Workforce Arrangements Quarter

Group Formation Quarter (hereinafter, the Quarter) is the first of four lectures of Operations Quadrivium (hereinafter, the Quadrivium):

• The Quarter is designed to introduce its learners to enterprise discovery, or, in other words, to concepts related to obtaining data needed to administer the enterprise effort; and
• The Quadrivium examines concepts of administering various types of enterprises known as enterprise administration as a whole.

The Quadrivium is the first of seven modules of Septem Artes Administrativi, which is a course designed to introduce its learners to general concepts in business administration, management, and organizational behavior.

Outline

The predecessor lecture is Social Rationale Quarter.

Concepts

1. Group formation.
2. Group. Two or more individuals, interacting and interdependent, who have come together to achieve particular objectives.
   • Group. Two or more interacting and interdependent individuals who come together to achieve specific goals.
   • Informal group. A group that is neither formally structured nor organizationally determined; such a group appears in response to the need for social contact.
   • Formal group. A designated workgroup defined by an organization's structure.
   • Interacting group. A typical group in which members interact with each other face to face.
   • Reference group. An important group to which individuals belong or hope to belong and with whose norms individuals are likely to conform.
3. Role. A set of expected behavior patterns attributed to someone occupying a given position in a social unit.
   • Role. Behavior patterns expected of someone occupying a given position in a social unit.
   • Role ambiguity. When role expectations are not clearly understood.
   • Role expectations. How others believe a person should act in a given situation.
   • Role overload. Having more work to accomplish than time permits.
   • Role perception. An individual's view of how he or she is supposed to act in a given situation.
4. Status. A prestige grading, position, or rank within a group.
   • Status. A socially defined position or rank given to groups or group members by others.
   • Status characteristics theory. A theory that states that differences in status characteristics create status hierarchies within groups.
5. Group cohesion. The extend to which members of a group support and validate one another while at work.
   • Group cohesiveness. The degree to which group members are attracted to one another and share the group's goals.
6. Norm. A standard or expectation that is accepted and shared by a group's members.
   • Norm. An acceptable standard of behavior within a group that is shared by the group's members.
7. Groupthink. A phenomenon in which the norm for consensus overrides the realistic appraisal of alternative courses of action.
   • Groupthink. When a group exerts extensive pressure on an individual to align her or his opinion with others; opinions.
   • Conformity. The adjustment of one's behavior to align with the norms of the group.
   • Hawthorne Studies. A series of studies during the 1920s and 1930s that provided new insights into individual and group behavior.
8. Groupshift. A change between a group's decision and individual decision that a member within the group would make; the shift can be toward either conservatism or greater risk but it generally is toward a more extreme version of the group's original position.
   • Stereotype threat. The degree to which we internally agree with the generally negative stereotyped perceptions of our groups.
9. Group functioning. The quantity and quality of a group's work output.
   • Social loafing. The tendency for individuals to expend less effort when working collectively than when working individually.
   • Social loafing. The tendency for individuals to expend less effort when working collectively than when working individually.
10. Workgroup. A group that interacts primarily to share information and to make decisions to help each group member perform within his or her area of responsibility.
11. Group decision-making. individual decision-making

Methods

1. Group decision-making technique.
   • Nominal group technique. A group decision-making method in which individual members meet face to face to pool their judgments in a systematic but independent fashion.
   • Thumb vote. A quick pulse to get a sense of where the team are in terms of commitment, or agreement on a decision, etc. thumb up generally means agree, yes, or good, and thumb down disagree, no or bad; the analog version of this allows the thumb to be anywhere on the half circle to indicate differing degrees of agreeability.
2. Survey feedback. The use of questionnaires to identify discrepancies among member perceptions; discussion follows, and remedies are suggested.

Instruments

1. Group development.
   • Forming stage. The first stage of group development in which people join the group and then define the group's purpose, structure, and leadership.
   • Storming stage. The second stage of group development, characterized by intragroup conflict.
   • Norming stage. The third stage of group development, characterized by close relationships and cohesiveness.
   • Performing stage. The fourth stage of group development when the group is fully functional and works on group task.
   • Adjourning stage. The fifth stage of group development for temporary groups during which group members are concerned with wrapping up activities rather than task performance.
2. Punctuated-equillibrium model. A set of phases that temporary groups go through that involves transitions between inertia and activity.

Practices

The successor lecture is Leadership Quarter.