LEADERSHIP AND TEAM EFFECTIVENESS

LECTURE - 34
Introduction to Groups and Teams
PROF. SANTOSH RANGNEKAR
DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES
Contents
• Groups
• Characteristics and Functions of Group
• Groups found in Organization
• Why do people Joins Groups
• Team and Its characteristics
• Common Barriers Faced by High-Performance Work Teams
• Groups Vs Team
• What makes Teams Effective
• Case Study
• Research Paper
• Book Recommendation
• References

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 Group
• Two or more individuals, interacting and
interdependent, who have come together to
achieve particular objectives.
• Group can be defined as a collection of
individuals who have regular contact and
frequent interaction, mutual influence, the
common feeling of camaraderie, and who work
together to achieve a common set of goals.
• A group behavior can be stated as a course of
action a group takes as a family.
Image Source: https://www.mymembersoftware.com/images/groups.jpg

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Definitions of Groups
Author Definition
Wendell L. French A group is a number of persons, usually reporting to a common
superior and having some face to face interaction, who have
some degree of interdependence in carrying out tasks for the
purpose of achieving organizational goals.
G. S. Gibbard, J. J. Two or more persons who are interacting with one another in
Hartman, and D. such a manner that each person influences and is influenced by
Mann each other person.
Doubloon R. Two or more individuals who are
Forsyth connected to one another by social
relations.

Source: http://bankofinfo.com/what-is-the-meaning-of-group/

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Characteristics of Groups
• Size: To form a group, it must be having at least two members. Practically,
the number of group members ranges from 15 to 20. The more the
members in the group, the more complex it is to manage.
• Goals: Every group has certain goals, that are the reasons for its existence.

https://businessjargons.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/characteristics-of-group.jpg

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Characteristics of Groups(Cont.)
• Norms: A group has certain rules, for interacting with the group members.
• Structure: It has a structure, based on the roles and positions held by the
members.
• Roles: Every member of a group has certain roles and responsibilities, which
are assigned, by the group leader.
• Interaction: The interaction between the group members can occur in several
ways, i.e. face to face, telephonic, in writing or in any other manner.
• Collective Identity: A group is an aggregation of
individuals, which are separately called as members,
and collectively called as a group.

https://businessjargons.com/group.html

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Functions of Groups
Some functions include the following:
• Working on a complex and independent task that is too complex for an
individual to perform and that cannot be easily broken down into
independent tasks.
• Generating new ideas or creative solutions to solve problems that require
inputs from several people.
• Serving liaison or coordinating functions among several workgroups whose
work is to some extent independent.
• Facilitating the implementation of complex decisions.
• Serving as a vehicle for training new employees, groups
teach new members methods of operations and group
norms.
https://www.iedunote.com/group

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Groups Found in an Organization
There are four types of Groups found in an organization:
1. Formal group:
This group is defined by the organizational structure. After planning, organizations
group the activities and put those under a formal structure, deciding their goals
and objectives and strategies to achieve the same. Formal group members report
to their superiors and interact with each other to achieve the common goals.
2. Command group:
This group is also known as task group. A task is defined as
cross-functional activities, carried out by group members
to accomplish a common goal. A team represents the
nature of a command group. A command group can be
formed by drawing members from various formal groups.

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3. Committees
To achieve results, organizations often form permanent or temporary committees,
drawing members from various formal groups. Committees also represent the
presence of cross-functional members. While for a command group, goals may be
specific, for committees, it is varied.

4. Informal groups:
Informal groups are formed within a formal organizational
structure. Informal group members primarily meet the
social or affiliation needs sharing their commons interests.
Thus informal groups are not organizationally determined;
the members themselves from such groups to fulfil their
needs for social interaction.
https://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/organization/groups-found-in-an-organisation-4-types/44999

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 Why Do People Join Groups
The following points help us understand the need of joining a group by individuals −

• Security mirrors strength in numbers. Status pinpoints a prestige that comes

from belonging to a specific group. Inclusion in a group is considered as
important because it provides recognition and status.
• Self-esteem transmits people's feelings of self-worth. Membership can
sometimes raise feelings of self-esteem like being accepted into a highly valued
group.

