INTER-GROUP RELATIONS

INTRODUCTION:

Understanding inter-group relations is important for two reasons: i) it is through the interaction and performance of various groups that the goals and objectives of the organizations can be accomplished. It is therefore important for managers to develop an understanding of the major influence on inter-group behavior and to improve their skills in diagnosing and evaluating inter-group process. Second, the discussion of inter-group behavior will serve as a foundation for our discussion of the larger structure or design of the total organization.

FACTORS AFFECTING INTER-GROUP RELATIONS

Interdependence:

Pooled Interdependence:

When two or more groups are combining their inputs together to form an organizational goal, it is following pooled interdependence. All other things are being equal, coordination requirements between or among groups linked by pooled interdependence are less than with sequential or reciprocal interdependence. For example, the resources of various departments in hospital such as blood bank, anesthesia, nursing, pharmacist, house keeping, surgical section etc are utilized to treat a patient and making them recovered from illness. Similarly in new product development, the manufacturing of new model is being interdependent in a pooled manner with research, development, engineering, and marketing functions during the applied research stage.

Sequential Interdependence:

When one group’s output is used by another group as input, it is called as sequential interdependence. For example, in assembly line the output of one department is input for another department. Similarly, in product development, there are a number of sequential interdependence between research and development and engineering departments. The initial laboratory work in the research laboratory is transferred to the larger scale development engineering pilot plant for further testing and developments. The inputs for the development engineering work are the output of the research function. With sequential interdependence, there is an element of potential uncertainty exist. The input element is dependent on the output element for accurate and timely data and information.

Readjustment must be made when an output element performs improperly or fails to meet the expectation of the input element. If the research function does not interact frequently with the development function or if data is inaccurately transferred or delayed, the performance of the development engineering function will be hampered. Good planning and communication between the concerned departments are necessary to coordinate their tasks.

Reciprocal Interdependence:

Where groups exchange inputs and outputs in order to complete their business activity, it is following reciprocal interdependence. For example, the manufacturing and maintenance departments of a plant are mutually interdependent. The manufacturing department cannot function unless the machines are properly serviced by the maintenance department. The maintenance department will not be able to prioritize its servicing activities unless the production department indicates which of the machines gives them the most trouble and provide a schedule of times when it will be most useful for the production department to remain idle and let the maintenance crew walk in to do the repair jobs. Constant dialogue, mutual adjustment and cooperative behavior are necessary for the two groups to function effectively and achieve the overall goals of the organization.

For inter-group performance, it is important for managers to understand that as one progress from pooled to reciprocal, the three types of interdependence require greater interaction, and it also becomes increasingly difficult to coordinate toward task accomplishment. That is, when advancing from pooled interdependence to sequential interdependence, and finally to reciprocal interdependence, there must be an increased awareness by everyone involved that the activities of the one group are dependent on the action and behavior of the other groups. Inter-group performance is a direct result of how this interdependence is successfully controlled and coordinated.

Task Uncertainty:

The nature of task is varying from highly certain to highly uncertain. In those jobs where the level of uncertainty exists at high level, it requires more processing information. Tasks with low uncertainty tend to be standardized. Further, groups that do such tasks do not have to interact much with other groups. In contrast, groups that undertake tasks those are high in uncertainty face problems that require customized responses. This leads to a need for more and better information. For example, in marketing research professionals are required to interact much more actively with other departments such as marketing, sales, product design, advertising etc than would people in manufacturing department. The degree of task uncertainty varies with two factors such as i) task clarity and ii) the task environment.

Task clarity:

It is the degree to which the requirements and responsibilities in the group are clearly stated and understood. Generally task clarity refers to the extent that rules, procedures and polices are used by groups to direct the every day activities of members. In manufacturing a standardized product in assembly line, the task clarity such as quality, quantity, equipment maintenance etc are very much required to meet the goals. In research and development department, a high degree of creativity and innovation are required in day to day operations. Rules and procedures are generally not available, but usually developed as the development progress. One can see the variation of task clarity in these two extremes of job situations.

Task Environment:

These are the factors which, either internal or external, are relevant or significantly affect the level of the performance of a group. For example, the manufacturing department is relying too much on maintenance, quality control, purchase, finance departments to meet its goals. They also interact with elements external to the parent organization such as raw material suppliers, transportation, and marketing, legal professionals’ etc. Task uncertainty also varies with two factors such as i) the number of different elements, units, or groups and ii) the stable-dynamic nature of the environment.

Time and Goal Orientation:

Two particular work orientations can influence inter-group performance: i) time orientation, and ii) goal orientation.

Time Orientation:

It is the time span required to obtain information or results relating to the performance of a task. For example, in our product development illustration, manufacturing and marketing managers deal with situations or problems that provide rapid feedback about results. The manufacturing manager is concerned with hourly quality control and productivity data, whereas the marketing manager may focus his attention on weekly or bimonthly reports of sales volume. The research scientist tends to have longer-range project which may likely to get results only after a year or two.

Goal Orientation:

It focuses on the particular set of task objectives or goals that are of major concern to individuals in organization. To be effective, managers should focus their attention clearly on goals and objectives that are directly related to their work. Production managers focus on such goals such as raw material costs, processing and storage costs, quality of finished products, where as the marketing manager tend to concentrate on increasing sales volume and revenue, market share and penetration and customer satisfaction. The research scientist’s goals involve developing new product, or translating knowledge into potential market applications.

