Chapter 11

Groups, Teams, and Their Leadership

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 Chapter Outline
• Introduction
• Individuals versus groups versus teams
• The nature of groups
• Teams
• Virtual teams
• On the Horizon

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 Groups, Teams, and Their Leadership
We are born for cooperation, as are the feet, the hands, the
eyelids, and the upper and lower jaws.
•Marcus Aurelius, Roman emperor, 161 to 180

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 Introduction
Groups and teams are different from the skills, abilities, values,
and motives of those who compose them

Groups and teams have their own special characteristics

Groups are essential if leaders are to impact anything beyond

their own behavior
•Group perspective: How different group characteristics can affect
relationships both with the leader and among the followers

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 Individuals versus Groups versus Teams
• Team members usually have a stronger sense of identification
among themselves than group members do
• Teams have common goals or tasks, whereas group members
may not have the same degree of consensus about goals that
team members do
• Task independence is greater with teams than with groups
• Team members have more differentiated and specialized roles
than group members

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 Nature of Groups
Group: Two or more persons interact with one another in a
manner that each person influences and is influenced by each
other person
•Definition incorporates the concept of reciprocal influence between
leaders and followers
• Does not constrain individuals to only one group
• Points out the group members interact and influence each other

Although groups play a pervasive role in society, most people

spend little time thinking about the factors that affect group
processes and intragroup relationships

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 Implications of Group Size
Leader emergence is partly a function of group size

As size increases, cliques are more likely to develop

•Cliques: Subgroups of individuals who often share the same goals,
values, and expectations

Affects a leader’s behavioral style

•Leaders with a large span of control tend to be more directive, spend
less time with individual subordinates, and use impersonal approaches
when influencing followers
•Leaders with a small span of control tend to show more consideration
and use personal approaches when influencing followers

Affects group effectiveness

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 Limitations to the Benefits of Size
There may be decreasing returns, on a per-capita basis, as group
size increases
•May occur in additive tasks due to process losses
• Additive task: A task where the group’s output simply involves the
combination of individual outputs
• Process losses: Inefficiencies created by more and more people
working together

Social loafing: Phenomenon of reduced effort by people when

they are not individually accountable for their work

Social facilitation: People increasing their level of work due to

the presence of others

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 Tuckman’s Stages of Group Development
• Forming: Characterized by polite conversation, the gathering
of superficial information about fellow members, and low
trust
• Storming: Marked by intragroup conflict and status
differentiation as remaining contenders struggle to build
alliances and fulfill the group’s leadership role
• Norming: Characterized by the clear emergence of a leader
and the development of group norms and cohesiveness
• Performing: In this stage, group members play functional,
interdependent roles that are focused on the performance of
group tasks

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 Gersick’s Punctuated Equilibrium Model

Teams do not necessarily jump right in and get to work

•Spend the initial months trying out various ideas and strategies
•Experience the equivalent of a midlife crisis midway into the project
• There is a flurry of activity and a reexamination of the strategy to see if
it will allow them to complete their work

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 Group Roles
Sets of expected behaviors associated with particular jobs or
positions

Can be categorized in terms of task and relationship functions

•Task role: Deals with getting a task done
•Relationship role: Deals with supporting relationships within a work
group

Problems that can impede group performance

•Dysfunctional roles
•Role conflict
•Role ambiguity

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 Role Conflict
Receiving contradictory messages about expected behavior
Ways in which role conflict can occur
•Intrasender role conflict: Same person sends mixed signals
•Intersender role conflict: Receiving inconsistent signals from several
others about expected behavior
•Interrole conflict: Inability to perform one’s roles as well as one would
like
•Person-role conflict: Violation of a person’s values by role
expectations

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 Group Norms, 1
Norms: Informal rules groups adopt to regulate and regularize
group members’ behavior
Hackman recommends that a leader has a responsibility to
focus the team outwardly to enhance performance
•Group members should actively scan the environment for
opportunities that would require a change in operating strategy to
capitalize upon them
•Teams should identify the few behaviors that team members must
always do and those they should never do to conform to the
organization’s objectives

