Chapter 11 ACCA F1

Chapter 11
The nature of groups

1. Groups
The formal group is simply one which is formed and known by management.
Groups were mentioned when we talked about the human relations school of management first
identified by Elton Mayo. In his study at the Hawthorne plant of the Western Electric Company
the existence of informal groups was discovered.
Informal groups are not formed by management action and indeed management may not
even be aware of their existence. However we are social beings and we like being part of a
group and therefore understanding groups is important to management.
Handy said any group will have:

A sense of purpose or aim
An identity- there is a feeling of who is within the group and who isnt within the group.
Group norms- accepted ways of behaving
Communication between the members of the group.
Handy defined a group as: Any collection of people who perceive themselves to be a group.
2. Team Roles
A team is an example of a formal group: the team would have been deliberately created by
management.
Advantages of the team is that people with different skills are brought together.
Dr. Meredith Belbin who categorized eight or perhaps nine team roles, and produced
questionnaires that would allow people to assess what their particular characteristic were
(psychological profiles)/personality types:
Chairman- (sometimes called, the coordinator.) This person clarifies goals, promotes
decision-making and is a good delegator.
Shaper- Is someone who is someone driven, thrives under pressure, wants to overcome
obstacles, and tends to want to get their own way.
Monitor/evaluator- Sees all options, judges things accurately and fairly objectively.
Company worker- (sometimes called an implementer). Turns ideas into practical actions.
Resource-investigator- Explores opportunities, examines contacts.
Team worker- Listens, builds, and tries to play down potential friction.
PlantB- rather unusual unorthodox person - creative, imaginative, and is deliberately put into
the team - planted in other words - with the hope that they will solve difficult problems
Completer/finisher- Is painstaking, conscientious, careful, looks for errors and is keen on

finishing within the deadline
Specialist- A single-minded person who provides particular knowledge and the skills which
may be in rare supply otherwise.
3. Tuckman Stages of team/group development

He said every team or indeed group will go through these stages:
Forming stage- a rather slow tentative stage - should we form a group? What might it be for?
Storming stage- a stage where different people might compete for different roles within the
group; perhaps two people with shaper-type characteristics fighting over who is actually going
to become the main spokesperson for the group.
Norming - establishment of how the group is going to behave, acceptable methods of behavior.
Perform- we get some output from it.
Dorming stage- This is where a group meets out of habit rather than out of any real need. At the
dorming stage, effectively the sleeping stage, not much is achieved and really the group at this
point should be disbanded.
Conclusions form this stages of team development:
No useful output is really achieved until the group reaches its performing stage.
Therefore anything management can do to accelerate the passage from forming, trough
storming and norming until we get to performing, is good.
Every time the composition of the group changes - one member leaves, another one
joins - you go through these stages again. There is a slight loss of performance.
4. Teams and committees

Two types of formal groups:
Teams are deliberately formed, they have very specific objectives, almost always they bring
together mixed skills, and they will have a definite leader or captain.
Committees are also formal groups deliberately formed, and certainly with specific areas to deal
with. However, rather than actually carrying out specific tasks they tend to be more concerned
with decision-making, bringing together people from different departments, discussing matters
and coming to a conclusion.

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Chapter 11 ACCA F1

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Chapter 11

The nature of groups

Handy said any group will have:

Completer/finisher- Is painstaking, conscientious, careful, looks for errors and is keen on

3. Tuckman Stages of team/group development

Conclusions form this stages of team development:

4. Teams and committees

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