• Affiliation with groups can meet one's social needs.

Work groups significantly contribute to meet the need
for friendships and social relations.

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 Why Do People Join Groups(cont.)
• Groups represent power. What mostly cannot be achieved individually
becomes possible with group effort. Power might be aimed to protect
themselves from unreasonable demands. Informal groups provide options for
individuals to practice power.
• People may join a group for goal achievement. Sometimes it takes more than
one person to accomplish a particular task.

https://www.tutorialspoint.com/organizational_behavior/organizational_behavior_groups.htm

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Teams
• A group whose individual efforts result in
performance that is greater than the sum of
the individual inputs.
• A team becomes more than just a collection
of people when a strong sense of mutual
commitment creates synergy, thus generating
performance greater than the sum of the
performance of its individual members.
• A team is a group of people who collaborate
on related tasks toward a common goal.

https://infolific.com/images/project-management/team-work.jpg

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Definitions Teams
Authors Definitions
Katzenbach, J.R. A team is a small group of people with complementary skills committed
and Smith to a common purpose and set of specific performance goals
G. Moorhead A small number of people with complementary skills who are committed
and R.W. Griffin to a common purpose, common performance goals, and an approach for
which they hold themselves mutually accountable.
W. Dyer A team is a work group that must rely on
collaboration if each member is to experience
the optimum success and achievement

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Characteristics of a Team
There are some of the significant characteristics
of a team that discriminates it from a group:

• Common Goal: The members work to achieve

a particular team objective.
• Team spirit: The enthusiasm of the members
to reach out the team goal is always high.
• Trust: In a team, individuals believe and rely
on each other’s capabilities and skills.
• Leadership: There is a clear leadership within
a team, and the selected team leader heads
the activities.
https://theinvestorsbook.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Characteristics-of-a-Team.jpg

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Characteristics of a Team(Cont.)
• Mutual Accountability: Each individual is equally responsible for the
underperformance and failure of the team.
• Interdependency: The actions of the members within a team are jointly
dependent on that of other members.
• Defined Roles: Every individual in a team, has been allocated specific roles
or responsibilities to accomplish.
• Streamline Direction: The team leader is the one who shows the way to the
members and monitors their operations.
• Collaboration: There is a high degree of synergy or
coordination among the team members.

https://theinvestorsbook.com/group-vs-team.html

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Common Barriers Faced by High-Performance Work Teams
There are some common characteristics seem to be strong indicators of a
team that is not functioning at its peak or that needs intervention:
• Nonparticipating leadership. Team members fail to use a democratic
leadership style that involves and engages team members.
• Poor decision-making. Team members make decisions too quickly without
a blend of rational and intuitive decision-making methods.
• Infrequent communication. Lines of communication
are closed and infrequent.
• Lack of mutual trust. Team members do not fully trust
each other or the team as an entity.

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Cont.
• Diversity not valued. Team members do not value the diversity of experience
and backgrounds of their fellow team members.
• Inability to manage conflict. Not dealing with conflict openly and
transparently and allowing grudges to build up can destroy team morale.
• Lack of goal clarity. Team members are unsure about their roles and the
ultimate team goals, resulting in a lack of commitment and engagement.
• Poorly defined roles and responsibilities. Team members are not clear about
what they must do and what they must not do.
• Negative atmosphere. An overall team culture that is
not open, transparent, positive and future-focused
results in a failure to perform at high levels.