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 Group Cohesion, 1
Disadvantages of highly cohesive groups
•Overbounding: Tendency to erect what amount to fences or
boundaries between themselves and others
•Groupthink: People in highly cohesive groups often become more
concerned with striving for unanimity than objectively appraising
different courses of action
•Ollieism: Occurs when illegal actions are taken by overly zealous and
loyal subordinates who believe that what they are doing will please
their leaders

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 Key Characteristics of Effective Teams, 1
Have a clear mission and high performance standards

Leaders often evaluate equipment, training facilities and

opportunities, and outside resources available to help the team
•Spend a considerable amount of time assessing the technical skills of
team members
•Work to secure the resources and equipment necessary for team
effectiveness
•Spend time planning and organizing in order to make optimal use of
available resources

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 Key Characteristics of Effective Teams, 2

Teams have high levels of communication, which:

•Help team members stay focused on the mission and take better
advantage of the skills, knowledge, and resources available to the team
•Help minimize interpersonal conflicts

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 Effective Team Characteristics and Team Building
Following variables need to be in place for a team to work
effectively:

•Task structure
•Group boundaries
•Appropriate norms
•Authority

Hackman and Ginnett developed the concept of organizational

shells to help team leaders consider the variables

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 Figure 11.1: Organizational Shells

Jump to Figure 11.1: Organizational Shells, Appendix

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 Team Leadership Model, or T L M
Identifies what a team needs to be effective
•Points the leader either toward the roadblocks that are hindering the
team or toward ways to make the team even more effective than it
already is

Resembles a systems theory approach

•Inputs are at the base
•Processes or throughputs are in the center
•Outputs are at the top

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 Figure 11.2: Systems Theory Applied to Teams

Source: © 2005 Robert C. Ginnett, PhD. All rights reserved.

Jump to Figure 11.2: Systems Theory Applied to Teams, Appendix

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 Figure 11.3: Basic T L M Outputs: Outcomes of High-
Performance Teams

Source: © 2005 Robert C. Ginnett, PhD. All rights reserved. Jump to Figure 11.3: Basic T L M Outputs:
Outcomes of High-Performance Teams, Appemdix

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 Figure 11.4: T L M Process Variables: Diagnose
the Team Using the Process Variables

Source: © 2005 Robert C. Ginnett, PhD. All rights reserved. Jump to Figure 11.4: T L M Process Variables: Diagnose the Team Using the Process
Variables, Appendix

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 Leadership Prescriptions of the Model
Team should be built like a house or an automobile
•Start with a concept
•Create a design
•Engineer it to do what you want it to do
•Manufacture it to meet those specifications

Critical functions for team leadership

•Dream
•Design
•Development

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 Concluding Thoughts about the T L M
Even if a team is well designed, has superior organizational
systems, and has access to superior-quality ongoing
development, without adequate material resources, it is not
likely to do well on the output level

Leaders can influence team effectiveness by:

•Ensuring the team has a clear sense of purpose and performance

expectations
•Designing or redesigning input stage variables at the individual,
organizational, and team design levels
•Improving team performance through ongoing coaching

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 Figure 11.7: Factors from the Team Leadership
Model and the Interactional Framework

Jump to Figure 11.7: Factors from the Team Leadership Model and the Interactional Framework, Appendix

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 Virtual Teams, 1
Also known as geographically dispersed teams, or G D T’s

Areas that require change for global teams to work

•Senior management leadership
•Innovative use of communication technology
•Adoption of an organization design that enhances global operations
•Prevalence of trust among team members
•Ability to capture the strengths of diverse cultures, languages, and
people

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 Virtual Teams, 2
Leaders of virtual teams need to bear in mind the following
research conclusions:
•Distance between members is multidimensional
•Impact of distances on performance is not directly proportional to
objective measures of distance
•Differences in the effects that distance seems to have is due at least
partially to the following intervening variables:

•Integrating practices within a virtual team

•Integrating practices between a virtual team and its larger host
organization

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 On the Horizon
Team leadership appears to be the most studied and applied in
comparison to network leadership, shared leadership,
complexity leadership, and collective leadership

Clusters: New alternative to the traditional idea of teams

•Formed outside a company context, but are hired and paid by
companies as a unit, as a permanent part of the company
•Manage, govern, and develop themselves
•Define their own working practices and tools and share out
remuneration

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 Summary
Group perspective shows that followers’ behaviors can be the
result of factors somewhat independent of their individual
characteristics

Leaders should use a team perspective for understanding

follower behavior and group performance

The Team Leadership Model suggests that team effectiveness

can be best understood in terms of inputs, processes, and
outcomes
•By identifying certain process problems in teams, leaders can use the
model to diagnose appropriate leverage points for action

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 Figure 11.1: Organizational Shells, Appendix
The figure illustrates four concentric ovals. The innermost oval is
labeled team at work, the second oval from the center is labeled
group formation, the third oval is labeled organization, and the
fourth oval is labeled industry. The label outside the outermost
oval reads environment. Four dashed arrows extend from the
outside of the concentric ovals to the innermost oval. The arrows
are labeled task, norms, authority, and boundary.

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 Figure 11.2: Systems Theory Applied to Teams,
Appendix
The figure shows an iceberg submerged in water with only the
tip visible above the waterline. Rectangles have been used to
highlight portions of the iceberg. The rectangle covering the tip
of the iceberg is labeled output. The second rectangle, labeled
process, encompasses some parts of the iceberg that is above
the waterline and some parts that are right below the waterline.
The third rectangle, labeled input, highlights a large portion of
the iceberg that is completely under water. A flower bracket
indicates that inputs comprise individual characteristics, team
factors, and organizational systems.

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 Figure 11.3: Basic T L M Outputs: Outcomes of High-
Performance Teams, Appendix
The pyramid is divided into five blocks. Starting from the bottom, the
first block is labeled organizational system, the second block is labeled
team factors, the third block is labeled individual characteristics, the
fourth block is labeled what’s going on?, and the fifth block is labeled H
P T goals. The fifth block is shaped like a triangle, and each corner of
the triangle is labeled. The bottom-left corner is labeled individuals are
satisfied. The bottom-right corner is labeled future capability of the
team improves. The top of the triangle is labeled outcomes are
acceptable to stakeholders. The three blocks at the bottom are clubbed
and labeled input. The label next to the fourth block reads process. The
label next to the fifth block reads output.

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 Figure 11.4: T L M Process Variables: Diagnose
the Team Using the Process Variables, Appendix

The pyramid is divided into five blocks. Starting from the bottom,
the first block is labeled organizational system, the second block
is labeled team factors, and the third block is labeled individual
characteristics. These three blocks are collectively labeled input.
The fourth block is subdivided into four parts. The parts are
labeled P-1, effort; P-2, skills and knowledge; P-3, strategy; and
P-4, group dynamics. The parts are collectively labeled process.
The fifth block is labeled H P T. It is also labeled output.

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 Figure 11.7: Factors from the Team Leadership Model
and the Interactional Framework, Appendix
The figure shows three circles partially overlapping each other. The first circle
is labeled leader. The content within this circle reads leader assesses process
criteria and corrects through design, coaching, and modeling. The second
circle is labeled followers and has a main point that reads individual factors.
The subpoints under individual factors are interests slash motivation, skills
slash abilities, values slash attitudes, and interpersonal behavior. The third
circle is labeled situation. Two main points are listed along with subpoints in
this circle. The first main point reads team design, and the subpoint under it
reads task structure. The second main point reads organizational context, and
the subpoints listed under it are reward system, educational system,
information system, and organizational structure or design. The area where
the three circles intersect has a main point that reads team design. The
subpoints under team design are team composition, norms, and authority
dynamics. Outcomes are listed on the right side in the figure. They are output
acceptable to client, future capability of team, and individual satisfaction.

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 The Power of Teamwork

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