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Groups, Teams, and Their Leadership

“We are born for cooperation, as are the feet, the hands, the eyelids, and the upper and lower jaws.”

~Marcus Aurelius

Cha

pter 10

IntroductionGroups and teams are different than solely the

skills, abilities, values, and motives of those who comprise them.

Groups are essential if leaders are to impact anything beyond their own behavior.

The group perspective looks at how different group characteristics can affect relationships both with the leader and among the followers.

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Individuals Versus Groups Versus Teams

Team members usually have a stronger sense of identification among themselves than group members do.

Teams have common goals or tasks; these may range from the development of a new product to an athletic league championship.

Task independence typically is greater with teams than with groups.

Team members often have more differentiated and specialized roles than group members.

Teams should be considered as highly specialized groups.

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The Nature of GroupsA group can be thought of as two or more persons

who are interacting with one another in such a manner that each person influences and is influenced by each other person. This definition incorporates the concept of reciprocal

influence between leaders and followers. Group members interact and influence each other. Everyone belongs to a number of different groups.

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Group SizeLeader emergence is partly a function of group

size.As groups become larger, cliques are more likely

to develop.Group size can affect a leader’s behavioral style.Group size affects group effectiveness.

Process loss Social loafing Social facilitation

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Group Size (continued)Additive task – a task where the group’s output

simply involves the combination of individual outputs.

Process losses – inefficiencies created by more and more people working together.

Social loafing – phenomenon of reduced effort by people when they are not individually accountable for their work.

Social facilitation – people increasing their level of work due to the presence of others.

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Developmental Stages of Groups Stages of Groups:

Forming Storming Norming Performing

The four stages of group development are important because: People are in many more leaderless groups than they may

realize. The potential relationships between leadership behaviors and

group cohesiveness and productivity. Gersick proposed a better model for teams in organization

settings by studying project teams and identifying the process of punctual equilibrium.

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Group Roles Group roles are the sets of expected behaviors

associated with particular jobs or positions. Task role Relationship role

Types of role problems: Dysfunctional roles Role conflict Intrasender role conflict Intersender role conflict Interrole conflict Person-role conflict Role ambiguity

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Group NormsNorms are the informal rules groups adopt to

regulate and regularize group members’ behavior.Norms are more likely to be seen as important and

apt to be enforced if they: Facilitate group survival. Simplify, or make more predictable, what behavior is

expected of group members. Help the group to avoid embarrassing interpersonal

problems. Express the central values of the group and clarify what is

distinctive about the group’s identity.

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Group Cohesion (Positive)Group cohesion is the glue that keeps a group

together.Highly cohesive groups interact with and influence

each other more than do less cohesive groups.Highly cohesive groups may have lower

absenteeism and lower turnover than a less cohesive group.

Leaders will be better off thinking of ways to create and maintain highly cohesive teams, than not developing these teams out of concern for potential groupthink or overbounding situations.

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Group Cohesion (Negative)Some groups can become so cohesive they erect

what amount to fences or boundaries between themselves and others. Over-bounding

People in highly cohesive groups often become more concerned with striving for unanimity than in objectively appraising different courses of action. Groupthink

Ollieism is when illegal actions are taken by overly zealous and loyal subordinates who believe that what they are doing will please their leaders.

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Effective Team Characteristics and Team Building

Key characteristics for effective team performance: Effective teams have a clear mission and high

performance standards. Leaders of successful teams often take stock of their

equipment, training facilities and opportunities, and outside resources available to help the team.

Good leaders work to secure those resources and equipment necessary for team effectiveness.

Leaders of effective teams spend a considerable amount of time planning and organizing in order to make optimal use of available resources.

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Effective Team Characteristics and Team Building (continued)

Four variables that need to be in place for a team to work effectively:Task structureGroup boundariesNormsAuthority

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Organizational Shells

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Ginnett’s Team Effectiveness Leadership Model

Stages of the Team Effectiveness Leadership Model: Input Process Output

This model is a mechanism to first identify what a team needs to be effective, and then to point the leader either toward the roadblocks that are hindering the team or toward ways to make the team even more effective than it already is.

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Basic TELM Components

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Figure 10-3

Leadership Prescriptions of the ModelA team should be built like a house or automobile:

Start with a concept Create a design Engineer it to do what you want it to do Manufacture it to meet those specifications

The three critical functions for team leadership: Dream Design Development

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Diagnosis and Leverage Points

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Figure 10-5

Concluding Thoughts about Ginnett’s Team Effectiveness Leadership Model

Ensuring the team has a clear sense of purpose and performance expectations.

Designing or redesigning input stage variables at the individual, organizational, and team design levels.

Improving team performance through ongoing coaching at various stages, but particularly while the team is actually performing its task.

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Leaders can influence team effectiveness by:

Virtual TeamsVirtual teams are sometimes referred to as

Geographically Dispersed Teams (GDTs).Five major areas that need to change for global

teams to work: Senior management leadership Innovative use of communication technology Adoption of an organization design that enhances global

operations The ability to capture the strengths of diverse cultures,

languages, and people

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Virtual Teams (continued)The distance between members of virtual teams is

multidimensional.The impact of distance on the performance of a

distributed work group is not directly proportional to objective measures of distance.

The difference in the effects that distance seems to have on work groups is due at least partially to two intervening variables: Integrating practices within a virtual team Integrating practices between a virtual team and its larger

host organization

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SummaryGroup factors that can affect followers’ behaviors

include: Group size Stages of group development Roles Norms Cohesion

Leaders should use a team perspective for understanding follower behavior and group performance.

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Summary (continued)The Team Effectiveness Leadership Model posited

that team effectiveness can best be understood in terms of input, processes, and outcomes.

By identifying certain process problems in teams, leaders can use the TELM to diagnose appropriate leverage points for action at the individual, team design, or organizational levels, or for ongoing development at the process level.

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