You will be asked to leave discussions or the course as a whole if you are disrespectful to other students or the instructor. If you are not feeling well (and/or the CVKEY app is yellow or red), please DO NOT attend the face-to-face class.
Defining Teams and Groups
What is a group?
What is a team?
Interdependence: the members need each other's help to achieve the goal for which they joined the group;. List some examples of teams you are a member of – both inside and outside of work – in your learning file.
Is a team or group really needed?
Types of teams
Typically, the "span of control" (the number of people for whom each manager or supervisor is directly responsible) averages about five people, but this can vary widely. While hierarchy is designed to provide a stable "backbone" for the organization, projects are primarily about change, and thus tend to be organized quite differently.
The project (single) team
A functional team is a team in which work is done within such a functionally organized group. In organizations where the functional divisions are relatively rigid, project work may be transferred from one functional team to another to complete the work.
The matrix team
The project manager has such a recognizable team and takes care of the control and monitoring of its work on the project. The functional line managers they report to will retain responsibility for this work and for the professional standards of their work on the project, as well as for their training and career development.
The contract team
In this organizational form, personnel from different functional areas (such as design, software development, manufacturing, or marketing) are seconded or seconded to work on a specific project. However, many of the project staff will still have other tasks to perform in their normal functional departments.
Mixed structures
Some may be part of a matrix arrangement, where their work on the project is overseen by the project manager and reporting to their line manager on other matters. Still others may be part of a functional hierarchy, working on the project under the supervision of their line manager, through negotiations with their project manager.
Modern teams
Project administrators often function in this way, serving the project for its duration but having a career path within a wider administrative service. For example, someone who works in an organization's legal department can give the project team access to legal advice when needed.
Why do (only some) teams succeed?
Conclusion
Cooperation
Learning Objectives
Introduction
The Prisoner’s Dilemma
A small real-life example of the Prisoner's Dilemma phenomenon can be seen at live music concerts. In venues with seats, many audience members will choose to stand in hopes of getting a better view of the musicians on stage.
Individual Differences in Cooperation
This creates a chain reaction in which the entire audience now has to stand up, just to look over the heads of the crowd in front of them. While choosing to stand may enhance the concert experience, it creates a literal barrier to the rest of the audience, detracting from the overall band experience.
Social Value Orientation
In this game, participants each took turns drawing from a central pool of points, which were exchanged for real money at the end of the experiment. Participants were told that the common pool resource gradually replenished after the end of each turn, but that taking too much of the resource too quickly would eventually deplete it.
Empathic Ability
Situational Influences of Cooperation
Communication and Commitment
Trust
According to the rules of the game, individuals took turns to be either a "giver" or a "receiver" over the course of several rounds. After only a few rounds of play, this individual was effectively shunned by the rest of the group, receiving almost no donations from the other members (Milinski, Semmann, Bakker, & Krambeck, 2001).
Group Identification
Within each group, the participants quickly banded together and established their own group identity: “The Eagles”. In the final phase of the experiment, however, Sherif and colleagues introduced a dilemma for both groups that could only be resolved through mutual cooperation.
Culture
On the other hand, player A must be careful to make an acceptable offer to player B while still trying to maximize his game outcome. Studies show that Americans give about 40% of their sum in the ultimatum game—less than Lamelara, but the same as most of the small societies sampled by Henrich and colleagues (Oosterbeek et al., 2004).
Take a Quiz
For example, among the Lamelara people of Indonesia, who subsist by hunting whales in groups of a dozen or more individuals, donations in the ultimatum game were extremely high—about 58% of the total. Although the decision not to cooperate may sometimes bring an individual greater reward in the short term, cooperation is often necessary to ensure that the group as a whole—including all members of that group—achieves an optimal outcome.
Discussion Questions
Vocabulary
An assessment of how an individual prefers to allocate resources between himself and another person. When a person is placed in a position where they could be exploited or harmed.
Outside Resources
The principle that people will make logical decisions based on maximizing their own gains and benefits. An economic game in which a proposer (player A) can offer a subset of resources to a responder (player B), who can then either accept or reject the given proposal.
Authors
Social Comparison
In this module you will learn about the process of social comparison: its definition, consequences and factors that influence it.
