4HR002 Introduction to

People at Work
Session 2: Working in Groups and
Teams
(Mullins, 2010: Chapters 8 and 9)
Last week’s homework:
Did you:
 Make sure you were registered for this topic on WOLF
(4HR002)?
 Read through last week’s slides to ensure you
understood everything, and try out some of the links to
useful sources?
 Begin your reflective journal by reflecting on what it is
you think you want from a future career in the light of
what was been discussed in last week’s class
 Consider what you will be looking for in the other group
members you will work with for the group/team
assignment 2 (Will be discussed later in the session)
 Find an interesting news story about being an employee
for discussion in this week’s class
The world of work in the news

Examples of news stories you have

brought to class?
Social Aspects of Work: Working in
Groups and Teams
From last week’s “Six Essentials”:
4. Mutual support and respect. People
need to be able to get help and respect
from their co-workers. In an environment
where "one person’s gain is another’s
loss," everyone loses.
Underlines the importance of good
working relationships between colleagues
Group norms: activity
 You are a relatively new employee in the warehousing
section at a large, out-of-town retail organisation.
Managers have clear systems for controlling shift work
and patterns in the warehouse, including clocking in and
clocking off for breaks and lunchtimes, but otherwise you
are not closely monitored by the management team.
You notice within the first few weeks of employment that
colleagues are clocking in for each other to enable
latecomers to go unnoticed, and longer
lunchtimes/breaks to be enjoyed. Do you:
 A. report the scam to management at the earliest
opportunity
 B. find out how to become part of this system as soon as
possible
 C. say nothing, but refuse to join in
You will need to justify your response!
If you answered:
A, explain why and how you would defend
your decision when confronted by fellow
workers
B, how would you defend your decision if
discovered by management?
C, how do you defend your decision to
both co-workers AND management?
In the Manager’s shoes.....

Imagine you are the manager in the

previous scenario. How would you react
to:
1. The ‘whistleblower’
2. The ‘skiver’
3. The ‘independent’
Which would be your preferred employee?
Early research into groups/teams at work:
Human Relations Approach-The Hawthorne
Studies
(Mullins,Chapter 2,pp.53-56)
Identified the importance of group values and
norms in the workplace-i.e. The informal
rules, beliefs or ways of working which dictate
how workers behave
Demonstrated how group pressures on
individual workers can be stronger than
financial incentives offered by management
What were the norms in the scenario above?
How norms and values can
contribute to effective performance
See Mullins, pp. 309-311
Establishing clear ground rules and group
norms about obligations etc. to which all
members stick rigorously can improve
group performance
Peer pressure can influence workers to
work more or less hard towards the
achievement of a shared goal-how?
Influence may be positive or negative
(Riches, 2003; Huck et al, 2003)
 Claimed benefits of group/team
working (Mullins, pp. 313-314)
Combining effort, experience, expertise
Sharing difficult/unpleasant tasks among
people
Source of companionship, support
Sense of identity and belonging
Guidelines on acceptable behaviour
Protection for members
See also ACAS
teamworking booklet
 A workplace example: a call centre
complaints management and
investigation team
1. Combining a range of skills, knowledge and
experience, e.g. Systems/IT skills, people
management skills, communication skills etc
2. Rota to face most difficult customers
3. Having fun together in the face of adversity!
4. Status of team: more important than others?
5. Shared rules about how to deal with staff,
customers etc
6. Sticking up for each other
 Characteristics of an Effective Group-
Mullins, p. 321
 Shared aims and objectives
 Sense of commitment to group
 Acceptance of group values and norms
 Mutual trust and dependency
 Full participation by all members and decision
making by consensus
 Free flow of information and communication
 Open expression of feelings and disagreements
 Resolution of conflict
 Low level of turnover, absenteeism, errors
Assessment 2 revisited
Group poster presentation
Working in groups of 4 or 5
Producing an A3 (minimum size) poster
discussing a key idea or theory relating to
people at work (see assessment briefing
for possible topics)
Presenting your poster to your tutor and
class and talking about its content-10
minutes allocated for presentation, plus
time for questions
Presentations in week 12
Important issues relating to group
working
Each member of the group must contribute
fully and equally to the assessment
All members of the group will be allocated
the same grade
It is the responsibility of the
group to ensure all members
are fully involved, and the
responsibility of each member
to ensure that the group works
effectively
Establishing group norms and ground
rules for the assessment
 Working in groups of 4 or 5 produce a list of
ground rules which you think might help a
group to work effectively for this assignment
 You may wish to consider issues such as the
setting and meeting of deadlines, the nature,
means and frequency of communication, the
allocation of responsibilities, what your aims
are (i.e. Do you want an A grade? Do you
just aim to pass?), how you will ensure that
all members contribute, how you will deal
with disagreements, failure to contribute etc
Break: return in 15 minutes
Consider who you would like to work with
for the group assessment
What kind of people will you work best
with?
What skills, qualities, experience,
knowledge will you need in your team?
Working in groups
 You should now find 3 or 4 other people to work
with from within the class for assessment 1b
 Get together with the other group members and
decide what your group’s ground rules will be
 Draw up a group contract that you can all agree
to
 Complete your group registration form as far as
possible
 Consider what your chosen topic will be: you
should have a reasonably clear idea by next
week’s session when you will be required to
hand in your registration form to your tutor
Individuals working in successful
groups: What will you bring to your
team?
“If groups are to be successful and
perform effectively there must be a spirit of
unity and co-operation....members of a
group must work well together as a
team...in most teams people will contribute
individual skills many of which will be
different” Mullins, page 342
Individual roles in teams
One of most popular and widely used tools
for identifying individual strengths/roles in
teams is based on the work of Belbin
(1993)
Identifies the preferences of individuals for
the type of role they like to take in
teamworking, and the strengths and
weaknesses associated with those roles
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9M0Al3
Oi0-8&feature=related
Belbin Team Roles
Individual roles in teams

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5oB8P
hS64Q&feature=youtu.be
By next week:
 Ensure your group has decided on a set of
ground rules by which you will work, and
considered which potential topics you are
interested in for your poster and presentation
 From your reading about the Belbin roles,
consider what your preferred team role is likely
to be and discuss this and the reasons in your
blog
 Find a news story relating to employees and the
world of work for discussion in next week’s class
References

Huck,S, kubler, D and Weibull, J (2003)

“Social norms and economic incentives in
firms”, Economic and Social Research
Council
Riches, A (2003) “Emotionally intelligent
teams”, Organisational Change and
Leadership Development,
http://www.anneriches.com.au/