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CHAPTER 7
UNDERSTANDING GROUP & TEAM BEHAVIOUR
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After studying this chapter, you should be able to answer the following questions:
1. How do formal groups differ from informal groups?
2. What are the different stages in group development?
3. How do role requirements change in different situations?
4. What influence do norms exert on an individual’s behaviour?
5. What determines status?
6. What is social loafing, and how does it affect group performance?
7. What are the benefits and disadvantages of cohesive groups?
8. What are the strengths and weaknesses of group decision making?
9. How would you contrast the effectiveness of interacting, brainstorming, nominal and
electronic meeting groups?
10. How do teams differ from groups?
11. How do you create an effective team?
CHAPTER OUTLINE
Defining and Classifying Groups
1. A group is defined as two or more individuals, interacting and interdependent, who have
come together to achieve particular objectives.
2. Groups can be either formal or informal.
• Formal groups—those defined by the organisation’s structure, with designated
work assignments establishing tasks.
• The behaviours that one should engage in are stipulated by and directed toward
organisational goals.
• An airline flight crew is an example of a formal group.
• Informal groups—alliances that are neither formally structured nor
organisationally determined
• Natural formations in the work environment in response to the need for social
contact.
• Three employees from different departments who regularly eat lunch together is
an informal group.
3. It is possible to sub-classify groups as command, task, interest, or friendship groups.
• Command groups are determined by the organisation chart, and are composed of
the individuals who report to a given manager.
• Task groups are also organisationally determined and represent those working
together to complete a job task. A task group’s boundaries are not limited to its
immediate hierarchical superior. It can cross command relationships. All
command groups are also task groups, but the reverse need not be true.
• An interest group. People who affiliate to attain a specific objective with which
each is concerned. For example employees who band together to have their
holiday schedules altered
Instructor’s Manual: Robbins Organisational Behaviour 5e © 2008 Pearson Education Australia 9-1
• Friendship groups often develop because the individual members have one or
more common characteristics. Social alliances, which frequently extend outside
the work situation, can be based on similar age or ethnic heritage.
4. Informal groups satisfy their members’ social needs.
• These types of interactions among individuals, even though informal, deeply
affect their behaviour and performance.
• There is no single reason why individuals join groups.
• Table 7.1 summarises the most popular reasons people have for joining groups
The Five Stage Model of Group Development
Groups generally pass through a standardised sequence in their evolution (See Figure 7.1)
1. Forming:
• Characterised by a great deal of uncertainty about the group’s purpose, structure, and
leadership.
• Members are trying to determine what types of behaviour are acceptable.
• Stage is complete when members have begun to think of themselves as part of a group.
2. Storming:
• One of intragroup conflict. Members accept the existence of the group, but there is resistance
to constraints on individuality.
• Conflict over who will control the group.
• When complete, there will be a relatively clear hierarchy of leadership within the group.
3. Norming:
• One in which close relationships develop and the group demonstrates cohesiveness.
• There is now a strong sense of group identity and camaraderie.
• Stage is complete when the group structure solidifies and the group has assimilated a common
set of expectations of what defines correct member behaviour.
4. Performing:
• The structure at this point is fully functional and accepted.
• Group energy has moved from getting to know and understand each other to performing.
• For permanent work groups, performing is the last stage in their development.
5. Adjourning:
• For temporary committees, teams, task forces, and similar groups that have a limited task to
perform, there is an adjourning stage.
• In this stage, the group prepares for its disbandment. Attention is directed toward wrapping up
activities.
• Responses of group members vary in this stage. Some are upbeat, basking in the group’s
accomplishments. Others may be depressed over the loss of camaraderie and friendships.
6. Many assume that a group becomes more effective as it progresses through the first four stages.
While generally true, what makes a group effective is more complex. Under some conditions,
high levels of conflict are conducive to high group performance.
7. Groups do not always proceed clearly from one stage to the next. Sometimes several
stages go on simultaneously, as when groups are storming and performing. Groups even
occasionally regress to previous stages.
8. Another problem is that it ignores organisational context. For instance, a study of a
cockpit crew in an airliner found that, within ten minutes, three strangers assigned to fly
together for the first time had become a high-performing group.
9. The strong organisational context provides the rules, task definitions, information, and
resources needed for the group to perform.
Group Properties: Roles, Norms, Status, Size and Cohesiveness
Introduction
Work groups have properties that shape the behaviour of members and make it possible to explain and
predict a large portion of individual behaviour within the group as well as the performance of the
group itself.
A. Roles
• All group members are actors, each playing a role.
• Roles are a set of expected behaviour patterns attributed to someone occupying a given
position in a social unit.
• We are required to play a number of diverse roles, both on and off our jobs.
1. Role identity
• There are certain attitudes and actual behaviours consistent with a role, and they create the
role identity.
• People have the ability to shift roles rapidly when they recognise that the situation and its
demands clearly require major changes.
• For instance, when union stewards were promoted to supervisory positions, it was found that
their attitudes changed from pro-union to pro-management within a few months of their
promotion.
2. Role perception
• One’s view of how one is supposed to act in a given situation is a role perception.
• We get these perceptions from stimuli all around us—friends, books, movies, television.
• The primary reason that apprenticeship programs exist is to allow beginners to watch an
“expert,” so that they can learn to act as they are supposed to.
3. Role expectations
• How others believe you should act in a given situation.
• How you behave is determined to a large extent by the role defined in the context in which
you are acting.
• The psychological contract is an unwritten agreement that exists between employees and their
employer.
• It sets out mutual expectations—what management expects from workers, and vice versa.
• It defines the behavioural expectations that go with every role.
• If role expectations as implied are not met:
o If management is derelict in keeping up its part of the bargain, we can expect negative
repercussions on employee performance and satisfaction.
o When employees fail to live up to expectations, the result is usually some form of
disciplinary action up to and including firing.
4. Role conflict:
• Role conflict results when an individual is confronted by divergent role expectations.
• It exists when compliance with one role requirement may make more difficult the compliance
with another.
• At the extreme, it would include situations in which two or more role expectations are
mutually contradictory.
B. Norms
1. All groups have norms—acceptable standards of behaviour that are shared by the group’s
members.
2. Norms tell members what they ought and ought not to do under certain circumstances.
3. From an individual’s standpoint, they tell what is expected of you in certain situations.
2. Common Types of Norms

• A work group’s norms are unique, yet there are still some common classes of norms.
• Performance norms are probably the most common class of norms.
• Explicit cues on how hard they should work, how to get the job done, their level of output,
appropriate levels of tardiness, and the like.
• These norms are extremely powerful in affecting an individual employee’s performance.
• Appearance norms include things like appropriate dress, loyalty to the work group or
organisation, when to look busy, and when it is acceptable to ‘bludge’.
• Social arrangement norms come from informal work groups and primarily regulate social
interactions within the group.
• Allocation of resources norms can originate in the group or in the organisation.
• These norms cover things such as pay, assignment of difficult jobs, and allocation of new
tools and equipment.
4. Conformity
• As a member of a group, you desire acceptance by the group. Because of your desire for
acceptance, you are susceptible to conforming to the group’s norms.
• There is considerable evidence that groups can place strong pressures on individual members
to change their attitudes and behaviours to conform to the group’s standard.
• Individuals conform to the important groups to which they belong or hope to belong. The
important groups are referred to as reference groups.
• The reference group is characterised as one where the person is aware of the others; the person
defines himself or herself as a member, or would like to be a member; and the person feels
that the group members are significant to him/her.
• All groups do not impose equal conformity pressures on their members.
5. Deviant Workplace Behaviour

• This term is also called also called antisocial behaviour or workplace Incivility.
• It is defined as voluntary behaviour that violates significant organisational norms and, in
doing so, threatens the well-being of the organisation or its members.
• Table 7.2 presents a typology of deviant workplace behaviours and examples.
• Some organisations create or condone conditions that encourage and maintain deviant norms.
o Rudeness and disregard towards others by bosses and co-workers is on the rise and 12
percent of those who experienced it actually quit their jobs.
• Individual employees’ antisocial actions are shaped by the group context within which they
work. Evidence demonstrates that deviant workplace behaviour is likely to flourish where it is
supported by group norms.
• When deviant workplace norms surface, employee cooperation, commitment and motivation
are likely to suffer. This, in turn, can lead to reduced employee productivity and job
satisfaction and increased turnover.
• A recent study suggests that, compared to individuals working alone, those working in a group
were more likely to lie, cheat and steal (Figure 7.2).
• Groups provide a shield of anonymity so that someone who ordinarily might be afraid of
getting caught for stealing can rely on the fact that other group members had the same
opportunity or reason to steal.
C. Status
1. Status is a socially defined position or rank given to groups or group members by others. We live
in a class-structured society despite all attempts to make it more egalitarian.
• Status is an important factor in understanding human behaviour, because it is a significant
motivator and has major behavioural consequences when individuals perceive a disparity
between what they believe their status to be and what others perceive it to be.
2. What Determines Status?
• Status characteristics theory – differences in status characteristics create status hierarchies
within groups.
• Status derived from one of three sources: the power a person wields over others; a person’s
ability to contribute to group’s goals; individual’s personal characteristics.
o People who control the outcomes of a group through their power tend to be perceived
as high in status (e.g., a group’s formal leader or manager).
o People whose contributions are critical to the group’s success also tend to have high
status (e.g., outstanding performers on sports teams).
o Someone who has personal characteristics that are positively valued by the group
(such as good looks, intelligence, money or a friendly personality) will typically have
higher status than someone who has fewer valued attributes.
5. Status Inequity:
• When inequity is perceived, it creates disequilibrium that results in corrective behaviour.
• The concept of equity applies to status. People expect rewards to be proportionate to costs
incurred.
• The trappings of formal positions are also important elements in maintaining equity. When
we believe there is an inequity between the perceived ranking of an individual and the status
accoutrements that person is given by the organisation, we are experiencing status
incongruence.
• Groups generally agree within themselves on status criteria.
• However, individuals can find themselves in a conflict situation when they move between
groups whose status criteria are different or when they join groups whose members have
heterogeneous backgrounds.
• This can be a particular problem when management creates teams made up of employees from
across varied functions within the organisation.
D. Size
1. The size of a group affects the group’s overall behaviour, but the effect depends on the dependent
variables we look at:
• Smaller groups are faster at completing tasks than are larger ones.
• If the group is engaged in problem solving, large groups consistently do better.
• Large groups—a dozen or more members—are good for gaining diverse input.
• Smaller groups—five to seven members— tend to be more effective for taking action.
2. Social loafing is the tendency for individuals to expend less effort when working collectively than
when working individually.
• It directly challenges the logic that the productivity of the group as a whole should at least
equal the sum of the productivity of each individual in that group.
3. Causes of social loafing:

• A belief that others in the group are not carrying their fair share.
• The dispersion of responsibility: when the results of the group cannot be attributed to any
single person, the relationship between an individual’s input and the group’s output is
clouded.
o There will be a reduction in efficiency where individuals think that their contribution
cannot be measured.
4. Implications for OB:
• Where managers use collective work situations to enhance morale and teamwork, they must
also provide means by which individual efforts can be identified.
• If this is not done, management must weigh the potential losses in productivity from using
groups against any possible gains in worker satisfaction.
5. Other conclusions from research on group size:
• Groups with an odd number of members tend to be preferable.
o They eliminate the possibility of ties when votes are taken.
• Groups made up of five or seven members do a pretty good job of exercising the best elements
of both small and large groups.
o Large enough to form a majority and allow for diverse input
o Small enough to avoid the negative outcomes often associated with large groups, such as
domination by a few members, development of subgroups, inhibited participation by some
members, and excessive time taken to reach a decision.
E. Cohesiveness
1. Groups differ in their cohesiveness - the degree to which members are attracted to each other and
are motivated to stay in the group.
2. Cohesiveness is important because it has been found to be related to the group’s productivity.
3. The relationship of cohesiveness and productivity depends on the performance-related norms

established by the group (Figure 7.3):
• If performance-related norms are high, a cohesive group will be more productive.
• If cohesiveness is high and performance norms are low, productivity will be low.
4. How to encourage group cohesiveness:

• Make the group smaller.
• Encourage agreement with group goals.
• Increase the time members spend together.
• Increase the status of the group and the perceived difficulty of attaining membership in the
group.
• Stimulate competition with other groups.
• Give rewards to the group rather than to individual members.
• Physically isolate the group.
Group Decision Making
A. Group Versus the Individual
Decision-making groups may be widely used in organisations, whether or not they are preferable to
individual decisions depends on many factors.
1. Strengths of group decision-making:

• Groups generate more complete information and knowledge.
o Groups bring more input into the decision process.
o Groups can bring heterogeneity to the decision process.
• Groups offer increased diversity of views.
o This opens up the opportunity for more approaches and alternatives to be considered.
• Groups lead to increased acceptance of a solution.
o Group members who participated in making a decision are likely to enthusiastically
support the decision and encourage others to accept it.
2. Weaknesses of group decision-making:
• They are time consuming.
• There is a conformity pressure in groups.
• Group discussion can be dominated by one or a few members.
• Group decisions suffer from ambiguous responsibility.
3. Effectiveness and efficiency:
• Whether groups are more effective than individuals depends on the criteria you use.
• In terms of accuracy, group decisions will tend to be more accurate.
• On the average, groups make better-quality decisions than individuals.
• If decision effectiveness is defined in terms of speed, individuals are superior.
• If creativity is important, groups tend to be more effective than individuals.
• If effectiveness means the degree of acceptance the final solution achieves, groups are better.
4. Efficiency
• Groups almost always stack up as a poor second to the individual decision maker.
• The exceptions tend to be those instances where, to achieve comparable quantities of diverse
input, the single decision maker must spend a great deal of time reviewing files and talking to
people.
5. Summary
• Groups offer an excellent vehicle for performing many of the steps in the decision-making
process.
• They are a source of both breadth and depth of input for information gathering.
• When the final solution is agreed upon, there are more people in a group decision to support
and implement it.
• Group decisions consume time, create internal conflicts, and generate pressures toward
conformity.
B. Groupthink and Groupshift
• Groupthink and groupshift are two by-products of group decision-making. Briefly, the
differences between the two are:
• Groupthink is related to norms. It describes situations in which group pressures for conformity
deter the group from critically appraising unusual, minority, or unpopular views.
• Groupthink is a disease that attacks many groups and can dramatically hinder performance.
• Groupshift is a change in decision risk. It indicates that in discussing a given set of alternatives
and arriving at a solution, group members tend to exaggerate the initial positions that they hold.
In some situations, caution dominates, and there is a conservative shift.
• The evidence indicates that groups tend toward a risky shift.
C. Group Decision-Making Techniques
1. Most group decision making takes place in interacting groups

• In these groups, members meet face to face and rely on both verbal and nonverbal interaction
to communicate with each other.
• Interacting groups often censor themselves and pressure individual members toward
conformity of opinion.
• Brainstorming, the nominal group technique, and electronic meetings have been proposed as
ways to reduce many of the problems inherent in the traditional interacting group.
2. Brainstorming
• It is meant to overcome pressures for conformity in the interacting group that retard the
development of creative alternatives. It does this by utilising an idea-generation process that
specifically encourages any and all alternatives while withholding any criticism of those
alternatives.
• In a typical brainstorming session, a half dozen to a dozen people sit around a table.
• The process:
• The group leader states the problem clearly.
• Members then “free-wheel” as many alternatives as they can in a given length of
time. No criticism is allowed, and all the alternatives are recorded for later
discussion and analysis.
• One idea stimulates others, and group members are encouraged to “think the
unusual.”
• Brainstorming may indeed generate ideas, but not very efficiently.
o Research consistently shows that individuals working along will generate more ideas
than a group because of ‘production blocking’.
o When there are many people talking at once it blocks the through process and
eventually impedes the sharing of ideas.
3. The nominal group technique
• Restricts discussion or interpersonal communication during the decision-making process.
• Group members are all physically present, but members operate independently.
• Specifically, a problem is presented, and then the following steps take place:
• Members meet as a group but, before any discussion takes place, each member
independently writes down his or her ideas on the problem.
• After this silent period, each member presents one idea to the group. Each member
takes his or her turn.
• The group now discusses the ideas for clarity and evaluates them.
• Each group member silently and independently rank-orders the ideas.
• The idea with the highest aggregate ranking determines the final decision.
• The advantage of the nominal group technique is that it permits the group to meeting formally
but doesn’t restrict independent thinking.
4. Electronic meeting
• The computer-assisted group or electronic meeting blends the nominal group technique with
sophisticated computer technology.
• Once the technology is in place, the concept is simple. Up to 50 people sit around a
horseshoe-shaped table, empty except for a series of computer terminals.
• Issues are presented to participants, and they type their responses onto their computer screen.
• Individual comments, as well as aggregate votes, are displayed on a projection screen.
• The proposed advantages of electronic meetings are anonymity, honesty and speed.
• The early evidence, however, indicates that electronic meetings don’t achieve most of their
proposed benefits. Evaluations of numerous studies found that electronic meetings:
o actually led to decreased group effectiveness
o required more time to complete tasks
o resulted in reduced member satisfaction when compared to face-to-face groups.
• Table 7.3 offers an evaluation of the different types of group decision making techniques and
the effectiveness of the decision.
Creating Effective Teams
Introduction
Work teams are different from work groups (See Figure 7.4).
1. A work group is a group that interacts primarily to share information and to make decisions to
help each member perform within his or her area of responsibility. Work groups have no need or
opportunity to engage in collective work that requires joint effort. Their performance is the
summation of each group member’s individual contribution. There is no positive synergy to
create an overall performance grater than the sum of the inputs.
2. Work teams, are able to leverage positive synergies through individual complementarities and a
coordinated effort, which creates an overall level of performance that is greater than the sum of
the inputs.
1. Factors for creating effective teams have been summarised in the model found in Figure 7.5.
2 The discussion is based on the above model. There are two caveats:
• First, teams differ in form and structure—be careful not to rigidly apply the model’s
predictions to all teams.
• Second, the model assumes that it is already been determined that teamwork is preferable over
individual work.
3. The four key components for an effective are:

• Context
• Composition
• Work design
• Process.
Team effectiveness in this model means objective measures of the team’s productivity,
managers’ ratings of the team’s performance, and aggregate measures of member satisfaction.
A. Context
There are four contextual factors that appear to be most significantly are related to team performance:
1. Adequate resources:
• All work teams rely on resources outside the group to sustain it.
• A scarcity of resources directly reduces the ability of the team to perform its job
effectively.
• As one set of researchers concluded, “Perhaps one of the most important characteristics
of an effective work group is the support the group receives from the organisation.”
2. Leadership and structure:

• Agreeing on the specifics of work and how they fit together to integrate individual
skills requires team leadership and structure.
• Leadership is not always needed. Self-managed work teams often perform better than
teams with formally appointed leaders, and leaders can obstruct high performance
when they interfere with self-managing teams
• On traditionally managed teams, we find that two factors seem influence team
performance, the leader’s expectations and his or her mood, leaders who expect good
things from their team are more likely to get them.
3. Climate of Trust:
• Members of effective teams trust each other and exhibit trust in their leaders.
• Interpersonal trust among team members facilitates cooperation, reduces the need to
monitor each member’s behaviour, and bonds members around the belief that others
on the team won’t take advantage of them.
• When members trust their leadership they are more willing to commit to their
leader’s goals and decisions.
4. Performance evaluation and reward systems:

