Chapter 25
Individuals, Groups, and Teams
Individual Behaviour at Work
An understanding of the attitudes and behaviour of individuals is needed to manage people at work.
Aptitude (i.e. the physical or mental capacity to perform tasks) and capacity to learn (i.e. the acquisition of abilities via training or experience).
This is related to intelligence, although intelligence is a much broader and more complex subject.
An individual’s characteristics and behaviour patterns. Personality traits (e.g. compulsive, practical, unsociable and reflective) tend to stay relatively constant and thus describe personality types (e.g. introvert, extrovert).
The selection and arrangement of stimuli into meaningful patterns based on attitudes and experience. Perception depends on the context of the event, the individual’s selectivity, needs and previous experiences.
The driving forces, such as values, beliefs, attitudes, needs and goals, channel behaviour.
Factors at Work
Some individuals think they are at work to do a job and get paid for it. They, therefore, believe that they should get on with the job they have been given, perform it adequately, and avoid getting into trouble with the boss.
Some individuals take pride in the work that they do. They don’t just want to do their job adequately; they want to do it well.
Some individuals expect to be told what to do by their boss. Others are much more willing to take the initiative and make decisions without asking first.
Individuals do not work in isolation. They work with other people, many of whom are colleagues.
The behaviour and attitudes of individuals can also be affected by their expectations for personal rewards, such as higher pay or career advancement.
The attitudes of individuals to their work depend on various factors connected to their personality, perceptions, intelligence, attitudes, and motivation.
A challenge for management is how to get the best performance from individuals so that they contribute effectively to the organisation’s work.
Individuals perform various roles in organisations, groups and teams.
For example, in team discussions and decision-making, there will be:
a proposer – originator of ideas;
clarifiers, supporters and builders;
defenders, blockers and antagonists;
experts; and
all-rounders.
Role Theory
Individual attitudes and behaviour may be approached through role theory, which is based on the view that individuals at work perform one or more roles, which affect their attitudes and perceptions.
Role theory aspect
Description
Example
Role behaviour
Individuals see themselves as performing one or more roles.
Individual behaviour will change in the exercise of roles.
Examples of roles are the role of a junior office manager or supervisor and the role of a work mentor.
Role set
In performing their role, individuals have a role set.
These are the other people who respond to the individual in their role.
A junior office manager’s role set includes subordinates, people in other departments they communicate with, and their boss.
Role signs
Role signs are physical signs that the individual gives to indicate their role.
Role signs in an office include how individuals dress, perhaps with a preference for more formal or informal wear, or how individuals communicate with each other.
Role conflict
Individuals can have problems with the roles they perform.
Role conflict occurs when the individual performs more than one role, and there is a conflict between how the individual thinks or behaves in both roles.
Suppose an individual knows that a work colleague has exaggerated their travel expenses when visiting a work training event.
In that case, they may experience role conflict between how to think and behave as a hard-working employee and as a friend of the work colleague.
Role ambiguity
Role ambiguity occurs when an individual is unsure of their role or other people in the role set are uncertain about what the individual’s role is.
This may happen, for example, when an individual starts a new job and others are unsure about what the individual will do or how the individual will behave.
Role incompatibility
Role incompatibility occurs when individuals become aware that people in other groups have expectations about their roles that are different from the individual’s expectations.
A senior manager may realise that they are not welcome to discussions among subordinates on the personalities of senior staff when they attempt to join the conversation constructively.
Groups and Group Behaviour at Work
A workgroup is a group of individuals at work who have a collective identity.
Features of a workgroup include:
Feature
Impact
Group identity and loyalty
Members of a group identify with the group to a greater or lesser extent.
When group identity is strong, individuals develop a strong loyalty to the group
They may set the group’s interests as more important than those of the organisation as a whole.
Social interaction
Group dynamics are based on the social interaction of group members.
When the group is functioning well, members communicate with each other, often work with each other, and support each other.
Formal work groups
A formal work group is a group of employees brought together to perform related functions or tasks with specific objectives set by management.
Each group member has a designated job.
When one formal group member leaves the group, for example, by retiring or resigning, the job vacancy is filled, and another individual joins the workgroup.
Informal work groups
An informal work group is a group of employees who do not have a formal identity within the organisation structure.
They are individuals who get on well together and interact socially as a group.
They may work in the same formal workgroup, or they may not.
When an informal work group has a strong identity, members may meet together outside work, socially and as friends.
Group leaders
A formal work group should have a leader or manager appointed to the group’s ‘boss’ role in the organisation.
An informal work group may have a leader who derives their leadership through the dynamics of the group: this individual is often not the formal workgroup leader.
Implications of Work Groups
From a business management perspective, work groups have implications for the efficiency and effectiveness of the organisation.