The different goal orientation provides a basis for establishing criteria for evaluating the performance of the particular group or unit. It is expected that the primary criteria of performance for production department would focus on quality, quantity and costs considerations (techno-economic), sales volume and market share are prime issues for marketing department (market), and the number of new products and contribution to scientific knowledge for research and development (science)

Inter-group Performance:

The major elements of interdependence, task uncertainty and time and goal orientation establish three requirements that influence the quality of inter-group performance.

i) The type of interdependence: The type of interdependence between units or groups influences the nature of the interaction requirements. Interaction requirements refer not only to the frequency and quality of interaction required for task accomplishment, but also to the number of levels or individuals in each group that are required to interact with counterparts in others groups. Interaction requires increase as interdependence moves from pooled to sequential to reciprocal interdependence.

ii) The degree of task uncertainty: The degree of task uncertainty inherent in one or more of the interacting groups influences the degree of information flow requirements that are necessary for task accomplishment. Information flow requirements are the amount of information that must be processed between interacting groups. For example, in R & D work, the high level of uncertainty expect to have a great amount of information to flow between these units during the pilot plant or product refinement stage of development.

iii) Time and goal orientation: Time and goal orientation introduces the concepts of differentiation and integration. Differentiation is the degree to which organizational units differ from one another in time (short term to long term) and goal orientation (techno-economic, market or science). On the other hand, integration deals with the degree of collaboration, cooperation, and mutual trust and understanding required and achieved between the various interacting organizations groups. In the early stages of the group development process, there is a high degree of differentiation between the research units and the marketing unit because of differences in time orientation (long term verses short tern) and goal orientation (science versus market)

METHODS FOR MANAGING INTER-GROUP RELATIONS

Rules and Procedures:

The most basic or simplistic method for managing inter-group performance is to specify in advance, through rules and procedures, the required activities and behavior of group members. Interacting employees learn that when certain situations arise there is a particular set of actions that should be used.

The principle benefit of rules and procedures is that they eliminate the need for extensive interaction and information follow between groups or units. Rules and procedures also provide a means of stability to the organization. Employees may come and go, but the procedures remain for future interaction.

Rules and procedures are limited methods for managing inter-group performance. They are most applicable when inter-group activities can be anticipated in advance and when the responses or required behaviors can be developed. Where there is a high degree of task uncertainty and therefore increased information flow requirements, rules and procedures may prove to be inadequate as in inter-group management strategy.

Hierarchy:

When the use of rules and procedures prove inadequate for effective inter-group performance, the use of hierarchy or common supervisor becomes the primary intergroup managerial strategy. The basic assumption for using the hierarchy or common supervisor as an inter-group managerial strategy is that higher level of managers has the power and authority to make these decisions. Whenever interaction, information flow, and integration requirements increase, the manger’s time may be totally taken up for resolving these exceptions or problems of inter-group relations. Less time can be devoted to more pressing issues, such as planning the construction of a new plant.

Planning:

As the problems between interacting units or groups develop beyond the control of rules, procedures or hierarchy, organizations increasingly use planning activities to improve inter-group performance. Planning activities involve setting goals or targets that can lead to task accomplishments.

The task of constructing a building can be effectively accomplished through the use of plans because the complexities can be controlled and the majority of the future interaction can be programmed. On the other hand, the inter-group processes involved in developing a new product from the laboratory to full-scale market introduction cannot be totally planned. The planning process involves a high level of interaction because of the many varied groups that are involved and because such events as scientific knowledge generation and the pattern of consumer reaction cannot be fully spelled out in advance. Certain inter-group relations are well adapted to the use of plans; other inter-group activities can use plans to manage only selected interactions between units or groups. These inter-group activities must develop and use other strategies to manage their interactions.

Liaison or Internal Boundary Spanning Roles:

When the number of interactions and volume of information between two or more units or groups grow, it may become necessary to establish a specialized role to handle these requirements. Such a role has been variously termed a liaison, or more formally, an internal boundary spanner.

Individuals who operate in this role provide lateral communications and facilitate interaction between the two functions in a number of areas. One important area is the coordination of activity directed toward ascertaining the potential of a new product developed by the applied research unit. The effective interaction provided by the liaison role may enable the group to progress to the development stage more quickly or may force the applied research scientists to revise their work in light of a negative evaluation from the market research unit. In such cases, decision related to the new product may be made earlier than if a liaison role had not been established.

These liaison or boundary spanning roles in organizations serve a number of purposes.

i) they can facilitate the flow of information between two or more interacting units. The normal flow of information between units usually is based on formal, time consuming mechanisms, such as memos and formal meetings. The liaison role provides a more informal mechanism that can reduce the time necessary for accurate information flow.

ii) Due to frequent interactions, the liaison person is generally well acquainted with the nature of the work of each of the interacting groups. This knowledge can provide such benefits such as (a) ability to assist in the coordination of various complex activities; (b) ability to provide the interacting units with a better understanding of each other’s functions and responsibilities; and (c) providing a continuous way of keeping each interacting unit aware of the current progress of inter-group relationships and day-to-day decision making.

Task Forces:

When the complexities of interaction increases, such as when the number of interacting units grows in size beyond two or three groups, the coordinating or decision-making capacity of the liaison role becomes overloaded. One mechanism to overcome these problems is to establish a ‘temporary’ task force consisting of one or more representatives from each of the interacting units. Task forces exist only so long as the problem of interacting units remains. When a solutions is reached, each member returns to his or normal duties. Selected members of the interacting groups are brought together to form a task force. Task forces generally coordinate inter-group activities for a specific period of time, thus they are temporary in nature. They are also limited to an advisory role, leaving the final decision making to higher level managers.

In order to resolve typical problems of developing a new product, the task force can be constituted by nominating member from manufacturing, shipping sales, research and development. The task force is charged with identifying the source of the quality problem, developing and selecting alternatives solutions, and implementing whatever solutions is chosen. When the problem has been remedied, the task force disbanded and each member returns to his or her respective groups.

Teams:

Similar to task forces, teams are a collection of individual member used to manage intergroup activities where there are more than two or three interacting units. The distinguishing aspects of the team concept are that the problem to be solved usually is long term in nature, requiring a relatively permanent formal assignment to the team. Team members maintain a dual responsibility, one to their primary functional unit and the second to the team. When the team has accomplished its task, each member returns full-time to the functional assignment.

Integrating Departments:

As the degree of interaction, information flow, and integration requirements increase, the frequency and magnitude of inter-group relations may grow beyond the capacity of plans, task forces or teams. In response to this situation, organizations may seek more permanent, formal and authority based mechanisms that represent the general manager’s perspective. Such mechanisms are known as integrating departments.

In its basic form, an integrating department consists of a single person who carries a title such as product manager, project manager, branch manager or group manager. These managers rarely supervise any of the actual work required in inter-group interactions. They are held responsible for the effective integration of inter-group activities. Their decision-making authority is acquired through direct reporting relationships to a higher management position.

This authority can be increased in two ways: i) the department head may be given a number of subordinates or staff specialists who report directly to his or her. Collectively, they form a true integrating department. ii) the second way to increase the authority of the integrating department is to give it a major influence in decision making for the intergroup activities. This can be done by including the integrating department in any decision made by functional unit or by giving it a major voice in the budgetary process. These provide the most formal strategies for managing inter-group performance. The department manager generally reports to the highest management level and may be given great decision-making authority, consisting of a large staff and budgetary responsibility.