Introduction: Social Comparison
When athletes compete in a competition, they are able to observe and compare their performance with that of their competitors. A professional athlete is much more likely to compare his or her performance to that of other professional athletes than to that of an amateur.
Social Comparison: Basics
Relevance and Similarity
Direction of Comparison
Lapel stickers and online badges proclaiming "I voted" or "I gave blood" are common examples of using social comparison to achieve positive social outcomes.
Consequences of Social Comparison
It is common advice in business for managers to "hire your replacement." In other words, to hire people with as much talent as possible, including those who could do the job better than the manager. The SEM model suggests that managers may prefer suboptimal candidates who are unlikely to challenge their status in the organization.
Self-Evaluation Maintenance Model
Individual Differences
Van de Vliert, 2007) may not interpret an increasing comparison as a threat to the self, but more as a challenge and a hopeful sign that one can reach a certain level of performance. People with a growth mindset, however, are likely to interpret an upward comparison as both a challenge and an opportunity to improve themselves.
Situational factors
People with a fixed mindset think that their abilities and talents cannot change; thus, upward comparison is likely to threaten their self-evaluation and drive them to experience negative consequences of social comparison, such as competitive behavior, jealousy, or unhappiness.
Number
It is natural to compare yourself and others by different standards and compare yourself to different people.
Local
Proximity to a Standard
Social Category Lines
Related Phenomena
Frog Pond Effect
The Dunning-Kruger Effect
Effect
- The Psychology of Groups
A model of social comparison that emphasizes one's closeness to the target of comparison, the relative performance of that target person, and the relevance of comparative behavior to one's self-concept. Social comparison and big fish-small pond effects on self-concept and other self-esteem constructs: The role of generalized and specific others.
The Psychology of Groups
The Psychological Significance of Groups
The Need to Belong
Affiliation in Groups
Identity and Membership
Evolutionary Advantages of Group Living
Motivation and Performance
Social Facilitation in Groups
The presence of other people can also cause disruptions in our ability to focus on and process information (Harkins, 2006). Distraction from the presence of other people has been shown to improve performance on certain tasks, such as the Stroop task, but undermine performance on cognitively demanding tasks (Huguet, Galvaing, Monteil, & Dumas, 1999).
Social Loafing
Teamwork
In most cases, members of cohesive groups like each other and the group, and are also united in their pursuit of group-level collective goals. Cohesive groups can also be spectacularly unproductive if the norms of the group emphasize low productivity rather than high productivity (Seashore, 1954).
Group Development
Note, however, that the relationship between Performance at Time 1 and Cohesion at Time 2 is greater (r=.51) than the relationship between Cohesion at Time 1 and Performance at Time 2 (r=.25).
Focus Topic 1: Group Development Stages and Characteristics
Forming”. Members expose information about themselves in polite but tentative interactions
Making Decisions in Groups
Group Polarization
Common Knowledge Effect or Shared Information Bias
Groupthink
You and Your Groups
Have you ever been part of a group that made a bad decision, and if so, were any of the symptoms of groupthink present in your group? Working Paper: The Law of Group Polarization by Cass Sunstein is an extensive application of the concept of polarization to a variety of legal and policy decisions.
How to cite this Noba module using APA Style
Shared Information Bias
Sharing information with other group members is associated with group members' perceptions of competence, knowledge and credibility (Wittenbaum & Park, 2001). Thus, shared information bias (also known as the collective information sampling bias) is a tendency for group members to spend more time and energy discussing information that several members are already familiar with (ie, shared information).
Causes
According to Broderick, Kerschreiter, Mojzisch, and Schulz-Hardt (2007), information known only to a single member of a group prior to the group discussion will be mentioned less often and evaluated less favorably compared to familiar information. to multiple group members before a group discussion. This phenomenon describes shared information bias (Baker, 2010). Hidden profiles describe group decision-making tasks in which different (but correct) possible solutions exist, but no group member discovers them based on his or her individual information prior to the discussion (Stasser, 1988).
Outcomes
Researchers predict that poor decision making can occur when the group does not have access to non-shared information to make well-informed decisions.
Avoidance strategies
Inattentional Blindness
The inability to notice unexpected objects or events when attention is elsewhere is now known as inattention blindness. Can you think of situations where inattention blindness is most likely to be a problem?