• How do you get team members to be both individually and jointly accountable? The
traditional, individually oriented evaluation and reward system must be modified to
reflect team performance.
• Individual performance evaluations, fixed hourly wages, individual incentives are not
consistent with the development of high-performance teams.
• Management should consider group-based appraisals, profit sharing, gainsharing,
small-group incentives, and other system modifications that will reinforce team effort
and commitment.
B. Composition
1. Abilities of members:
• Part of a team’s performance depends on the knowledge, skills and abilities of its individual
members.
• Teams require three different types of skills, technical expertise, problem-solving and
decision-making skills, good listening, feedback, conflict resolution, and other interpersonal
skills
• The right mix is crucial. It is not uncommon for one or more members to take
responsibility to learn the skills in which the group is deficient, thereby allowing the team
to reach its full potential.
• When the task entails considerable thought, high-ability teams (teams composed of mostly
intelligent members) do better, especially when the workload is distributed evenly.
• When tasks are simple, high-ability teams don’t perform as well, perhaps because, in such
tasks, high-ability teams become bored and turn their attention to other activities that are
more stimulating, whereas low-ability teams stay on task.
• Smart team leaders help less intelligent team members when they struggle with a task. But a
less intelligent leader can neutralise the effect of a high-ability team.
2. Personality:
• Many of the dimensions identified in the Big Five personality model have shown to be
relevant to team effectiveness.
• Teams that rate higher in mean levels of extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and
emotional stability tend to receive higher managerial ratings for team performance.
• The variance in personality characteristics may be more important than the mean. A single
team member who lacks a minimal level of, say, agreeableness can negatively affect the
whole team’s performance.
• Conscientious people are valuable because they are good at ‘backing up’ fellow team
members, and they are also good at sensing when that support is truly needed.
• It is best to staff teams with people who are extraverted, agreeable, conscientious,
emotionally stable and open.
3. Allocating roles
• Teams have different needs, and people should be selected for a team to ensure that there is
diversity and that all various roles are filled.
• Managers need to understand the individual strengths that each person can bring to a team,
select members with their strengths in mind, and allocate work assignments accordingly.
4. Diversity
• Most team activities require a variety of skills and knowledge, therefore on cognitive,
creativity-demanding tasks, teams on cognitive, creativity-demanding tasks are more
effective.
• Diversity in terms of personality, gender, age, education, functional specialisation, and
experience increase the probability that the team will complete its tasks effectively.
• The team may be more conflict laden and less expedient but more effective than a
homogeneous team.
• One study found that white males performed the worst relative to mixed race and gender
teams, or teams of only females.
• Over time, however, culturally diverse teams function effectively over time.
• The degree to which members of a group share common characteristics such as age, sex, race
educational level, or length of service, is termed group demography.
• Groups, teams and organisations are comprised of cohorts, which are defined as individuals
who hold a common attribute.
• Research on cohort differences suggests that the composition of a team may be an important
predictor of turnover. Large differences in a single team will lead to turnover, whereas if
everyone is moderately dissimilar the feelings of being an outsider are reduced.
5. Size of teams:
• Generally speaking, the most effective teams have fewer than ten people. Four to five people
may be necessary to develop the diversity of views and skills.
• Large teams have difficulty getting much done and have trouble coordinating with one
another, especially when time pressure is present.
6. Member flexibility:
• This is an obvious plus because it greatly improves its adaptability and makes it less reliant on
any single member.
7. Member preferences:
• Not every employee is a team player.
• Given the option, many employees will select themselves out of team participation.
• High performing teams are likely to be composed of people who prefer working as part of a
group.
Instructor Note: See the box “Applying the Knowledge - Shaping Team Players” on p. 207
to review managers’ options for turning individuals into team players.
C. Work Design
1. Effective teams need to work together and take collective responsibility to complete significant
tasks.
2. The work-design category includes variables like freedom and autonomy, the opportunity to
utilise different skills and talents, the ability to complete a whole and identifiable task or product,
and working on a task or project that has a substantial impact on others.
3. The evidence indicates that work-design characteristics enhance member motivation and increase
team effectiveness.
D. Process
Processes are important to team effectiveness because of their effect on social loafing and synergy
(Figure 7.7).
1. A Common Purpose:
• Effective teams have a common and meaningful purpose that provides direction, momentum,
and commitment for members.
• This purpose is a vision. It is broader than specific goals.
2. Specific goals:
• Successful teams translate their common purpose into specific, measurable, and realistic
performance goals. They energise the team.
• Specific goals facilitate clear communication and help teams maintain their focus on results.
Team goals should be challenging.
• Team goals should be challenging, to raise team performance on those criteria for which they
are set.
3. Team efficacy:
• Effective teams have confidence in themselves and believe they can succeed—this is team
efficacy. Success breeds success.
• Management can increase team efficacy by helping the team to achieve small successes and
skill training. Small successes build team confidence.
• Providing training to improve members’ technical and interpersonal skills can also assist: the
greater the abilities of team members, the greater the likelihood that the team will develop
confidence and the capability to deliver that confidence.
4. Conflict levels:
• Conflict on a team is not necessarily bad. Teams that are completely void of conflict are
likely to become apathetic and stagnant.
• Relationship conflicts—those based on interpersonal incompatibilities, tension, and animosity
toward others—are almost always dysfunctional.
• On teams performing non-routine activities, disagreements among members about task
content (called task conflicts) is not detrimental. It is often beneficial because it lessens the
likelihood of groupthink.
5. Social loafing:
• Individuals can hide inside a group. Effective teams undermine this tendency by holding
themselves accountable at both the individual and team level.
Instructor Note: Students should complete the Self-Assessment Exercise II.B.6 “How Good
Am I At Building And Leading A Team” The results from this exercise directly relate to the
chapter material.
Students should consider the following after they have completed the exercises:
• Did you score as high as you though you would? Why or why not?
• Do you think your score can be improved? If so, how? If not, why not?
• Do you think there are team players? If yes, what are their behaviours?
Applying the knowledge: Shaping Team Players (p. 207)
The following summarises the primary options managers have for trying to turn individuals into team
players.
1. Selection:
• Some people already possess the interpersonal skills to be effective team players. Care should
be taken to ensure that candidates could fulfil their team roles as well as technical
requirements.
• Many job candidates do not have team skills:
• This is especially true for those socialised around individual contributions.
• The candidates can undergo training to “make them into team players.”
• In established organisations that decide to redesign jobs around teams, it should be
expected that some employees will resist being team players and may be untrainable.
2. Training:
• A large proportion of people raised on the importance of individual accomplishment can be
trained to become team players.
• Workshops help employees improve their problem-solving, communication, negotiation,
conflict-management, and coaching skills.
• Employees also learn the five-stage group development model.
3. Rewards:
• The reward system needs to encourage cooperative efforts rather than competitive ones.
Promotions, pay raises, and other forms of recognition should be given to individuals for how
effective they are as a collaborative team member.
• This does not mean individual contribution is ignored; rather, it is balanced with selfless
contributions to the team.
• There are other intrinsic rewards to being on a team. One example is that teams provide
camaraderie:
• It is exciting and satisfying to be an integral part of a successful team.
• The opportunity to engage in personal development
Instructor Note: The Student Challenge (p. 205) describes the problem a managers faces
when the team at hand is casual, after-school, or uni students. This relates directly to the
teams’ composition (no formal training in task performance), and to the process concept.
Have the students read this challenge in groups and think of effective ways to address this
team’s performance.
SUMMARY AND IMPLICATIONS FOR MANAGERS
• A number of group properties show a relationship to performance such as role perception,

norms, status differences, group size and cohesiveness.
• Norms control group-member behaviour by establishing standards of right and wrong. The
norms of a given group can help to explain the behaviours of its members, for norms control
group-member behaviour by establishing standards of right and wrong. The norms of a given
group can help to explain the behaviours of its members for managers. When norms support
high output, managers can expect individual performance to be markedly higher than when
group norms aim to restrict output. Similarly, norms that support antisocial behaviour
increase the likelihood that individuals will engage in deviant workplace activities.
• Status inequities create frustration and can adversely influence productivity and the
willingness to remain with an organisation. Among individuals who are equity-sensitive,
incongruence is likely to lead to reduced motivation and an increased search for ways to
bring about fairness (that is, taking another job). In addition, because lower-status people
tend to participate less in group discussions, groups characterised by high status differences
among members are likely to inhibit input from the lower-status members and to
underperform their potential.
• Large groups are more effective at fact-finding activities, while smaller groups are more
effective at action-taking tasks. Social loafing knowledge suggests that measures of
individual performance are necessary if larger groups are used.
• Cohesiveness plays an important function in influencing a group’s level of productivity.
• High congruence between boss and employee as to the perception of the employee’s job
shows a significant association with high employee satisfaction. Role conflict is associated
with job induced tension and dissatisfaction.
• Decisions made by groups provide both advantages and disadvantages. •
o Advantages: Group inputs are more comprehensive and more accurate, with more
diverse viewpoints, leading to greater creativity; groups more readily agree on
decisions because of a larger involvement.
o Disadvantages: Decisions are slow and time consuming and build pressures for
conformity; this is especially apparent when a minority dominates the group.
Accountability is also ambiguous.
• Groups can suffer two afflictions:
o groupthink—where highly cohesive groups can diverge from acceptable social
norms; and
o groupshift—where stress is created due to the diverse levels of risk individuals will
tolerate within the group as the eventual level of risk is forced to conform to one
level.
• The shift from working alone to working on teams requires employees to cooperate with
others, share information, confront differences and sublimate personal interests for the greater
good of the team.
• Effective teams have been found to have a number of common characteristics: •
o They have adequate resources, effective leadership, a climate of trust, and a
performance evaluation and reward system that reflects team contributions.
o They are made up of individuals with technical expertise, as well as problem-solving,
decision-making and interpersonal skills; and high scores on the personality
characteristics of extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness and emotional
stability.
o They tend to be small—with fewer than ten people—preferably made up of
individuals with diverse backgrounds.
o They have members who fill role demands, are flexible and who prefer to be part of a
group. And the work that members do provides freedom and autonomy, the
opportunity to use different skills and talents, the ability to complete a whole and
identifiable task or product, and work that has a substantial impact on others.
o They have members who are committed to a common purpose, specific team goals,
belief in the team’s capabilities, a manageable level of conflict and a minimal degree
of social loafing.
o Because individualistic organisations and societies attract and reward individual
accomplishments, it is more difficult to create team players in these environments.
To make the conversion, management should try to select individuals with the
interpersonal skills to be effective team players, provide training to develop
teamwork skills, and reward individuals for cooperative efforts.
OB IN PRACTICE
A Team Culture at Hilton
Felicia Liew is the HR director at the Hilton Hotel in Kuching, the capital of the East Malaysian state
of Sarawak, located on the island of Borneo. As a worldwide chain, senior management have the
challenge of guaranteeing the consistent service that customers expect. The hotel has adopted the
Balance Scorecard approach to performance management. Success is based on a team culture
committed to high quality service, a fun family-oriented atmosphere where positive attitudes and a
strong work ethic are rewarded.
Felicia provides a range of training programs for new recruits and existing staff. She deals with
various functional groups and the challenge is not only to develop the necessary skills but also get the
various functional groups to work as effective teams.
Class Exercise:
Most students will have experienced working in a team before, either in their own work experience or
in project teams for their studies.
1. Have students break into small groups of between 3 and 5.

