...trying to figure out how they would fit in the group. Different cultures among the team members increased the level of cohesiveness as the members socialized about their different back grounds creating relationships, bounding the team together. At this point, productivity is very low as members are not clear of the goals and how they can contribute to the team. As no one was clear of what’s expected of each member it was decided that a leader would be chosen “there is a search for a sense of direction and a strong leader. (Tyson,1998, p.8). Choosing the leader was quite difficult as we didn’t know each other very well and what qualities to look for, however one active member was then chosen to be our leader. This session in particular played a crucial role in our team’s productivity level as everyone got to mingle and chat with the other mates so as to combine different cultures and set aside our differences and focus on the main objective. Trying to avoid any conflict or any controversy, everybody was trying to discover what was expected of them and how they were going to approach the task. The productivity level is moderate as the team has no driving force yet, choosing a leader was the opportunity to give the team direction and results. As a way to get to know each other better, the team decide to have a meeting during the weekend. As we meet we got to know each other better than and as well as clarified about the team project and how we could accomplish the goal. “groups...
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...Summary Opinions about the consequences of happiness on work differ. There is no research on the effects of life-satisfaction on productivity but there is a lot of research on the link between job satisfaction and work performance. This research shows modestly positive correlations with productivity, absenteeism and labour turnover. These correlations tend to be stronger among white collar workers. It is still largely unclear to what extent satisfaction effects productivity or vice versa. See Scheme 1. There are different claims about the effect of happiness on productivity. Some think that the enjoyment of life will produce involvement and smooth interaction, thus boosting productivity. Others rather expect that happiness will reduce the motivation to seek improvement and make them passive and dull. There is no research on the effects of overall happiness or life-satisfaction on productivity. However, there is a lot of research on the relationship between job satisfaction and work performance. Job satisfaction is quite highly correlated with overall happiness, and can be looked at as one of its main components. Hence the results of the available research data are at least suggestive in this discussion. The Human Relations movement, of Elton Mayo and others, believed that job satisfaction had beneficial effects, including increased work performance (Argyle, 1988). Let us consider whether this is in fact the case. Do satisfied workers really work harder? If they do, is it because...
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...University GROUP DYNAMICS AND TEAMWORK Stamatia Peristeri, Athanasios Manavis speristeri@hotmail.com, manavis.athanasios@gmail.com Professor: Vitalina E. Kurylyak ternopil2000@yahoo.com November 2014, Kozani - Greece Contents Introduction Group Dynamics Group Dynamics Types of Groups Formal Group Informal Group Primary Group Secondary Group Group problems solving Group decision making styles The role of the group leader Teamwork Team Building Team Development Forming Storming Norming Performing Transforming Keys to Success Bibliography Figures Fig. 1 – Group definition Fig. 2 - Group Cohesiveness definition Fig. 3 - Actions to increase Cohesiveness Fig. 4 - Role and norms definitions Fig. 5 - (a) Relationship between Group Cohesiveness, Performance Norms and Productivity and (b) Causes of Team Cohesiveness Fig. 6 - Types of groups Fig. 7 - Six Stages of Group development Fig. 8 - Group decision making styles Fig. 9 - Attributes Fig. 10 - The leadership dynamics Fig. 11 - A group leader's roles Fig. 12 -Team's decision making tools Fig. 13 - Team development graph Fig. 14 - Trust building Introduction The term “group dynamics” refers to the interactions between people who are talking together in a group setting. Teams and groups are living organisms with certain predictable stages of development. Many organizations different groups are formed at different levels, formal groups, informal groups, primary groups and secondary...
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...EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Macy’s Department Stores, Inc. is a large organization with many stores, departments, and employees. They have a quick employee turnover rate and high goal setting. They expect their employees to reach sales goals in set periods of time which causes stress amongst the ranks. Each department in a store is accountable to one or more managers, those managers have a floor manager and so on. Although it is tough to work for Macy’s, the goals they set have allowed them to thrive in the competitive department store world. There are three levels to the makeup of a company. Each level has many independent variables; we will be focusing on one for each level. The first level is the individuals with their skills and abilities. By using a questionnaire and sales results, we found how employees use their skills and abilities to meet their day-to-day goals. The next level is group processes. At Macy’s, departments are expected to meet goals from all their employees together. The independent variable that we chose to analyze is group characteristics. This also uses the questionnaire and sales results used for the individuals. The last independent variable that will be discussed is the organizational goals. When employees meet their goals, this allows the group to perform well and the whole store is better off. Each store competes to help Macy’s be a great organization. In our analyses we found that workers at Macy’s are stressed to meet their goals. This stress factor...
