BUS209 Study Guide
Unit 3: Managing Groups
3a. Compare and contrast groups and teams, their identities, development, and dynamics
- How would you define a workplace team?
- What is the difference between a group and a team?
- Why is it important to understand group formation?
- What social dynamics are involved in teams?
Chances are that you have been involved in many groups in your experience. You may have worked on a group project for an assignment in school or a group effort to address some situation at work. A group is a collection of individuals who interact with each other such that one person's actions affect the others. A team shares a common goal and typically works more closely than a group. When companies downsize, outsource, or right-size their organizations, fewer employees are available to work on issues that arise. This has created an increased need to gather employees from different parts of the organization to form working groups and teams, both formal and informal.
Informal groups are not organized by the company but result when individuals get together to work on some task. Planning a work party is one example of an informal work group. Can you remember a time you participated in an informal group? What were the dynamics among the members of this group? Were some interactions not as effective as they could have been? How might those processes be improved?
A formal group is organized by an employer and is typically organized to work on a specific task. An example of a formal work group might be a team of employees who need to develop a new product line for a company. They may be a department that works together temporarily or full-time.
When you consider the value that groups can contribute, whether in business or some personal endeavor, it is important to make every effort to create a group project that is as effective and efficient as possible. Informal groups can arise for many reasons and do not result from a planned effort. But in many instances, we will need to put together a group for a very specific task.
Let's consider a business scenario. You are managing a business, and there seems to be a problem with a major customer account. You need to identify the specifics of your customer's concerns and develop an action plan to address them. As the issue involves products, shipping, and customer service, you assemble a group of experienced employees to work on this problem.
Interpersonal communication occurs in the workplace when individuals express their thoughts, share information or ideas, or their feelings. This type of activity may occur between two people or within the confines of a team or group. A high-performance team occurs when a team works well together and productivity is high.
There are five stages of group development:
- Forming – getting the group together
- Storming – may see conflict as the group gets to know each other
- Norming – the group settles in and begins to understand each other
- Performing – productivity is high, and the group gets along well
- Adjourning – closing the group and project end
Once a group has been assembled, they need to establish how they will work together. They should discuss the various roles that may be needed, a project schedule, deliverables, and so on. Time spent at the beginning of this process can save a great deal of time later.
Imagine you are one of four employees who has been assigned to a group by your supervisor and directed to address quality issues with a new product. What action items should be on the agenda at the first group meeting?
There is a requirement for some pre-group planning to take place to increase the probability of the group being successful. This means having a clear idea of the project to be undertaken, the members' make-up (like their skills, experience, and training), and identifying appropriate roles. In some cases, the company may also find it necessary to provide training for the group before the project begins. This training might include project management, product knowledge, communication, or other skills the members need.
Groups are made up of people with individual personalities, character traits, emotions, and ability to work with others. It should come as no surprise then that the dynamics of groups will vary per the make-up of the members. Group dynamics is the study of how people react within the group, and interpersonal relations are part of any group activity and lend to various group dynamics. Group cohesion occurs when the group works well together and has high performance.
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3b. Explain the benefits and costs of teams from the organization's perspective
- How might you motivate your team to make sudden changes?
- What are a few benefits when a team performs well?
- Do teams increase or decrease employee satisfaction? Why?
- Why is it important to understand team dynamics?
A team is a cohesive coalition of people working together to achieve mutual goals. We have all heard about the need for teamwork or how individuals can work together for a common purpose. It involves everyone putting forth their best efforts for the team's benefit, not their own individual preferences.
While there are certainly several positive outcomes from using employee teams, there are also very real expenses involved in team-based initiatives. For example, what training requirements will be needed to ensure that the team has the required skills? How will you cover individual team members' responsibilities while they are working on the team? Are there complex reporting requirements involved with managing the team? What allocation of resources will be required to facilitate the team's work?
As a new manager in your firm, you want to create an employee team to work on developing ideas for a new consumer product. You will be meeting with the company president to present your idea, and you know that the discussion will include cost. You will also want to consider how you will reward this team if they successfully meet the project's goals. You know that your company has awarded bonuses to employees in the past. Think about a proposal for a bonus for the team, and review if it will be individual bonuses or a group bonus. Think about the reasons for your choice.
