How do groups develop and how do they influence individuals? - Chapter 10

This chapter deals with the nature and functioning of working groups and teams. It describes what a group is and how they emerge, the characteristics of a working group and how participation in a group influences individual behavior.

What do we mean by a group?

A group consists of 2 or more people interacting with each other to achieve a certain goal or fulfill certain needs. This does not mean that all goals are identical to each other. A group goal is the agreed common goal of all or most members of the group.

You have formal and informal groups. Formal groups are formed by managers to help the organization reach its goals. Informal groups emerge in organizations because members believe that being part of the group helps to achieve their goals or fulfill their needs.

You have four main forms of formal working groups. The first is a command group, this is a group of subordinates who all report to the same supervisor. Then you have a task force that comes together to achieve a specific goal. A team cooperates intensively and interacts strongly to achieve a joint group goal. After the goal is reached, the group is usually dissolved. Thirdly, the team, this is a formal group of people who work intensively together to achieve a common goal. Finally, you have a self-managed work team who does not have a manager or group leader. Here they are responsible for achieving the goals and for performing the leadership tasks.

You have two main types of informal work groups, the friendship group, and the interest group. A friendship group is a group of members of an organization that likes to interact and socialize with each other, even outside of work. The interest group has a common goal that members try to achieve by uniting their efforts.

Groups and their members have different challenges at different stages of development. According to Tuckman, groups go through 5 stages.

1. Forming: group members get to know each other and form a common mental attitude about what desirable behavior is.

2. Storming: a conflict where the members do not want to be controlled by the group and where they can disagree about who the leader of the group is or how much power the leader must have.

3. Norming: the members feel that they really belong to the group and there are close ties within the group.

4. Performing: employees work together to achieve their goals.

5. Adjourning: the group separates when the goals are reached.

Research has shown that it does not mean that all groups go through all stages, that all stages are completed one at a time or that the stages are all completed in this order.

What are the characteristics of working groups?

You have five group characteristics that influence the behavior of the members and the performance of the group as a whole.

• First, you have group size: When a group is small, the members of a group know each other better and interact more. The individual contribution is also clearer, information is shared more easily, and there is better identification with the group goals. Strong identification can lead to increased motivation, commitment to group goals, and higher levels of satisfaction. On the other hand, larger groups have more resources to achieve their goals. You can also distribute the work so that every employee receives a specific task and can improve at it. On the other hand, a large group is more difficult to coordinate.

• Then you have the group composition: Members of a homogeneous group have many characteristics in common and members of a heterogeneous group do not. On the one hand, people prefer to work with others who look like them. Therefore, members of homogeneous groups may share better information, have fewer conflicts and not many coordination problems. You can also expect that the levels of motivation and satisfaction are high. On the other hand, heterogeneous groups may make better decisions because members view something from different angles. They also have a variety of sources of information. It is becoming increasingly common for companies to assemble heterogeneous groups of experienced employees and young, new employees so that they can learn from each other.

• Third, there is group function: the work that a group contributes to achieving the organizational goals. The function of the group gives the members meaning and a goal to strive for. If members see how they influence other groups, they might be motivated to perform at a higher level.

• Then you have the group status: the generally implicit idea of the importance of what the group does in an organization. The more important the task of the group or the group function, the higher the status in an organization. Members of a group with high status are motivated to work hard because they see their work as important for the success of the organization.

• Next comes the group efficacy: the shared belief that members have about the group's ability to achieve the goals. Effectiveness is not an established belief but is formed over time when members work together. For example, group effectiveness can influence what intentions have members for the group, the effort that members make, how they tackle tasks, and their perseverance when things get more difficult.

If the effectiveness of the group is too low, the problems will have to be looked into. For example: if it lacks the group of skills, it can be trained or someone with a lot of skills can be hired. If the group does not succeed in working together, group training can help.

• Lastly, you have social facilities: the effect that the physical presence of others has on someone's performance. You have 2 types of social facilitation. Public effects are the effects of passive spectators on performance. Co-action effects are the effects of the presence of other group members on performance when they perform the same tasks as the individual. When individuals are stimulated by the presence of other group members in well-learned tasks or tasks that are often performed, the performance improves. But if individuals are stimulated by group members in difficult or new tasks, the performance becomes worse.

How do groups coordinate the behavior of their members?

There are three mechanisms by which groups coordinate the behavior of their members: role division, rules, and norms.

A role is a series of behaviors that are expected in a particular position in a group or organization. A role the behaviors expected of a person who holds a certain position within the organization. However, this individual also has rights or privileges. Roles facilitate the management of a group for various reasons. Firstly, roles tell people what they should be doing. An individual is also responsible for his or her behavior and there is a standard whereby other members can evaluate the individual. Lastly, role managers help determine how to reward members who demonstrate the behaviors of the roles.

There are also role relationships in a group. These are rules on how members must interact with each other in order to play their roles. In addition to regulations, informal role relationships can also arise. A role arises for a large part as the group interacts with each other. The process of taking initiative to create a role by assuming certain responsibilities that do not belong to the designated role is called role making. Role taking is the process of behaving towards the responsibilities of the designated role.

