BUAD309 Final Study Guide Chapter 9 Foundations of Group Behavior How to Make a Tough Decision 1 Ask questions and gather data to make sure you have all the needed information 2 Fight over the decision criteria not over the people budget strategy The former is defensible in court the latter usually is not 3 Assign weights to the criteria e g age motivation family potential contribution to society mental health etc 4 Apply criteria calculate numbers and look at the results to determine if they make sense If not go back and see if weights need to be changed Effective Decision Making in Teams How to have a good fight The challenge is to encourage members of teams to argue without destroying their ability to work together Focus on the facts and use info Multiply the alternatives Create and share common goals Use humor in the decision making process Maintain a balanced power structure Seek consensus sometimes with conditions Social identity theory considers when and why individuals consider themselves members of groups People have emotional reactions to the failure or success of their group because their self esteem gets tied into the performance of the group Social identities help us understand who we are and how where we fit in with people o In group favoritism Group you identify with and you favor those members more than members who are not a part of that group Several characteristics make a social identity important to a person Similarity of members in group Distinctiveness of that specific group from other groups Status Uncertainty reduction strength in numbers Zimbardo s Prison Experiment 2 week mock prison 1971 Physically healthy emotionally stable law abiding students with average Perceived prisoners negatively and formed stereotypes about the typical intelligence Randomly assigned to be guards or prisoners Prisoners quickly accepted the authority of the guards Guards quickly adjusted to new authoritative roles prisoner personality All engaged in abusive authoritative behavior Crushed a rebellion attempt o Prisoners became increasingly passive o Believe themselves inferior and powerless Not one prisoner complained that this was just an experiment Researchers had to end the simulation after 6 days because of participants pathological reactions o Simulation worked too well Demonstrated how quickly and easily individuals accept their roles Group Effectiveness Groupthink situations in which group pressures for conformity deter the group from critically appraising unusual minority or unpopular views When everyone shares collective opinions beliefs you slip into groupthink and group effectiveness goes down Related to norms Groupshift or group polarization describes the way group discussion tends to exaggerate the initial position of the group and shift the decision the group makes Particular position of group it catalyzes reaction where it makes group go to one extreme or another of the position The shift can be toward either conservatism or greater risk but is generally toward a more extreme version of the group s original position Diversity Group Effectiveness Diversity increases group conflict especially in the short term needs to be used effectively though don t let it harm you if you cannot communicate effectively leadership is crucial to make diversity effective and productive Culturally and demographically diverse groups may perform better over time Over time diversity may help them be more open minded and creative Strengths of group decision making More complete information and knowledge Increased diversity of views Increased acceptance of solutions Weaknesses of group decision making Time consuming because you have more info more diversity Conformity pressures Dominance of a few members Ambiguous responsibility people don t know what they are supposed to be doing Chapter 10 Understanding Work Teams Characteristics of Effective Teams Context What factors determine whether teams are successful Adequate Resources Leadership and Structure Climate of Trust o Scarcity reduces ability of the team to perform its job effectively o Teams cannot function if they cannot agree on who is to do what and ensure all members share the workload o Trust each other and exhibit trust in their leaders they are more willing to take risks and are more willing to commit to their leader s goals and decisions Performance Evaluations and Reward Systems Composition How should teams be staffed Abilities of members o Team s performance depends on knowledge skills and abilities of its individual members o Team s leader s abilities matter too smart team leaders are able to help less intelligent team members when they struggle with a task o Rate high on conscientiousness and openness to experience tend to Personality perform better Allocating roles o Individual strengths that each person can bring to the team Diversity Size of teams o Smaller teams key to improving group effectiveness o 5 9 members most effective teams o High performing teams are composed of people who prefer working as Process Member Flexibility Member preferences park of a group Common purpose Specific Goals Team efficacy Conflict Levels Social Loafing All have a role in team effectiveness Characteristics of Effective Teams Team Process Elements Common Plan and Purpose teams that establish clear sense of what needs to be done and how consistently perform better team s mission developing goals to achieve that mission creating strategies for achieving the goals o Reflexivity the team reflects on and adjusts their master plan when necessary Performance goals are specific measurable and challenging but realistic o Translate common purpose into specific measurable and realistic performance goals o Specific goals energize the team facilitate clear communication and help teams maintain their focus on results o Team goals should be challenging Team Efficacy belief in the team s ability have confidence in themselves and believe they can succeed o Built through small successes and training Mental Models organized mental representations of the what needs to be done and how of key elements within a team s environment that team members share o If members have different ideas about how to do things the team fights over how to do things rather than focusing on what needs to be done Conflict healthy and dysfunctional o Disagreements about task content task conflicts stimulate discussion promote critical assessment of problems and options and can lead to