2. In each group have students explore the benefits and challenges of working in a team.
3. Using the above case, how would the students recommend that Felicia begin developing
cohesiveness in the functional teams.
4. Have each group report out to the entire class.
OB IN PRACTICE
Learning from the Experience of Team Management
Glen Simpson is the chief executive of the development division of Coffee International, an
Australian-based engineering company with a number of specialised divisions. As with many global
companies, the challenge of working with and integrating the activities of a diverse range of groups in
different locations and cultures can be daunting.
Personal success needs to be seen in the context of teams and working with others for results. Glen
points out that it is a journey of self-understanding about what motivates and discourages people, and
that it is the simple things that count. Dr Neil Miller’s experience as managing director of Canberra-
based software and services supplier TASKey, realises the need to provide teams with effective
decision support systems so that all members of the team are constantly in touch with the projects they
are working on. TASKey’s real-time task and team management software grew out of Miller’s work
for a PhD on introducing change in organisations. He maintains that project management
methodologies are top-down, designed for the project manager, not the people involved. It’s not
collaborative. TASKey web-based software takes over the detailed management tasks, ensuring that
all team members immediately receive updates on critical project information.
Teaching Note: This article can be used as a guide to a mini research project or group discussion for
students. The vignettes from both managers indicate that collaborative processes are necessary for
many team situations, whereas traditional methodologies are appropriate for leader managed
interactions. How does the student’s experience of team based projects compare? What could be
done to better facilitate student collaborative projects?
MYTH OR SCIENCE?
‘Two Heads are Better Than One’
This statement is mostly true if “better” means that two people will come up with more original and
workable answerers to a problem than one person working alone.
The evidence generally confirms the superiority of groups over individuals in terms of decision-
making quality. Groups usually produce more and better solutions to problems than do individuals
working alone. The choices groups make will be more accurate and creative. Groups bring more
complete information and knowledge to a decision, so they generate more ideas. In addition, the
give-and-take that typically takes place in group decision processes provides diversity of opinion and
increases the likelihood that weak alternatives will be identified and abandoned.
Research indicates that certain conditions favour groups over individuals. They include: 1) Diversity
among members, 2) The group members must be able to communicate their ideas freely and openly,
and 3) The task being undertaken is complex. Relative to individuals, groups do better on complex,
rather than simple tasks.
Class Exercise:
1. This will require you to supply groups with Lego® blocks.
2. Create a simple model—a building, a plane, whatever—because you need to provide Lego to each
team and individual to recreate it. Three-to-eight sets.
3. Count the number of pieces of Lego, diagram the model, noting both the location, size, and colour
of the Lego. This will be your master.
4. Select two teams of three-to-five, and at least three individuals. The rest of the class will observe
and help you.
5. Give the groups and the individuals the same instructions on the exercise. Ask them to tell you
when they have completed the task.
6. Select one student to create a time chart on the board and record when each unit—group or
individual—begins to build and their completion time.
7. Select two students to be “certifiers”; they will go to the individual or team when they are done
and certify the accuracy of their model.
8. Select one student to monitor the model, which needs to be outside of the class, in another
location.
Instructions:
1. This is a timed exercise. They have 30 minutes. The goal is to recreate the model accurately and
quickly.
2. They must visit the model in another room. They may not touch it, but they may sketch it.
3. Teams may assign responsibilities any way they desire; all members may view the model, but only
one at a time.
4. Once they are ready to replicate the model they must notify you, and they may NOT return to the
model again.
5. They must build their replicates in your classroom and cannot take the Lego with them.
Discussion:
1. When you call time, some will be done, some will not, and some will be lost.
2. Discuss what type of task this was—complex or simple.
3. Note the performance, time, and accuracy.
4. Discuss with the class why things turned out as they did. What happened in the groups?
Note to instructor: Generally, teams will be more accurate but take more time. Sometimes, you will
get an individual with a photographic memory who will beat everyone.
POINT/COUNTERPOINT – All Jobs Should Be Designed Around Groups
POINT
Groups, not individuals, are the ideal building blocks for an organisation. There are at least six reasons
for designing all jobs around groups.
• Small groups are good for people. They can satisfy social needs and they can provide support
for employees in times of stress and crisis.
• Groups are good problem-finding tools. They are better than individuals in promoting
creativity and innovation.
• In a wide variety of decision situations, groups make better decisions than individuals do.
• Groups are very effective tools for implementation. Groups gain commitment from their
members so that group decisions are likely to be willingly and more successfully.
• Groups can control and discipline individual members in ways that are often extremely
difficult through impersonal quasi-legal disciplinary systems. Group norms are powerful
control devices.
• Groups are a means by which large organisations can fend off many of the negative effects of
increased size. Groups help to prevent communication lines from growing too long, the
hierarchy from growing too steep, and the individual from getting lost in the crowd.
Given the above argument for the value of group based job design, what would an organisation look
like that was truly designed around group functions? This might best be considered by merely taking
the things that organisations do with individuals and applying them to groups. Instead of hiring
individuals, they would hire groups. Similarly, they would train groups rather than individuals, pay
groups rather than individuals, promote groups rather than individuals, fire groups rather than
individuals, and so on.
The rapid growth of team-based organisations over the past decade suggests we may well be on our
way toward the day when almost all jobs are designed around groups.
COUNTERPOINT
Designing jobs around groups is consistent with an ideology that says that communal and socialistic
approaches are the best way to organise our society. This might have worked well in the former
Soviet Union or Eastern European countries, but capitalistic countries like Australia, New Zealand, the
United States, Canada and the United Kingdom value the individual. Designing jobs around groups is
inconsistent with the economic values of these countries. Moreover, as capitalism and
entrepreneurship have spread throughout Eastern Europe, we should expect to see less emphasis on
groups and more on the individual in workplaces throughout the world. Cultural and economic values
shape employee attitudes toward groups.
Capitalism was built on the ethic of the individual. Individualistic cultures such as Australia, New
Zealand, Canada and the Unites States strongly value individual achievement. They praise
competition. Even in team sports, they want to identify individuals for recognition. People from these
countries enjoy being part of a group in which they can maintain a strong individual identity. They
don’t enjoy sublimating their identity to that of the group.
The Western industrial worker likes a clear link between his or her individual effort and a visible
outcome. The United States, for example, has a considerably larger proportion of high achievers than
exists in most of the world. America breeds achievers, and achievers seek personal responsibility.
They would be frustrated in job situations in which their contribution is commingled and homogenised
with the contributions of others.
Western workers want to be hired, evaluated, and rewarded on their individual achievements. They
believe in an authority and status hierarchy. They accept a system in which there are bosses and
subordinates. They are not likely to accept a group’s decision on such issues as their job assignments
and wage increases. It is harder yet to imagine that they would be comfortable in a system in which
the sole basis for their promotion or termination would be the performance of their group.
Based on H. J. Leavitt, “Suppose We Took Groups Seriously,” in E. L. Cass and F. G. Zimmer (eds.),
Man and Work in Society (New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1975), pp. 67–77.
Class Exercise:
1. Discuss group versus individual grading with students.
2. Begin by polling them as to whether they would prefer a grade for this class (or another specific
class) based on their individual effort or on the effort of a five-student group they belonged to. The
class mix on this issue will vary.
3. Move the group-based grade students into groups; leave the individual-based grade students. Have
them create a list of three-to-five of the reasons for their preference.
4. After 10–15 minutes, have the group-based students pick a spokesperson and have them record
their lists of the board. Once they are recorded, start an “individual” list by asking the individual
students, one at a time, for a reason, going round robin until you have all of their responses.
5. Now, as a class, compare and discuss the reasons. How are the lists different? The same? Is there a
theme or themes emerging (groups—safety in numbers, it is a hard class; individual—I want
control of my grade, etc.).
6. Ask students if they think the reasons that seem to be emerging would:
• Be acceptable to other students in other classes in your school
• Be acceptable to other students when it came time to interview for jobs
• A way to get ahead in their careers (group effort rather than individual effort being rewarded)
QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW
1. Compare and contrast command, task, interest, and friendship groups.

Answer – A group is defined as two or more individuals, interacting and interdependent, who have
come together to achieve particular objectives. Groups can be either formal or informal. It is
possible to sub-classify groups as command, task, interest, or friendship groups.
• A command group is determined by the organisation chart. It is composed of direct reports to a
given manager.
• Task groups—organisationally determined, represent those working together to complete a job
task. A task group’s boundaries are not limited to its immediate hierarchical superior. It can cross
command relationships. All command groups are also task groups, but the reverse need not be true.
• An interest group is people who affiliate to attain a specific objective with which each is
concerned. Employees who band together to have their holiday schedules altered.
• Friendship groups often develop because the individual members have one or more common
characteristics. Social alliances, which frequently extend outside the work situation, can be based on
similar age or ethnic heritage.
2. What might motivate you to join a group?

Answer – Informal groups satisfy their members’ social needs.
3. Describe the five-stage group-development model.

Answer – Figure 7.1 shows the five-stage group-development model:
• The first stage is forming. Characterised by a great deal of uncertainty about the group’s
purpose, structure, and leadership. Members are trying to determine what types of behaviour are
acceptable. This stage is complete when members have begun to think of themselves as part of a
group.
• The second stage is storming. Characterised by intragroup conflict. Members accept the
existence of the group, but there is resistance to constraints on individuality. There is conflict over
who will control the group and when complete, there will be a relatively clear hierarchy of leadership
within the group.
• The third stage is norming. Characterised by close relationships developing and the group
demonstrates cohesiveness. There is now a strong sense of group identity and camaraderie. The
stage is complete when the group structure solidifies and the group has assimilated a common set of
expectations of what defines correct member behaviour.
• The fourth stage is performing. The structure at this point is fully functional and accepted.
Group energy has moved from getting to know and understand each other to performing.
• The fifth stage is Adjourning. Relevant for temporary committees, teams, task forces, and
similar groups that have a limited task to perform. In this stage, the group prepares for its
disbandment. Attention is directed toward wrapping up activities. Responses of group members
vary in this stage. Some are upbeat, basking in the group’s accomplishments. Others may be
depressed over the loss of camaraderie and friendships.
4. How is an individual’s status in a group determined?

Answer – Status is a socially defined position or rank given to groups or group members by others.
Status derived from one of three sources: the power a person wields over others; a person’s ability
to contribute to group’s goals; individual’s personal characteristics.
• People who control the outcomes of a group through their power tend to be perceived as high
in status (e.g., a group’s formal leader or manager).
• People whose contributions are critical to the group’s success also tend to have high status
(e.g., outstanding performers on sports teams).
• Someone who has personal characteristics that are positively valued by the group (such as
good looks, intelligence, money or a friendly personality) will typically have higher status
than someone who has fewer valued attributes.
5. When do groups make better decisions than individuals?

• Answer – The answer is, “it depends.” Groups are more effective in terms of accuracy and
often make better quality decisions than the individual. Groups generate more complete
information and knowledge, offer increased diversity of views, and lead to increased
acceptance of a solution.
However, in terms of speed and efficiency, individuals are more effective.
6. Contrast the pros and cons of having diverse teams?

Answer – Heterogeneous teams comprise members more likely to have diverse abilities and
information and are generally more effective on cognitive and creativity-demanding tasks. The team
may be more conflict laden and less expedient but more effective than homogeneous teams.
Homogeneous white male teams performed the worst relative to mixed race and gender teams or only
females.
7. List and describe the process variables associated with effective team performance.
Answer - These include member commitment to a common purpose, establishment of specific team
goals, team efficacy, a managed level of conflict, and minimising social loafing.
• A common purpose - Effective teams have a common and meaningful purpose that provides
direction, momentum, and commitment for members. This purpose is a vision. It is broader than
specific goals.
• Specific goals - Successful teams translate their common purpose into specific, measurable, and
realistic performance goals. Specific goals facilitate clear communication and help teams maintain
their focus on results. Team goals should be challenging.
• Team efficacy - Effective teams have confidence in themselves and believe they can succeed—
this is team efficacy. Success breeds success. Management can increase team efficacy by helping the
team to achieve small successes and skill training. Small successes build team confidence. The
greater the abilities of team members, the greater the likelihood that the team will develop confidence
and the capability to deliver on that confidence.
• Conflict levels - Conflict on a team is not necessarily bad. Teams that are completely void of
conflict are likely to become apathetic and stagnant. Relationship conflicts—those based on
interpersonal incompatibilities, tension, and animosity toward others—are almost always
dysfunctional. On teams performing non-routine activities, disagreements among members about task
content (called task conflicts) is not detrimental. It is often beneficial because it lessens the likelihood
of groupthink. Effective teams will be characterised by an appropriate level of conflict.
• Social loafing - Individuals can hide inside a group. Effective teams undermine this tendency by
holding themselves accountable at both the individual and team level.
8. What is groupthink? What is its effect on decision-making quality?

Answer – Groupthink describes situations in which group pressures for conformity deter the group
from critically appraising unusual, minority, or unpopular views. The phenomenon that occurs when
group members become so enamoured of seeking concurrence that the norm for consensus overrides
the realistic appraisal of alternative courses of action and the full expression of deviant, minority, or
unpopular views. It is deterioration in an individual’s mental efficiency, reality testing, and moral
judgment as a result of group pressures. Group members rationalise any resistance to the
assumptions they have made. Members apply direct pressures on those who momentarily express
doubts. Those members who hold differing points of view seek to avoid deviating from group
consensus by keeping silent. There appears to be an illusion of unanimity.
In studies of historic American foreign policy decisions, these symptoms were found to prevail when
government policy-making groups failed. Groupthink appears to be closely aligned with the
conclusions Asch drew from his experiments. Groupthink does not attack all groups. It occurs most
often where there is a clear group identity, where members hold a positive image of their group
which they want to protect, and where the group perceives a collective threat to this positive image.
9. How effective are electronic meetings?

