Psychology for Life and Work

1. Psychology for Life and Work Chapter 7 Groups

2. Groups When I say “leader,” I mean not so much the person with the title, but a person who is going to get the project done. She lives, eats, and breathes the project. She is going to get it done or die in the attempt. At any given time, she has her finger on the pulse of the project ... — Fergus O’Connell, How to Run Successful Projects (O’Connell 34)

3. Objective Assess how effective group functioning is achieved through productive group dynamics, communication, conflict resolution, and effective leadership.

4. Types of Groups • A group is a collection of people brought together for a reason or purpose • Group membership is one way that individuals can define themselves • People in groups tend to behave differently than they do as individuals • There are many types and subtypes of groups • Groups come together for many reasons • Groups may remain together for varying lengths of time

5. Types of Groups • Groups are collections of people that can be classified as aggregates, primary groups, secondary groups, and formal category groups • An aggregate is a category of people who share characteristics such as gender, age, race, or ethnicity, but do not necessarily know and interact with each other

6. Types of Groups • An aggregate may or may not also be a crowd—a random assortment of individuals in the same place at the same time • A crowd is a special type of group that exhibits its own patterns of behavior • Crowds generally gather for a purpose, such as a ball game, political rally, concert, or public display, and then they disperse

7. Types of Groups • Herd or mob behavior –when people in a group do things as a group that they would not do as individuals • Herd behavior sometimes turns violent and can evolve into rioting • People in crowds often lose their inhibitions and exhibit reduced intellect and moral standards • Crowds seek instant gratification, feel a sense of omnipotence, want leadership, and are easily influenced by feeling and images

8. Types of Groups • People tend to make “moral” decisions when by themselves, but the same people favor “practical” decisions when they are part of a group • However, these “practical” decisions may not truly be practical

9. Primary & Secondary Groups • Primary group • a.k.a., personal groups • Relatively small • Involve people who interact directly with each other, such as families, gangs, or cliques of friends

10. Primary & Secondary Groups • Peer groups • Special kinds of primary groups that, particularly during adolescence, exert significant influence on individual development • Groups of people of the same rank or status • Several functions: • Offering a supportive social environment outside of the home and immediate family • Allowing individuals to form emotional bonds outside the family • Providing a space for individuals to experiment with cultural values and to reinforce or resist family practices and behaviors

11. Primary & Secondary Groups • Peer groups direct individual behavior, either to conform with or deviate from the norms of family or society, through the use of peer pressure • Peer pressure can be a positive or negative influence, depending on the type of behaviors that result from interaction with the group

12. Primary & Secondary Groups • Secondary groups • Involve people who are not emotionally involved with each other • May be large or small • Often contain multiple primary groups • Convene for practical purposes, such as church congregations, employees of a company, members of a department, military units, political groups, or students in a class

13. Primary & Secondary Groups • Secondary groups • Interactions more formal and ritualized than interactions between members of primary groups • May become primary groups if members bond with each other

14. Formal Groups • In larger organizations situations and needs may require the formation of various formal groups • task or project groups • ad hoc committees • standing committees • cross-functional groups • departmental subgroups • virtual teams

15. Formal Groups • Task group • A temporary group which is formed to perform in a specific task, project, or collective organized event • Examples of projects which a task group might perform include constructing a bridge • Ad hoc committee • A type of task group, is formed to complete a specific task and disbanded after the task is complete and reported • Examples include emergency response teams, event organizing committees, and investigative committees

16. Formal Groups • Standing committees • Permanent groups established to perform ongoing duties • Within a university or company, standing committees might address ongoing functions like budgets, external relations, or student or employee issues • Cross-functional groups • Groups that are assembled from various departments and selected individuals with diverse skills and experiences • These individuals are brought together to accomplish a given task or solve a particular problem, and the groups may exist on an ad hoc or standing basis

17. Formal Groups • Departmental subgroups • Specialized divisions within an organization • Subgroups focus on different specific areas and therefore use different criteria for evaluating performance and success • Departmental subgroups of a corporation might include operations, research and development, accounting, human resources, and engineering

18. Formal Groups • Virtual teams • Involve individuals who work in different locations, but maintain contact and communication with other group members through technological means such as telephone, Internet, fax machine, or e-mail • Members of an online class represent a virtual group • Many companies use remote workers to conduct daily business • Use of telecommuting lessens cost of conventional office space and equipment and the costs of physical commuting • Teleworkers also benefit from closeness to their families

19. What is a Team? • Aspecialized form of formal group that may include elements of the types of groups (aggregate, primary, secondary, category), but they have a distinct set of roles and their own type of structure • Typically include aggregate group elements only incidentally, and primary group elements when the team has significant longevity • Typically develop out of a secondary or category group • Ideal team must include both standard members and a team leader responsible for keeping the rest of the team motivated and on track to achieve the team’s mission

20. What is a Team? • Communication is a vital element • A team typically requires interaction between all members, often according to formal methods (including documentation) • A team’s mission is its defining characteristic, because a team is a group formed with a goal in mind • The goal may not initially be very well defined, so the team’s first group task is to clarify it, and then to establish a plan toward its accomplishment