Superordinate Goals:

Common goals that transcend the immediate goals pursued by individual groups can be termed as a superordinate goal. That is, two or more groups work towards common ends which cannot be achieved by the individual efforts of each of the groups alone. At times of crises situations, the two conflicting departments can set aside their differences and may extend full cooperation to each other to accomplish a common goal. This superordinate or a higher order common goal articulated by the Managing Director of that company will force the two departments to put aside their individual differences and jointly develop common strategies to achieve the common goals of the company. Reward systems can be developed to motivate the interdependent groups to work together to achieve superordinate goals. Profit sharing, gain sharing and other types of incentives offered to the groups help them to focus their energies in achieving superordinate goals.

GROUP STRUCTURE AND GROUP PROCESS CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

Individual members of groups bring with them certain individual characteristics that may have an influence on group behavior. An individual’s typical behavioral patterns such as how he or she reacts to others, and his available skill and abilities will have an impact on the overall performance o f a group. The discussion of individual characteristics and group behavior includes four main components: 1) biographical and physical characteristics, 2) abilities and intelligence, 3) personality and 4) expectations.

The structure of the group provides norms, social ranking influence, and the position or role that each member occupies in the group. The following components of the group structure are important: 1) group composition, 2) norms, 3) status, 4) emergent leaders 5) role definition and 6) group cohesiveness. Research studies have shown that conformity to group norms are a function of four factors; personality of the group member; situational factors; stimulus factors; and intra-group relations. Individuals conform to group norms generally in one of the three ways: conformity, rebellion or creative individualism.

GROUP MEMBER ATTRIBUTES

A group’s potential level of performance is, to a large extent dependent on the attributes that its members individually bring to the group. There are two attributes: i) knowledge, skills and abilities of an individual and ii) his personality characteristics.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES

Intellectual abilities, skills and abilities are predicting the group’s performance more confidently. It is reported that individuals whose abilities are crucial for attaining the group’s tasks tend to be more involved in group activity and more likely to emerge as the group leaders. Further, they are satisfied if their talents are effectively used by the group. Intellectual ability and task relevant ability have both been found to be related to overall group performance. Group performance is not merely the summation of its individual member’s abilities. However, these abilities set the possibilities for what member can do and how effectively they perform in a group.

PERSONALITY CHARACTERISTICS

There is a high level of relationship between personality traits, group attitudes and behavior. It is reported that personality traits tend to have a positive connotation in our culture and tend to positively related to group productivity, morale and cohesiveness. These include traits such as sociability, self-reliance and independence. The magnitude of the effect of any single characteristic is small, but all together the consequences for group behavior are of major significance. Therefore, the personality characteristics of group members play an important part in determining group behavior.

GROUP STRUCTURES FORMAL LEADERSHIP

Formal leader of the group:

He is its principal representative and is the one individual who can legitimately exert formal influence on the activities of the group. The leader is responsible for the direction and goal accomplishment of the group and can reward or punish individual member when they do not comply with the directions, orders or rules of the group. Without a leader, the group will never have direction and spirit to proceed further. Due to this, an organization supports the leaders influence, and ensures that the leader has the power to make the group members comply with directives.

Informal Group Leaders:

Informal group leaders generally are individuals who are respected by other group members and who have acquired special status. The informal group leaders generally:

i) Aids the group in directing its activities toward goal accomplishment

ii) Embodies the values of the group

iii) Acts for the group in presenting their viewpoint when interacting with management or other groups

iv) Facilitates the activities of the group by initiating group actions and assisting in resolving group conflict.

The informal group leadership role can and often does change from person to person, depending on the particular conditions that exist. An individual who is not able to maintain the respect, status, and prestige of the group can be replaced by others who embody the needed characteristics. To remain an informal leader person must have the necessary qualifications, knowledge, and skills needed to aid and guide the group toward goal accomplishment.

ROLES

Role refers to a set of expected behavior patterns attributed to someone occupying a given position in a social unit. Roles are classified into three ways:

Expected Role:

It refers to the expectations of supervisors towards their subordinates on the type of behavior or actions in their job. This expected role can be specified by giving a detailed job description, position, title or by other directions from the organizations.

Perceived Role:

This concerns the set of activities or behaviors of the group that an individual believes he or she should do. Most of the time, the perceived role corresponds to the expected role. Many factors may be present in a situation that can distort the individual’s perception and thus make the perceived role inaccurate.

Enacted Role:

This refers to the way in which the individual group member actually behaves. The enacted role is generally dependent on the perceived role If there is any differences exist between or among these roles, a considerable level of role ambiguity or role conflict exists. Role ambiguity is the lack of clarity regarding job duties, authority and responsibility that the individual perceives in his role. It can be caused by a number of factors such as lack of clear job description, occupational levels with complex set of duties, lack of training, experience and clear job responsibilities, lack of self confidence and other personalized factors. Role conflict occurs when multiple demands and directions from one or more individuals create uncertainty in the worker’s mind concerning what should be done, when or for whom. Employees must receive directions or expectations only from one source. But in recent times, the employees have multiple roles and therefore can receive multiple directions. Two different types of role conflict exist; i) intra-role conflict and ii) inter-role conflict.

Intra-role conflict: It is created by many different directives sent simultaneously to some one occupying one role, making it impossible for the individual to satisfy all directives at the same time. For example: Production supervisor experiences role conflict by getting conflicting demands from four sources such as i) production manager is demanding greater emphasis on steady production levels and attention to cost control ii) Sales manager asking not only for a greater variety of products, but also different qualities of products for select customers ii) Maintenance managers demanding him to shutdown the plant to do repair work. iv) Workers want more overtime, better working conditions and less interference in their work from supervisors.

Inter-role conflict: It is created by many simultaneous roles presenting conflicting expectations. It exists when an individual finds that compliance with one role requirement may make it more difficult the compliance with another. At the extreme, it would include situations in which two or more role expectations are mutually contradictory.

All of us to face role conflict at various times. The critical issue is how the different role expectations imposed by organizational requirements affect our behavior. Certainly they increase internal tension and frustrations. There are a number of behavioral responses to resolve such conflicts by following the organizational rules, regulations and procedures that govern organizational activities. Other behavioral responses may include withdrawal, staffing, negotiations, etc.