Answer – The early evidence indicates that electronic meetings don’t achieve most of their proposed
benefits. Numerous studies have found that electronic meetings actually lead to a decreased group
effectiveness, required more time to complete tasks, and resulted in reduced member satisfaction
when compared to face-to-face groups.
QUESTIONS FOR CRITICAL THINKING
1. Identify five roles you play. What behaviours do they require? Are any of these roles in conflict?
If so, in what way? How do you resolve these conflicts?
Answer – Students’ answers will vary. Some suggested roles: student, sibling, child, adult, group
leader, member of a social group, etc. Behaviours and conflicts will vary with role.
2. “High cohesiveness in a group leads to higher group productivity.” Do you agree or disagree?
Explain.
Answer – Groups differ in their cohesiveness—the degree to which members are attracted to each
other and are motivated to stay in the group. Cohesiveness is important because it has been found to
be related to the group’s productivity. The relationship of cohesiveness and productivity depends on
the performance-related norms established by the group. If performance-related norms are high, a
cohesive group will be more productive, but if cohesiveness is high and performance norms are low,
productivity will be low. Students’ responses will vary based on their perception and integration of
the above facts.
4. What effect, if any, do you expect that workforce diversity has on performance and satisfaction?
Answer – Research studies generally substantiate that heterogeneous groups—those composed of
dissimilar individuals—are more likely to have diverse abilities and information and should be more
effective, especially on cognitive, creativity-demanding tasks. The group may be more conflict
laden and less expedient.
Essentially, diversity promotes conflict, which stimulates creativity, which leads to improved
decision making. Diversity created by racial or national differences interfere with group processes,
at least in the short term. Cultural diversity seems to be an asset on tasks that call for a variety of
viewpoints. Such groups have more difficulty in learning to work with each other and solving
problems. These difficulties seem to dissipate with time as it takes time for diverse groups to learn
how to work through disagreements and different approaches to solving problems.
5. If you need to generate a lot of ideas in a short period of time, would you have a bunch of
individuals generate ideas on their own, or would you band them together in groups?
Answer – Students’ responses will vary. Generally, students should indicate that group based
brainstorming would be the preferred technique in this case. They may also discuss the nominal
group technique or other methods discussed in the text.
ETHICAL DILEMMA – Discrimination against Muslims
Suicide bombers and terrorist attaches have been commonplace for decades in much of the Middle
East. But not so for Australasia and North America. The attacks on 11 September, 2001, opened
North American eyes to the reality that no place is completely safe from terrorist attacks. Australians
were shocked by the Bali bombings and a range of other bombings around the world. A number of
Australians and Americas allowed the actions of a few Muslim extremists to shape their attitudes
towards all Muslims. The result has created challenges for managers leading diverse groups contain
members of Middle Eastern backgrounds.
Jeff O’Connell is one of those managers. Jeff oversees a team of five computer chip designers,
working exclusively on defence contracts; the team comprises a women from Texas, an African
American from New York, two Russians, and an Arab American born in California to parents who
emigrated from Iran. Jeff, himself, was born in Canada, but raised in the United States. In the months
following the 11 September attacks and again following other publicised terrorist attacks Jeff became
aware that several of his team members were making openly disparaging remarks to Nicholas, their
Iranian co-worker, questioning his Arab friends, his religious practices and his loyalty to America.
Nicholas’s colleagues understood little about Islam and Nicholas’s religious practices. What, if
anything, should he do when he sees team members discriminating against Nicholas because of his
ethnicity?
Class discussion
1. In small break-out groups – where possible create groups with a maximum diversity of age,
gender, and ethnicity.
2. Ask the groups to reflect upon the situation in the case. Ask whether anyone in the group has
experienced discrimination because of their race, gender, ethnicity, group membership etc.
What was the situation and how did it make them feel? What solutions were sought to remove
the discrimination?
3. Returning to the case, ask the small groups to identify a number of recommendations for Jeff
and to record their suggestions for later discussion in the large group.
4. Returning to the large group – combine the suggestions that the smaller groups have
identified for Jeff.
5. Then lead a group debrief regarding the ranges of experiences that students in the group have
offered for discussion.
CASE STUDY 7 – The Dangers of Groupthink
Sometimes, the desire to maintain group harmony overrides the importance of making sound
decisions. When that occurs, team members are said to engage in groupthink.
• A civilian member of a process improvement team formed to develop a better way to handle
an air force bases mail took almost one month to come up with a plan. The problem – the
plan wasn’t a process improvement – 8 steps were now 19. The team’s new plan slowed mail
considerably – even though members new the plan was worse than its predecessor no one
wanted to question the team’s solidarity.
• During the dot.com boom Virginia Turezyn was victim of groupthink. Although sceptical of
the stability of the boom, after continually reading about the start-ups turning into
multimillion-dollar payoffs, she felt different, investing millions in several dot.com’s
including I-drive, a company providing electronic data storage. The problem was I-drive was
giving storage away for free and the company was losing money. She spoke up at one board
meeting, but the other younger executives disagreed. Turezyn began to question herself
thinking that she was too old and didn’t understand it. Unfortunately she did get it and the
company later filed for bankruptcy.
• Steve Blank, entrepreneur, also fell victim to groupthink. Also involved in dot.com start-up
he tried to persuade fellow board members to move to a more traditional business model. The
team didn’t take Blank’s advice, and he lost hundreds of thousands of dollars on the deal.
Questions
1. What are some of the factors that led to groupthink in the above cases? What can teams do to
attempt to reduce groupthink from occurring?
Answer - group size, status differences, norms, cohesion, decision making techniques
2. How might differences in status among group members contribute to groupthink? For example,
how might lower-status members react to a group’s decision? Are lower-status members more or less
likely to be dissenters? Why might higher-status group members be more effective dissenters?
Answer - The mail process improvement suffered from group status differences, with civilian lower-
status people in the group unwilling to challenge the security of the group identity with challenges to
the decisions. Having someone (even on a rotating basis) become the devil’s advocate would have
given the opportunity for dissenting voices to be heard.
3. How do group norms contribute to groupthink? Could group norms guard against occurrence of
groupthink? As a manager, how would you try to cultivate norms that prevent groupthink?
Answer – Group norms control the behaviour of group members. Members are motivated to
conform to group behavioural expectations in order to remain members of the group.
Implement some of the strategies suggested earlier, ie., monitor group size – people grow
more intimated and hesitant as group size increases, encourage group leaders to play an
impartial role, appoint one group member to play the role of devil’s advocate, utilise exercises
that stimulate active discussion of diverse alternatives without threatening the group and
intensifying identity protection.
4. How might group characteristics such as size and cohesiveness affect groupthink?
Answer - Groupthink appears to be closely aligned with the conclusions Asch drew from his
experiments on the lone dissenter. The results where individuals who hold a position different
from the majority are put under pressure to suppress or change their true beliefs. Groupthink
does not attack all groups. It occurs most often where there is a clear group identity, where
members hold a positive image of their group which they want to protect, and where the
group perceives a collective threat to this positive image.
ADDITIONAL WEB EXERCISE

The following exercise is provided in addition to that supplied in the text, and may be offered to
students interested in further exploring OB topics on-line.
Exploring OB Topics on the World Wide Web
Search Engines are our navigational tool to explore the WWW. Some
commonly used search engines are:
www.goto.com www.google.com
www.excite.com www.lycos.com
www.hotbot.com www.looksmart.com
1. Moving from a traditional hierarchical structure to teams requires

thought and planning. How teams will be applied within the organisation and their goals can
be one of the most challenging aspects of the process. Go to the web site
http://www.teamtechnology.co.uk/tt/t-articl/tb-basic.htm to learn more about team building.
2. What is the difference between a self managed team and a self directed team? The following
web site http://www.mapnp.org/library/grp_skll/slf_drct/slf_drct.htm has a series of links on
team topics where you can find the answer to the above questions and many other questions.
Write a short reaction paper on one of the topics from this site.
3. For a brief overview of the characteristics of effective teams go to