Creative Commons License
Teams as Systems
Creating successful teams: A holistic view
In the case of the newsletter project, you may need to think about ways to set up the project. Some ground rules for working together may also need to be established early on.
Outputs
What maintenance behaviors does the group need to adopt to get the job done and to benefit from the experience and develop. They must also secure the freedom, resources and support for the team to complete the task.
Group size
Professional Writing
INTRODUCTORY EXERCISES
1 General Revision Points to Consider
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Evaluate Content
Evaluate Organization
Evaluate Style
Evaluate Readability
KEY TAKEAWAY
EXERCISES
2 Specific Revision Points to Consider
LEARNING OBJECTIVE
Formatting that is messy or inconsistent with the company's style will reflect poorly on you before the reader even starts reading it. By presenting a document that is properly formatted in accordance with the expectations of your organization and your readers, you will begin to make a good impression.
Facts
If a letter format normally lists a date at the top, or the sender's address on the left side of the page before the salutation, the information should be in the correct location.
Names
Spelling
For example, suppose you wrote: "The Major attends the meeting" when you meant to write "The Mayor will attend the meeting".
Punctuation
Commas
Semicolons
Apostrophes
Grammar
Subject-Verb Agreement
Verb Tense
Split Infinitive
Double Negative
Irregular Verbs
Commas in a Series
Faulty Comparisons
If you are comparing three or more objects, then "est" will accurately communicate which is the "largest" of them all.
Dangling Modifiers
Misplaced Modifiers
Style Revisions
Break Up Long Sentences
Revise Big Words and Long Phrases
Evaluate Long Prepositional Phrases
Delete Repetitious Words
Eliminate Archaic Expressions or References
Avoid Fillers
Eliminate Slang
Evaluate Clichés
Emphasize Precise Words
Evaluate Parallel Construction
Obscured Verbs
The “Is It Professional?” Test
Find an example of a good example of effective business writing, review it and share it with your classmates. Find an example of a bad example of effective business writing, review it and share it with your classmates.
Evaluating the Work of Others
Five Steps in EVALUATION
Let's say the document is about sales history over the past five years. Let's say the writer states that sales history over the past five years is an important factor.
Delivering the Evaluation
Finally, check the document for correct formatting and for errors in spelling, punctuation, and grammar. Focus on the document as a product, an "it," and avoid associating the author or authors with it.
Proofreading and Design Evaluation
Proofreading
Design Evaluation
Framing
Letters often have left alignment, which aligns the text on the left side of the page while allowing the ends of each line to be "ragged" or unaligned on the right side. This creates even spacing between words and gives the appearance of organization while promoting blank space, the space on the page without text.
Typefaces
They also often give you the option to "fill in the blank," which reflects each document's basic expectations about where information is presented. Left justification often creates the appearance of balance because the words are evenly spaced, while left and right justification can create large gaps between words, making sentences seem awkward and difficult to read.
Paragraphs
Templates have spaces that define where a date should be shown and where personal contact information should be represented.
Visual Aids
Designing Interactive Documents
Then, when I got a lead, I would write to the contact asking for a few minutes of their time. If I met them or even had a photo chat, my next task was to write them a thank you note - no.
Additional Resources
Persuasive Presentations
For every sale you miss because you're too enthusiastic, you'll lose a hundred because you're not enthusiastic enough.
Getting Started
When President Bush advocated the invasion of Iraq, his speeches included many of the techniques we will discuss in this chapter. You learned a lot of techniques yourself through trial and error and imitation.
What Is Persuasion?
You can reinforce existing beliefs in the members of the audience who agree with you and do a good job of persuasion. You can also get hostile audience members to consider one of your arguments, moving from a hostile position to one that is more neutral or ambivalent.
Meeting the Listener’s Basic Needs
However, in the United States, the concept of a workplace or a business meeting is less structured and the context offers less meaning and understanding. Identity By participating in communication, we come to perceive ourselves, our roles, and our relationships with others.
Maslow’s Hierarchy
All needs in Maslow's model build on the foundation of the previous needs, and the third level reinforces our need to be part of a family, community or group. When we get our basic needs met, we don't have to fear losing our place in a group or access to resources.
Social Penetration Theory
We learn more about the way a person perceives a situation (breadth), but also gain perspective on how they see the situation through an understanding of their past experiences (depth). How much of the total iceberg can you see from the surface of the ocean.
