 Two or more individuals who mutually influence one
another through social interaction (Forsyth, 1990)
 Corporate giants like Toyota, Motorola, General
Mills and General Electric were the first to use
groups. Today, most organizations form different
types of groups to achieve specific results
 Harold H. Kelley and J.W. Thibaut define a group
as “a collection of individuals…the members accept
a common task, become interdependent in their
performance, and interact with one another to
promote its accomplishment.”

 • Members engaged in frequent interaction
 • Those involved define themselves as group
members
 • Others define members as belonging to a
particular group
 • They share common norms and mutual interests
 • They identify with one another and share values
 • They feel a sense of collective responsibility
 • They act in a unified way towards the organization

Formal Group
 A designated work group
defined by the
organization’s structure.
These groups are structured
and created to fulfill the
organizational goals. These
groups usually have specific
targets, well defined roles to
perform, well organized
norms and regulations
Informal Group
 A group that is neither
formally structured nor
organizationally determined;
rather it appears in response to
the need for social contact
 Greatly influences the behavior
of their members and therefore
determine their productivity

 Command groups - composed of a manager and the employees, who
report directly to a manager. The relationship is instruction or
command focused which flows from the top level to the bottom
 Task Groups - Those working together to complete a job or task. Here
the focus is on the actions or tasks they perform together
 Committee – A specialized group consisted of employees who have
been chosen or elected to carry out some crucial functions. For e.g. the
grievance committee, vigilance committee etc
There are basically two types of committees – standing
committees and ad hoc committees. Standing committees are
permanent in nature and are formed by the standing orders, bylaws,
rules and regulations of an organization. Ad hoc committees are
committees which are constituted for a short-term to serve a specific
purpose

 The purpose and the authority structure of the committee
should be properly defined.
 The tasks, responsibilities , role and deadlines should be
clearly specified.
 The manner of reporting should be clearly defined.
 The method of recruitment should be clearly specified.
 The budget for the committee should be established.
 The resources needed for the achievement of the goals of the
committee should be determined.
 A reward and recognition scheme should be designed to
motivate the members

 Might be expensive
 The decision might be biased due to
majority's support, partiality of top
management, personal biases of the leaders
 The interpersonal conflicts, need to please
each other might negatively influence the
decision

 The informal groups are created independently by
colleagues regardless of position, actual job in the
organization or age.
 They have no officially installed leaders rather leadership
is earned either through contribution to the group,
experience or even influence in the group.
 Informal groups are encouraged but controlled in most
organizations so as to promote employee job satisfaction
in the organization’s environment.
 Most of these groups are usually monitored by the
organizations so the discussions or actions don’t
negatively affect the organizations

 Prevent organizational
change
 Role conflict
 Increased scope for
rumors
 Pressure to conform to
group norms
 If the management underplays
the importance of the informal
groups, these groups are likely
to generate a lot of internal
conflicts and cause problems
for the organization
 Management should try to
blend together both the formal
and informal groups
 Must Adopt a positive attitude
towards it, and try to obtain
the direct or indirect
cooperation of the informal
group

1. Forming Stage
2. Storming Stage
3. Norming Stage
4. Performing Stage
5. Adjourning Stage

 Highly influenced by emotional factors and interpersonal
relationships between the members. Uncertainties regarding
norms, leadership role, various positions, power conflict
between the members etc are prevalent in this stage. Members
are unsure about the accepted. Members vaguely develop a
sense of belongingness with the group
 The “polite “stage in which the team starts to form.
 Everyone is trying to figure out what the team concept is.
 Initial “silent “leaders may take the rein
 The team is usually positive –for the most part –for the initial
meetings.
 No one has offended anyone at this point yet!

› Excitement, anticipation, and optimism.
› Pride in being chosen for the project.
› A tentative attachment to the team Suspicion and
anxiety about the job.
› Defining the tasks and how they will be
accomplished.
› Determining acceptable group behavior.
› Deciding what information needs to be gathered.