http://www.stanford.edu/class/e140/e140a/effective.html . After reviewing this list, think of a
team or group you have worked with in the past. Do not name names, but take each
characteristic listed and apply your experience to it. For example, characteristic number one
is, “There is a clear unity of purpose.” Did your group have that unity? Why or why not?
How did you know—was there a mission statement (or lack of one), were there goals (or no
goals), etc. Bring your completed analysis to class for group discussion.
4. What can be learned from a WebMonkey? Eight ways to find and keep web team players. Go
to: http://hotwired.lycos.com/webmonkey/98/22/index0a_page3.html . How does
WebMonkey’s recommendations compare to what we have learned in class? Write a
paragraph or two as to why you agree or disagree with these recommendations and what you
would change if necessary. Bring to class for further discussion.
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THE TURQUOISE.
There are few gems more commonly seen on jewelry than the blue
turquoise. Its beauty, its serviceable hardness, its pleasing contrast
with gold, and its moderate price, explain why it is so much
esteemed. Only a few exceptionally fine specimens of the stone rank
with the ‘rich and rare’ gems. In the unlikely event of Persia being at
war with all the rest of the world, it would, no doubt, become scarce
and dear outside the dominion of the Shah, since it is only in that
country that the mineral in a state fit for the jeweller’s purpose is
found. Much and widely as the turquoise is used for personal
ornaments, the supply has for some time considerably exceeded the
demand except for fine stones of an uncommon size. But, as is the
case with all precious stones, unusually large pieces—those
approaching the size of a hazel nut, for example—when of good
quality, are eagerly sought after, and have a high intrinsic value.
The turquoise has in all likelihood been used as a gem from a very
remote antiquity, since the range of mountains where it is plentifully
found is situated at no great distance from the southern shore of the
Caspian Sea, near to, if not within, the area believed by many to
have been the cradle of the human race. By some scholars, it is
thought highly probable that the turquoise was used for inlaying the
delicate and beautiful gold-work of ancient Greece; and at all events,
there is a cameo portrait of a classic Greek prince in this mineral
among the specimens in the famous collection of Marlborough gems.
There is some doubt about the name this precious stone was known
by in Pliny’s time. He mentions that the callais, which was probably
the turquoise, was found in Asia, where it occurred projecting from
the surface of inaccessible rocks, whence it was obtained by means
of slings; but these were the days of fables. That it was known to the
ancient Romans is, however, proved by the fact that there still exist
some, though only a very few, of their works of art cut in this mineral.
Want of certainty about the name applied to the turquoise in classic
times leaves us in doubt as to what mystic virtues were then
attributed to it. But in the middle ages, the turquoise, like other gems,
was believed to have wonderful properties; indeed, it was credited
with more supernatural virtues than most of them. The wearer of it
had both his sight strengthened and his spirits cheered; he enjoyed
immunity from the consequences of a fall by the gem itself breaking,
in order to save his bones; and his turquoise, like himself, turned
pale if he became sick. When its possessor died, it entirely lost its
colour; but recovered it again on passing into the hands of a new
owner. In some mysterious way, when suspended by a string, it
correctly struck the hours on the inside of a glass vessel. Other
precious stones have lost all the marvellous powers that belonged to
them for centuries: the emerald no longer relieves the fatigued
eyesight; the diamond cannot now dispel fear; the sapphire, though
still cold to the touch, has ceased to be able to extinguish fire. In
these perverse days, the hailstorm comes down even upon the
wearer of an amethyst, and bright red coral attracts rather than
repels robbers. But the turquoise still retains one of its mysterious
properties, and flaunts it in the face of modern science. Sometimes
slowly, sometimes suddenly, it unaccountably turns pale, becomes
spotted, or changes from blue to white; and specimens that behave
in this capricious manner are found more commonly than those
whose colour is distinctly permanent.
The turquoise is called in chemical language a hydrated phosphate
of alumina. This means that it consists mainly of phosphoric acid and
alumina, along with nearly twenty per cent. of water. It owes its
colour to small quantities of compounds of copper and iron. It occurs
blue, green, and bluish green; but the change to a pale, mottled, or
white colour, which inferior turquoises undergo, generally takes place
soon after they are taken from the mine. These colours are opaque,
or only very slightly translucent, and the stone has a somewhat waxy
lustre. It is only those of a fast ‘sky-blue’ colour that are prized for
jewelry; but at one time, a green turquoise was more highly valued
than a blue one. Nowadays, however, people have no patience with
either precious stones or precious metals that can be easily
mistaken for those of inferior value. Either green felspar, which is of
the same hardness, or malachite, which is softer, might be mistaken
for green turquoise, and both are more common minerals. But there
is hardly any other natural stone of the same, or even inferior,
hardness that can be confounded with a blue turquoise. The material
of some fossil teeth when coloured with phosphate of iron does,
however, resemble it. Still, there need be no confusion, because this
substance is softer. It is called odontolite or occidental turquoise;
while the real stone is known by jewellers as the oriental turquoise.
Odontolite is easily recognised under the microscope by the
characteristic markings of dentine. Opaque blue glass can be made
to imitate the turquoise; but the former differs in lustre and in the
nature of its fracture.
Turquoises are found in Tibet, China, and the neighbourhood of
Mount Sinai; but, as has been already stated, the supply for
jewellers’ purposes comes almost wholly from the celebrated
Persian mines. Very little was known about these till a remarkably
interesting and exhaustive Report upon them was recently furnished
to the British Foreign Office by Mr A. Hontum Schindler, who was for
a short time Director of the mines. They are situated in a range of
mountains bounding on the north an open plain in the Bâr-i-Madèn
district, thirty-two miles north-west of Nishâpûr, in the province of
Khorassan. Botanists tell us that the brightest blue is seen on alpine
flowers. If pure mountain air could be supposed to brighten the
colour of a gem as well as a flower, there is no want of it where these
turquoise veins occur. Their position is between five and six
thousand feet above the level of the sea, and a strong north wind
blows almost continually over the ridges of the hills, rendering the
situation very healthy. Wheat, barley, and mulberry trees grow well
on the slopes at the lower of these heights.
Geologically, the mountains are composed of sandstones and
nummulitic limestones lying on clay-slates and inclosing immense
beds of gypsum and rock-salt. But these stratified rocks are broken
through and metamorphosed by rocks of igneous origin, such as
greenstones and porphyries. The turquoise-bearing veins occur in
the metamorphic strata, and the mines proper consist of shafts and
galleries in the solid rock. There are also ‘diggings’ in the detritus of
disintegrated rock washed down towards the plain, and it is here that
some of the best turquoises are found. A number of the mines are
ancient and very extensive; and although most of them are now
more or less in a state of neglect, Mr Schindler states that the
presence of many old shafts—now filled up—for light and ventilation
proves that they have at one time been skilfully worked, and were
probably then under government control. But they appear to have
been, for nearly two centuries, farmed by the villagers, who only
think of a quick return for their money, and therefore cut away the
rock wherever they see turquoises, without leaving proper supports
to prevent the falling in of the mine. Several labourers have at
different times been buried in the galleries through the rubbish being
badly propped up. The perpendicular depth of one mine is one
hundred and sixty feet, and others are nearly as deep. The miners
work with picks and crowbars in much the same way as that in which
vein-mining is carried on elsewhere; and it is a curious illustration of
how slowly long-established processes are altered in the East, that
gunpowder should have been used in these mines only within the
last thirty years. But it is not strange, as can be seen by some
examples of rock-blasting at home, to learn that the results obtained
by gunpowder are, in one view, less satisfactory than those got by
the pick. The powder does more work, but it is also more destructive,
as it breaks the turquoises into small pieces.
Here we may say a few words about how it fares with the people
who are occupied with the mining, cutting, and selling of the
turquoises. About two hundred men work in the mines or at the
diggings, and some thirty more—elders of the village—buy the
turquoises and sell them to merchants and jewellers. A certain
additional number of hands cut and polish the stones; but this work
is done elsewhere, as well as in the district where they are found.
The population of the villages in the neighbourhood of the mines is
about twelve hundred, and the inhabitants, as in most mining
districts, are improvident. Nearly all the men, and not a few of the
women, are inveterate opium-smokers. Agriculture is neglected.
Turquoise-dealing and its gains make the people careless of
anything else. As a rule, the money is quickly spent; and men who
easily earn a sum fully equal to fifty pounds sterling per annum, have
often nothing to eat.
At the mines, the turquoises are roughly divided into three classes,
of first, second, and third qualities. All the stones of good and fast
colour and favourable shape belong to the first class. But how
curiously these vary in value will be best understood by quoting Mr
Schindler’s own words: ‘It is impossible to fix any price, or classify
them according to different qualities. I have not yet seen two stones
alike. A stone two-thirds of an inch in length, two-fifths of an inch in
width, and about half an inch in thickness, cut peikâni (conical)
shape, was valued at Meshed at three hundred pounds; another, of
about the same size, shape, and cut, was valued at only eighty
pounds. Turquoises of the size of a pea are sometimes sold for eight
pounds. The colour most prized is the deep blue of the sky. A small
speck of a lighter colour, which only connoisseurs can distinguish, or
an almost unappreciable tinge of green, decreases the value
considerably. Then there is that undefinable property of a good
turquoise, the zât, something like the “water” of a diamond or the
lustre of a pearl; a fine coloured turquoise without the zât is not worth
much.’ He subsequently adds: ‘The above-mentioned three hundred
pounds Meshed turquoise was bought from the finder by one of the
Rish-i-Safîds (elders of the village) for three pounds; the latter sold it
still uncut at Meshed for thirty-eight pounds. As soon as it was cut,
its true value became apparent, and it was sent to Paris, where it
was valued at six hundred pounds. The second purchaser, however,
received only three hundred and forty pounds for it; the difference
was gained by the agents.’ Among the fine turquoises in the
possession of the Shah, there is one valued at two thousand
pounds.
The best stones of the second class are worth about ninety pounds
per pound; whilst the most inferior will scarcely bring a twentieth part
of this price. The latter are chiefly used in Persia for the decoration of
swords, horse-trappings, pipe-heads, and the common kinds of
jewelry. Small cut turquoises of a slightly better quality than these
sell at the rate of from two to three shillings per thousand. In the third
class are included stones unsaleable in Persia, as well as large flat
stones, some of which are esteemed for amulets, brooches, buckles,
and the like. The prices given there will be more than doubled when
the turquoises are sold in Europe.
The turquoise being an opaque stone, it would be useless to cut
facets upon it, as these would not reflect light in the same way as
when fashioned upon a transparent gem like a diamond or a
sapphire. There are three ways of cutting the turquoise, all much in
the same style—the flat or slightly convex form, the truncated cone,
and the tallow drop or en cabochon. The higher the conical and
convex surfaces in the two latter, the more the turquoises are prized.
None but a fine deep-coloured stone can be advantageously cut into
a conical shape, since one of pale colour would appear almost white
at the apex. Turquoises are cut by the hand on wheels made of a
composition of emery and gum. They are afterwards polished by
being rubbed on a fine-grained sandstone, and then on a piece of
soft leather with turquoise dust.
Of the few mines which yield good turquoises, one or two are
dangerous, on account of the loose rubbish they contain. The one
from which the best of all are obtained yields very few. Some mines
contain stones which look well at first, but soon change their colour
and fade. Mr Schindler gives an instance of a recently found
turquoise, as large as a walnut and of fine colour, being presented to
His Majesty the Shah, which he had for only two days, when it
became green and whitish, and therefore of no value. Throughout
Europe, there has been a great fall in the price of this gem within the
last few years, and it would seem that this is owing to the fact that
large quantities of stones which appeared to be of fine quality, but
were really of fugitive colour, had been disposed of not long ago at
good prices. Up to the time that they were sold, their colour had
been preserved by keeping them damp; but when taken out of their
moist packing, they slowly became white. It need hardly be said that
the colour of most precious stones is very permanent. There is,
however, a variety of opal occurring in Mexico which is very beautiful
when first found; but after a brief time it entirely loses its bright play
of colours. Both the turquoise and the opal are peculiar in containing
a considerable amount of water in their composition.
The colour of a fine turquoise has not escaped the notice of
enamellers and potters. For centuries, an imitation of its
characteristic and lovely blue has been applied among other colours
to the exquisitely decorated pottery of Persia. On the most expensive
and perhaps also the most beautiful of all porcelain, the Sèvres ware
of soft body made in the latter half of last century, the turquoise blue
is often a conspicuous colour. Towards the end of the century, when
the directors of the far-famed fabrique changed the character of the
china to that of a hard paste or body, its decoration with a turquoise
colour was no longer possible. But modern English porcelain, like the
old Sèvres, is of soft paste; and one of the feats on which our great
Staffordshire potters pride themselves is the successful production
upon it, in recent years, of a soft and clear turquoise blue.
THE HAUNTED JUNGLE.
IN THREE CHAPTERS.
CHAP. III.—THE BREAKING OF THE SPELL.