Speaking Ethically and Avoiding Fallacies
Eleven Points for Speaking Ethically
Your audience will appreciate your thoughtful consideration of more than one point of view, your understanding of the complexities, and you will build your ethos or credibility when you present. Deception, coercion, intentional bias, manipulation and bribery have no place in your speech to persuade.
Avoiding Fallacies
Asserting the truth of the matter itself as if it were already an obvious conclusion. Since the liberal anti-war demonstrations of the 1960s, we have seen an increase in convicts being released from death row.
Elevator Speech
Creating an Elevator Speech
Groups and meetings
Instead, many technological tools enable virtual meetings where participants are half a world away from each other. Virtual meetings are formally arranged meetings where participants located in different geographical locations come together via the Internet.
Preparation
DECIDING HOW TO MEET
INVITING MEETING PARTICIPANTS
IDENTIFYING AN APPROPRIATE MEETING SPACE
If you are responsible for the room reservation, confirm the reservation one week before the meeting and again the day before the meeting. If technology is required for the meeting, such as a microphone, conference phone or laptop and projector, be sure to confirm their reservation at the same time you confirm the meeting room reservation.
FACILITATING AN EFFECTIVE MEETING
One of the important decisions you must make in planning a meeting is the space in which you will hold it and the arrangements for that space. Redundancy in the confirmation process can help eliminate double booking of a room, where two meetings are scheduled at the same time.
MEETING CHECKLIST FOR PARTICIPANTS
Perils of Poor Facilitation
Guidelines for Facilitating a Meeting
At the beginning of the meeting, review what you understand will happen and ask for confirmation of what you think people are expected to do in the time you spend together. You may want to take a perception check to see if you are interpreting nonverbal cues accurately.
POST-Meeting Communication
If you want something in writing, you can give each person half a sheet of paper asking "What was the best thing about our meeting?" and "What could have made this meeting better?" Or you could write two columns on a whiteboard, one with pluses and one with minuses, and ask people orally to identify the items they think belong in each category. If you feel that a less formal check is sufficient, you can simply go around the table or room and ask each person for a word that describes how he or she feels.
Using Technology to Facilitate Meetings
Audio-Only Interactions
In some situations, you can use a directional microphone that amplifies your voice signal only if you speak directly into it. If you are leaving a voicemail, state all relevant information concisely and clearly, making sure to speak slowly.
Audio-Visual Interactions
If you're going to be communicating through audio and visual signals, make sure you're prepared. If you're not familiar with the technology, practice using it before you actually start your business.
TIPS FOR VIRTUAL MEETINGS
If the conversation doesn't go as planned, or if the signal isn't what you expected or experienced in the past, stay positive and try again. If you know you'll need to leave a meeting before it ends, notify the organizer in advance.
Author & Attribution
Gantt Chart
In 1999, Gantt charts were identified as "one of the most widely used management tools for project planning and control".[3]. A good Gantt chart will provide a coherent strategy, giving you a project roadmap from start to finish in one visual view.
Progress Gantt charts
According to Matt Heusser (2020), Gantt charts help a team to work out how multiple units can be switched without missing deadlines.
Citations
Organizational culture
The next day, the customer received a call informing them that the tuxedo was available. What suggestions would you give Nordstrom for preserving and developing the organizational culture that has contributed to its success?
Understanding Organizational Culture
What Is Organizational Culture?
Why Does Organizational Culture Matter?
Levels of Organizational Culture
In other words, understanding an organization's culture can begin by observing its artifacts: the physical environment, employee interactions, company policies, reward systems, and other observable features. The values and, at a deeper level, the assumptions that shape an organization's culture can be revealed by observing how employees interact and the choices they make, and by inquiring about their beliefs and perceptions about what is right and appropriate behavior.
Characteristics of Organizational Culture
Strength of Culture
Wikimedia Commons – public domain It is important to understand that a strong culture can act as a. Differences in culture may be part of the reason that, in the end, the merger did not work.
Do Organizations Have a Single Culture?
Defined as shared values and beliefs that are in direct opposition to the values of the broader organizational culture (Kerr & Slocum, 2005), countercultures often form around a charismatic leader. A counterculture can be tolerated by the organization as long as it brings results and contributes positively to the organization's effectiveness.