 Interpersonal conflicts arise and differences of opinion
about the group and its goals will surface
 The honeymoon is over.
 The silent leaders may be clashing for control of the
group.
 People disagree and may blame the team concept,
saying it doesn’t work.
 Management needs to do a lot of coaching to get
people to work past their differences
 Usually the highly committed members who focus more
on the goal of the group not on the interpersonal
relationships survive the blows of this phase and stay
back.

 Resisting the tasks.
 Resisting quality improvement approaches suggested by
other members.
 Sharp fluctuations in attitude about the team and the project's
chance of success.
 Arguing among members even when they agree on the real
issues.
 Defensiveness, competition, and choosing sides.
 Questioning the wisdom of those who selected this project
and appointed the other members of the team.
 Establishing unrealistic goals. Disunity, increased tension, and
jealousy

 Formal and informal procedures are established in
delegating tasks, responding to questions, and in the
process by which the group functions
 The team is starting to work well together, and has
turned around from the ‘storming”phase.
 They may start to “brag up” the team concept to others
who aren’t in the team and will be very positive about
their role/team group.
 Often, the team will bounce back and forth between
“storming “and “norming” when issues crop up.
 The natural leaders at this stage may not be the ones
who were visible in stages 1 & 2 (those people may no
longer have the “unofficial lead roles”within the team

 An ability to express criticism constructively.
 Acceptance of membership in the team.
 An attempt to achieve harmony by avoiding conflict.
 More friendliness, confiding in each other, and
sharing of personal problems.
 A sense of team cohesion, spirit, and goals.
 Establishing and maintaining team ground rules and
boundaries

 This is the level where the team is a high–performance team
 They can be given new projects and tasks and accomplish
them successfully, and very seldom fall back into the
“storming” phase
 At this level, the team is taking on new work on their own, and
selling it to other team
 The team can usually take on a new member or two with little
trouble as far as regressing goes
 They are a complete self-directed team and require little, if any,
management direction
 In many organizations, this can take 6 months or longer to
reach this state this stage

 Members have insights into personal and group
processes, and better understanding of each other's
strengths and weakness
 Constructive self–change
 Ability to prevent or work through group problems.
 Close attachment to the team

 Adjourning is the end of the task and disengagement from
relationships
 A planned conclusion usually includes recognition for
participation and achievement and an opportunity for
members to say a personal thank you or goodbye
 Ending a group can create some fear - in effect, a minor crisis
 Many organizations and groups have a “wrap up party,” or a
graduation ceremony to mark this stage
 The team briefs and shares the improved process during this
phase.
 When the team finally completes that last briefing; there is
always a bittersweet sense of accomplishment coupled with
the reluctance to say good–bye.
 Many relationships formed within these teams continue long
after the team disbands

 Roles (A set of expected behavior patterns attributed to someone
occupying a given position in a social unit)
› Role identity (Certain attitudes and behaviorus consistent with a role)
› Role perception (An individual’s view of how he or she is supposed to
act in a given situation)
› Role expectations (How others believe a person should act in a given
situation)
› Role Overload(To many roles to perform within a perceived short time)
› Role Ambiguity (Difficulty to understand exactly what is expected)
› Role conflict (A situation in which an individual is confronted by
divergent role expectations)

 Task oriented role
 People oriented role
 Nay Sayers ( find fault in everyone)
 Yes Sayers ( those who counter Nay Sayers)
 Deviants ( deviate from the group and rebel )
 Isolates ( Isolate themselves, withdrawn types)
 Old timers ( around for a long time)
 Climbers ( can risk anything to move ahead)
 Cosmopolitans ( considers themselves as part of a
larger community)

 Norms (Acceptable standards of behavior within
a group that are shared by the group’s members)

› Performance Related Norms(Norms pertaining to
performance related processes which suggests how to
get the work done)
› Appearance norms (Norms regarding dress code and
other rules associated with appearance)
› Norms pertaining to informal social arrangements
(Sitting arrangements, work stations, rules regarding
lunch breaks, etiquettes etc)
› Norms that regulate the allocation of
resources(pay, assignment of new jobs etc)

