Workgroups and Teams Communication Strategies

Work groups are classified as two or more individuals in an organization who have shared interests and goals. It is a group of people who work together to reach a common goal. It entails people from various agencies working together on a single project. In general, work groups in an organisation are classified as casual or formal (Kozlowski, 2001).

Work Groups that are not Formalized

The grapevine approach, in which workers chat informally, for example, when eating lunch together, is more common in companies than formal communication. Interest groups form as a result of this method of personal and casual correspondence. Their members share a common purpose or concern. These groups are a result of emotional relationships (Rue, Ibrahim & Byars, 2014, p.198)

Recently due to globalization, organizations are changing the way they have been working. This has resulted in new form of teams that never existed a few years ago for e.g. ethnic teams, cross-cultural teams and teams comprising of mixed culture people (Earley & Erez, 1997).

Informal groups often develop due to close proximity of employees’ work areas such as the same department, cubicles, and offices. Employees tend to share their complaints and fears hence; having understanding of workgroups can help managers in better communication and harmonious work relations.

Formal Work Groups

They are often created by management to carry out specific tasks. (Rue, Ibrahim & Byars, 2014)

Task Force

They have shared goals such as problem solving.

Functional Group

It consists of a supervisor and other subordinates and the work in mostly ongoing or continuous.

Project Teams

These are temporary groups that are created to execute specialized projects for a specific time period. (e.g., new product development).

Quality Circle

It is usually a group of 5-15 employees from same department that work together to enhance the quality of the product or services. Quality Circles are made to enhance the decision making amongst employees.

Self- Directed Work Teams

As the name suggests SDWT work without a supervisor. They rather have a leader which is an employee from the team itself. Most of them carry out the management functions by itself like planning schedule, making operational decisions, problem solving etc. (Rue, Ibrahim & Byars, 2014)

Virtual Work Teams

These teams are a result of workplaces that have transcended the national or regional boundaries. Their members interact with the help of advanced and innovative communications media having latest technology. These two are the pillars that help in enabling knowledge and expertise that is located across the globe to be incorporated as teams that transcend the barriers of distance and usual working hours .With time, as enterprises are gradually evolving different classifications of work teams will become prominent (Bell & Kozlowski, 2001).

Group Rules or norms

They are the set of guidelines or rules adopted by a work-group to govern the way its members behave. Group norms are not hard and fast rather they are simple, informal and easy to communicate. The importance of these norms is to govern group’s actions. They need not be written or spoken but implied or shown by behaviour of group members. Norms in short are a means of group control and a member deviating from these norms is often not regarded as a part of the group.

Group responses and behaviour is complex to understand. It is a phenomenon that can be seen happening over time from individual cognition, perception and behaviour. It depends upon what kind of interactions take place among group members within a team. (Kozlowski & Klein, 2000).

Group Behavior

Groups are an integral part of an organization and major support system for its employees. The more the organization’s work culture is influenced by latest technology, hierarchy and communication patterns the more the group behaviour within the organization is influenced. However, groups are important for the employees who are a part of them. These groups offer them with emotional and social support. The point here to be made is that all individuals operate in a restricted environment within the boundaries of an organization and therefore as a result of some common attributes they come together to form both formal and informal groups. With their interactions they share knowledge and insights about their goals and also their personal problems with each other. Thus, group behaviour is a result of both formal and informal interactions within the organization.

Individuals come together to create groups that are bound together in an organization with different levels. Groups specifically don’t show any particular behaviour trait however individuals that comprise these groups do.

Individuals are connected to the groups which in turn make up larger structures of an organization. This hierarchical set up is important to understand and investigate group behaviours (Kozlowski & Klein, 2000). Group behaviour is further evaluated on cohesiveness, conformity and groupthink.

Group Cohesiveness

It is the level of attraction and intimacy amongst the group members or how close and compatible they are with each other. Many factors influence the cohesiveness of a group for example size, communication, outside pressures, success, status etc.

