Summary Teams in Organisations
Lecture 1 - Introduction to teams in organisations
Goals of this course:
• Gain insight into the psychological processes of teamwork (learn to recognize
systematic differences between different types of groups, identify common challenges
of working in teams, understand the social, structural and psychological factors that
drive team performance)
• Increase knowledge about recent developments in the field of team research
• Critically assess quality of teamwork and apply psychological interventions to
improve team processes and performance
Groups aren’t unique to humans. Groups and teams are used as synonyms during this course.
Definition of groups/teams: a group or a team can be defined as: 3 or more individuals who
socially interact, possess one or more common causes or goals, perform together
organizationally relevant tasks, are interdependent, have different roles and responsibilities,
being part of a larger organizational system (in red is more for a team).
Group entitativity (“groupyness”): the degree to which a collection of persons is perceived
as being bound together in a coherent unit.
Properties that increase entitativity:
- Interdependence: members must depend on each other to accomplish the task and/or
receive valued outcomes
- Importance: the group has meaning and value for members
- Interaction: members engage in formal or informal activities, communications,
relations, etc. (most important for entitativity)
- Duration: the length of time the group has been together
- Similarity: the degree to which members resemble each other on certain attributes
- Cohesion: attraction and commitment to the group
Properties that decrease entitativity:
- Size: number of members in group (larger = less entitativity)
- Permeability: how easy is it to join or leave the group (difficult to enter = more
entitativity)
Properties that increase or decrease entitativity:
- Group structure: norms, roles and status differences in the group
Functions of groups:
• Facilitate accomplishment of certain goals
• Satisfy our need to belong
• Allow us to make sense of the world
o Social comparison theory: people want to hold accurate views of themselves
and the world. They can validate their believes against “physical reality” and
, “social reality”. People especially turn to others for believes for which there is
no physical reality (preferences, opinions, norms)
• Allow us to understand ourselves
o Social identity theory
o Self-categorization theory
▪ People define themselves (and others) partly in terms of group
membership. Group membership contributes to our identity as a person,
especially when we identify strongly with the group
• Provide utilitarian benefits
o Exchange theory: social relations (such as in groups) help to fulfil the
individual’s needs (need to belong) and often take the form of exchange (we
can offer and receive things)
Kozlowski & Ilgen (2006): research summary from over 50 years
➔ Traditional I-P-O model of group work:
They argue that there are different types of cognitive team process characteristics:
• Team climate: team perception of the environment (e.g. service climate, innovative
climate)
• Team mental models: shared model of knowledge or beliefs related to key elements
of the team task (information held in common)
• Team transactive memory: group-level system of encoding, storing, and retrieving
information located across group members (who knows what)
• Team learning: the active process by which teams acquire knowledge, skills, and
performance capabilities (such as mental models or transactive memory)
Motivational/affective team process characteristics:
• Team cohesion: attraction of members to group (both task and social-related)
• Team-efficacy: shared belief in the group’s collective ability to obtain goals
• Team affect/mood and emotions: good or bad feelings held by members in the group
• Team conflict: process arising from real or perceived incompatibilities among team
members
,Behavioral team processes:
• Team coordination, cooperation and communication: process by which members’
actions are synchronized
• Team member competencies: how the knowledge, skills and abilities shape ability of
team to accomplish task (e.g., resource distribution, timing, motivation)
• Team regulation, performance dynamics and adaptation: process by which team
task demands vary and cycle around a task episode and how members’ interactions
and performance can be regulated in line with these cycles (e.g., mission analysis,
conflict management)
Team interventions:
• Team design: making sure team is aligned with organizational context and task and
has adequate resources
• Team training and development: process or intervention by which teams and
individuals acquire skills and improve processes
• Team leadership: the use of influence within the team to guide the team in task
accomplishment
Team outputs:
• Team and individual performance
• Meeting member needs: satisfaction, identification, etc.
• Team viability: willingness of members to remain in the team
Article of Campion et al. (1993):
Results:
- Job design characteristics were effective for predicting performance
- Interdependent feedback and rewards were related to employee satisfaction
, Moreland & Levine’s (1982) model of group socialization:
There are 5 stages of group membership: investigation, socialization, maintenance, re-
socialization and remembrance. Going from one to another stage is: role-transition. For
example, moving from investigation to socialization involves the role-transition: entry. Other
role-transition are: acceptance, divergence and exit. The 5 stages differ in commitment: the
degree to which a group member identifies with the group and its goals and wishes to
maintain group membership.
Being accepted in a group partly depends on the staffing level of the group: the degree to
which the actual number of group members is similar to the ideal number of group members.
1. Investigation: groups look for prospective members who might make a contribution
to the attainment of group goals.
2. Socialization: new members learn the norms of the group and their role in the group.
3. Maintenance: this stage is characterized by high commitment. Role negotiation.
4. Re-socialization: the group might try to persuade marginal members not to leave, or
might try to accommodate to the wishes of marginal members (e.g., give them a
different role).
5. Remembrance: the ex-member and the group evaluate each other (so the member is
not in the group anymore)
Tuckman’s model of group development: 5 stages of group development
1. Forming: the group is getting to know each other, a lot of uncertainty
2. Storming: the roles in the group are formed, conflicts can arise
3. Norming: the goals and norms are established, this stage is characterized with
cohesion
4. Performing: group members work together towards their goal, performance-oriented