21. What is a Team? • Work group • Two or more people who interact and share some task goals • Group members have individual accountability and generate individual work products • Groups generally have a strong leader who delegates work • Group meetings tend to be efficient and agenda driven • Performance of group members is measured according to their influence on others • Team • Two or more people working in a coordinated way to achieve the same goal and generate collective work products • The actions of team members are coordinated and interdependent, with each member fulfilling a specific role • Share leadership, and members work together with individual and mutual accountability toward a specific team purpose • Team meetings tend to be open-ended • The performance of team members is measured according to work products

22. What is a Team? • Teams exist for numerous reasons, such as to do work, make decisions, or represent constituencies • The ideal size of a working team (as compared to a sports team, for example) is between 6 and 12 members

23. What is a Team? • 17 characteristics of effective work teams • Common Identity • Common Tasks • A sense of potency & success • Team members • Individual contributions • Balanced roles • Building trust • Relationships balanced with purpose • Open/direct conflict • Common base of information • Asking and listening • Healthy stress levels • Toleration of errors • Flexibility & responsiveness • Structure & content • Group Maintenance • Outside forces

24. Leadership & Teams • A team’s leader: • has a primary role in the creation and ongoing coherence of the team • gauges members’ assets and liabilities and assign them the right roles, and also to keeps them motivated and in motion

25. Leadership & Teams • Sometimes, leaders fail to delegate the work of a team to its members • Leadership failures often derive from flaws in the clarity of the team’s goals—which should provide a clear sense of the point toward which the team is moving • Once a goal is established, the leader directs the team to build a plan • Tasks are defined and parceled out according to what needs doing most, and who is most capable of getting something done • Leaders overcome this challenge by prioritizing, planning, communicating, clearly defining roles and responsibilities among team members, and building trust

26. Leadership & Teams • Another team problem is attributable to the team’s leadership is unequal work distribution • Some members may take on less work than they should, and others may claim far too much • Low-productivity members who fail to complete their tasks can move more motivated members to take on a greater share of the work, leading to delays, resentment, or a team’s disintegration. • Social loafing • The leader can resolve the problem by clearly laying out the tasks necessary to achievement of the team goal and assigning them to individual members

27. Managing Group Commitments • People may feel conflict or competition among the groups to which they belong • Involvement in multiple groups may lead to many time-consuming meetings and demands

28. Managing Group Commitments • The frustration that results from varied commitments may be reduced through good organizational, time management, and stress management skills • Organizational skills include filing, action plans, goal setting, and to-do lists • Time management tools include schedules, planners, and timers • Techniques for improving use of one’s time include prioritizing activities, scheduling work in manageable periods of time, delegating work, and avoiding interruptions.

29. Managing Group Commitments • Stress management is related to time management, because believing that there is not enough time to fulfill all of one’s responsibilities can be a major cause of stress • Stress can result from conflicting demands, poor scheduling, health challenges, and issues of work-life balance • Some ways to manage work-related stress include: • Getting proper nutrition and exercise • Getting enough sleep • Maintaining a clean and tidy environment • Communicating effectively • Planning, problem solving, and decision making • Delegating tasks and responsibilities • Using checklists and status reports to track progress and successes

30. Group Functioning • A group is a collection of people brought together for a reason or purpose • The purpose may be a goal that the individuals in the group wish to achieve, or it may be a more general defining element • Members of a group distinguish themselves from other groups and expect certain behaviors from members of their own group that they would not expect from non-members • Group members interact with each other and with people outside the groups in different ways

31. Group Functioning • Everyone participates at one time or another in both groups and team, but the terms are not synonymous • Each is formed differently and each has a different function • A group is an independent set of persons within a defined boundary who share some common characteristic • A team is a set of persons who are dependent on one another and share a common purpose

32. Group Functioning • Psychological processes of a group are twofold (Levi): • Identification, the sense that individuals in the group have of being a part of a whole • Social representation, the group identity that they present to outsiders of their beliefs, interests, and all other things that constitute the feeling that they are part of a group. • Both of these elements may shift and change over time, as when a group moves from being a diffuse collective to become a collection of good friends who look after each other

33. Group Development • Bruce Tuckman’s (1965) Developmental Sequence in Small Groups • Distinguished between interpersonal and task stages of group development • Interpersonal relationships, including interactions among group members (group leaders, subordinates), define a group’s structure • Tasks are the functions or jobs that the group performs

34. Group Development • Tuckman identified four stages of group development: • (1) orientation/testing/dependence • (2) conflict • (3) group cohesion • (4) functional role relatedness • Shorthand for these four stages: forming, storming, norming, and performing • These stages are also called Tuckman’s theory

35. Group Development • Forming • The stage when the group comes together and members get to know one another • Involves the structural elements of testing and dependence, and the task activity of orientation to the group’s task

