise

Cross-Functional teams

gather workers from many different work areas to come together to accomplish a task that needs to utilize multiple perspectives. Good for developing new ideas and solving problems or coordinating complex projects. Given that their tasks are normally complex and diverse, it may take some time for the group to develop into an effective and productive team.

Status

group property referring to the position or rank given to groups or their members as a way to differentiate members; can influence behavior and is a significant motivator.

Transformational leaders

help followers to look at the bigger picture and commit to the good of the organization, even if it means setting their own goals aside. They inspire others.

resource allocation norms

how things are distributed (have and have nots)

Dark side of charismatic leadership

if the leader misuses their skill set. In the past we have seen situations where leaders have abused the company resources and used them for their own benefit. Some leaders with strong charisma have remade the companies in their own image and left no plans for succession when they leave. Ego-driven narcissists. In many cases the charismatic leader lets their own goals override those of the organization, thus creating a negative situation for the organization.

Consultation

involve target in decision-making processes

How transformational leadership works

it encourages creativity in the workforce which spurs on new ideas and new ways of doing things. It also helps followers to pursue ambitious goals with develop a stronger commitment to achieving them. These two benefits are achieved because the vision of the leader stirs up commitment from the followers and increases their trust in the leader. Shows confidence in workers, creates a self-fulfilling prophecy, gives them feelings of self-efficacy... care more about the org if the org cares about you... sense of reciprocity.... Gets them believing in themselves and the org + its mission/goals.

Transactional leaders

leaders motivate their followers towards goals set by clarifying roles and what they need to do to reach those goals. Do X and you'll receive Y.

Influence tactics

legitimacy, pressure, rational persuasion, coalitions, inspiriational appeals, consultation, exchange, personal appeals, ingratiation.

Rational persuasion

logical arguments, evidence

Trait theory

looks at personality, social, physical or intellectual traits that differentiate leaders from non-leaders. Align these personality traits with Big Five traits can predict (likelihood of) emergence of leaders Some essential leadership traits include extraversion, conscientiousness, openness, and emotional intelligence (EI), although the link between EI and leadership has not been fully explored. One must have just the right amount of assertiveness, confidence. Empathy = emotionally responsive, sense others' need inspires others to follow Traits tend to predict the emergence of a leader rather than the effectiveness of a leader.

Complementary skills

more than sum of its parts

Identification-based trust

mutual understanding of each other's intentions, roles, expectations difficult to achieve without F2F contact think about making online purchases. How do you know it's legit? Look for a few key symbols? What's the equivalent in developing trust with a virtual coworker? Stay true to your word, make a good first impression, deliver when expected... trust takes time... some even argue that trust needs touch. As networked communication becomes increasingly common, the challenge is to be able to build trust between people who only interact online. Initially it appears that many of the same leadership concepts apply, however, additional writing and interpersonal skills may be needed to enhance effectiveness. Your own experiences of leadership online through your VTs???

Social Loafing

occurs when individuals don't work as hard in groups as they would on an individual basis... Ringelmann's rope pulling example initially the group increased productivity, but as the group grew larger, each individual contributed less to the group due to some members wanting to avoid being the sucker (belief that others weren't contributing equitably) VS let others take responsibility for the outcome free riding (riding on coat-tails/efforts of others)

role conflict

occurs when the expected behaviors don't match up with the behaviors being exhibited (some roles are (in)compatible Family: be a good father, come home early VS Career: stay at work, do your job)

Expert power

or the individual's special skills or knowledge (specialized experts, mechanics, technicians, etc)

Referent power

or the personal traits or resources he or she offers to others (admire, desire to be like that person, Like Mike... why endorsements work)

Context

physical space, various resources, general climate (basically where and how the work takes place)

Brainstorming

process aimed at generating ideas where all ideas are welcomed and group discussion creates an environment that overcomes pressure for conformity. Individs tend to create more ideas but not as creative... lack that ability to be inspired, bounce ideas of each other.

Most effective tactics

rational persuasion, inspirational appeals, consultation

Power

refers to the capacity one person has over the other person to get the individual to do something. Inherent in this definition is the idea of dependency. The stronger the relationship or the dependency that one person (B) has when the other (A) possesses something B wants or requires, the greater the dependency on that (A) person. A controls something B desires. Power comes from a lack of alternatives (you need that item) AND importance/sig of issue/topic (you need it bad and nothing else will suffice)

Diversity

refers to the degree to which members of a group are similar or different from one another. These differences, which may be cultural or demographic, can increase group conflict in the short term, but once the conflicts are resolved, the group may actually perform better than a non-diverse group. Two types of conflict: Interpersonal - not getting along with others (counterproductive) Task - disagree over how to proceed/handle task (productive)

Exchange

reward target for compliance

Group properties

roles norms status size cohesiveness diversity

Norms

standards of behavior that are acceptable by group members.

Attribution theory of leadership

states that it is hard to attribute outcomes to leadership and that often, leadership is more about performance than outcomes.

Status characteristics theory

suggests that status is derived by one of three sources; the power a person has over others (control valuable resources); the ability to contribute to group goals (high flyer); or personal characteristics (those who win beauty pageants).

Contingency theory

takes the context in which the leader is operating into consideration and tries to isolate the conditions that allow for effective leadership.

Reward power

the ability to distribute rewards that others see as valuable, encourages them to accomplish the goals or tasks to get the reward (reward)

Cohesiveness

the degree to which group members want to stay together and are motivated to work together as a group. Band together, feel close, feel like a single unit. Managers can do a lot to encourage group cohesiveness.If performance norms are high then a more cohesive group will rise to the occasion and will achieve a high level of productivity. So why is #4 the lowest?... Think of Hawthorne studies.

Legitimate power

the formal authority to control and use resources is based on the person's position in the formal hierarchy (principal or army captain); you comply purely because of their position within org structure.

Synergy

the interaction or cooperation of two or more organizations, substances, or other agents to produce a combined effect greater than the sum of their separate effects (increased output despite constant input)

Oral communication

the spoken word. Advantages Speed Rapid feedback Simple to correct Disadvantages Potential for distorted message when passed through a number of people Game of telephone? Transmits only portion of intended message

Encouraging Cohesiveness

there are many ways to encourage cohesiveness in a group. Cohesiveness is facilitated when groups are kept small, all members have an understanding of group goals, the group is encouraged to spend time together, and the perceived status of the group is increased. In addition, by stimulating competition with other groups, members will find ways to work together. Managers can also reward the group as a whole and not just individuals within the group. Finally they can physically isolate the group by sending them on a retreat or giving them their own work space. These actions can significantly influence group cohesiveness.

Pressure

threats/warnings

appearance norms

what to wear

Groupshift

where discussions cause group members to become more convinced in their original beliefs, exaggerated confidence in initial position. Toss an idea out there, it gains traction, and then the group runs with it beyond what original contributor ever expected. This can cause a shift to a more conservative or risky decision. WHY?... Group decisions free any single member from assuming responsibility/accountability = diffusion of responsibility.

Evaluation of transformational leadership

works better when the leader is able to directly interact with the workforce, finger on the pulse. The GLOBE study links elements of transformational leadership with effective leadership, regardless of country. According to the study, various elements of transformational leadership including vision, foresight, providing encouragement, trustworthiness, dynamism, positiveness, and proactiveness are universal effective. However, how vision is formed and communicated can differ across cultures.