113 A role can be defined as the activities and behaviors expected of a person holding a particular position within a group. The roles that members assume within the group will have an impact on the effectiveness of the group.
An interesting way to classify the roles of group members is by dividing them into task-oriented roles, relations-oriented roles, and self-oriented roles. Each of these three groups of roles can be divided into sub-roles. Usually each group member adopts one or more sub-roles. In smaller groups, a member may occupy two or more of the sub-roles. These sub-roles are outlined in Table 4-2.
Task-Oriented Roles Initiators
These are creative people who offer new solutions to old problems. Their suggestions may involve adopting new group procedures or a new group organization.
Information seekers
Information seekers try to clarify suggestions offered by initiators and acquire authoritative information and facts to back up ideas. People who are fact-oriented and who pay attention to details are well suited to this role.
Information givers
These people offer opinions and generalizations based on past experiences. Employees with a great deal of experience and those who have been part of the group for a long time are best able to take on the role of information giver.
Coordinators
The coordinator identifies which ideas are pertinent to the mission of the group, identifies the relationships between the information contributed by members and the mission of the group, and pulls the ideas together and coordinates members’ activities so that the group
mission is achieved. The person who shows the greatest amount of leadership abilities should be chosen for the job of coordinator.
Relations-Oriented Roles Encouragers
These people encourage, praise, and support the ideas of others, and communicate warmth and belongingness to other group members.
Gatekeepers
The gatekeeper encourages equal participation from all members, drawing out nonparticipants and repressing those who talk constantly.
Standard setters
These people express the group standards or norms and check that members are respecting these norms. They also assess group progress in terms of the norms.
Followers These members comply with whatever the group has decided.
Group observers
These people tend to stay out of group problem solving and decisions. Instead, they offer feedback on group decisions and activities. People who show high levels of objectivity make good observers.
Self-Oriented Roles
Blockers
These people resist just about every suggestion and action of the group. They tend to have a negative attitude and are usually stubborn. For instance, they may refuse to drop a subject that the group has already analyzed and dealt with.
114 Recognition
seekers
Recognition seekers draw attention to themselves and their achievements. They are boastful and want to be the centre of attention.
Dominators The goal of the dominator is to control the agenda, generally by manipulating group members.
Avoiders
These people avoid participating in decision-making and any other group interactions. They are also known as passive resisters.
Table 4-2: Group Roles.
During the group's development, members will likely perform a combination of oriented, relations-oriented, and self-oriented roles. While task-oriented and relations- task-oriented roles are useful to the group, self-task-oriented roles tend to frustrate the achievement of group goals. A group dominated by people who are primarily performing self-oriented subroles is likely to be ineffective.
4.7 Group Cohesion
Perhaps you've noticed that the various groups you belong to differ in terms of the strength of the feelings that their members have about them. There may be some groups that you feel proud to belong to, but others toward which your feelings are neutral or negative. When all members of a group display strong feelings of pride and identification with the group, the group is said to be highly cohesive. Cohesiveness is the degree to which members are attracted to and motivated to remain part of a group.
Most cohesive groups display the following characteristics:
Homogeneity. The members have similar backgrounds, experiences, and beliefs.
Goals. The members agree on group goals, and their personal goals complement
those of the group.
Group size. The groups are relatively small.
Group interactions. The group goals necessitate high levels of interaction among
members.
Membership stability. There is a relatively low turnover rate in membership.
Group success. The group experiences success in achieving its goals.
Competition between groups. The group has a desire and an opportunity to compete
with other groups.
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External threats. The group has been threatened and has managed to survive.
Mutual respect. The members have respect for one another's abilities and the role that each one plays within the group.
Group cohesiveness is important because individuals in a cohesive group value their membership and make an effort to maintain positive relationships with other group members. Second, members are concerned about their group's activities and achievements. They tend to be more energetic in working on group activities, less likely to be absent, happier about
performance success, and unhappier about failures than members of a less cohesive group. As a result, it is easier for cohesive groups to manage members and achieve goals.
Capitalizing on research results pertaining to group cohesiveness, many team managers have taken concrete actions to improve team performance. For instance, the manager of the Montreal Canadians hockey team hired a psychologist who accompanies the team during the season and intervenes regularly to enhance group cohesiveness. Executive teams from other organizations spend a few days in the woods or mountains overcoming various survival-related challenges. The aim of these exercises is to increase trust and cooperation among members of the team, and to make them more cohesive so that they will work together more effectively back at the office.
Status
A final important aspect of groups is that group members may vary in status, which is the relative rank, worth, or position within the organization and within the group. A high-ranking status may be obtained through seniority, education, or outstanding work achievements, or by having a high status in other groups. Status congruence occurs when your status in the group is consistent with your status in the organization. For examples of status incongruence, picture a senior employee who does not play a leadership role in a group of lower-level employees, or a college graduate with no experience who is appointed to lead a group of experienced employees. If your status in the group does not match your position in the company, you may experience dissatisfaction, thereby decreasing group effectiveness.
4.8 Group Development
Newly formed groups have different behaviors than groups that have been together for some time. This is because a group progresses through a number of stages of development, just as individuals progress from infancy into adulthood. Groups pass through the following distinct stages: forming, storming, initial integration, and total integration.