When the day dawned, it found the púsári still in the temple offering
prayers and supplications to the god for deliverance from the spell
he was under. As soon as it was sufficiently light for him to see his
way, he left the temple and went down into the village. A hope had
risen in his breast that his prayers may have been answered, and he
was anxious to ascertain whether he was still invisible. The hope
was soon dispelled. As he passed the door of a hut, an old man
came out yawning and stretching his arms, and though the púsári
stood right before him, took no notice of him. Filled with despair, the
púsári went to his own house and sat in the porch, a prey to the
gloomiest, most miserable thoughts. He occupied himself in
watching Vallee. The overwhelming grief and agitation of the
preceding day had passed off, leaving her listless, unhappy, and
restless. She was trying to attend to her household duties; but her
thoughts were elsewhere, for she sighed frequently and her eyes
filled with tears very often. Every now and then, she went to the door
and glanced out. On one such occasion she uttered an exclamation
of surprise. On looking out, the púsári saw several men and women
whom he recognised as some of his relatives, who lived in a village
at some distance, coming towards him. On entering the house, one
or two of the new-comers saluted Vallee curtly and coldly, but the
rest took no notice of her. Abashed and pained by their conduct,
Vallee retired to a corner and waited to see what they had come for.
They made themselves quite at home at once. It was soon evident
they had heard of the púsári’s disappearance, and were come to see
about his property, being persuaded he would never come back.
After a while, they began to examine the house and to make a sort of
rough inventory of what it contained.
‘What are you doing, uncle?’ asked Vallee of one of them, a thin,
ferrety-faced man, who was her father’s brother.
The man made no reply. Presently, he caught sight of the púsári’s
strong-box in a corner of the hut, and turning to her, abruptly
demanded the key.
‘My father keeps it,’ she replied.
‘Do not name your father to us!’ said her uncle sharply. ‘We have
cast him off; we disown him!’
‘But not his property, it appears,’ retorted Vallee with spirit. ‘And I tell
you, Sinnan Ummiyán, it will not be well for you when my father
comes home and hears what you have said of him!’
‘Dare you mock me, daughter of a murderer!’ exclaimed her uncle,
as he gave her a sharp box on the ear.
Vallee did not cry out or burst into tears, but drawing herself up,
walked silently and proudly out of the house and disappeared into
the jungle.
Great was the disgust of the púsári at the conduct of his rapacious
and selfish relatives, and his indignation at their treatment of his
daughter. Muttering wrathfully to himself that he would make them
regret it, if he ever regained his human form, he got up and went out
after Vallee. As he entered the jungle at the spot where he had seen
her disappear, he heard a voice that he instantly recognised—it was
that of Valan Elúvan. Vallee had just met her lover.
‘What is the matter, sweet one?’ he heard Valan say. ‘Are you crying
for your father?’
‘Aiyo, aiyo!’ wailed the girl. ‘I shall never see him again!’
‘Do not give way to such thoughts, little one,’ replied Valan. ‘He will
certainly return. He has probably gone to some distant village on
sudden and important business.’
‘O Valan,’ exclaimed Vallee, ‘then you don’t think—you do not
believe that he—killed the headman?’
‘No; I do not, Púliya knows,’ returned her lover gravely. ‘’Twas some
stranger, no doubt, that did the rascally deed. Your father will
doubtless return soon and prove his innocence.—Were those some
of your people who came to your house just now?’ he added.
Vallee explained who they were, and told him of her uncle’s
treatment of her.
‘Never mind, child,’ he said soothingly, when she had finished
speaking. ‘Should anything have happened to your father, and he not
return, I will take you to my house as my wife; and we will go and live
in some distant village where nothing is known about either of us,
and no one can say malicious things of us.—What say you, sweet
one?’
Vallee made no reply and no protest when he tenderly embraced
her. They continued to talk together for some minutes. When they
separated, the púsári followed Valan home, as he wished to see
what his enemy was doing. As they entered the house, the púsári
saw Iyan hastily hide some money he had been fingering, in his
waist-cloth. Valan, too, saw his brother’s action; he did not say
anything, however, till he had deposited his jungle-knife in a corner;
then, without looking round, he said quietly: ‘Elder brother, where did
you get that money?’
‘What money?’ blustered Iyan.
‘That which you have in your waist-cloth.’
‘I have had a debt repaid,’ growled Iyan after a short pause.
‘What debt?’ persisted Valan. ‘I did not know any one owed you
anything.’
Iyan grunted angrily, but made no answer.
‘Where were you the day before yesterday, when the múdliya was
murdered?’ continued Valan in a stern, grave tone and looking
keenly at his brother.—‘And why,’ he continued, when he received no
answer, ‘did you change your cloth when you came home that night,
and wash the one you had been wearing? And why, too, did you
——?’
‘Mind your own business!’ interrupted Iyan fiercely, as he got up and
walked out. ‘You had better not spy on me, Valan Elúvan, or I will
make you repent it!’
For some minutes after his brother had gone, Valan sat looking
thoughtfully out of the door, evidently turning something over in his
mind; then he got up and carefully searched the hut, examining with
great care a cloth he found in a corner. He appeared not to be
satisfied with what he saw, for he shook his head, and muttered two
or three times to himself in a tone of sorrow and misgiving.
The whole of that day the púsári wandered restlessly about,
spending most of the time, however, in and about his own house. By
noon, his relatives had quite settled down in his house. It was clear
they had no expectation of his ever returning, and had, therefore,
constituted themselves his heirs. They did not treat Vallee with
cruelty or harshness, but simply ignored her, or treated her as if she
was dependent on them. Early in the afternoon, the young headman
whom the púsári had seen at Mánkúlam the previous day, came to
the village armed with a warrant. He was accompanied by several
men, who searched his house carefully, but of course found nothing
to incriminate him. They seized, however, the púsári’s gun and two
or three jungle-knives that were in the house. Vallee’s distress and
indignation at the action of the headman and his satellites was great;
but she restrained herself, and made no protest or remark of any
kind. The púsári learned from the conversation of these unwelcome
visitors that men had been sent to all the neighbouring villages in
search of him.
Night at length came on. The púsári hung about the village till every
one had retired to rest. Suddenly the idea occurred to him to go in
search of the pisási village in the haunted jungle. He started off at
once, and before long found himself in a part of the jungle which he
knew could not be very far from the scene of his dreadful night’s
adventure. But though he wandered about all night and climbed two
or three trees, in the hope of seeing the glare of the magic fires, he
found nothing. Though he knew himself to be invisible, and therefore
perfectly safe, he could not overcome the sensation of fear when he
heard the fierce cries of wild beasts in the dark, lonely forest. He
listened anxiously to the crashing and trumpeting of a herd of
elephants in the jungle near him, and to the grating roar of a leopard
seeking its prey. He fairly fled when he heard the whimpering of a
couple of bears coming along the path towards him. When the
morning broke, he returned to the village.
Several days passed, and the púsári remained invisible to mortal
eyes. He suffered neither from hunger nor thirst nor fatigue, and
required no sleep. Aimlessly and ceaselessly, he wandered about,
sunk in the lowest depths of misery and despair. His great wish was
to find the pisási village again, as he hoped that, in some way, the
spell might then be removed from him. Night after night he entered
the forest and wandered about till daybreak with eyes and ears open
for any sign of the presence of pisásis; but though, before long, he
knew every path and game-track, and almost every tree for miles
round, he could not find again the haunted jungle. Sometimes, when
tired, of his fruitless midnight wanderings, he would go to the rice-
fields and sit by the blazing fires in the watch-huts and listen to the
talk of the men and boys guarding the crops from the wild beasts.
During the day, he haunted the village, entering all the huts unseen,
and listening to the conversation of the villagers. Often he laughed to
himself as he overheard secrets disclosed, weaknesses exposed,
and designs laid bare, by men and women who thought themselves
alone and safe from eavesdropping. The excitement about the
murder of the headman soon died out, and it ceased to be the
absorbing theme of conversation in the village. The púsári was
supposed to have got safely off to some distant country with his
booty.
During this time, the púsári watched his enemy unceasingly, his
feelings of hatred and desire for vengeance growing deeper every
day. Iyan was too cunning a villain to excite suspicion by showing his
ill-gotten wealth, and he had not as yet profited much by his crime.
Every evening, the púsári watched him go into the jungle and gloat
over the money and jewels he had hidden in the hollow tree.
The púsári also kept an untiring, loving watch over his daughter. His
brother and family had by this taken complete possession of his
house and property. Vallee felt keenly their rapacious proceedings
and unkind treatment of her, for her father more than once saw her,
with tears of mortification and indignation in her eyes, rush out of the
house into the jungle. But she very often met there one who dried
her tears quickly and easily. Valan appeared to be always on the
watch for her, and met her so often and so openly, that it soon
became the talk of the village. Many sneered at him for a fool to think
of marrying a portionless girl, as they now thought her, and also the
daughter of a murderer. It soon became clear to the púsári that
matters were coming to a crisis, and that Valan, stung into
resentment and defiance by the remarks of the villagers, and pitying
Vallee’s distress and unhappiness, would soon make her his wife
and take her away. Valan’s generous and honourable conduct
towards his daughter, and his expression of belief in his innocence,
had completely won the púsári’s heart. He saw with approval and
pleasure the relations between the two, and the thought that his
daughter would soon be provided for, helped in considerable
measure to reconcile him to his unhappy lot.
It happened one night that the púsári in one of his nocturnal rambles
found himself at the river. It was now the height of the hot season,
and the river was almost dry. Near where the path crossed the river
was a small pool, the only water for miles around; to this the púsári
went, and seated on the bank above, watched the wild animals
coming to drink. It was a bright moonlight night, and the light
reflected from the white sandy bed of the river made everything
clearly visible. First came a pair of porcupines, which played about
and chased each other, rattling their quills noisily, till the sudden
appearance of an old she-bear with a cub on her back put them to
flight. The bear drank and shuffled off; and then, with noiseless,
stealthy step, a leopard glided out of the jungle into the moonlight. It
looked about with its cruel, round gleaming eyes for a few moments,
and then, lying down on its stomach, lapped its fill of water.
Afterwards came a herd of wild-pigs, suspicious and wary, followed
by a number of graceful spotted deer. As these were drinking, a
slight noise in the distance caused them all to throw up their heads
and listen in attitudes of alarm, and then to disappear in the jungle
like shadows. A few moments later, with heavy but silent tread, a
herd of elephants came along the river and drank at the pool,
throwing copious showers of water over themselves with their trunks
afterwards. The púsári had by this time quite lost all fear of wild
animals, so he sat and watched them with pleasure and in perfect
security.
Suddenly the púsári started to his feet, and with staring eyes and
beating heart, gazed at something in the distance that had caught
his eye. It was a brilliant glare of light over the trees. It was the pisási
village at last! Without a moment’s hesitation, and breathless with
anxiety, he hurried off in the direction of the light, going straight
through the jungle towards it. Nearer and nearer appeared the light,
till at last, with joy and exultation in his heart, he stepped out of the
jungle into the well-remembered enchanted bazaar. But instead of
the unearthly silence that had reigned in the bazaar the last time he
was there, it was now filled with uproar. No particular sounds were
distinguishable; but horrid shrieks and yells, awful execrations and
hideous sounds of every sort, filled the air. Instead of taking no
notice of him as before, the pisásis glared balefully at him, and
seemed to snarl and show their teeth. The creatures in the shape of
cattle and dogs followed him threateningly; and numbers of evil-
looking birds and loathsome creatures with wings flapped and
fluttered about his head. But undaunted and undeterred, the púsári
walked steadily on, searching for the old she-pisási’s stall where he
had drunk the magic potion. At last he found it. There sat the old
hag, blinking and leering with the same hollow gourd of water before
her. Seizing it, the púsári raised it to his lips, and in spite of the awful
din that instantly arose, drained it to the bottom. As he put it down
empty, he fell to the ground insensible.
It was daylight when he recovered and staggered to his feet. He
remembered instantly what had happened during the night, and was
filled with intense anxiety to ascertain whether his experiment had
broken the spell that had bound him. He gazed at his arms and legs,
and it seemed to him that they were real flesh and blood. He pinched
them, and was sure he had felt the sensation. A thrill of joy passed
through him, for he felt certain that he had recovered his human
form. Taking his bearings by the sun, he made his way rapidly
through the jungle to the river. As he descended the bank, he came
upon a herd of deer, and it was with rapture that he saw them gaze
in alarm at him and then dash hastily away. As he walked along the
bed of the river, he noticed with intense satisfaction that he now had
a shadow! There was no longer any doubt, and in the gladness of his
heart the púsári began to sing at the top of his voice. As he turned
into the path leading to Pandiyán, he caught sight of a man coming
towards him; a moment later, he saw it was Valan Elúvan. On seeing
the púsári, the young man stopped and looked at him with
astonishment. After a moment’s hesitation, he came forward. ‘Why,
iya, where have you been?’ he exclaimed.
‘I cannot tell you now, Valan,’ replied the púsári. ‘I am anxious to get
to Pandiyán. Come with me, and I will tell you all.’
‘Then you are not afraid to go to the village, iya?’ said Valan
hesitatingly.
‘No. Why should I?’
‘Have you not heard, then, of the murder of the múdliya and what is
said about it?’
‘Yes, yes! I know all about it, and who the murderer is.’—Valan
glanced quickly and searchingly at the púsári.—‘Ay, and I know more
than that,’ continued the púsári, returning his glance with a smile. ‘I
know how you have been making love to my daughter in my
absence, and heard every word you said to her!’
Valan looked puzzled and confounded, but said nothing; and the two
walked on together in silence, each buried in his own thoughts.
Valan was wondering whether the púsári could possibly have been
hidden in the jungle near his house all the time, and thus overheard
his interviews with Vallee. He was also trying to account for his
friendly manner towards him, so different from his former behaviour.
He could not help feeling that the púsári was only feigning
friendliness, and that he had some deep design in view, especially
when he thought over his remark, that he knew who was the
murderer of the headman; and who that was he felt only too sure—
his own brother, and the other’s deadly enemy. Meanwhile, the
púsári, filled with joyful thoughts and anticipations, strode along at
such a rate that Valan could scarcely keep up with him.
At length they reached Pandiyán. A number of the villagers were
standing about, and they no sooner saw who it was that
accompanied Valan than the cry was raised; ‘The púsári has come
back!’ and men, women, and children came running out of the
houses, filled with astonishment and excitement. Vallee, however,
was not to be seen, though both the men looked round for her.
Without taking notice of anybody, the púsári walked through the
village, past his own louse, to Iyan Elúvan’s hut. Valan followed,
grave and silent. The púsári’s face was hard and stern as he entered
the house. A glance round showed him there was no one there; it
was, however, in great disorder, and something lying on the floor
caught his eye. It was a torn fragment of cloth, and near it lay a small
knife, its point stained with blood. The púsári picked them up and
examined them; then, without a word, and followed by Valan and an
intensely curious and excited but silent crowd of villagers, he left the
hut, and entering the jungle at its back, made his way to the hollow
tree where Iyan had hidden the valuables he had robbed the múdliya
of. As the party neared the spot, a loud cry rose from the villagers,
for lying at the foot of the tree was a dark object; it was the body of
Iyan Elúvan!
Uttering an exclamation of horror, Valan knelt beside his brother and
laid his hand upon his heart. The body was still warm, but Iyan was
quite dead. His right hand was bound up with a strip of cloth. On this
being unwound by Valan, a couple of small punctured wounds were
discernible in the fleshy part near the thumb. Cries of, ‘It is a snake-
bite!’ ‘He has been bitten by a snake!’ rose from the villagers
crowding round, for they all recognised the marks. Meanwhile, the
púsári, with the assistance of a stick, had drawn the bundle out of
the hollow in the tree. With it came the freshly shed skin of a cobra,
and it was at once seen how Iyan had come by his death. A cobra
had taken up its abode in the hollow where Iyan had placed his ill-
gotten treasure, and on his attempting to withdraw it, had bitten him
in the hand. Iyan had then gone back to his house, and lanced and
washed the wound and bound up his hand; but feeling the approach
of death, had crawled back to the tree, but for what purpose was
never known, and had there expired.
Opening the bundle, the púsári displayed to the astonished gaze of
the villagers the money and jewels it contained. Every one of them
knew at once that it was the stolen property of the murdered
headman; but how it came to be hidden in the tree and what Iyan
had to do with it, they were at a loss to guess. And now the púsári
spoke, and in a few words told them all that had happened to him
since they had last seen him. They listened eagerly and attentively,
and believed every word. They frequently interrupted his story of
what he had seen in the pisási village, with exclamations of horror
and amazement, and when he finished, they one and all loudly
expressed their satisfaction at his return, and belief in his innocence.
The whole party then returned to the village, carrying the body of
Iyan, and taking with them the recovered treasure. The púsári went
at once in search of his daughter, and soon found her in the
thrashing-ground in the fields winnowing rice. The meeting was a
very happy one. Vallee’s delight and joy knew no bounds. Could it
have been possible to increase her happiness at her father’s return,
the assurance he now gave her of regard for Valan Elúvan and his
approval of him as her future husband, would have done so. The
púsári’s next step was to go home accompanied by Vallee, and in a
few cold, bitter words, to upbraid his relatives for their conduct and
order them to leave his house at once. Ashamed and abashed, they
went away without any attempt at explanation or apology. That
afternoon, the young headman who had before inquired into the
murder arrived at Pandiyán and at once instituted inquiries. The
result was that the púsári’s innocence was established and the dead
man’s guilt proved. The headman took charge of the stolen property.
‘Truly, iya,’ he said to the púsári as he departed, ‘you have much to
be thankful for. Only by the favour of Púliya have you escaped from
the wiles of the pisásis, and from the snare that Iyan Elúvan laid for
you. ’Tis well, indeed, to be a favourite of the god. May you be happy
and prosper!’
Before many days, Valan and Vallee were married, and went to live
in an adjoining village. Relieved by the death of his enemy from
constant worry and irritation, the púsári’s temper greatly improved. In
course of time he became so much respected and so popular, that
he was elected headman of the district. The secrets he learned when
he wandered about the village invisible, proved to be of great value
to him, as he was often able to turn his knowledge to account in his
dealings with his fellow-villagers. He became in time a man of
substance.
The púsári’s adventure was the subject of conversation through the
whole country round for many weeks, and for a long time not a man,
woman, or child dared enter the jungle after nightfall. But though in
course of time the fear of the pisásis wore off, and on several
occasions villagers were lost in the forest and wandered about there
all night, no one ever found again the Haunted Jungle.
A STICK OF INDIAN INK.
Amongst familiar things that are of comparatively recent
introduction we must include that artistic article inaccurately known
as Indian ink. Even when the seventeenth century was more than
half-spent, it was a rarity; and in the folio volume, published in 1672,
descriptive of the Museo Moscarda, there is an engraving of a stick
of Indian ink, which was included with some ‘giants’ teeth’—in reality
mammoth bones—as amongst the chief curiosities of the collection.
Notwithstanding its usual English name of ‘Indian ink,’ it is a Chinese
manufacture. M. Maurice Jametel, a careful and accomplished
French scholar, has compiled from Chinese sources an interesting
monograph on its history and manufacture (L’Encre de Chine,
d’après des Documents Chinois, traduits par M. Jametel: Paris,
1882). The historians of the Celestial kingdom, according to their
usual custom in dealing with the affairs of their own land, attribute
high antiquity to the use of ink; they say that it was invented by Tien-
tchen, who flourished somewhere between 2697 and 2597 b.c. The
Chinese at the time made use of a lacquer which was spread upon
silk by the help of bamboo sticks. That, at least, is one interpretation
of certain passages as to bamboo books. Next we are told that they
used a sort of black stone, to which water was applied.
About two centuries and a half before the birth of Christ, a new
departure arose in Kiang-si province, where they began to
manufacture balls of lampblack made of a mixture of lacquer,
firwood, and size. The new invention was warmly welcomed, and the
processes rapidly improved. A poet, Ouï-fou-jen, celebrating the
novel aid to literature, mentions with especial praise the ink that was
made from the firs that grew on the hillsides of Lou-chan, in the
province of Kiang-si. This province was celebrated for the fine quality
of its ink; and under the Tang dynasty, in the seventh, eighth, and
ninth centuries of our era, there was an overseer who was a
government official and whose functions were hereditary. Every year,
a certain number of sticks of ink were sent to the Emperor as tribute.
During the reign of the Tang dynasty, we are told that the ink grew
blacker with age, and that the size hardening, made the sticks as
hard as stone. This points to the early development of the industry;
for these characteristics of more than a thousand years ago are
precisely those which are still regarded as the true tests of
excellence. There is even some reason to think that there were state
manufactories. The names of Li-tsao, Tchou-feung—whose place
was called the Fir-burning Workshop—and of Li-tchao have been
recorded as makers of excellence; but the son of the last-named, Li-
ting-kouei, is still regarded as the most famous of ink-makers. He
was an ingenious person, and moulded his ‘sticks’ of ink into a
variety of quaint forms; and his ‘swords’ and ‘cakes’ were greatly
admired. His reputation, however, rests on a more solid basis than a
talent for fancy shapes. The sterling character of the man was
reflected in his work; and the excellence and good quality of his ink
attracted general admiration. It was said that if you wanted to test the
genuineness of an ink-stick that professed to be from his workshop,
you must break it in pieces, and throw the bits into a vessel of water.
If the pieces at the end of a month remained intact and undissolved,
it was a proof that the ink had come from the works of Li-ting-kouei.
There are points of contact between the manners of the East and
West, for an honorific syllable or title was granted by the Emperor to
the successful ink-maker, who thus became Lhi-ting-kouei. Another
famous ink-maker was Tchang-yu, who was furnisher to the
household of the Emperors under the dynasty of the Song, who
flourished from 998 to 1023. The manufacture, however, declined in
its artistic quality; but sometimes a maker arose who gave it a fresh
impetus and importance. Two of these are named Pan-kou and
Tchai-sin, the latter of whom is said to have rediscovered some of
the antique processes by which Li-ting-kouei had gained his renown.
A great variety of processes have been employed, and nearly every
kind of combustible has been used for the production of the
lampblack. The Emperor Hsiuan-tsong made use of perfumed rice-
powder steeped in a decoction of Hibiscus mutabilis. At one locality