A formal work group may consist of individuals with differing skills and abilities. Working as a group brings those different skills and abilities together.
Synergy within a work group means that the workgroup is capable of performing better – and doing more – than the workgroup members would be able to achieve if they worked as individuals.
The attitude of a work group towards work and the organisation may be positive and constructive.
On the other hand, it may be harmful and hostile. Management may need to deal with the problem of negative attitudes from an informal work group.
The members of a work group are individuals who might be expected to have their personal views and opinions.
However, when group identity is strong, the group members will develop and share a similar, collective attitude.
Business managers need to understand individual attitudes to work and the significance of work groups.
They need to understand how individuals on their own and in workgroups may contribute towards the organisation’s success.
Managers also need to consider the extent to which they should focus on getting the best out of individuals and how much they should focus on collectively getting the best performance from a workgroup.
Managing Individuals and Groups
A challenge for management is to get the best possible performance from employees. This may require a combination of two approaches to managing people:
Individual approach
Work should be organised by appointing individuals to perform specific job functions.
If each member performs effectively, the department or work unit will perform well.
The effectiveness of a work group is the sum of each individual’s effectiveness.
The challenge for management is to get the best possible performance from each individual.
Team approach
Members of work groups combine their skills and ideas: individuals work more effectively as a team than as individuals.
Group members can be used differently and are not restricted to a set job. This means that work can be managed with greater flexibility.
Control over work can be more effective because a group collaborating will exert some control over itself without needing management intervention.
When a group performs effectively, it acts as a team. A challenge for management is to develop an effective work team.
A group approach may also be necessary when a manager is in charge of many employees, which makes managing individuals very time-consuming and challenging.
Workgroups and Work Teams
Definitions
Workgroup – A formalised structure of individuals performing a function.
Work team – A small collection of individuals tasked with accomplishing a purpose.
A work group may consist of many people and multiple functional teams. A workgroup will ultimately have a shared interest but is essentially a group working in the same department on different tasks.
This is different from a work team, which typically is reasonably small, consisting of colleagues who work closely together, have complementary, synergistic skills and divide tasks between team members to achieve a specific objective.
For example, people working in a finance department may be a work group, and within the overall group, there may be a treasury team, a management accounts team, a tax team and so on.
A workgroup is not necessarily a team. In particular, it is difficult for a large workgroup, such as a finance department (including various accountancy teams), to function as a team because it has too many members.
Features of Work Teams
A team is a workgroup, invariably a small group, possibly no more than about 10 to 15 people, such as a financial accountancy team in a company.
A team should have a clear purpose that all its members understand and share.
All team members should know why the team exists and what it is expected to do.
An effective work team has a strong sense of identity.
The team members share the same sense of purpose and believe they are working together towards their shared goal.
In an effective work team, the members cooperate, collaborate, share ideas, help each other, and make joint decisions.
Members of a team have complementary skills and expertise they can carry out their collective tasks together.
In a workgroup, members may not necessarily have complementary skills; in large groups, individuals may have the same skills and do the same sort of work.
The sense of group identity means that group members will exercise control over their performance and behaviour to meet the team’s expectations.
Types of Teams
Work teams have different attributes such as configuration, location and life span.
Attribute
The lifespan of teams
Some teams are created for a specific purpose and are disbanded when their goal has been achieved.
Other teams have a more permanent existence, where the activity continues and does not have a definitive end.
A project team has a limited lifespan.
A project team is brought together to undertake a project, such as implementing a new accounts system, which is disbanded when the project is complete.
A team of accountants who carry out work for different clients is a permanent team.
Multi-disciplinary teams
A multi-disciplinary team is a team whose members come from different backgrounds, such as various departments in the organisation.
A team established to develop a new line of shoes for the fashion market may include colleagues from the production, design, sales and accounts departments.
Multi-skilled teams
Team members may come from the same department but have different skills.
Each team member contributes their skills to the team effort.
An advertising campaign team within the marketing department may include people who write advertising copy, produce artwork, shoot videos and deal with the advertising media.
Virtual teams
In a virtual team, members work in different locations, possibly distant parts of the country, foreign countries or even continents.
They communicate and collaborate mainly through the internet. Modern telecommunications and IT technology enable virtual teams to operate much more effectively than in the past.
Management and Team Building
One thing that teams need is a leader. The leader of a work team should be the individual who is formally put in charge. An essential function of the team leader is to build an effective team.
Conditions for Building Effective Teams
The manager ensures that the team members know the purpose for which the team has been created.
The authority of the group to act and take decisions should be clear. This is particularly important for teams with a short life span, such as project teams.
For teams with a short life span, there must be a clear timescale for completing their tasks and achieving their purpose.