NORMS:

Norms act as standards of behavior and performance. Norms can be described as shared belief among group members as to what behaviors are appropriate if one desires to be a part of and belong to the group. It refers to acceptable standards of behavior that are shared by the group members. Norms direct employees on what they ought and ought not to do under certain circumstance. When agree to and accepted by the group, norms act as means of influencing the behavior of group members with minimum of external controls.

Norms become unwritten rules, or implicitly understood codes of conduct for group members. Interestingly, norms become explicit only when they are broken. For instance, if the norms of a group include punctuality in attendance, and if group members come late, the other members are likely to react to this behavior in several subtle or not so subtle ways. Some of the types of norms are as given below:

i) Performance related norms: Setting targets such as number of units produced per day, number of calls attended etc will be performance related norms

ii) Non-performance related norms: Formal dress code, visiting office during weekends, accepting transfers to distant locations etc, will be non performance related norms.

iii) Informal Social Arrangements: These norms come from informal work group and primarily regulate social interactions within the group. These norms influence friendships on and off the job, whom group members eat lunch with, and social activities.

iv) Allocation of Resources. This is related to fixing pay, assignment of difficult jobs, and allocation of new tools and equipments etc.

v) Norm Conformity: An important issue facing all the managers of group is the degree to which employees conform to group norms. There are certain factors which strongly influence members to conform to group norms. They are as follows:

i) Personal factors: It is reported that more intelligent individuals are less likely to conform than are less intelligent individuals and that the more authoritarian an individual is , the less likely that he or she will conform to group norms.

ii) Situational factors: The size, structure of the group, social contexts etc strongly influence the norm conformity. As the size of the group increase beyond certain limit say more than 10-12, the conformity to norm is likely to decrease.

iii) Stimulus Factors: The more ambiguous the stimulus, the greater will be the conformity to the group norms. The uncertainty will force the members to work together to minimize its level and attain clarity in the work roles.

iv) Intra-group relationship: The types of intra-group relationships such as the kind and extent of group pressure exerted, the rate of success achieved in reaching group goals, the degree of identification with group goals etc. strongly influence members to conform to the group norms.

Norms are thus leant by members through observation, and through reinforcement (being rewarded when one conforms to valued norms and punished when one violates valued norms), if an individual consistently transgresses the norms, ignoring the signals sent out by members, the worst punishment will follow. He or she will sooner be totally ignored and devalued as a member of the group, thus losing status in the group.

Establishing Norms

Norms are developed based on the following four ways:

i) Explicit statements made by a group member: Ensuring that no personal telephone calls will be entertained during the office hours and getting acceptance from all the employees will help to create an order

ii) Critical events in the group’s history: The accident occurred to a visitor of factory premises due to his negligence will help to enforce certain guidelines and becomes norms to every one.

iii) Primacy: The initial behavior pattern exhibited by the group will become a norm and difficult to change.

iv) Carry-over behavior from the past situations: New members expectations, experiences will help reformulate or revise certain norms to meet the current requirements.

The advantages of group- norms:

Enforcing group norms will help the organization in so many ways. Some of the advantages are

i) It facilitates the group’s survival

ii) It increases the predictability of group member’s behavior

iii) It reduces embarrassing interpersonal problems for group member

iv) It allows members to express the central values of the group and clarify what is distinctive about the group’s identity.

Groups attempt to perform at a level equal to their established performance norms. The degree of socializations will affect not only the level of performance of individual group members, but whether the individual will remain as a group member.

STATUS:

Status is defined as a social ranking within a group and is assigned to an individual on the basis of position in the group or individual characteristics. Status can be a function of the title of individual, wage or salary level, work schedule mobility to interaction with others with or outside the group, or seniority. Status also refers to the importance and reference that people give to others. People at higher levels of the organizations and those who have accomplished much are ascribed or bestowed higher status. People perceive those high status persons as having more control, being more competent and as having more influence over group decision than low status individuals. Members having charisma, a high level of experts and access to the organization’s resources will be accorded higher status than those who do not have them. Demographic factors such as gender, age, educational level and length of service in the organization will have an effect on the status enjoyed by the member of a group. Group characterized by high status congruence tend to perform better than the groups in which there is status incongruence,

Formal and Informal Status:

Formal Status: The hierarchical position, job title, perks assigned to these positions is formally assigned to the job holders. By virtue of holding such position, a person is viewed as high.

Informal Status: Status may be informally acquired by such characteristics as education, age, gender, skill or experience.

Status Equity: Maintaining status hierarchy in equitable manner is essential to keep the moral of the employees. When inequity is perceived, it creates disequilibrium that results in various types of corrective behavior. This is noticed in such occasions – promotions, overseas job assignments etc.

Status and Culture: Different cultures assign different weightings to the status. French people are highly status conscious than Latin Americans. Status for Latin Americans and Asians tends to be derived from family position and formal roles held in organizations.

SIZE:

The size of the group is an important determinant of overall effectiveness of the group. But it is depending upon the objective of the group. If the group is interested to generate creative solutions, the larger the size of the group will be more ideal. If the group is interested to get more cohesiveness and try to get quick output, the smaller the size will be more ideal. Groups of approximately seven members tend to be more effective for taking quick action. The size of the group is linked with social loafing.

Social Loafing: It is the tendency of group members to do less than they are capable of individually, resulting in an inverse relationship between group size and individual performance. The more the number of employees assigned to do a task, the lesser will be the amount of their effort than they normally tend to carry out in performing their tasks individually. For instance, in group rope pulling task, it is expected that the groups’ effort would be equal to the sum of the efforts of individuals with in the group. That is, three people pulling together should exert three times as much pull on the rope as one person.

The result, on the contrary, showed that three members in a group exerted only two times the average individual performance, lesser than the individual level effort. The primary reason is the diffusion of responsibility as the results of group cannot be attributed to any single person.

COMPOSITION AND DIVERSITY:

Group composition refers to the degree to which members of a group share a common demographic attribute such as age, gender, race, educational or length of service in the organization and the effect of this attribute on performance, satisfaction and turnover. The composition of a group may be an important predictor of productivity, satisfaction, and turnover. Group composition will be based on homogenous or heterogeneous characteristics of the members.

