Group Development and Change

Group Development and Change

Group Development and Change is critical in today's contemporary organization. Group development is to learn why and how teams or group changes over time. According to Thompson (2008) a team is, "An interdependent collection of individuals who share responsibility for specific outcomes for their organizations" (p. 24). In a team, members work intensely with each other to achieve a common goal or objective. We could say all teams are groups, but not all groups are teams. Often times it's difficult to from a team and takes times for members to learn and work with each other. However, According to Hersey, Blanchard & Johnson (2001), a group is defined as two or more individuals interacting, in which the existence of all (the existence of the group as a group) is necessary for the needs of the individual group members to be satisfied" (p. 318). A group can be either be formal or informal who comes together to achieve a specific or particular objectives.

The similarities between groups and teams are they both consist of more than one individual. They both set to accomplish a specific goal. They both involve interaction with each other, social needs, and some type of status in the group or team. The difference between a team and group is teams are forms of a group, but not all groups are teams. Group are members who work independently and they often are not working towards the same goal, whereas teams or members who work interdependently and work towards both personal and team goals. There is a different in size between the group and team and it is a lot easier to form a group than a team. A team's strength depends on the commonality of purpose and interconnectivity between individual members, whereas a group's strength may come from sheer volume or willingness to carry out a single leader's commands. Groups can be effective in today's society; however, teams are becoming the primary means for organizing work within many contemporary organizations.

Group development and change teaches the fundamental concepts relating to team and group process, improving performance, communication and feedback, conflicts and resolution strategies and process consultation.

Teams and Group Processes

Team and group process is to work together so that a specific goal is accomplished. Understanding group formation and development helps met the organizational goals through the process. The process normally involves the Tuckman's model - forming, storming, norming and performing developed by Bruce Tuckman in 1965. Forming is when the group comes together and gets to initially know one other and form as a group or team. Storming is where conflict and polarization around interpersonal issues, with concomitant emotional responding in the task sphere. Norming is when the group eventually agrees how the group operates and their new roles are adopted. Performing is when most of the work takes place group roles become flexible and functional and they are effectively meeting their objectives. Tuckman later added a fifth stage, adjourning involves termination of the group roles and the completion of tasks or mission.

The intra-group dynamics is where norms, power and politics, cooperation, and conflicts are present. Groups establish norms that regulate a team or group behaviors. When in the group status quo and conflicts are develop through the process. Thompson (2008) pointed out that managing an effective team involves two sets of responsibilities. The first one is managing the internal dynamics that is selecting members, facilitating the team process and specific task. The second one is managing the external dynamics that is managing the relationship with those on whom the team is interdependent (p. 99).

Group composition and dynamics is the characteristics and processes that affect how a group or team functions. A heterogeneous team is more likely to come up with creative solutions and solve problems more accurately than are homogenous teams. A general rule is a heterogeneous mix of people in a group or team provides the best chemistry for interaction and achievement of task. Since managing diversity is a ongoing process, Thompson (2008) listed a four pronged plan: Publicly Commit to Valuing Diversity, Solicit Ideas and Best Practices from Employees on How to Diversity, Educate Members on the Advantages of Diversity, and Diversity at All Levels (p. 120).

The decision-making and problem solving for teams and groups process attempts to resolve problems usually on an ongoing basis. Each members must expect and believe that interactions among members will be truthful and of high integrity in order to accomplish the task. We will now lock at improving performance in teams and groups.

Improving Performance in Teams and Groups

Organization should recognize and reward teams and groups on their performance and contribution. When teams or groups are recognize for their performance, they feel appreciated by the organization. When evaluating team and group performance, Hackman identified three key factors in his model used to evaluate the success or failure of a team performance: productivity, cohesion, and learning. Thompson (2008) added integration as the fourth factor to evaluate team or group performance. When providing team performance and feedback, employees will realize what they or doing better and needs to improve on. Supervisor should meet with the entire team on a regular basis to talk about how the team is performing and communicate with them so they could ask questions. Managers need to deal effectively with team building interventions. They should, managers needs to deal effectively with them identify ways to change the motivational structure of the task, the composition of the group.

Performance could be improved by group decision making and problem solving process. An effective group or team must be able to identify problems, examine alternatives, and make decisions. Organizations could delegate some of their authority to certain individuals in the group or team to have decision-making power. Decisions could be made using the group decision rules such as majority rule, average winner, median winner, random member rule or best member rule. Decision-making is a key activity that teams must do, no matter what their governance structure- self-managing, manager-led, or self-directing. Teams or groups could use creativity that is departing from tradition or what may seen to be the appropriate way of conducting business. The Finke's Model of creativity is two dimensions in the model: creativity and usefulness. The model strives to achieve creative ideas as opposed to conservative or traditional ideas (Thompson,