team management – powerpoint presentation 3
Part 2 – Group Cohesion
Sai Venkata Kaushik Adusumilli
BA 60670 H4 – TEAM Q
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Group Cohesiveness – Introduction
The extent to which groups operate together in mutual interest
Improves overall output and efficiency of group
Establishes set of norms for group members
Identifies Strengths and weaknesses in group
Makes decision-making a coordinated effort
Communication becomes multidirectional and organized
Meetings end productively with lesser conflicts
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Group Cohesiveness is when members of the group operate together rather than individually. They tend to operate together in mutual interest that benefits the individual, the company and the team.
This work method improves overall efficiency and output of teams as they work in unison and alignment with management directives and milestones.
A set of governing rules or set of norms are established by the group as a whole, that decides a meeting point, a meeting time and place, with a specific agenda to achieve.
Each team member identifies strengths and weaknesses among groups and helps the others get better or learns from them to ensure team effectiveness always remains good.
Decision making becomes easy with more open minded and rational decision making at the table rather than conflicting arguments without reaching a resolution.
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Group Cohesiveness – Positive Impacts
Attributed as one entity
Considered as important metric for group’s success
Participation and Contribution of each individual increases
Creates a sense of belongingness
Makes it easy to resolve conflicts
Turnaround time for decision making improves
Success or failure is attributed to group
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The group of individuals will be listed and viewed as one entity by management
Important metric t measure group’s success
Role of each individual is accepted and fulfilled well.
Sense of ownership and responsibility increases with being attached to a group with cohesion
Conflict resolution is easier and faster, with little impact to hamper cohesion.
Turnaround time for decisions is much faster and increases the logical thinking capabilities of the group
Success or failure is equally attributed to the group, rather than calling out individuals.
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Group Cohesiveness – Limitations
Operating strictly by the norms
Over-Cohesive groups make Groupthink errors
Resistance to change becomes a problem
Improper leadership can hamper cohesiveness
Transition is difficult for members joining newly
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Accepting a new way of doing things becomes increasingly painful to the team if it does abide by the established group norms
Over-Cohesive groups usually run into over thinking and tend to leave some important subjects undiscussed because the team members do not want to create a stir up of emotions.
Change becomes an issue in many cases.
Improper leadership can usually create bias among team members and results in partition within the team based on microscopic interest ad preferences..
Newly appointed team members remain disconnected for a while before being actively contributive in the group.
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Factors Improving group Cohesion
Group size – Smaller or medium is better
Time spent as a group
Intellectual and interest-based similarities
Opportunities and threats
Competition in achieving targets
Difficult acceptance rate
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A smaller or mid sized group invites wide scale participation from all its team members.
The time spent together by all group members as a team, will impact positively or negatively in a large manner.
Similarities in hobbies, interests and out-of-work activities largely play an important role in bringing work place affinity.
Every time an opportunity is presented or a threat is detected, it becomes easy to discuss the strategies to achieve the issue, among group members, rather than ponder individually about its impacts.
Competition in achieving targets is highly regarded as a factor that increases cohesion among group members.
If the group is a difficult one to join or to be a member of, they become close and tightly knitted which in turn increase cohesion.
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Group Cohesion – Applications
Helpful in a product design environment
Effective in a process improvement setting
Can be introduced in Expert Panel groups
Group-based research activity can be improved
Project Teams need to follow these strategies
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Several modern day teams that communicate on a daily basis need to adapt these strategies to start focusing on results of the team. To improve the holistic measure of success for the team, it is important that the teams implement measures to improve group cohesiveness. This will make operations, more organized and systematic on a daily basis. Group norms can be easily established in projects like these.
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References
Yoo, Y., & Alavi, M. (2001). MEDIA AND GROUP COHESION: RELATIVE INFLUENCES ON SOCIAL PRETENSE, TASK PARTICIPATION, AND GROUP CONSENSUS. MIS Quarterly, 25(3), 371-390.
Moore, A., & Mamiseishvili, K. (2012). Examining the Relationship Between Emotional Intelligence and Group Cohesion. Journal Of Education For Business, 87(5), 296-302. doi:10.1080/08832323.2011.623197
Podsakoff, P. M., Mackenzie, S. B., & Ahearne, M. (1997). Moderating Effects of Goal Acceptance on the Relationship Between Group Cohesiveness and Productivity. Journal Of Applied Psychology, 82(6), 974-983.
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