 Status (A socially defined position or rank given to
groups or group members by others)
 Size (Number of members involved in the group and the
possibilities of forming sub-groups)
 Composition (Combination of various members from
their respective background)
 Cohesiveness (Degree to which group members are
attracted to each other and are motivated to stay in the
group)

 Leadership
 Group size
 Time spent together
 Nature of the task
 Diversity-similarity ratio
Consequences of Cohesion:
 Productivity
Participation
Conformity
Healthy communication

Difficult decisions typically
involve issues like:
 Uncertainty - Many facts may
not be known
 Complexity - You have to
consider many interrelated
factors
 High-risk consequences - The
impact of the decision may be
significant
 Alternatives - Each has its own
set of uncertainties and
consequences
 Interpersonal issues - It can be
difficult to predict how other
people will react
There are six steps to making an
effective decision:
 Create a constructive
environment
 Generate good alternatives
 Explore these alternatives
 Choose the best alternative
 Check your decision
 Communicate your
decision, and take action

Style Process
Autocratic : make the decision and inform
others
• A1 : Use the information you already
have and make the decision
•A2 : Get information from others and
take the decision
Consultative: gather opinion and
information from team to make the
decision
C1: group is brought together, individual
opinions are taken and decision is made
C2 : group is brought together and
decision is taken by considering their
opinion
Collaborative : you and your team work
together to reach a consensus
G 2: The team makes a decision together.
Leader’s role is mostly facilitative and to
help the team come to a final decision
that everyone agrees on
A = Autocratic, C = Consultative, G = Group

 Brain Storming
 Nominal Group Technique
 Delphi Technique
 Devil’s Advocacy
 Fish Bowling
 Didactic Interaction

 Brainstorming is by far the most widely used tool to stimulate
creative thinking. It was developed in the 1940s by the American
advertising executive Alex Osborn who believed that anyone could
learn to generate creative solutions for a wide variety of problems
Steps of Brainstorming:
 Brief idea about the topic is given
 Ideas, solutions, options are asked from all the team
members
 Criticism of ideas isn't allowed
 All ideas, no matter how wild, are encouraged
 Every participant should try to build on or combine the
ideas of others
 Leader may intervene and add few more ideas
 The modification of ideas and editing is done by all the
members

 The members make a list of their ideas silently and
note them down
 Then a decision is made from those ideas
 Criticism is not allowed
 It is a very effective method for solving a crucial
problem from various perspective

 From various locations the members send their
responses
 Since the members are not physically present in
that group so they can give their reaction
independently without getting influenced by others
 Takes a lot of time to form a decision

 A critic is chosen from the group who pin
points the pitfalls of a proposed decision
 This method helps the members to be
sure about their decision before they
place it in front of others

 The decision making group of experts is seated around in a circle
with a single chair in the centre of the circle
 One member of the group is invited to sit in the centre chair and
gives his views about the problem and his proposition of solution in
discussion The other group members can ask him questions but no
cross talk is allowed
 Once the member finishes and his viewpoint is fully understood, he
leaves the center and joins the group in the circle
 After all the experts have expressed their views, the entire group
discusses the various alternatives suggested and pick the one with
consensus

 problem resulting into a yes-no solution -
two groups are formed -one favoring ‘yes’
and other favoring ‘no’ The first group will list
all the ‘pros’ of the problem solution and the
second group will list all the ‘cons’
 These two groups meet and discuss their
findings and their reasons. After an
exhaustive discussions the final decision is
taken

 Getting diversified ideas for any problem
 Bias free decision since everyone
participates
 Easy to implement an unanimously taken
decision
 Respects individual’s contribution and
democracy

 Time consuming
 Pressure of conformity
 Self interest of the members
 Group think – due to over friendliness and
dependence members might fail to think
independently
 Stereotyped perception of opposition
 Self suppression leading to illusion of
unanimity