The team should be large enough to do all its tasks and contain members with the required range of skills, experience and personality to make the team a success. It should not be so large, however, that it becomes ineffective.
The manager should ensure that the team has all the resources it needs – expenditure budget, equipment and so on – to accomplish its task.
An effective work team has a solid collective team spirit and is well-motivated.
The manager should promote a positive attitude in the team: ensuring that communications between team members are good and dealing with the threat of any disagreements or personality clashes between members.
Belbin’s Team Roles Theory: Introduction
Meredith Belbin studied the behaviour of individuals in teams and the ‘team role’ that individuals played.
He defined a team role as “a tendency to behave, contribute and interrelate with others in a particular way.”
Belbin was interested in the behaviour of team members rather than their technical knowledge.
Team Roles Approach
Belbin identified nine team roles: different roles performed by team members. In an effective team, all nine team roles are performed by team members.
Some team members perform more than one role in an effective small team – certainly in one with fewer than nine members.
A work team is likely ineffective if its members do not perform all nine roles. There may also be conflict when some members want to perform the same role.
Belbin concluded that when a team is assembled, the person building the team should pay attention to personality and behavioural characteristics.
Members should be selected for the team who, taken together, are likely to perform the nine team roles.
Belbin’s Team Roles
The nine team roles identified by Belbin are divided into three broad groups:
Action-oriented roles, where the members are concerned with getting things done – actions rather than ideas
Thought-oriented roles, where the members are concerned with ideas and solving problems
People-oriented roles, where members are concerned with helping others in the team, maintaining team cohesion and also networking for the team with external groups and individuals.
Action-oriented team roles
The team members who perform these roles focus on getting things done.
Role
Shaper
An individual who challenges other team members to get things done and sees problems as obstacles to be overcome when other team members might be inclined to give up.
The shaper can be insensitive to the feelings of other team members.
Implementer
(company worker)
A well-organised person, efficient at their work. An implementer can take the basic ideas of the team and put them into practice.
An implementer may be slow to relinquish their plans and accept change.
Completer/finisher
A completer or finisher is a person who gives attention to small details and tries to ensure that the team’s work is completed to the final details before the deadline for completion.
The completer or finisher may become too concerned about getting things done perfectly.
Thought-oriented team roles
Thought-oriented team roles are roles where the individual provides solutions to problems or contributes other ideas to the team effort.
Plant
An original creative thinker who can solve complex problems.
A plant does not always give sufficient attention to practical issues, and some of their ideas may be impractical.
Monitor/evaluator
An individual who is logical and is good at analysing, evaluating and challenging people and situations and making objective judgements.
They may be overly critical, slow down the decision-making process, and not inspire the other team members.
Specialist
An individual who obtains and provides specialist information and knowledge the team needs. They may also develop a particular specialism in a critical area of the team’s work and will solve problems relating to this area of specialisation.
The specialist may show little interest in the rest of the team’s work.
People-oriented team roles
People-oriented team roles are roles where the individual shows concern for the team and other team members.
Coordinator
The chairperson or team leader helps the other team members concentrate on their particular tasks. They are a good listener, is well-respected by the other team members, and is good at delegating tasks to others.
The coordinator’s intellect or creative ability may be average.
Team worker
A team worker is likely to be good at their job but prioritises concern for the well-being of the team and its members and will try hard to resolve any personal problems that may arise between team members.
The team worker may have difficulty making complex decisions.
Resource-investigator
A resource-investigator is a person who likes to investigate and explores new ideas with enthusiasm. They are good networkers and communicate well with individuals and groups outside the team.
Resource investigators may lose interest fairly quickly.
Activity 1
Match the description to the correct team role.
A person who is good at developing contacts outside the team
A critical thinker about the work of the team, capable of thinking in broad terms
An innovator and problem solver
A good team leader
A person who provides information that is difficult to obtain
A person who works systematically and efficiently to put ideas into practice but is slow
A perfectionist who wants to get everything completed in full
A person who enjoys stimulating other members of the team and urging them to make progress
A person who is particularly concerned about the well-being of team members
Team role
Co-ordinator
Tuckman’s Theory of Team Development
Bruce Tuckman developed ideas on how a small team grows and changes character over time.
A team goes through several stages as it develops—the most appropriate type of leadership changes as the team’s character changes.
Tuckman initially identified four stages of team development and added a fifth stage in 1977, which views the group from beyond the perspective of the first four stages.
Stage
Team Leader’s Role
Forming
When a team is first assembled, it is a collection of individuals still determining their team roles.
The team members rely on the team leader for guidance on what they should be doing.
Storming
After forming, there is usually some conflict between team members as they challenge other members’ ideas and may struggle for status within the team.
