Study Guide
Unit 6: Leading Groups and Teams
6a. Analyze the roles of cohesion, communication, and motivation in both team and group settings
- What is group cohesion, and how is it affected by group size?
- How does the interaction between communication and group size affect group performance?
- How do groups motivate people?
Group cohesion is when a group's members possess bonds linking them to each other and the whole group. Cohesiveness is easier to achieve in smaller groups than in larger groups. However, if groups are too small, they may not have enough members to complete the task, and performance will suffer. Communication and group size can also affect group performance. Too-small groups will not generate enough alternatives or debate solutions fully to analyze ideas properly, while too-large groups tend to have poor communication due to factions and conflict. Effective group sizes in face-to-face teams are between 5 and 10 people.
Group membership is motivated by meeting people's instrumental, interpersonal, and identity needs. Instrumental needs for resources, such as money, safety, health benefits, information, advice, protection, or legal assistance, are often met by joining unions, advocacy groups, or other consumer protection agencies. Membership in any group meets interpersonal needs by giving some sense of belonging and inclusion, support, control, or influence regarding the outcome of something meaningful to them. The groups we belong to also meet part of our identity needs. We use our group memberships as a means of social comparison. It helps us understand who we are, our values, beliefs, and attitudes. They also give us a sense of prestige and status and make us feel a sense of achievement.
To review, see:
- Communication Characteristics of Small Groups
- Team Size
- Group Dynamics
- Problem-Solving in Groups and Teams
6b. Determine the channels of communication utilized in team settings
- How would you define and explain the difference between formal and informal communication networks?
- How is a group's mission communicated via shared identity?
- What is the difference between the two major types of small groups?
A formal network occurs when groups have defined roles and responsibilities or a hierarchy that shows how members are connected. The group may also be a part of an organizational hierarchy that puts the group into a larger organizational structure. Informal networks occur when connections among individuals within the group, group members, and people outside of the group form according to friendship, advice, or informational links. Formal networks are useful for showing the formal structure of an organization and determining how communication might flow formally throughout. Informal networks are useful for explaining how work and communication flow throughout an organization. Though unofficial, they tend to be more accurate and more efficient.
A group's mission is its reason for being; it unites the group and binds it together. In addition to internalizing their mission, groups may display it symbolically as a slogan, a motto, or a song on clothing, pens, stickers, or other items. The point is to distinguish itself as a separate, special identity (the in-group) instead of everybody or nobody (the out-group). Primary groups (relational-oriented groups) fulfill interpersonal connections focused on quality interactions that contribute to the well-being of group members. They are more long-lasting, reciprocal, and emotional than secondary groups. Secondary groups (task-oriented groups) are joined based on a shared interest or need to solve a problem, promote a cause, or generate ideas or information.
To review, see:
6c. Compare and contrast primary strategies for building effective teams
- How can diversity be both an asset and a liability to building effective teams?
- What happens at each step of small group development?
- How does motivation in teams differ from that of individuals?
Diversity refers to how people are similar or different from each other. Normally, diversity is considered an asset for groups for many reasons, particularly since it helps prevent groupthink. Having diverse project teams affords companies a better understanding and service for their customers and allows them to develop new markets effectively. It also allows them to understand and better satisfy their workforce and reduce harassment and discrimination lawsuits. All these effects will lead to higher profits and stock prices, which please shareholders. Gaining a reputation for being a well-managed organization attracts new investors. However, diversity in groups may also be a liability. People tend to communicate less frequently, experience more conflict, report perceptions of unfairness, and feel their contributions are ignored more in groups with those who differ demographically from themselves. These phenomena can lead to greater rates of conflict in teams, which reduces productivity. Avoiding these problems may only create vicious cycles through the similarity-attraction phenomenon, in which the hiring manager chooses someone demographically similar over a more qualified candidate from a different demographic, or fault lines, which are attributes along which groups are split into subgroups.
The four stages of small group development are forming, storming, norming, and performing. Forming is when the group first meets, people introduce themselves and test their membership, and leadership is sought. This gives rise to storming, where group goals and expectations are discussed, leadership is tested, and work processes are questioned. This leads to norming, where the group decides on roles and norms for completing work. They begin working together and developing values, beliefs, and attitudes so that work can proceed without written rules. All this allows the group to move to the performing stage, in which it has formed an identity, communicates and coordinates efficiently and effectively, and its members trust each other and work interdependently.
Motivation for people in work teams is different for them as individuals. Providing individual rewards for the work people do as part of a team undermines the benefits of teamwork. Choose people for groups who are already motivated for teamwork so that intrinsic motivators such as affiliation and belongingness are met simply by being a team member. Set goals and provide feedback to meet needs for achievement. They reward everyone on the team equally for achieving goals when met. Create self-managing teams by allowing them to be accountable for teaching others about their actions. This makes team members truly interdependent, meaning they share a common purpose and fate, and incentivizes them to support each other when needed.
To review, see:
6d. Assess the effects of various leadership strategies on team or group performance
- How do leaders emerge based on communication skills and competence?
- What are NHL Hall-of-Famer Mark Messier's Three Levels of High-Performance Communication?
- What are the most important elements to consider when leading a virtual team?
Earlier, we discussed trait, behavioral, situational, and visionary approaches to leadership. A more functional approach is based on communication behaviors that create leadership conditions: task, procedural, and relational functions. Task-related functions include providing, seeking, and evaluating information. Procedural-related functions guide the group as it proceeds from idea generation to implementation. Relational functions are interpersonal, such as encouraging participation and inclusivity, establishing reflection and self-assessment norms, and managing conflict.
Mark Messier (1994) described three leadership communication levels. At leadership communication level 1, the leader invests time and energy in the foundation of team communication. At leadership communication level 2, the leader becomes self-aware of how they want and need to show up as a leader, determine how they project themselves in front of their team members, and develop their personal internal and external communication. At leadership communication Level 3 (the highest), the leader connects with individuals so the leader understands what uniquely motivates each. This sounds a lot like transformational leadership, right? The pitfall is that the Golden Rule leads us to do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Instead, Messier applies the Champion Leaders' Rule: Do unto others as they want to be done unto.
With today's technological options, leading virtual teams, groups who work together from different geographic locations and rely on communication technology, may seem like an efficient solution to conducting team projects worldwide. However, some basic considerations are often forgotten when building a virtual team. To operate well, members of virtual teams must understand each other's national and organizational cultures. Their time zones must be coordinated, as well as their locations and their common language. They all must be at the same level in terms of training. Everyone should be at the same skill level for the task at hand and for using the communication technology required to meet. They also need to be skilled at everything that goes with being a team member, such as preparation, working interdependently, participation and inclusion, emotional intelligence, and conflict management. Finally, the leader must ensure everyone clearly understands the team's objectives before beginning operations so all members head along the same path.
To review, see:
Unit 6 Vocabulary
This vocabulary list includes terms you will need to know to successfully complete the final exam.
- Champion Leaders' Rule
- communication behavior
- diversity
- fault line
- formal network
- forming
- group cohesion
- group size
- identity needs
- in-group
- informal network
- instrumental needs
- interdependent
- interpersonal needs
- mission
- norming
- out-group
- performing
- primary group
- procedural-related function
- relational function
- secondary group
- self-managing teams
- similarity-attraction phenomenon
- storming
- task-related function
- virtual team