36. Group Development • Storming • The stage during which members compete for leadership and consider which processes they will follow • Naturally involves conflict and resistance to the group’s influence and task • The structural activity of storming is the conflict within the group, and the task activity is the emotional response of group members to the demands of the task • There may be friction and fighting between group members until roles are assigned and accepted

37. Group Development • Norming • The point at which agreement is reached about how the group will operate • Conflict is resolved during the norming stage, when group members have formed bonds and can interact more cohesively • Team spirit and a common goal emerge • Group structure is defined through member bonding, development of standards, and assignment of roles • Norming task activities include open communication, cooperation, support, and exchange of opinions, ideas, and interpretations

38. Group Development • Performing • Occurs when the group operates effectively and fulfills its objectives • During the performing stage, members do the work of their assigned roles • The structure of the group can support task performance • Solutions emerge, and group energy is directed at the task

39. Group Development • In 1977, Tuckman & Jensen confirmed Tuckman’s observations of the first 4 stages and revealed a 5th stage: • Adjourning • The process of dissolving the group & letting members move on • Associated with emotions and anxiety about termination of the group • The task activities associated with this stage are disengagement and self-evaluation • Of special importance is the use of the adjourning stage to identify what has been learned

40. Group Member Roles • Members of groups interact differently depending on the situation and type of group, and also depending on what roles they play within the groups • Primary groups may be less structured, but individuals all assume particular roles, such as parent, child, sibling, grandparent, friend, confidant, or rival • Secondary groups tend to have more formalized roles and patterns of expected behavior

41. Group Member Roles • Group members’ roles: • The initiator-contributor generates ideas, offers solutions, and attempts to create decision-making situations • The information-seeker asks for more information regarding the group’s tasks and offers information if needed to make decisions • The opinion-seeker is concerned with group members’ opinions and feelings regarding the group’s tasks • The information-giver uses facts and personal anecdotes that are relevant to accomplishing the group’s tasks • The opinion-giver expresses statements and beliefs regarding the group’s tasks and members’ attitudes • The elaborator clarifies ideas and suggestions offered by the group and attempts to predict the outcome of the group’s efforts

42. Group Member Roles • Group members’ roles: • The coordinator constructs and integrates relationships between ideas and suggestions • Theorientersummarizes the goals and activities of the group, identifies departures from group goals, and questions group direction • The evaluator-critic gauges accomplishments and checks for group consensus • The energizer motivates the group to action in order to accomplish the group’s goals and tasks • The procedural-technician takes care of organizational duties to facilitate the smooth operation of the group • The recorder keeps accurate notes on group and member progress

43. Group Member Roles • Social roles facilitate the operation of the group through the establishment and maintenance of administrative and social functions • The encourager offers praise and support for the members’ efforts • The harmonizer mediates during differences of opinion and offers suggestions to explore and reconcile those differences • The compromiser admits mistakes and offers compromises when individual ideas conflict

44. Group Member Roles • Social roles • The gatekeeper/expediter controls the channels of communication and selectively facilitates and blocks communication between individual members • The standard-setter offers standards for the measurement of individual and group accomplishment • The group-observer offers observations regarding the moods and feelings of the group • The follower is a passive participant in the group’s activities, and often serves as audience for other member’s ideas and suggestions

45. Group Member Roles • Individualistic roles are generally detrimental to the accomplishment of the group’s goals and tasks, though they sometimes provide initiative and motivation to the group • The aggressor attempts to define personal status by boasting and criticizing others • The blocker attempts to block group progress through negative opposition to all ideas and suggestions • The recognition-seeker attempts to gain status and recognition through exaggerated or false claims, past experiences, and irrelevant conversations designed to gain other members’ sympathy

46. Group Member Roles • Individualistic roles • The self-confessor subverts the group’s purposes to create self-catharsis and examine personal mistakes and emotional issues • The dominator monopolizes group time, attempts to coerce other members’ agreement with personal ideas and opinions, and assumes a position of authority with the rest of the group • The help-seeker gains sympathy from the rest of the group by claiming insecurity, confusion, or an inability to accomplish tasks • The special-interest pleader engages in activities that promote outside interests and non-group activities

47. Group Member Roles • All members in a group interact to some extent, and in most groups the members fulfill more than one role • Often, members will take roles that complement or enhance their primary roles

48. Group Dynamics • Groups develop a number of dynamic processes that distinguish them from random collections of individuals • These processes include: • Norms • Roles • Relations • Development • A need to belong • Social influence • Effects on behavior

49. Group Dynamics • Group success depends significantly on these processes and their effective or ineffective usage • A group that supports clearly defined norms, encourages social development among its members, establishes roles and assigns members to them, and otherwise facilitates the dynamic processes that create a group is likely to succeed

50. Group Dynamics • 3 General Types of Group Cohesiveness is a measure of the attractiveness of the group to its members: • Cooperation • an interaction in which group members have effective working relationships with each other that permits them to evaluate each other's interests and abilities and mesh them with their own, with group cohesiveness as the goal • Conflict • a state in which cohesiveness is lowered rather than improved • Competition • the middle ground between the two, a state of interaction in which group members work toward cohesive group goals