Homogenous Groups:

In homogeneous groups the compatibility with respect to needs, motives and personalities has been found to be conducive to group’s effectiveness because it facilitates group cooperation and communication. Although the homogeneity tends to reduce the potential for conflict, it also can create an overabundance of conformity, resulting in unproductive group activity. Groups composed of individuals with similar and compatible characteristics may be expected to behave in similar ways and will perform more effectively on tasks that are routine and less effectively on tasks that are complex and require a diversity of problem solving approaches.

Heterogeneous Groups:

In heterogeneous groups, the variation in individual characteristics help to produce high performance levels and a high quality of problem solving because members stimulate the intellectual abilities of one another. The heterogeneity of individual characteristics in such groups can create situations in which the potential for conflict is great. Heterogeneous groups can be expected to perform more effectively on tasks that are complex and require creative or innovative approaches to the problem, but less effectively on tasks that are routine and require a high level of individual conformity and coordination. For example, a group of research scientists are attempting to develop a new product of petrochemical. The nature and complexity of the task requires a diversity of talents, knowledge, and creative approaches which is provided more effectively by a heterogeneously composed group.

Homogeneous groups perform well on tasks that are uniform and routine. Homogeneity, while reducing the potential for dysfunctional conflict to arise, may be detrimental to performance if there is an overemphasis on conformity. Heterogeneous groups perform well on tasks that are complex and non-routine and that require a diversity of talents and view points. However, heterogeneity can create conflict.

GROUP PROCESS

SYNERGY

Synergy refers to the cumulative effect of two or more substances which is different from the individual summation of those substances. It connotes the creation of a whole which is greater than the sum of the individual parts. For example, synergy is obtained when 2 +2 is not merely 4, but can be made to add up to more than 4. For example, three engineers are given the tasks of solving a problem. The ideas generated jointly by these three engineers will be richer and more creative than if the three engineers individually generated their own ideas without any interaction among them. The ideas generated jointly will be better than the individually generated ideas because the three now jointly and creatively explore several different alternatives, discuss the pros and cons and develop integrated thoughts which are more innovative, thus arriving at a much more powerful solutions than what they would have been able to achieve individually. The group has developed synergy by merely interacting with each other using their combined wisdom to generate integrated solutions. This is positive synergy.

Social loafing represents a negative synergy where the whole is less than the sum of the parts where individuals are likely to reduce their effort due to diffusion of responsibility.

Social Facilitation Effect: The mere presence of others also affects the performance of individual. It reported that the presence of others tend to improve performance when the tasks are relatively simple and well rehearsed. This Positive effect is termed as Social Facilitation Effect.

Social inhibition effect: This leads to a detrimental effect which occurs when an individual is asked to perform a complex task with which he is unfamiliar or in which he is unskilled to do any work.

GROUP COHESION:

Cohesion refers to the extent of unity in the group and is reflected in the members’ conformity to the norms of the group, feelings of attraction for each other, and wanting to be co-members of the group. Attraction, cohesion and conforming to norms are all intertwined. The more the members feel attracted to the group, the greater will be the group cohesion. The greater the cohesion, the greater the influence of group members to persuade one another to conform to the group norms. The greater the conformity, the greater the identification of the members with the group, and the greater the group cohesion. Cohesive groups work together to achieve the group goals. They can be considered as valuable assets to the organization if the group’s goals coincide with the organization’s goals.

Factors increasing Cohesiveness: The following factors can facilitate to increase the cohesiveness of the work group.

i) Agreement on Group Goals: If the group agrees on the purpose and direction of its activities, this will serve to bind the group together and structure interaction patterns towards successful goal accomplishment

ii) Frequency of Interaction: When group member have the opportunity to interact frequently with each other, the probability for closeness to develop will increase. Managers can provide opportunities for increased group interaction by calling frequent formal and informal meetings, providing a common meetings place or physically designing the facilities so that group members are within sight of one another

iii) Personal Attractiveness: Cohesiveness is enhanced when members are attractive to one another if mutual trust and support already exists. Personal attraction also helps group members to overcome obstacles to goal accomplishment and personal growth and development.

iv) Inter-group Competition: Competition with other groups, both written and external to the organization is a mechanism that acts to bring groups closer together for attaining a common purpose.

v) Favorable Evaluation: If a group has performed in an outstanding manner, some recognition for its performance by management serves to elevate the prestige of the group in the eyes of the group members and other members of the group. Favorable evaluation helps make group members feel proud about being members of the group.

vi) Group Size: As the size of the group increases, the frequency of interaction each member has with other group members decreases, thus decreasing the probability that cohesiveness will develop. Past studies have shown the groups of four to six members provide the best opportunity for interaction.

vii) Pleasant experiences with the group: When group members are attracted to each other or there is a full trust and cooperation, interaction may become a pleasant experience resulting in high level of cohesiveness in the group.

viii) Lack of Domination: When one or few members dominate the group, cohesiveness cannot adequately develop. Such behavior can create smaller “cliques” within the group or identify individual members as isolates or deviates.

ix) Gender of Members: It is reported that women tend to have greater cohesion than men. A possible reason is that women are more likely to be feeling types than thinking types.

x) Previous Success: If a group has a history of success, it builds an espirit de corps that attracts and unites members. Successful organizations find it easier to attract and hire new employees than unsuccessful ones.

xi) Humor: Humor has been linked to increased cohesion in several studies. It is reported that the greater the cohesion, the greater the influence of the group over the behavior of members and subsequently group performance. As groups are composed of individuals who are attracted to the goals of the group and to each other, one would expect to find a strong relationship between cohesiveness and group performance.

The major difference between highly cohesive and low cohesive groups would be how closely members conformed to the group norms. Further, the group performance would be influenced not only by cohesion, but by the level of group norms.

Group Decision Making

Groups offer excellent techniques for performing many of the steps in the decision making process. They are a source of both breath and depth of input for information gathering. If the group is composed of individuals with diverse backgrounds, the alternatives generated should be more extensive and the analysis will be more critical.

Strengths of Group Decision-making:

The following aspects identified the main advantages that groups offer over individuals in the making of decisions.

i) More information and knowledge: By aggregating the resources of several individuals, the group brings more input into the decision process.

ii) Increased diversity of views: Group brings heterogeneity to the decisionmaking process and this opens up the opportunity for more approaches and alternatives to be considered

iii) Increased acceptance of a solution: The group acceptance facilitates higher satisfaction among those employees required to implement it.

iv) Increased legitimacy: The group decision making process is consistent with demographic ideals and therefore may be perceived as being more legitimate than decisions made by an individual.