Creating and Maintaining Organizational Culture
How Are Cultures Created?
How Are Cultures Maintained?
Attraction-Selection-Attrition (ASA)
Be that as it may, the organization will eventually eliminate candidates who do not fit in through turnover. Attrition refers to the natural process by which the candidates who do not fit leave the company.
New Employee Onboarding
Some candidates may be skilled at impressing recruiters and indicate high levels of culture fit, even if they don't necessarily share the company's values. As a result of the ASA process, the company attracts, selects and retains people who share its core values.
Leadership
Do they want to know what caused accidents so they can be prevented, or do they seem more concerned about how much money was lost as a result of an accident. Do they seem enraged when an employee is disrespectful to a colleague, or does their reaction depend on whether they like the harasser.
Reward Systems
Visual Elements of Organizational Culture
Mission Statement
If the mission statement does not influence employee behavior on a daily basis, it is of little use as a tool for understanding company culture. A mission statement that is taken seriously and widely communicated can provide insight into corporate culture.
Rituals
Sam Walton's original Walton's Five and Dime is now the Wal-Mart Visitor's Center in Bentonville, Arkansas.
Rules and Policies
Physical Layout
Stories
Talking to friends and family members who are familiar with the company, doing an online search for news articles about the company, browsing the company's website and reading their mission statement would be a good start. Signs of a company's culture include the organization's mission statement, stories, physical layout, rules and policies, and rituals.
Creating Culture Change
How Do Cultures Change?
Research and case studies of companies that successfully changed their culture show that the following six steps increase the chances of success (Schein, 1990).
Creating a Sense of Urgency
Changing Leaders and Other Key Players
For example, when Robert Iger replaced Michael Eisner as CEO of the Walt Disney Company, one of the first things he did was abolish the central planning unit, which was staffed by people close to former CEO Eisner. This department was seen as a barrier to creativity at Disney and its removal from the company helped to ensure the innovativeness of the company culture (McGregor et al., 2007).
Role Modeling
Due to political reasons, self-interest or custom, managers can create strong resistance to change efforts. In such cases, replacing these positions with employees and managers who give visible support to the change effort can increase the likelihood of success.
Training
Changing the Reward System
Creating New Symbols and Stories
Performance Evaluation
How do organizations effectively use performance appraisals to improve individual job performance, and what are the inherent limitations of using different appraisal systems. How do managers and organizations effectively use incentives and rewards to ensure the best possible performance of employees.
EXPLORING MANAGERIAL CAREERS
Performance Appraisal Systems
In this chapter, we examine three interrelated aspects of the performance evaluation and compensation process. We begin by examining three aspects of performance review systems: (1) the use of performance reviews, (2) problems encountered in performance reviews, and (3) methods for reducing errors in the review system.
CONCEPT CHECK
Personal biases can interfere with the fairness and accuracy of an evaluation and are illegal in many situations. A number of proposals have recently been made to minimize the effects of various biases and errors on the performance appraisal process.4 When errors are reduced, more accurate information is available for personnel decisions and personal development.
Techniques of Performance Appraisal
If necessary, specifies the date for a follow-up meeting to respond to
An assessment center consists of a series of standardized behavioral assessments based on multiple inputs. Results from a variety of assessment center programs appear promising, and the technique is growing in popularity as a means of identifying future managerial potential.
ETHICS IN PRACTICE
Finally, there are some questions about how accurately assessment centers are actually valid and reliable in predicting future managerial success.7 Despite these problems, assessment centers remain a popular means of developing and assessing managerial potential in some companies. For example, if the purpose of the assessment is to identify high-potential executives, assessment centers are more appropriate than assessment scales.
Feedback
If one or more of these evaluations turn out to be negative (for example, the employee believes she is being evaluated unfairly), the credibility of the feedback is undermined, and the employee may increase her resistance to task effort. Thus, although feedback is essential, it is the nature and quality of the feedback that ultimately determines employee response.
Reward Systems in Organizations
How do organizations choose the best appraisal system for their organization?
The police arrested the hijacker and the bus driver was suspended for breaking company rules.11 Such incidents are unlikely to encourage employees to focus their efforts on responsible performance. A common reality in many contemporary work organizations is the inequality that exists in the distribution of available rewards.