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...competition is so fierce that Taylorism, Fordism and the approaches of lean organizations are not anymore enough, to maintain a substantial competence. Workgroups, a number exceeds two employees interact closely, with the awareness of their positive interdependence, whilst thriving to achieve common work-objectives. Team, a sophisticated group where every member interacts with and influences other members; all of them consider themselves a social entity in an organization, bearing a mutual accountability to achieve shared goals. Self-Managed-work team (SMWT), differs from a workgroup. SMWT, an employees’ cross-functional group who conducts technical tasks, to produce an output to serve internal/external clients; associated at higher levels of productivity and interdependence, and longer longevity in time span than those in workgroup. They exist in three types: Senior-level (plan, run), Middle-level (monitor), Lower-level (make). Team efficiency, requires a sound balance between both behavior processes, task-oriented (well-being within the group) and maintenance-oriented (getting job done). Many factors have potential impacts on social interrelations in teams/groups. Clarity and homogeneous role structure, gender, hierarchical status, norms, values, size and diversity will define the creativity, performance levels and decision quality. Diversity; gender is a typical example seen at various types in work and social life. Females, refrain from sharing their notions and experiences. Aggressiveness...
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...how a major big box retailer operates and the role conflicts that develop within the group and the communication issues they face when running the day to day operations of these retail giants, then make recommendations on how to reduce role conflicts and communications within the organization. When people are put into a setting that is diverse and forced to work with individuals, there will always be conflict. This happens because people have different views, beliefs and work ethics. So when people are put together in this melting pot type of environment conflict will appear and conflict is not always bad. However, bad conflict can influence the group and cause tears in the cohesive nature that needs to exist in order to continue with productivity on a day to day basis. Group conflicts happen at all levels of the company. In the case of big box retail stores, conflict can happen between the store manager and the other managers. The managers can have conflicts with hourly employees and the employees can have conflicts with...
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...influence on us * social mechanism by which we acquire many beliefs, values, attitudes and behaviours * provide a context in which we are able to exert influence on others * Formal work groups-group that organizations establish to facilitate the achievement of organizational goals * Intentionally designed to channel individual effort in an appropriate direction * Most common formal groups: a manager and employees who report to manager ie. Production manager, supervisor (who report to manager) * Hierarchy of most organizations is a series of formal interlocked work groups * Task forces-temporary groups that meet to achieve particular goals or to solve particular problems ie suggesting productivity improvements * Committees- permanent groups that handle recurrent assignments outside the usual work group structures * Informal groups- groups that emerge naturally in response to the common interests of organizational members * Seldom sanctioned by organization, members often cuts across formal groups * Can either help or hurt organization, depending on their norms of behaviour Group Development Typical Stages of Group Development * like hierarchy, in which each stage must be mastered to achieve next stage * a good tool for monitoring and troubleshooting how groups are developing, but...
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...Introduction The goal of nursing home is to provide the best care for the people as well as nourishing the spirit of the residents and staffs in a similar manner. It is also true that nursing homes are places that undergo regular changes where residents and workers come and go, equipment are modernized frequently; staffs adopt new ways of delivering better care, and new regulations are introduced. Nursing home organization are home-based health care and social services, by formal and informal caregivers using appropriate technology within a balanced and affordable continuum of care (Mitchell, 1989). Thus, to improve the performance of nursing home organization means adapting to changes and learning the new ways of service delivery as a team and as an organization. In response to interest of nursing home in a research focusing on the group behavior of their organization, it is appropriate to develop a survey on patient safety. Patient safety becomes a critical component of home-based health care quality. As nursing home organizations continue to work towards improvement of their services, there is a need to recognize the importance of establishing a safety culture. Achieving the safety culture requires an understanding of the values and what is important to the organization, as well as appropriate attitude and behavior related to patient safety. A safety culture is a product of group values and patterns of behavior determining their commitment to an organization’s management...
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...instance, in the workplace, a group could be all of those individuals who work on first shift. It could be those who are on a certain level of management. It could be one person from each department. In a non-business setting, a group could be the women who attend a certain church. Or, it could be the women who attend the church and who have agreed to bake pies for a fund raiser. Every group of people has certain characteristics, some sort of interaction between the members, people in the group whether formally or informally making their own rules and roles, members relying on each other to attain the common goal or to solve the problem at hand. Other characteristic of a group is Cohesiveness. Since a group is individuals sharing some common factors, there is a cohesiveness often based on interpersonal relationships between members. For obvious reasons, the group members already have a certain bond with the others if for...
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...AMerican intercontinental university | Generations in an Ever-Changing Workplace | MGMT 340-1502A-03 | | Shannon Ramirez | 5/1/2015 | Gaining the respect and therefore generating the productivity and performance of a multi-generational team or employee will be discussed in this article. | Generations in an Ever-Changing Workplace What are the benefits of having a multi-generational workforce? The pace at which the workforce is changing is phenomenal. Many of the older generations are choosing to stay employed longer, and while that is occurring, more younger associates are hired which creates a generation gap, making communication among teams more complex. Cohesiveness is a must in a work environment and a manager must learn how to effectively deal with each generation in a respectful manner in order to gain productivity among teams. There is a new normal in the workplace in terms of the varied ages of employees, in the past there were at the most three to four separate generations at once, but now with the oldest generation choosing to retire later, more generations are present. This is significant in the different behaviors exhibited by these employees, what may motivate someone to be more productive, or what engages them. This creates a dynamic diversity in an office, and is a great way for employees to learn from each other based on the uniqueness of the backgrounds they come from. We will begin with a description of the traditionalist, the eldest...