Weakness of group decision making:

Some of the main disadvantages are:

i) Time-consuming: It takes time to assemble a group.

ii) Pressures to conform: The desire by group members to be accepted and considered as an asset to the group can result in squashing any overt disagreement, thus encouraging conformity among viewpoints.

iii) Domination by the few: Few people will try to dominate the group discussion.

If such people are happened to be mediocre, the group overall effectiveness will suffer.

iv) Ambiguous responsibility: In group decision, the responsibility of any single member is reduced.

Group Think and Group Shift

GroupThink

Groupthink refers to a situation where group pressure for conformity deters a group from critically evaluating unusual, unpopular or minority views. It is phenomenon that occurs when group members become so enamored of seeking concurrence that the norm for consensus overrides the realistic evaluation of alternative course of action and the full expression of deviant, minority or unpopular views. It describes deterioration in an individual’s mental efficiency, reality testing and moral judgment, as a result of group pressures.

The results of groupthink are often such that poor quality decisions are taken and inappropriate responses are made to situational needs. The following are the antecedents of Groupthink:

i) Excessive group cohesiveness

ii) Insulation of group from external information and influence

iii) Lack of impartial leadership and of norms encouraging proper procedures

iv) Ideological homogeneity of members

v) High stress from external threat and task complexity

These antecedents are relating to basic structural faults in the group and to the immediate decision making contexts.

The following are some of the symptoms of groupthink:

i) Feelings of invulnerability and unanimity

ii) Unquestioning belief that the group must be right

iii) Tendency to ignore or discredit information contrary to group’s position

iv) Direct pressure exerted on dissidents to bring them into line

v) Stereotyping of out-group members

vi) Ignore external information

vii) Overestimate its own abilities and capabilities to make good decision

viii) Rationalize or reject data that tend to disconfirm its original views and judgments

ix) Apply direct pressures on those who momentarily express doubts about any of the group’s shared views

x) Those who have doubts or different view point keep silent about misgivings and even minimizing to themselves the importance of their doubts.

In a group where the groupthink phenomenon operates, members constantly monitor and censor themselves to ensure that they are going along with the group’s opinion and not deviating by expressing a different viewpoint. Too much cohesion has the built-in danger of group member falling into the trap of group think, which in turn, compromises good decision-making, especially in complex situations.

Group Shift

It is reported that group is willing to take greater risks than when the same members make decision individually. In case more financial commitment is involved, individuals tend to be very cautious and make conservative decisions. However, when the same kinds of decisions are made by groups, the decisions made are less conservative. Groups feel more at ease and comfort in making riskier decisions. Higher risk taking behaviors in a group are probably a function of the responsibilities for the consequences of the decision making shared by all the group members rather than one individual assuming more burdens by himself. This phenomenon for groups to take greater risks while making critical decisions when compared to individual decision making is known as the Group shift.

The most plausible explanation of the shift towards risk seems to be that the group diffuses responsibility. Group decisions free any singly member from accountability for the group’s final choice. Greater risk can be taken because, even if the decision fails, no one member can be held wholly responsible.

TYPES OF GROUPS

INTRODUCTION

For the manager in an organization, the behavior and performance of group provide the primary mechanism for the attainment of organization goals, In order to provide for effective goal accomplishment, the manager must be familiar with:

i) The process of influencing group behavior

ii) The climate for maximum interaction and minimal conflict between group members.

iii) The means for the satisfaction of individual needs, which may be different from individual to individual within each group.

Group is defined as collection of two or more individuals who are interdependent and interact with one another for the purpose of performing to attain a common goals or objective. The principal characteristics presented in this definition – goals, interaction and performance are crucial to the study of behavior in organizations. A group is a collection of individuals in which the existence of all (in their given relationships) is necessary to the satisfaction of certain individual needs to each. In order to satisfy certain needs relating to social interactions, employees may informally (or formally) join together to form various social, civic, or recreational groups within organizations.

TYPES OF GROUPS

Various methods are used to classify the types of groups that exist in our organizations. In organizations, the predominant operating groups are the functional groups, task or project groups and interest groups. In addition, groups are also classified as formal and informal groups.

Formal groups:

Formal groups are collections of employees who are made to work together by the organization to get the job done smoothly and efficiently. For example, if five members are put together in a department to attend to customer complaints they would be a formal group. The formal groups are those whose primary purpose is facilitating, through member interactions, the attainment of the goals of the organization. ii) Informal groups: Informal groups are groups that emerge or randomly get formed due to the formal group members’ interaction with each other, and thereby develop common interest. For example, members who are showing interest in cricket will join together and share and enjoy taking about the cricket games. Informal groups provide a very important service by satisfying their members’ social needs. Because of interactions that result from the close proximity of task interactions, group members play cricket together, spending their tea breaks together etc.

Functional Groups:

The functional group in an organization is a group generally specified by the structure of the organization. It involves a superior-subordinate relationship and involves the accomplishment of ongoing tasks and generally considered as formal group. Example – Manager of accounting department supported by staff accountants, financial analyst, and computer operators etc.

Task or Project Groups:

When a number of employees are formally brought together for the purpose of accomplishing a specific task – for a short-term or long term period – such a collection of individuals is called a task or project group. For example, the plant manager of a chemical processing plant may be interested in identifying potential safety problems in the plant. To provide a coordinated effort, the manager creates a four-person task force consisting of the production superintendent, maintenance superintendent, director of engineering and the safety engineer. The group members will deliberate these issues bring out suitable remediable measure for those safety problems within a deadline period.

If any problems are found, the plant manager may create other task forces to work toward the elimination of the potential problems. These activities create a situation that encourages the members of the task force to communicate, interact and to coordinate activities, if the purpose of the group is to be accomplished.

Interest and Friendship Groups:

The group members formed relationships based on some common characteristics such as age, political belief, or interests. Generally, it can be considered as formal or informal group. Employees who joined together to have their fringe benefits continued to have its implementation, to support a peer who has been fired, or to seek more festival holidays etc. they tend to unite together to further their common interest. Groups often develop because the individual members have one or more common characteristics. This is called friendship groups. For example, recreation clubs, social groups etc.

