GROUPS IN ORGANIZATIONS

Transcription

1 GROUPS IN ORGANIZATIONS by Andrea Martone SOCIAL & CULTURAL DIMENSION TECHNICAL DIMENSION Team Building Leadership Problem Solving & Decision making Culture 2 1

2 Why so much interest in groups in organizations? Because few activities can be entirely carry out by one single person Because they meet people s needs of conversation, membership and socializing Because they make people able to reach considerable results Because they are supported by the organizational evolution and by the IT technologies 3 Groups words What occurs to us? Diversity Cohesion Interdependence Comparison Membership Group and individual identity Interpersonal relationship Enviroment, context Negotiation The difficult question: I...and the others.. and The others and I? 2

3 Work group: definition We have a group when: Two or more people, who freely interact, share rules and aims, and have a common identity. Formal and informal groups FORMAL GROUP : group ruled by formalized norms INFORMAL GROUP : group formed by people with common interests 6 3

4 Formal group functions Formal groups satisfied organizational and individual functions: ORGANIZATIONAL FUNCTIONS 1. Bring to an end complex and interdepent results that overcome the individual skills 2. Generate original and creative ideas and solutions 3. Coordinate the inter-functional activities 4. Supply a problem-solving system for complex problems that require several information and valuations 5. Put to use complex decisions 6. Take care of the socialization and train the new arrivals INDIVIDUAL FUNCTIONS 1. Satisfy the need of affiliation 2. Develop, improve, confirm the trust in their selves and the sense of identity 3. Give the opportunity to try and share their own perceptions of the social reality 4. Reduce the anxiety and the feelings of insecurity and impotence 5. Supply a problem-solving system for personal and inter-personal problems 7 Social exchange on work place Organization Exchange between the worker and the organization Worker Leader Team Exchange between the worker and the leader Exchange between the worker and the team Avaliable change coins Support Security Carrier Wage Benefit Employ Social identity Type of work Information Avaliable change coins Citizenship Performance Presence Membership Loyalty Positive behaviour Worker s needs Organizational structure Exchange relevance Organizational culture 8 4

5 The evolution and the maturity level 9 A case of. cattle 10 5

6 Group development phases Tuckman s model PHASE 5 ADJOURNING PHASE 4 PHASE 3 PERFORMING PHASE 1 PHASE 2 STORMING NORMING Back to the independency FORMING Independency Mutual knowledge Resistance to leader and hostility In-depth examination of relationship and fellowship Work realization Dispersion after goal achievement or member s abandoning 11 Forming The team meets and learns about the opportunity and challenges, and then agrees on goals and begins to tackle the tasks. They may be motivated but are usually relatively uninformed of the issues and objectives of the team. Team members are usually on their best behaviour but very focused on themselves. Supervisors of the team tend to need to be directive during this phase. The forming stage of any teams is important because in this stage the members get to know one another. This is also a good opportunity to see how each member of the team works as an individual and how they respond to pressure. 12 6

7 Storming Different ideas compete for consideration. The team addresses issues such as what problems they are really supposed to solve, how they will function independently and together and what leadership model they will accept. In some cases storming can be resolved quickly. In others, the team never leaves this stage. The maturity of some team members usually determines whether the team will ever move out of this stage. The storming stage is necessary to the growth of the team. It can be contentious, unpleasant and even painful to members of the team who are averse to conflict. This phase can become destructive to the team and will lower motivation if allowed to get out of control. Supervisors of the team tend to be directive in their guidance of decision-making and professional behaviour. 13 Norming Team members adjust their behaviour to each other as they develop work habits that make teamwork seem more natural and fluid. Team members often work through this stage by agreeing on rules, values, professional behaviour, shared methods, working tools and even taboos. During this phase, team members begin to trust each other. Motivation increases as the team gets more acquainted with the project. Teams in this phase may lose their creativity if the norming behaviours become too strong and begin to stifle healthy dissent and the team begins to exhibit groupthink. Supervisors of the team during this phase tend to be participative more than in the earlier stages. The team members can be expected to take more responsibility for making decisions and for their professional behaviour. Views seen before of members at the start begin to change as they know each other better. The team feel a sense of achievement for getting so far, however some can begin to feel threatened by the amount of responsibility they have been given. They would try to resist the pressure and resist reverting to storming again. 14 7