The written rules specify the behaviors that are required and the behaviors that are prohibited. The advantages of rules are that they convince group members to display behaviors that are effective for the group and the organization and so that they avoid behaviors that impede the goals. Also, rules facilitate the management and evaluation of behavior because members and managers know what is expected of them. In addition, it helps to clarify the evaluation of performance levels of individual group members because they can be compared with the rules. Finally, the rules help newcomers learn how to properly behave within their roles. Rules about the best way to perform a task are called standard operating procedures. These ensure that the group tasks are executed correctly and efficiently.

A group can make rules at any time during its development. A healthy group recognizes when a group needs a change of rules and also when they want to change the existing rules.

What are group norms and what are they for?

Standards are signals about the behavior expected from members. Group norms are informal rules about behavior. If members have a general idea about acceptable behavior, they can evaluate behavior and ensure that everyone follows the standards. These norms are endorsed by rewarding members who behave according to the group norms and by punishing members who behave differently.

Standards are developed to steer the behavior of members in a certain direction, leading to the performance of the group or organizational goals. If norms exist, members no longer have to think about how they should behave in a particular situation, standards give direction to their behavior. If people share the same standards, they can predict how others behave in a situation and anticipate.

Individuals adhere to group norms for various reasons:

• The first is compliance: you stick to the rules to get a reward or avoid punishment.

• The second reason is identification: you identify with defenders of the norm and therefore also stick to the norm because they do so.

• The last reason is internalization: to believe that the behavior determined by the norm is the right behavior. This is the strongest basis for someone to adhere to group norms.

Some members may behave differently from the norm without being punished. These individuals have often done much for the group in the past. They have idiosyncratic credit: the freedom to deviate from the norm without being punished.

Agreement is good if standards help a group to manage and influence the behavior of the members so that the group goals can be achieved. On the other hand, groups can also develop standards that are bad for the group's performance. If a member deviates from the norm, the group can respond in different ways. First, the group can try to change the behavior of the member. In addition, the group may reject or suspend the member. Finally, the group can change the norm, which is sometimes necessary if the norm is inappropriate.

Groups need agreement and deviation from the norm to achieve their goals and perform at a high level. Agreement ensures that the behavior of the members is controlled so that tasks are achieved.

Deviation is necessary to oversee the norms and they can be important for group effectiveness, therefore, how groups respond to deviant behavior is important. The best thing for a group is to listen to and evaluate all views on the applicable standard.

Group goals are not always in line with organizational goals. Managers can ensure that group norms are functional for the organization by ensuring that members are rewarded when the organization reaches its goals. Another way is to reward employees individually or by group-oriented pay. This avoids employees being unmotivated to perform and only doing the minimum amount of work.

What is socialization?

The ability of a group to manage the behavior of its members depends on the extent to which the newcomers within a group learn the roles, rules, and norms. The process whereby the newcomers learn this is called socialization.

John Van Mannen and Edgar Schein have developed a socialization model on how groups teach the newcomers the rules, roles, and norms. Role orientation is the way members of a group respond to different situations.

There are six socialization tactics to teach the newcomers the rules, roles, and norms and to influence role orientation:

• Collective versus individual tactics. In collective tactics, newcomers go through a general learning process that teaches standardized reactions for different situations. Individual tactics teach you individually how to behave.

• Formal versus informal tactics. With formal tactics, the newcomers are separated from the existing group during the learning process. With informal tactics, you learn during work.

• Sequential versus random tactics. With successive tactics, the newcomers are taught in which order they will carry out new behaviors. With random tactics, the order of the socialization process depends on the newcomer.

• Fixed against variable tactics. Established tactics indicate precise times for how long each new part of the training is spent. With variable tactics, the speed of socialization depends on the newcomer.

• Serial versus disjunctive tactics. In serial tactics, newcomers are socialized by existing group members. With separating tactics newcomers have to invent everything themselves and develop a way of behaving themselves.

• Divestiture versus investiture tactics. In the case of divestiture tactics, newcomers receive negative treatment from the existing members. With investiture tactics, newcomers immediately receive positive social support from the existing members.

• Collective, formal, sequential, set, serial and distant tactics lead to an institutionalized role orientation and individual, informal, random, variable, divorcing and honoring tactics to an individualized role orientation.

These tactics lead to two different role orientations: institutional and individual. With the institutional role orientation, newcomers learn to react in the same way to situations as the existing group. Newcomers with an institutional role orientation more often use role taking rather than role making. With an individual role orientation, individuals are taught that it is acceptable and appreciated when members are creative and experiment with changes in existing applications. These members use role-making more often than role-taking.

The greatest advantage of institutionalized role orientation may also be its greatest danger: the homogeneity it creates among its members. If all members have learned to look at things in the same way, learned the same roles, rules, and standards, the group may be reluctant to change and may not produce creative ideas. The survival of a group depends on the will to change if the environment changes.

Socialization helps groups reach their goals by controlling the behavior of members. Whether a group wants its members to follow the established way, or whether a group wants members to be creative in their work, to make this a reality, the behavior and actions of the members have to be managed.