Different researchers had different views on the appropriate team size to enhance cohesiveness. Some gave a suggestion that teams with twelve members are the best (Katzenbach &Smith, 1993). The other suggested that teams with around half a dozen members are more cohesive (Scharf, 1989). The main observation is the smaller the group the more is the cohesiveness.

If the communication within the group is transparent and easy going the cohesiveness increases. In case of outside pressures the group members unite against the challenge. Also the more success a group experiences the more cohesive it becomes.

Group Conformity

Group Conformity can be defined as the degree to which group members accept and agree to the group norms and follow them. In short the level to which the group members abide by the group norms defines the group conformity. It is important as individual objectives will influence the long-term survival of the group. (Rue, Ibrahim & Byars, 2014, p.199)

Group Pressure

Pressure of group members can influence productivity of any group member both positively as well as negatively. Being in a group a member has to adhere to its norms be it related to work or informal guidelines. This pressure sometimes lead to adverse effects on a member’s productivity which otherwise would have been better.

When group members lose their logical thinking ability groupthink occurs. In this situation members are unwilling to say anything against a group member even he/she is wrong. This leads to many decision making problems such as:

Biased Decision Making

Incomplete information processing

Failure to examine the risk of preferred alternative

The belief that group is always right

To maintain a group’s cohesiveness under any circumstance is a goal for many groups itself. This can sometimes go against business as the group members start justifying themselves against outsiders and work pressures

Phases in Life of a Team

As per (Gersick, C. J. G., 1988). teams generally witness four phases of development. They are as:

Forming

It happens when different employees come together to form a group or work team. At this stage the members get to know each other.

Norming

This stage involves making certain informal rules to govern the behaviour of group members in future.

Storming

Here the important question regarding the leadership of the team arises.

Performing

This is the final phase where teams are well aware about its group members and start performing effectively.

Importance of Teams

As per (Rue, Ibrahim & Byars, 2014, p.201) teams are part and parcel of any organization be it informal groups or formal teams. If managed effectively teams can bring about many positive changes in the organization, some of them are as follows:

Easy Communication

Teams or groups make it easier for management to communicate strategies or plans within the organization. The members within the teams that are easily in touch with each other help in making this task easier.

Better problem Solving

Problem solving is enhanced as many minds sit and brain storm about the problem and come up with various solutions.

Improved Employee Relations

Teamwork provides employees with an opportunity to share a bond with one another by the means of similar projects or goals, which improves their relations. Employees that are a part of work teams and are working on a similar project feel motivated and valued when they successfully accomplish a task together. This enhances healthier relations amongst team members.

Learning Opportunities

Team often comprises of individuals who differ in experience, working style and skill sets. This provides all the members of the group an opportunity to learn from exchanged ideas and knowledge (Cannon, M., & Edmondson, A., 2000).

Increased Productivity

Effectives and efficiency in enhanced by better planning and decision making which helps in increasing the overall productivity of an organization.

Limitations of teams

Working with teams and understanding team dynamics is mostly a challenging task as there are many barriers that effect team effectiveness.

Absence of team identity

Sometimes in a group individuals value their personal goals more than the team goals in this case there is chaos between team goals and employees’ goals that are a part of such team. This leads to diminished team identity, cohesiveness, and increased conflicts amongst the members of the team.

Social Loafing

It is the tendency of the group members to perform less or put in fewer efforts while performing as a group.

Groupthink

Groupthink is a phenomenon that affects employees’ ability to make logical decision due to group pressure. Groupthink can be defined as a situation that occurs when a group makes illogical decisions and false choices in the presence of group pressure. It is a result of a deterioration of “mental efficiency, reality testing, and moral judgment”

Ineffective leadership

Inefficient leader can lead to failed efforts by not clarifying a structured mission and vision for the team, not checking with team issues and also by not communicating well (Steve Nguyen, 2010).

Influencing Work Groups

According to (Rue, Ibrahim & Byars, 2014, p.201) With informal work groups certain changes bring about a change in employees’ productivity for e.g. pay scales, number of working hours, rest period.

Building Effective Teams

To have harmonious work relations it is important to overcome the above mentioned challenges and build teams that foster innovation and productivity.

