Chapter 9 - Groups and teams

Question 1

Groups

Answer 1

Two or more individuals, interacting and interdependent, who have come together to achieve particular objectives.

Question 2

Formal group

Answer 2

Defined by the organsiation’s structure, with designated work assignments and established tasks

Question 3

Informal group

Answer 3

Neither formally structured nor organisationally determined

Question 4

Social identity theory

Answer 4

A perspective that considers when and why individuals consider themselves members of groups

Question 5

Punctuated equilibrium model

Answer 5

A set of phases that temporary groups go through that involves transitions between inertia and activity.

Question 6

Activities in the punctuated equilibrium model. For a group with a finite deadline

Answer 6

The first meeting sets the group’s direction

The first phase of group activity is one of inertia and thus makes slower progress

A transition takes place exactly when the group has used use half its allotted time

This transition initiates major changes
A second phase of inertia follows the transition

The group’s last meeting is characterised by markedly accelerated activity

Question 7

Role perception

Answer 7

Our view of how we are supposed to act in a given situation

Question 8

Role expectations

Answer 8

How others believe we should act

Question 9

Psychological contract

Answer 9

An unwritten agreement that exists between employees and employers

Question 10

Role conflict

Answer 10

A situation in which an individual is confronted by divergent role expectations

Question 11

Inter role conflict

Answer 11

A situation in which the expectations of an individual’s different, separate groups are in opposition

Question 12

Reference groups

Answer 12

Important groups to which individuals belong or hope to belong and which adopt norms with which individuals are most likely to conform

Question 13

Deviant workplace behaviour

Answer 13

Voluntary behaviour that violates significant organisational norms and, in so doing, threatens the well being of the organisation or its members.

This is called antisocial behaviour or workplace incivility

Question 14

Status characteristics theory

Answer 14

A theory that states that differences in status characteristics create status hierarchies within groups

Question 15

The three groups that status comes from

Answer 15

The power a person wields over others

A person’s ability to contribute to a group’s goals

An individual’s personal characteristics

Question 16

Social loafing

Answer 16

The tendency for individuals to expend less effort when working collectively that when alone

Question 17

Ways to prevent social loafing

Answer 17

Set groups goals

Increase intergroup competition

Engage in peer evaluations

Select members who have high motivation and prefer to work in groups

Base group rewards in part on each member’s unique contributions

Question 18

Cohesiveness

Answer 18

The degree to which members are attracted to each other and motivated to stay in the group.

Question 19

What can encourage group cohesiveness?

Answer 19

Make the group smaller

Encourage agreement with group goals

Increase the time members spend together

Increase the group’s status and the perceived difficulty of attaining membership

Stimulate competition with other groups

Give rewards to the group rather than to individual members

Physically isolate the group

Question 20

Faultlines

Answer 20

Described as the perceived divisions that split groups into two or more subgroups based on individual differences such as sex, race, age, language

Question 21

Groupthink

Answer 21

Relates to norms and describes situations in which group pressures for conformity deter the group from critically appraising unusual, minority, or unpopular views

Question 22

Groupshift

Answer 22

Describes the way group members tend to exaggerate their initial positions when discussing a given set of alternatives to arrive at a solution.

Question 23

Interaction groups

Answer 23

Most common form of group decision making

Members meet face to face and rely on both verbal and nonverbal interactions to communicate.

Question 24

Brainstorming

Answer 24

The idea generation process that specifically encourages any and all alternatives while withholding any criticism of those alternatives

Question 25

Nominal group technique

Answer 25

A group decision making method in which individual members meet face to face to pool their judgement in a systematic but independent fashion