Source: https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/tools-and-samples/toolkits/pages/developingandsustaininghigh-performanceworkteams.aspx

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Groups Vs Teams
Basis Groups Teams
Meaning A collection of A group of persons
individuals who having collective
work together in identity joined together,
completing a task. to accomplish a goal.
Leadership Only One Leader More than One
Members Independent Interdependent
Focus on Accomplishing Accomplishing Team
individual goals goals
Work Individual Collective
Products
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Ingredients for creating effective teams:
• Ideal Size and Membership. • Ground Rules.
• Fairness in Decision-Making. • Clear Roles.
• Creativity. • Accepted Leadership.
• Accountability. • Effective Processes.
• Purpose and Goals. • Solid Relationships.
• Action Plans. • Excellent Communication.
• Roles & Responsibilities.
• Information Sharing.
• Good Data.
• Meeting Skills and Practices.
• Decision Making.
• Participation.
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What Makes a Team Effective
Here focus on 4 major factors of an effective team:
1. Supportive Environment
Teamwork is. most likely to develop when management builds a supportive
environment for it. Creating such an environment involves encouraging members
to think like a team, providing adequate time for meetings, and demonstrating
faith in members’ capacity to achieve.
2. Skills and Role Clarity
Team members must be reasonably qualified to perform
their jobs and have the desire to cooperate.
Beyond these requirements, members can work together as
a team only after all the members of the group know the
roles of all the others with whom they will be interacting.
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3. Super Ordinate Goals
A major responsibility of managers is to try to keep the team members oriented
toward their overall task. Sometimes, unfortunately, an organization’s policies,
record-keeping requirements, and reward systems may fragment 'individual efforts
and discourage teamwork.
4. Team Rewards
Another element that can stimulate teamwork is the
presence of team rewards. These may be financial, or they
may be in the form of recognition. Rewards are most
powerful if they are valued by the team members,
perceived as possible to earn, and administered contingent
on the group’s task performance.
Source: https://www.iedunote.com/team

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Case Study: The Calamities of Consensus
When it is time for groups to reach a decision, many turn to consensus.
Consensus, a situation of agreement, seems like a good idea. To achieve
consensus, groups must cooperate and collaborate, which ultimately will
produce higher levels of camaraderie and trust. In addition, if everyone agrees,
then the prevailing wisdom is that everyone will be more committed to the
decision.
However, there are times when the need of consensus can be detrimental to
group functioning. consider recent'' fiscal cliff " faced by the U.S. Government
toward the end of 2012. The white house and congress
needed to reach a deal that would reduce the swelling
budget deficit. However, many Republicans and
Democrats stuck to their party lines, refusing to
compromise.
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Case Study: The Calamities of Consensus
Many viewed the end product that achieved consensus as a less than optimal
solution. The public gave congress an approval rating of only 13 percent,
expressing frustration with the lack of compromise, but the group may not have
been able to function well partly because of the need of consensus. If the
consensus is reached, does that mean the decision is the right one? Consider
the supreme court's recent ruling to upload "Obamacare". In the days leading up
to the decision, the general consensus was that the law requiring U.S. citizen to
purchase health care insurance would be deemed unconstitutional. Ultimately,
that consensus proved to be wrong.
Critics if consensus-based methods argue that any
decisions that are ultimately reached are inferior to
decision using other methods such as voting or having a
team members provide input to their leader,
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Case Study: The Calamities of Consensus
Who then makes the final decision. Critics also argue that because of pressure to
conform, groupthink is much more likely, and decision reached through
consensus are simply those that are disliked the least by everyone.

Questions:-
1. Is consensus a good way for groups to make decisions? Why or Why not?
2. Can you think of a time where a group of which you were part relied on
consensus? How do you think the decision turned out?
3. Martin luther king jr. Once proclaimed," A genuine
leader is not seeker of consensus but a modeler of
consensus. " What do you think he meant by that
statement? Do you agree with it? Why ir why not?

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Research Paper

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to further explore the relationship
between new product development project teams and their
workspace regarding the impact of the physical (space variety,
indoor environmental quality, large meeting room, workstation)
and sociotechnical environments (project commitment, IT
environment) on their creativity and effectiveness.
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Design/methodology/approach
The authors gathered data on an enterprise’s ten multidisciplinary teams operating in
diverse workspaces by four means: over 40 interviews and four months of observation,
secondary data and a survey with 645 responses.
Findings
For teams co-located on site and abroad, employees express that proximity in open space is
paramount even considering the augmented density. The relationship between team
effectiveness and team creativity is strong and bidirectional (correlationβ = 0.40****), but
the patterns of relationship between these two variables and certain dimensions of the
physical and sociotechnical environment are different. There is a positive and direct impact
on team effectiveness, but to a lesser degree on creativity which,
in turn, positively influences team effectiveness. Moreover,
creativity intervenes (mediator variable) between project
commitment, satisfaction with large meeting rooms and the IT
environment on their relationship with team effectiveness.