During this stage, team members understand the team’s purpose, aims, and objectives.
The team leader’s role changes to acting as a coach and guide for the team managers.
The leader attempts to get team members to focus on the tasks of the team and to be less concerned with relationships and conflicts between the team members.
Norming
The team will eventually establish norms of behaviour and ways of doing things.
The roles of team members are clarified, and how decisions are made is established and understood by everyone.
Commitment to the team’s tasks and a sense of team identity are strong.
The team takes significant decisions collectively, and every member contributes in some way.
The team leader exercises a participative management style, encouraging team members to contribute their ideas and suggestions to the decision-making process.
Performing
After norms are established, the team can operate at its full capability and potential.
Team members fully understand what the team is trying to achieve and do what they need to do without explicit instruction.
Although disagreements may still emerge between team members, these are resolved in a friendly way.
The leader lets team members get on with their jobs with minimal interference.
Dorming, Adjourning or Mourning
One of two things may happen at the end of a team’s lifespan.
Dorming
The team may lose efficiency and stop making good decisions. Team members may lose sight of how the business environment and the organisation’s circumstances are changing and fail to respond to these changes.
Keeping the team in existence may become more critical to the team members than the team’s original purpose within the organisation.
When this situation is reached, the team should be disbanded or refreshed (back to Forming).
Mourning and Adjourning
Alternatively, the group may break up because it has achieved its purpose and is no longer required.
The team members may feel a sense of loss, especially if the team is broken up unexpectedly (for example, if the organisation changes strategy or is taken over).
If the team is in the Dorming stage, the leader must decide to adjourn it or restart the team-building cycle.
Application of Tuckman’s Team Development Theory
Patience in team-building
Tuckman’s ideas should alert managers that work teams do not immediately achieve their expected potential.
The team will take time to go through forming and storming before reaching the norming and performing stages. Some teams get through the stages more quickly than others.
Identifying lack of team development
If a team remains stuck at a stage of development for a long time – and longer than expected – management may identify the need for change.
For example, if a team is stuck at the norming stage and shows no sign of developing to the performing stage, senior management may decide that change is needed – change the team members or the team leader!
Management style
Tuckman’s ideas about the style of management most suited for each stage of team development may help management recognise the need for changes in how a team is led.
Change in leadership should occur alongside team development.
Characteristics of Effective and Ineffective Teams
The purpose of a team needs to be understood to decide whether the unit is effective or ineffective.
When a team is set up for a limited period, it should be possible to review its performance when it has been disbanded and to decide whether it has succeeded in achieving its aims.
A more permanent team, such as an accountancy or sales team, can be assessed on whether it is meeting targets, completing tasks on schedule and working within the agreed budget.
Factors to Assess Team Effectiveness
Factor
Effective team
Ineffective team
Progress towards objective
Progress is measurable, and achievement of milestones is consistent.
Progress is not measurable, and the team is unsure of its achievements or direction.
Time to outcome delivery
Output is delivered on schedule.
The time to delivery is uncertain.
Cost and value for money.
Costs are within budget, and value-for-money measures are satisfied.
Costs are beyond budget, and value-for-money deliverables are low.
Focus
Aware of its purpose and its objectives.
Lose sight of its objectives, with time wasted on unnecessary activities.
Communication
There is excellent communication between team members.
Communication between team members is poor.
Cooperation
Cooperation between team members is good – they will help each other.
Cooperation between team members is poor as they are unwilling to help each other.
Decision making
The team members can reach decisions collectively.
The team members cannot agree on important decisions and must be instructed by their team leader.
Disagreements
There is positive conflict.
Team members may disagree on some issues but are willing to discuss their differences and find a solution.
There are disagreements between members that cannot be resolved fully.
Team spirit
There is a strong team spirit and a sense of team loyalty.
Team spirit is weak.
Team leader
The team leader effectively creates a common sense of purpose that all the team members share.
The team leader is not effective as a leader and does not inspire the other team members.
Team roles
Team members perform all the roles identified by Belbin.
Team members do not perform all the roles identified by Belbin.
Stages in development
The team develops well through the stages identified by Tuckman.
The team develops slowly or does not thrive beyond Tuckman’s norming stage.
Improving Team Effectiveness
An effective team has a strong sense of identity and a clear sense of its purpose.
A team leader can seek to build team effectiveness with measures reinforcing the strength of the team spirit and the team’s sense of purpose and achievement.
A team set up for a specific purpose should have a clear objective or goal, a schedule for the various stages of the project, including completion, and a clear idea of the budget available.
Regular progress meetings should be held to monitor progress, discuss problems, and celebrate success. The team should clearly know what it is set up to achieve. And there should be a group and individual reward system to recognise achievement.