Team building is the process of creating and nurturing groups that work effectively and cohesively to achieve its goals which in turn contribute to better productivity of the organization. Successful organizations are a reflection of successful teams that both meet their goals by using their resources well (Rue, Ibrahim & Byars, 2014, p.202). There are some issues that a supervisor must keep in mind before building teams:

How is the relationship amongst group members?

Participation levels of each team member

Conflict management procedure

Compatible group goals

Group decision making

Help in sharing information and knowledge among group members

How to divide the work among the members?

Timely evaluation of members’ performance

Linking Pin- Concept

According to (Rensis Likert, 1961, p.203) this concept is a way of describing how a management functions with working groups or what is the role of organization in managing teams and groups. It suggests that as managers are a part of over lapping groups they are the links between formal work groups and the organization.

Managers and supervisors bridge the gap between management and work groups and ensure smooth communication.

Following are the steps to build effective teams:

Selecting Individuals

It involves finding right people who can be a part of the team. Having the right person at the right time and in the right team is the key to have effective and efficient work teams. Group members should have right skills to be a part of a specific team.

Trust- Building

The next important step is building trust amongst group members as well as group and management. Without trust there will be clashes within the team members which will lead to downfall of productivity and failure of team project. (Alderfer, 1997)

Encouraging Group Cohesiveness

This can be done through various means such as:

Having an appropriate group size

Selecting members and group leader carefully

Keeping communication easy and smooth

Defining clear group goals

Groups draw their satisfaction from a sense of achievement and by successfully accomplishing tasks. In order to enhance the productivity levels within the group cohesiveness must be maintained by the group leaders or supervisors.

Groups and Leaders

The selection of a leader for the informal group is based upon the relations of a particular member with the rest of the members of the group. The leader is given the right to take decisions by the group members that can be taken away any time. The selected leader needs to have strong interpersonal skills like god communication, setting objectives and giving directions to the team (Rue, Ibrahim & Byars, 2014, p.206).

Gaining Acceptance

Leaders assigned to direct formal work groups must try to win trust of the team and gain acceptance. They do not get authority from the group directly hence it is important for them to interact with the members of the team and try to understand their strengths and weaknesses.

Supervisors must keep themselves updated with the changes happening in the organization and must modify group goals according to these changes.

Encouraging Participation

Supervisors should adopt a flexible approach to encourage employees in a team. It should be a mix of both formal as well as informal methods. A leader should act as a coach rather than a supervisor. This will help group to work with each other in a better way and enhanced participation levels

Team Leadership

It is highly important for smooth functioning of team tasks to select an effective team leader who is capable to understand team requirements and motivate team members to perform better. A leader should try to gain acceptance and encourage participation.

A leader should act like a coach rather than a supervisor and keep guiding team members on how to progress further. He/she should set standards of performance and attitude that the team can look up to. Further a team leader should help in developing and shaping the team processes. He/she should monitor and manage the ongoing team performance (Brannick, M. T., Roach, R. M., & Salas, E. 1993).

Apart from developmental roles a leader has to carry out functional roles as well. One of them is to build individuals into harmonious and well synchronized work units. (Kozlowski, 1996). One of the problems is that, teams experience changes in membership over time. As an old member retires or replacement occurs and new members are brought into the team, they need to be assimilated and socialized. Leaders have to be critical to this process to ensure proper flow of work. (Ostroff & Kozlowski, 1992). The other function of a leader is developmental functions that focus on knowledge building and mentoring to foster team cohesiveness. (Kozlowski,1996).

Work group orientation can be defined as factors that help in encouraging and motivating team members such as enlightening them about value of shared goal, creating positivity and shaping perceptions about change. However, it’s equally important to understand that managing a team brings about a number of challenges for the leader. Like, team leaders most of the times tend to focus only on successful accomplishment of a task but they should pay equal importance on developing skills of the group members such as resource sharing and coordination (Kozlowski, 1996).

