Organizational Behavior Unit 3 Summery

Leadership and Groups


Nothing is accomplished in the work place without team or group interaction. To effectively manage group performance, a leader must understand these complicated human resource issues and how organizations behave over time. Leaders must also understand the implications of an organizational culture and how it can affect carrying out normal business processes. Group dynamics must be considered when forming work groups to accomplish a business goal.

Teams and Groups

Groups in the work environment can be formal and informal. Formal work groups are created to achieve organizational goals, and can be further classified into command group, informal work group, or a task force. An informal work group emerges naturally when individuals feel that a collective might further their own goals or meet their personal needs. A command group is a collection of subordinates who all report to the same supervisor; a task force consists of people assigned to a team to accomplish a particular goal.

Teams are formal work groups with a common goal and a high level of interaction among members of the team. An example would be a cross-functional team formed to solve a specific business issue within a set period of time. Teams take on a life of their own as a standing committee or a task group when they continue to function over an indefinite period of time. Self-managed work teams, which are used extensively in the automotive industry, are responsible for achieving goals, coordinating efforts, allocating tasks, and even disciplining team members’ poor performance. Virtual teams are connected only through electronic means and usually do not meet each other, so they require a special way of managing and motivating for group performance and goal achievement.

Social Loafing

Social loafing is the tendency of individuals to work less when in a group. This effect increases with group size. This phenomenon can be explained by the Social Impact Theory, which is based on the assumption that people do certain things because of social force, whether it is social pressure to win at a game or the pressure to give a good class presentation. When a group shares the pressure and responsibility, the impact is divided, and each team member is only faced with a portion of it. Social loafing can be reduced by making individual contributions identifiable, making group members feel they add value to the group, and keeping group size as small as possible.

Group Performance

Group performance can be affected by the size of the group, group function, group status, and the composition of the group. The quality of people's performance on the same task is often different when they work on it alone as compared to when they perform in front of others. Interestingly, the presence of others can either enhance or impair a person's performance. You do better with certain tasks when doing them in front of other people; other tasks, which you do perfectly well when practicing by yourself, can be difficult when other people are watching. Thompson’s model of task interdependence indicates that pooled task interdependence can enhance group performance, because the group is measured by the total outcome rather than individual performance. Finally, group cohesiveness will affect group performance.

Organizational Groups

The four kinds of work groups that can dramatically affect organizational performance are top-management teams, self-managed work teams, R&D teams, and virtual teams. Top-management teams, usually reporting to the CEO, require complex and intensive interaction with reciprocal task independence, and are susceptible to process losses. Keeping the team small assures members their contribution is important, and they can develop open/clear communications. Self-managed groups motivate team members to perform at a higher level and can increase job satisfaction. To be successful, certain conditions must be in place within the team and within the top-management team. Research and development teams create the future for a company, and can add value to the enterprise if appropriately managed. Virtual teams face the same challenges as regular work groups, but require less overhead to support them. Great care must be taken to avoid dissatisfaction and a lack of cohesiveness, however.

Leadership

Leadership is influencing others to achieve a common goal. It is more strategic than tactical as today’s leader must be more than a manager of people. Leadership effectiveness depends upon the leader’s style. There are many theories of leadership, but no one theory seems to answer why leaders are successful or not. Today’s successful leader will know their subordinates, have a clear vision, and have the ability to be flexible in his or her approach to leading staff.