REASONS FOR JOINING GROUPS:

The most popular reasons for joining a group are related to our needs for security, identity, affiliation, power and engaging in common tasks.

SECURITY:

By joining a group, members can reduce the insecurity of being alone. The membership will make them feel stronger, gaining resistant to threats, having fewer self-doubts etc. New employees are particularly vulnerable to a sense of isolation and turn to the group for guidance and support.

STATUS:

Inclusion in a group that is viewed as important by others provides recognition and status for its members. Being a member of Rotary Club, the members feel pride and gain status and recognition.

SELF-ESTEEM:

Groups can provide people with feelings of self-worth. That is, in addition to conveying status to those outside the group, membership can also give increased feelings of worth to the group members themselves. The self-esteem is bolstered when members are accepted by a highly valued group. Being assigned to a task force whose purpose is to review and make recommendations for the location of the company’s new corporate head quarters can fulfill one’s intrinsic needs for competence and growth.

AFFILIATION:

Groups can fulfill social needs. People enjoy the regular interaction that comes with group membership. For many people, these on-the-job interactions at work are the primary source for fulfilling their needs for affiliation.

POWER:

For individuals who desire to influence others, groups can offer power without a formal position of authority in the organization. As a group leader he or she may be able to make requests of group members and obtain compliance without any of the responsibilities that traditionally go either formal managerial position.

GOAL ACHIEVEMENT:

There are times when it takes more than one person to accomplish a particular task- there is a need to pool talents, knowledge in order to complete a job. In such instances, management will rely on the use of a formal group.

MODELS OF GROUP DEVELOPMENT:

There are three types of Group development Model

1. Tuckman and Jensons – Five stage life cycle model

2. Punctuated -equilibrium model.

3. Bennis and Shepard Group Development Model

1)TUCKMAN AND JENSONS – FIVE STAGE LIFE CYCLE MODEL

Five Stage Life Cycle Model: Tuckman outline five stages of group development. They are:

i) Forming:

At this stage, group members try to comprehend where they stand in the group and how they are being perceived by others in the group. The members are very cautious in their interactions with each other and the relationships among the group members are very superficial. Members’ seldom express their feelings in the group and the individual members who are trying to understand who they are in the group have concerns about how they will fit in the group as permanent group members. This is characterized by much uncertainty about group’s purpose, structure and leadership. Members are ‘testing the waters’ to determine what types of behavior are acceptable. This stage is complete when members have begun to think of themselves as part of a group.

ii) Storming:

At this stage, disagreement tends to get expressed among the group members, and feelings of anxiety and resentment are also expressed. Some power struggle may ensure at this stage to determine who should assume the informal leadership role in the group. This storming stage is also known as the sub-grouping and confrontation. This group is characterized by intra-group conflict. Members accept the existence of the group, but there is resistance to the control the group imposes on individuality. There is sometimes conflict over who will control the group. When this stage is complete, there will be a relatively clear hierarchy of leadership within the group.

iii) Norming:

This stage is characterized by close relationships and cohesiveness. The group sets norms, tries to attain some degree of cohesiveness, understands the goals of the group, starts making good decision, expresses feelings openly and makes attempts to resolve problems and attain group effectiveness. At this stage, members’ roles get defined, and task and maintenance roles are assumed by group members. Group members’ also begin to express satisfaction and confidence about being members of the group.

iv) Performing:

This stage is characterized by collaboration and integration. The group members evaluate their performance so that the members develop and grow. The group relationships and structures are set and accepted. Group energy has moved from getting to know and understand each other, to performing the task at hand. Feelings are expressed at this stage without fear, leadership roles shared among the members, and the group members’ activities are highly co-coordinated. The task and maintenance roles are played very effectively. The task performance levels are high and member satisfaction, pride and commitment to the group also high. Both performance and members’ satisfaction are sustained indefinitely;

v) Adjourning:

This stage is characterized by concern with wrapping up activities rather than task performance. The group prepares for its disbandment. High task performance is no longer the group’s top priority. Instead, attention is directed towards finalizing activities. As the group approaches the terminal phase, members break off their bonds of affection and stop interaction with each other. Responses of group members vary in this state. Some feel pride in what the group has accomplished. Others may be negative and critical of the way the organization has treated the group and others may be sad over the loss of friendship gained during the life of the work groups.

These five stages of group development are only a suggestive and not prescriptive. Sometimes, groups do not always proceed clearly from one stage to the next. Some times, several stages go on simultaneously as when groups are storming and performing at the same time. Under some conditions, high levels of conflict are conducive to high group performance.

2) THE PUNCTUATED-EQUILIBRIUM MODEL:

This model emphasis the degree to which the group completes its task based on how much time is left before the task must be completed. In the group development, the timings of when groups form and change the way they work is highly consistent. It is reported that the three activities such as i) direction of the group, ii) inertia and iii) major changes occur at similar times during the formation and operation of groups.

I. Group’s direction: During the first meetings, the members will discuss and set the group direction to achieve the assigned target. A set of behavior pattern and various assumptions will be emerging to formulate action plans during the first meeting. These lasting patterns can appear as early as in the first few seconds of the group’s life

II. Inertia: During this period the group tends to stand still or becomes locked into a fixed course. The group is unlikely to reexamine the course of action and always keep a fixated mind based on the earlier assumptions and behavioral pattern. New insights that might challenge initial patterns and assumptions might occur among individual members, but the group is often incapable of acting on these new insights. . This is called inertia.

III. Transition from old pattern towards major changes or new perspectives to get results:

At one point of time the group experiences its transition from switching the old behavioral pattern or assumptions to the new perspectives to reach the targets. This period is characterized by a concentrated burst of changes, dropping of old patterns and adoption of new perspectives. This transition sets a revised direction. During this stage, the group members are involved in a final burst of activity to finish its work, A flurry of activity occurs, with group members putting pressure on each of their time fulfill their individual roles and responsibilities. It is as if the group experienced midlife crises. This midpoint crises appears to work like an alarm clock, heightening members awareness that their time is limited and that they need to ‘get on with the job’

Comparison of these two models of Group Development:

The punctuated-equilibrium model characterizes groups as exhibiting long periods of inertia, interspersed with brief revolutionary changes triggered primarily by their members’ awareness of time and deadline. In the terminology of the five-stage group development model, the group begin by combining the forming and norming stages, then goes through a period of low performance, followed by storming, then a period of high performing and finally, a last meeting of pressured activity and adjourning. The five-stage life cycle model is best known of the relationship-oriented and sequential models, while the punctuated-equilibrium model is the best researched of the outcome oriented and non-sequential models. This punctuated-equilibrium model helps to give a clearer picture of how groups, especially task-force and project type groups operate in the workplace.