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Research limitations/implications
The scope of the data is somewhat limited by the time that the company and its teams
could allocate to this paper.
Practical implications
The arrangement of space reinforces employees’ sense of belonging to their team as
measured by project commitment which along with satisfaction with the large meeting
rooms and IT environment influence both team effectiveness and creativity. Managers could
consider these three elements as levers for action. Space variety (or balanced layout) is also
a way to support team creativity.

Originality/value
Even if open spaces are frequently used, the literature on creative
spaces is dedicated mainly to an individual. This paper delivers
some results and evidence on the concrete and simultaneous
impacts of the workspaces on creativity and effectiveness of
multidisciplinary new product development (NPD) team.
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Research limitations/implications
The scope of the data is somewhat limited by the time that the company and its teams
could allocate to this paper.
Practical implications
The arrangement of space reinforces employees’ sense of belonging to their team as
measured by project commitment which along with satisfaction with the large meeting
rooms and IT environment influence both team effectiveness and creativity. Managers could
consider these three elements as levers for action. Space variety (or balanced layout) is also
a way to support team creativity.

Originality/value
Even if open spaces are frequently used, the literature on creative
spaces is dedicated mainly to an individual. This paper delivers
some results and evidence on the concrete and simultaneous
impacts of the workspaces on creativity and effectiveness of
multidisciplinary new product development (NPD) team.
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 Book Recommendation
Group Dynamics for Teams

Publisher: SAGE Publications

Authors: Daniel Levi
Language: ENGLISH
Paperback: 352 Pages
•ISBN-10 : 9353885396
•ISBN-13 : 978-9353885397

https://www.amazon.in/Group-Dynamics-Teams-Daniel-Levi/dp/9353885396/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=groups+and+teams&qid=1628370266&s=books&sr=1-1

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 Book Recommendation
This book helps readers to understand and more effectively
participate in teams. Group dynamics for teams integrates
research and theories of group dynamics in order to apply this
information to the ways in which teams operate in
organizations. Key features: provides a framework for
teaching about teams and improving how teams function.
Material offering practical advice on techniques and activities
to help improve the team’s performance special pedagogical
features like leading virtual teams, team leader’s challenge,
psychological surveys, and teamwork activities robust
companion website containing discussion questions, Class
activities, text Bank, PowerPoint slides, and multimedia links
for classroom teaching.
https://www.amazon.in/Group-Dynamics-Teams-Daniel-Levi/dp/9353885396/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=groups+and+teams&qid=1628370266&s=books&sr=1-1

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References:
• Hughes, R. L., Ginnette, R. C., & Curphy, G. J. (2012). LEADERSHIP: enhancing the lessons
of experience. In LEADERSHIP: enhancing the lessons of experience.
• Robbins, S. P., & Judge, T. (2007). Organizational behavior. Upper Saddle River, N.J:
Pearson/Prentice Hall.
• Sicotte, H., De Serres, A., Delerue, H. and Ménard, V. (2019), "Open creative workspaces
impacts for new product development team creativity and effectiveness", Journal of
Corporate Real Estate, Vol. 21 No. 4, pp. 290-306. https://doi.org/10.1108/JCRE-10-2017-
0039

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References:
• https://businessjargons.com/group.html
• https://www.iedunote.com/group
• https://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/organization/groups-found-in-an-organisation-4-
types/44999
• https://www.tutorialspoint.com/organizational_behavior/organizational_behavior_g
roups.htm
• https://theinvestorsbook.com/group-vs-team.html
• https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/tools-and-
samples/toolkits/pages/developingandsustaininghigh-
performanceworkteams.aspx
• https://www.iedunote.com/team

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Thank You