Week 8

Group vs. Team

Group-three or more people who interact over time, depend on one another and follow shared rules of conduct to reach a common goal.

Interdependent

Team- a special kind of group characterized by different, complementary resources of members and by a strong sense of collective identity

1. People bring different and specialized resources to a common goal

2. Greater interdependence and a stronger sense of collective identity

Strengths of groups

Greater Resources

Greater Thoroughness

Synergy- collaborative vitality that enhances the efforts, talents, and strengths of individual members

Greater Creativity

Commitment to outcomes

People feel like they own outcomes

Take into account points of view

Voluntary and Involuntary group membership

1. Voluntary – groups you choose to belong to

• Religion

• Political affiliation

• Occupation

• Fanship

2. Involuntary – groups that you have no choice but to belong to

• Age

• Sex

• Race

• Ethnicity

2. Voluntary and Involuntary nonmembership groups

1. Voluntary nonmembership – groups you choose not to belong to

• Ex. If am a Democrat by choice, I am choosing not be a Republican

2. Involuntary nonmembership – groups that you are not able to belong to.

• Ex. If I am a male I can not be in the girl scouts

Roles

• Role is one’s relative position in a group (one’s rank)

• The key here is relative

• One’s role has no meaning without a related role.

• Teacher/Student

• Parent/Child

• Boss/Employee

• Roles vary by time, place, and whom you are with.

 Societal influence: structures help to form individuals into certain roles based on the

social situations they choose to experience

 Genetic predisposition: People take on roles that come naturally to them

 For instance, those with athletic ability generally take on roles of athletes, or at least

find it easier to

 Those with mental genius often take on roles devoted to education and knowledge.

 Multiple roles can be taken – you could be a great athlete and a genius

• Formal and Informal Roles

• Formal roles

• Well defined

• Sometimes contractual

• Usually concrete expectations

• Often involve pledges, oaths, or vows

• Ex. Husband and wife, President, Employment positions

• Informal roles

• Learned through experience

• Large range of group and cultural variance

• Ex. Family positions like parent/child, Friends, Mentor/Mentee, Gender Roles

• Roles prescribe:

1. With whom you can communicate

• I am not in a position to talk to the President

2. About what you can communicate

• The topics that are appropriate to talk about

3. How to communicate

• The types of speech patterns we use – formal/informal

Brainstorming- idea generation in groups to come up with as many ideas as possible.

Throw out ideas and do not evaluate

Quantity not necessarily quality

Building on ideas

Creativity – thinking outside of the box. You can then rework into more realistic ideas

Problems with groups

Social Loafing- groups members exert less effort than they would if they worked on a project alone.

Strengths of groups

Greater Resources

Greater Thoroughness

Synergy- collaborative vitality that enhances the efforts, talents, and strengths of individual members

Greater Creativity

Commitment to outcomes

People feel like they own outcomes

Take into account points of view

Cohesion- degree of closeness among members and the sense of group spirit

Groupthink- members of a group stop thinking critically and independently

Groupsize

We said groups consisted of at least 3 people

Power- TheAbility to influence others

Power over- the ability to help or harm others in the group

Power to- the ability to empower others to reach their goals

Group norms- guidelines that regulate how members act as well as how they interact with one another

Conflict in groups

Disruptive- egocentric communication, competitive, combative, I-centered solutions, ideas, etc

Constructive- disagreements are natural and can be good and healthy, openness

Communication in organizations

Management

· Management is found in all cultures

· Management is never free of culture. It is performed by individuals in a culture who manage individuals in a culture

2. Organizational Culture

· The beliefs and values that guide an organization

· Is often linked to the culture of the particular country

· There is variation between the organizational cultures within countries. For instance, corporate culture is different from academic cultures and the culture of a company like Google is different from the culture of Microsoft

1. Japanese Business and Management Practices

· Japanese business practices are more collectivistic than the U.S.

· Lifetime employment and job security at an organization in exchange for an employee’s dedication. You can see the difference from U.S. corporate culture where there is little to no job security

· Seniority pay scale and promotions. The longer you remain with an employer the more lucrative your gains

· Performance based pay beginning to be more common, replacing the traditional seniority system

· Workers are encouraged to eat, drink, and exercise together in order to foster a close and harmonious group

· Japanese managers endorse behaviors that are other oriented and principle oriented

· Japanese business people place a high value on the relationships that they inhabit

· Japanese business managers tend to use management tactics that are subtle and indirect

· Specifically Japanese Management strategies

· Firm’s Authority – appealing to the good of the organization as a whole, not to a specific boss

· Personal Development – convincing employees to comply with a request to enhance their careers within the company, not to develop skills that may be useful when they move on in their careers (remember, for the most part, Japanese business people don’t move on to other companies)

· Socializing – spending time with employees outside of the work environment. Getting to know employees in more informal settings

Stories

-Corporate Stories- stories that tell others about the values, style, and history of an organization

-Personal stories- stories that people within an organization tell about themselves to convey where they fit in an organization

- Collegial stories- accounts of other members of an organization

Rites- dramatic, planned sets of activities that bring together aspects of cultural ideology into an event

Rites of passage- used to mark membership in different levels or parts of the organization

Upstairs or corner office

Rites of integration- affirm and enhance the sense of community in an organization

Blaming rites- firings and demotions

Enhancement rites- praise individuals that embody the organizational culture, i.e. employee of the month

Renewal rites- revitalize and update organization, workshops and retreats

Conflict resolution rites- methods of dealing with conflict, arbitration, collective- bargaining, voting

Rituals- forms of communication that occur regularly and that members of an organization perceive as familiar and routine

Personal Rituals- rituals that individuals use to express their identity within an organization

Social Rituals- affirm relationships between organization members. Teams going out for drinks

Task Rituals- activities that help organization members perform their job.

Standpoint theory- social groups within a culture distinctively shape member’s perspectives—their perception, identities, expectations, and so forth.