Apart from looking and building formal groups it is highly important that leaders do not see informal groups as negative for the organization. If managed properly these informal groups bring about a number of benefits for the organization as we discussed earlier. Leader should rather encourage the informal groups by following methods (Dansereau, F., Graen, G., & Haga, W. J., 1975)

Communicate Openly

A leader should be a coach and a mentor rather than just a supervisor. He/she should speak to the team members frequently starting from brainstorming sessions till the completion of the project. This will not only create trust amongst the team members but will help them to work in a better way with appropriate guidance. The leader must try to understand what problems are the group members facing with each other and what can be done to create a seamless team work environment (Hackman, J. R., 1992)

Encourage Group Participation

By means of group decision making a leader can enhance group participation easily.

Respect the Informal Leader

An informal group has its own leader that they consider their support system and representative at the time of crisis with the management. A supervisor or team leader must have cordial relations with the informal leader to avoid any clashes.

Be Sensitive to Both Individual as Well as Group Needs

Groups are nothing but individuals working together for a common goal or objective and a leader must not forget this. These individuals have their own needs and wants, likes and dislikes that should not be neglected. Understanding these individual needs and different working styles will help individuals satisfy them along with the group needs. (Ancona, D. G., 1990).

Provide Group Rewards

Like individuals are rated and their performance is praised. Similarly, in an organization group efforts should also be recognized and rewarded to get the best out of people. It is an effective way of getting group support.

Provide Clear Group Goals

Ambiguous goals not only create confusion but also demotivate people. People feel encouraged to work and achieve a goal which is clear and achievable. So, to enhance productivity of a group the must be given realistic goals that must be communicated properly and on time (Finkelstein, S., & Hambrick, D. C., 1990).

Team Motivation

Like individual motivation is important, it is highly important to foster motivation within the team to eliminate problems like social loafing (Karau, S. J., & Williams, K. D., 1993).

It has found in many researches that team goals, instead of individual goals, are more important or when people are working as a group or when the project is a group rather individual assignment. Teams’ goals must be clearly defined and discussed to provide team members with clear vision and plan to work upon. This eliminates ambiguity and enhances self-motivation amongst the employees. Rewarding a team rather than individual has positive effect on team motivation as the team on a whole gets recognized. Rewards have positive effects under certain circumstances (Wageman, 1997).

The idea is to understand teams other than normal management setting and formal work relations. To have great team motivation a leader must help teams to:

Communicate Frequently

Teams must frequently discus problems and share ideas about a particular project and way to enhance productivity.

Talk and Listen in Equal Measure, Equally among Members

Leader should guide and not just give commands to the team members and should also listen to their concerns. This creates a sense of positivity and belongingness in the minds of employees and enhances the motivation levels.

Explore for Ideas and Knowledge Outside the Group

Team members should be encouraged to speak with other team members and learn from their experiences.

These measures can have a positive long term implication not on the survival of teams and groups but also on the survival of an organization as a whole.

Conclusion

The last decade has witnessed a lot of changes in organization behaviour across the globe. Over the years political, technological, social and many other factors that have been a driving force behind this transformation, yet another important aspect of this change has been a transformation in organizing work for individuals tasks to work groups (Lawler, Mohrman, & Ledford, 1995). Innovation and increasing globalization is creating pressures that are leading to the evolution of work groups as the most important aspect of corporates and a major reason behind their long term survival. These forces are major reason behind accepting the need to adapt latest technology, induce expertise and knowledge in an organization. Teams require enterprises to be more dynamic and open to changes. (Pentland. A , 2012).

Teams are important and should be well managed in organizations. The importance of team driven work structures is driving the study of organization behaviour to adapt broader multilevel structures rather than having practices that are only individual centric. (Amason, A. C. ,1996).

Multiple level organizations include individuals, teams and then organization as a whole. This will help in bridging the gap between individual employees and management. When this happens teams become a point of focus and challenge us to attend organizational problems and tackle them innovatively. Teams and groups challenge us to research on new methods of problem solving and innovative ways to lead and develop teams for the long term success of an organization. Team building, leadership and communication has much to learn and much to explore, with more and more research and advance technology organizations will be capable of meeting the challenges of work around teams.

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