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Defining and Classifying Groups

The Five Stage Model of Group Development

Group Properties: Roles, Norms, Status, Size and Cohesiveness

2. Common Types of Norms

5. Deviant Workplace Behaviour

3. Causes of social loafing:

3. The relationship of cohesiveness and productivity depends on the performance-related norms

4. How to encourage group cohesiveness:

Group Decision Making

A. Group Versus the Individual

1. Strengths of group decision-making:

B. Groupthink and Groupshift

C. Group Decision-Making Techniques

1. Most group decision making takes place in interacting groups

Creating Effective Teams

3. The four key components for an effective are:

2. Leadership and structure:

4. Performance evaluation and reward systems:

SUMMARY AND IMPLICATIONS FOR MANAGERS

• A number of group properties show a relationship to performance such as role perception,

1. Have students break into small groups of between 3 and 5.

QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW

1. Compare and contrast command, task, interest, and friendship groups.

2. What might motivate you to join a group?

3. Describe the five-stage group-development model.

4. How is an individual’s status in a group determined?

5. When do groups make better decisions than individuals?

6. Contrast the pros and cons of having diverse teams?

8. What is groupthink? What is its effect on decision-making quality?

9. How effective are electronic meetings?

QUESTIONS FOR CRITICAL THINKING

ETHICAL DILEMMA – Discrimination against Muslims

ADDITIONAL WEB EXERCISE

Exploring OB Topics on the World Wide Web

1. Moving from a traditional hierarchical structure to teams requires

3. For a brief overview of the characteristics of effective teams go to

CHAP. III.—THE BREAKING OF THE SPELL.

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