THREE CRITICAL PERIODS DURING THE GROUP DEVELOPMENT:

Period I - Initial Period of Meetings:

During this initial period, the group has the least structure and often is dependent on the leaders, and has unclear expectations, high anxiety, and sometimes, low member participation. Initial meetings outline priorities, define member roles, establish pecking orders, and evaluation criteria.

Period II - Midpoint: Tension between outcomes and relationships, the exhaustion of group creativity, and the onset of physical and emotional fatigue seem to occur most frequently at the midpoint of group’s life cycle.

Period III - Crises Point:

While the urgency of the task can accelerate the pace of task outcomes, other factors such as cohesion, conflict management, balance between relationships and task needs, effective communication and involvement are required for well-developed groups

3) BENNIS AND SHEPARD MODEL OF GROUP DEVELOPMENT:

This model focuses primarily on task or projects groups and assumes that such groups follow four stages of development

i) Orientation: During this stage, the group members will be involved in the following activities: Establishing structure, rules and communication networks of the group, clarifying relations and interdependencies among group member, identifying leadership roles and clarifying authority and responsibility relationships, developing a plan for goal accomplishment

ii) Internal Problem Solving: The major activities of this stage include: identification and resolution of interpersonal conflict, further clarification of rules, goals and structural relationships. Development of a participative climate among group members.

iii) Growth and Productivity: In this stage, the members devote much time directing towards goal accomplishment, developing data-flow and feedback systems for task performance, growing cohesion among members of the group.

iv) Evaluation and Control: During this last stage, the members, particularly leadership role emphasizes facilitation, feedback and evaluation, roles and group interdependencies are renewed, revised and strengthened, group exhibits strong motivation toward goal accomplishment.

Application of Bennis Model of Group Development: Knowing which stage of development a group is in is an important factor for manager in determining which style of leadership would be most effective for moving the group toward goal accomplishment. For example, if a group of project engineers is experiencing interpersonal conflict during the internal problem solving stage, the manager or group leader should attempt to resolve the major internal problems before sending the group on a construction site to accomplish a particular task. Unresolved internal problems may create more serious problems, which will adversely affect group performance. For the project engineers, conflict arising from questions of interdependencies may result in not completing the project on time.

EXTERNAL CONDITIONS IMPOSED ON THE GROUP

ORGANIZATIONAL STRATEGY

The type of strategy formed by an organization influences the structure of the groups. A strategy outlines the organization’s goals and the means for attaining these goals. An organizations strategy might be being pioneering and innovative in their products and services offered or reducing costs as much as possible and offer low priced products, or offer a distinctive unique or customized products and services etc. The strategy will direct the organizations to reduce costs, improving quality, expanding market share etc. The strategy that an organization is pursuing influences the power of various work groups and its structure which in turn determines the resources the organization’s top management is willing to allocate to it for performing its tasks.

ORGANIZATION CULTURE

The values, attitudes, beliefs systems which bind all employees together to have common way of life are called as organizational culture. Each organization has its own written or unwritten code of conduct that defines employees’ acceptable and unacceptable behavior such as dress code, quality commitment, transparency or honesty in dealing with customers etc. Certain work groups do have its own subculture which is shared by all the members. Members of work groups have to conform to the standards imposed in the organizations dominant culture if they are to remain in good standing.

ORGANIZATION RESOURCES AND TECHNOLOGY

If an organization uses a state-of-the-art modern technology in its work operations, and embraces the current information technology products and its services, such as e-mail, mobile phones, PCs, teleconferencing etc, the technical nature of the work can affect the communication style, number of people in the group, job description and reporting systems etc. There will be a virtual group consisting of member operating in remote areas and accomplishing the goals of an organization.

AUTHORITY STRUCTURES

The reporting system and the flow of authority strongly determine the structure of the group. If the structure is highly standardized, formalized, centralized, and simple in nature, the group members will be doing routine work and bound by more rules and regulations. The group member relations will vary based on the types of organizations structure.

FORMAL REGULATIONS

Organizations create rules, procedures and other forms of regulation to standardize employee behavior. The more the formal regulations that the organizations impose on all its employees, the more the behavior of work group member will be consistent and predictable.

PERSONNEL SELECTION PROCESS

The criteria that an organization uses in its selection decisions such as the importance to the merit, professional commitment, expertise, age, loyalty etc are very much influence the types of evaluation process and its reward system which in turn affects the work group performance.

PERFORMANCE EVALUATION AND REWARD SYSTEMS

Instituting a proper developmental oriented performance evaluations systems providing opportunity for growth, assigning challenging assignment, offering competitive rewards etc. will have a significant impact on the work group members overall performance. Since work groups are part of the larger organizational system, groups’ members’ behavior is influenced by how the organization evaluate performance.

UNION INFLUENCE

Unions can affect the selection process and also influence acceptable and unacceptable behavior. Disagreements with management or the imposition of work conditions which the group considers unfair are often dealt with by the union. Mangers often moderate what they require of a group because of concern for the union’s reaction.

PHYSICAL WORK SETTING

Physical working conditions such as physical lay out, illumination level, arrangement of equipment, work space designs particularly office furniture etc will affect the employees work behavior. Some of them may create barrier and opportunities for work group members. Even the color of the walls and equipment may have an effect on the mood of the work group.

CONCLUSION:

Various types of groups exist within the framework of organizations, from the formal functional and task or project groups, to the generally more informal interest and friendship groups. Whatever the classification – it is Important for the effective functioning of the organization that the goals of such groups be congruent with the overall goals of he organization. Groups with incongruent goals create a situation of conflict, inter personal problems and reduced effectiveness.

Although different types of groups develop at different rates, they all tend to follow a similar four-stage pattern – orientation, internal problem solving, growth and productivity and evaluation and control. Each of these stages is characterized by different types of behavior required of individual members and of the organization. Changes in composition of the group, its task or leadership can result in the group reverting to any earlier stage.