Chapter 9: Group Dynamics
Learning Objectives
In this chapter, we will:
- Differentiate between groups and teams.
- Identify reasons that people join groups and when they might be preferred to working alone.
- Explore the benefits and challenges associated with virtual teams.
- Describe the phenomenon of social loafing and identify strategies for minimizing it.
- Describe factors that influence group effectiveness including collaboration, team norms, roles, group cohesion, collective efficacy, and emotional intelligence.
- Outline the life cycle of groups and their members.
- Identify the symptoms of groupthink and strategies to avoid it.
- Describe communication strategies for group meetings.
Available research on group dynamics demonstrates rather conclusively that individual behavior is highly influenced by coworkers in a work group. In this chapter, we will explore the nature of groups and teams and factors that influence their effectiveness. We will learn about the lifecycle of teams and our membership in groups from beginning to end. In addition, we will explore how group cohesion can both help and hurt group decision-making and some practical strategies for communicating a common workplace group setting aka the business meeting.