8 Performing Some teams will reach the performing stage. These high-performing teams are able to function as a unit as they find ways to get the job done smoothly and effectively without inappropriate conflict or the need for external supervision. Team members have become interdependent. By this time they are motivated and knowledgeable. The team members are now competent, autonomous and able to handle the decisionmaking process without supervision. Dissent is expected and allowed as long as it is channelled through means acceptable to the team. Supervisors of the team during this phase are almost always participative. The team will make most of the necessary decisions. Even the most high-performing teams will revert to earlier stages in certain circumstances. Many long-standing teams will go through these cycles many times as they react to changing circumstances. For example, a change in leadership may cause the team to revert to storming as the new people challenge the existing norms and dynamics of the team. 15 Adjourning and Transforming Tuckman later added a fifth phase, adjourning, that involves completing the task and breaking up the team. Others call it the phase for mourning. A team that lasts may transcend to a transforming phase of achievement. Transformational management can produce major changes in performance through synergy and is considered to be more far-reaching than transactional management. 16 8

9 Performing Adjourning Norming Storming Independence return Forming Dependence/ interdependence Independence Individual problem How do I join the group? Which is my role What am I expected to? How can I better spend my role? What will happen later? Group problem Why are we here? Why are we discuss about who must have the control and who must do what? Can we agree on the roles and the work as a team? Can we do the work properly? Can we help the participants to leave the groups? 17 Group decline phases Tuckman s model DE-FORMING DE-NORMING DE-STORMING Chronic conflicts Fall of rule and individualism Disgregation and subgroup formation 18 9

10 Question into the different developement level FORMING RELAZIONI INTERPERSONALI What will get me into trouble? What will bring me a reward? Who do I trust in? COMPITO What are they expecting me? Who is competent and reliable? What s the aim? STORMING Which is my role, my resposability? Which are the others roles and resposabilities? Why doesn t the leader guide in a corret way? Which are the group s rules? Which are the group s expectations? Which is the project plan? (activities, Time schedule and costs) Who will do what within when? How will the team control the work? Which is the right thing to do? NORMING PERFORMING Which are the detailed norms dictated by the group and which are the expectations? Who says what to whom? Which is the acceptable level of humor? Which structure of comunication works better? How can I help, support - the others? How can I avoid to put an end to it? Which are my commitments and the executive time? Which is the best way to work for the team Which are the real problems? How can we solve them? Can we be more creative? How high can we rise on? 19 Main elements of group interaction Group interaction CONTENT PROCESS WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO? HOW ARE WE GOING TO DO IT? COMMITMENT GROUP FUNCTIONING 20 10

11 CONTENTS VARIABLES ROLES NORMS 21 Role Definition Expected behaviour for a given position Overload: expectations exceed capacity Conflict: expectations are contrasting and incoherent Ambiguity: expectations are unknown 22 11

12 Role in the group Task- Oriented Individualist (!) Relationship- Oriented 23 Norms of the group Shared bahaviour, opinions, feelings or actions that lead the group Prescriptive norms Behaviour to observe Proscriptive norms Behaviour to avoid Focus on interests and ideas, not on positions or solutions to the problem Listen to understand each idea and interest, ask question Every idea matters Everyone is encourage to take part in Other ideas 24 12

13 Relation process variables COHESION 25 Cohesion Cohesion is the measure of how the group members Are happy together Trust each others 26 13

14 Cohesion Advantages Higher Productivity Better decision making Higher people satisfaction Effective interaction Lower turn-over and absenteeism 27 Excessive cohesion s risks Excessive cohesion induces lower performances: Objectives misleading and group-thinking appearance Conformism 28 14

15 Experiment of Asch Reference line Lines of comparison 29 Cohesion Factors 1. Group dimension 2. Require interaction 3. Member homogeneity 4. Membership stability 5. Isolation 6. External pressure 7. Success in reaching the aims and the status of the group 30 15

16 Component Equality Equality = Likeness extent between the members of the group Likeness Diversity Homogeneous group Heterogeneous group 31 Homogeneous or Heterogeneous group? In homogeneous groups Members mostly more satisfied Less turnover Slightly heterogeneous groups obtain generally higher performances 32 16

17 Membership Isolation and stability Groups that are isolated or far from others groups tend to be highly cohesive Groups whose members remain a long time are more cohesive and have more performances than groups that have a high turn-over 33 17