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...Question 1(a) Personality is an enduring characteristic that describe a uniqueness of individual behaviors when reacting to and interacting with others. It will affect how people adjust differently to the particular situation and environment. According to Robbins and Judge (2010, p171-172) The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and the Big Five Model are the two main frameworks that used to examine a person’s personality traits. The study on personality traits in the past 20 years explains that people are most likely to exhibit relatively consistent behaviors over time and across situations depending on what personality traits they posses. Based on the given case study, Ronald is a Machiavellian. He is very practical and aggressive person at work and maintains emotional distances with his subordinates in order to be impartial and to have control over them. Moreover, he only focuses on company’s objective of making profit and his own personal interests while neglecting the importance of engaging his subordinates. Due to such personality at work, he is most likely to have good individual work performance in pursuit of the goals. Based on the big five factor, it has also concluded that Ronald is an antagonistic person as he is very low in agreeableness. As Ronald is one who values feedbacks the least and believes that all right decisions lie within him at all times, his team members have to follow what he suggests. He does not believe that by interacting, negotiating and agreeing...
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...defining group and teams within organizational behaviour, describing the various groups found in organizations, stages of group development, characteristics of effective work groups and teams. Factors that may be attributed to possible failure and the various contingency factors that have a direct relationship to a leader’s behaviour in particular to achieving specific outcomes are also discussed. OB in Action Case Study GE’s Global Virtual Team Wants to Reap the Wind. An emphasis on cross cultural diversity encouraging the organization to achieving social responsibility goals is elaborated upon. Teamwork competencies promote cooperation, higher achievement and productivity than intergroup competition. Socio-emotional cohesiveness steps to enhance the group are listed. A...
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...spread of services also brought complexities for management. Unfortunately OHHA didn’t enjoy senior management commitment for long. Chuck, executive director, played his instrumental role in recent growth of OHHA but later in his tenure, his lack of dedication for OHHA had resulted in inefficiencies like lack of reporting and monitoring. As a consequence most of responsibility fell on shoulders of Dorothy, nursing director who lacked the financial and managerial expertise. Legacy Left for Rachel Rachel Nelson was appointed new executive director of OHHA. She had a very challenging task of making OHHA a viable welfare agency again. She institutionalized good practices like recording productivity and changing the accounting system from a simple cash system to a modified accrual system. In addition to lack of managerial processes and procedures, resignation of an experienced nursing director Dorothy...
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...Section A Reinforcement Schedule Reinforcement schedule is the determination of when reinforcers are applied. It is either after every response or only after some responses. These apply to the two general categories of schedule, continuous reinforcement or intermittent reinforcement. Continuous Reinforcement is the reinforcement of desired behaviour every time the undesired behaviour is demonstrated. It is the simplest schedule. For example, whenever the worker is late, he/she will get a 1% deduction of pay. Intermittent Reinforcement is the reinforcement of desired behaviour when undesirable behaviours are demonstrated after a stipulated number of responses or timeframe set by reinforcer but not at every instance. There are four types of intermittent reinforcement: Fixed Interval reinforcement is received after a set amount of time, regardless of number of responses during that time. For example, a worker gets its pay every last Friday of the month. Fixed ratio interval is reinforcement occurs after a set number of responses, predictable. For example, whenever a worker makes 3 sales, he gets 20% commission. Variable interval is reinforcing someone after a variable amount of time is the final schedule. For example, A boss do not do check on the worker periodically, hence the worker does not know when the next ‘check-up’ might come, he have to be working hard at all times in order to be ready. Variable ratio interval is reinforcement based on number of responses; however...
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...types of behaviors are acceptable. This stage is complete when members have begun to think of themselves as part of a group.. 2. storming stage - The second stage in group development, characterized by intragroup conflict. 3. norming stage The third stage in group development, characterized by close relationships and cohesiveness 4. performing stage The fourth stage in group development, during which the group is fully functional. 5. adjourning stage The final stage in group development for temporary groups, characterized by concern with wrapping up activities rather than task performance. groups that begin with a positive social focus appear to achieve the “performing” stage more rapidly. Storming and performing can occur simultaneously, and groups can even regress to previous stages. GROUPS WITH TEMP DEADLINES punctuated-equilibrium model A set of phases that temporary groups go through that involves transitions between inertia and activity. Work groups have properties that shape members’ behavior and help explain and predict individual behavior within the group as well as the performance of the group itself. - roles, norms, status, size, cohesiveness, and diversity psychological contract: an unwritten agreement that exists between employees and employer. This agreement sets out mutual expectations: what management expects from workers and vice versa.18 conform to the important groups to which they belong or hope to belong. These important groups are reference...
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