Other costs can be incurred depending on the location of the employees and the need for technological support. It is not unusual for large companies to have employees throughout the country. Travel costs can add up very quickly. These costs can be even higher for global firms establishing teams from locations in several countries. You may also supervise a virtual team where everyone works remotely and hold regular meetings with your team. Another consideration when groups work closely together is groupthink, which occurs when the group doesn't consider new ideas from individuals on the team and the rest of the group is too afraid to go against the team's cohesiveness.
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3c. Discuss the skills required for working effectively in teams
- What does an effective team look like?
- What impact does a team have on employee engagement?
- How might team members help each other be more effective?
- What skills are needed to work in an effective team?
A company can gain many benefits from using employee teams. With the increasing use of teams and their importance in helping companies improve their financial performance, you will want to ensure that any teams you create will be able to succeed.
It is important to understand that each employee on the team will not have the same skill set. For example, one team member may need to understand a product/service, while another team member may need experience with a process. Each team member should be able to assist with their areas of expertise.
When employees are engaged, their productivity, job satisfaction, and commitment to the company increase. However, we can't just hope that our employees will be engaged. We must proactively find ways to let our employees know just how important they are to the company and that their voices will be heard.
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3d. Describe interpersonal communication styles within groups and teams
- What are interpersonal communication styles?
- Does it matter if team members have different communication styles? If so, why?
- What are the differences between a team that has worked together for years vs. a few months?
- Why is it important to consider the communication style of each team member?
Wherever we have more than one person in a group, the need for clear and effective communication is vital. Have you ever had a conversation with someone, and after they left, you wondered if they heard what you were saying? One would think that communication is a simple task. After all, you've been communicating for years. Anyone who has left a department or team meeting and then had conversations with colleagues trying to understand what you just heard knows the problems that can occur with communication.
This is a basic communication model:
As you review this model, make a list of each step in the communication process – the exchange of information between a sender and receiver through encoding, transmission, and decoding of messages.
When communicating our positions or opinions to a group of colleagues, we should be aware of those things that can interfere with how our message is received. These barriers include filtering, selective perception, information overload (too much information is given all at once), emotional disconnects, lack of source familiarity or credibility, gossip, semantics, gender, bias, and culture. Consider three of these that you may have experienced or are interested in learning more about, and research them.
With an understanding of the importance of communication and recognizing that sometimes there are issues with the clarity of communication, we should spend some time discussing how communication can be improved. As with so many areas of interpersonal relationships, once a concern is identified, it is possible to work on ways to eliminate those concerns. Communication channels are directional: they can flow down (supervisor to employee), up (employee to supervisor), or laterally (among peers). Can you think of something that could be communicated for each channel? Communication can also be oral, written, or non-verbal (like facial expressions, eye contact, or tone). Body language is another non-verbal aspect that is important to consider, as it may demonstrate how someone feels without any words spoken.
The key is the richness or completeness of conveying all the information as clearly as possible. Different circumstances require different methods of communicating. What is the potential use of each of these methods? There is no doubt that technology has transformed the way we communicate. Email, texting, and social media have become daily communication for personal and business topics. Identify three benefits and three disadvantages of electronic communication. Think about the issue of message richness as you consider this technology. We are in the age of global business, whether the company is large or small. Cultural diversity can present some challenges to effective communication.
We cannot underestimate the importance of effective communication in our personal and professional lives. The more important the message we wish to deliver, the more critical it is that we communicate it clearly and ensure that it is received exactly as intended. We need to make an effort to understand the potential barriers that can impede the reception of our message and to learn about methods to reduce or eliminate those barriers.
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Unit 3 Vocabulary
This vocabulary list includes terms you will need to know to successfully complete the final exam.
- body language
- communication channel
- communication process
- formal group
- group
- group cohesion
- group dynamics
- groupthink
- high-performance team
- informal group
- information overload
- interpersonal communication
- non-verbal communication
- stages of group development
- team
- virtual team