9. TOPIC
GROUPS AND TEAMS IN THE ORGANIZATION
GROUP STRUCTURE
Ing. Pavel Adámek, Ph.D.
adamek@opf.slu.cz

How the lecture will be conducted?
1.We use MS Teams, a shared whiteboard for your engagement and reactions, brainstorming ideas and
for sharing answers.
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2.The lecture is completed by quizzes in Vevox, the link is always in the presentation.
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Contents
•Group structure and teamworking – key terms and learning outcomes
•Group structure and process
•Power, status, liking structure
•Communication structure
•Leadership structure
•Definitions and distinctions formal and Informal group
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Learning objectives
After studying this topic, you should be able to define those
key terms in your own words, and you should also be able to:
•List the six dimensions of group structure.
•Identify the sources of power within the group.
•Distinguish between two common uses of the concept of status.
•Distinguish between communication network analysis, communication pattern analysis, and
Interaction Process Analysis.

Key readings
You can find support in the following sources:
•Book – Huczynski, A. (2013). Organizational Behaviour.
Chapter 11., p. 355
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Why study group structure?



Because so much work in organizations is now done in groups and teams, companies invest a great
deal of time and effort during the selection process to find applicants who are good ‘team
players’.
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Why study group structure?
Knowledge, skills, and abilities possessed by team players

There were four team members named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody.
There was an important job to do and Everybody was asked to do it.
Everybody was sure Somebody would do it.
Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did.
Everybody was angry about that, because it was Somebody’s job.
Everybody thought Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn’t.
In the end, Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done.
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Team problem!!!

Group structure and process



The most important of these are
• power;
• status;
• liking;
• communication;
• role;
• leadership.
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Group structure and process

Vevox questions
https://silesianuniversity.vevox.com/#/meeting/450586/polls


Why does a group have structure?



Power structure



We can distinguished five types of power:
•reward power: the ability to exert influence based on the other’s belief that the influencer has
access to valued rewards which will be dispensed in return for compliance;
•coercive power: the ability to exert influence based on the other’s belief that the influencer can
administer unwelcome penalties or sanctions;
•referent power: the ability to exert influence based on the other’s belief that the influencer has
desirable abilities and personality traits that can and should be copied;
•legitimate power: the ability to exert influence based on the other’s belief that the influencer
has authority to issue orders which they in turn have an obligation to accept;
•expert power: the ability to exert influence based on the other’s belief that the influencer has
superior knowledge relevant to the situation and the task.
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Power structure

Status structure



Liking structure



Liking structure
Sociogram
Sociometric positions within a group

Communication structure



Communigram showing
participation at a meeting


Task type and communication network performance



Role structure



Belbin’s team roles



•There are many jobs to be done in a group if it is to be both productive and satisfying for its
members.
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•The emergence of a leader within any group is a function of its structure.
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•Usually, a group makes a leader of the person who has some special capacity for coping with the
group’s particular problems.
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•They may possess physical strength, shrewdness, or some other relevant attribute.
Leadership structure

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Leadership structure


Vevox questions
https://silesianuniversity.vevox.com/#/meeting/450586/polls


•Teamworking provides a mechanism to bring together different employee expertise and skills that
are required to complete increasingly complex work tasks in ever shorter time frames.
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•There has therefore been a worldwide trend among firms to introduce newer forms of teamworking.
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•These include global teams, possessing national, cultural, and linguistic heterogeneity and
operating within multinational organizations, often virtually; global virtual teams, which operate
outside the formal organization structure, whose members reach across company boundaries to forge
networks of connection hot groups, self-forming teams seeking to achieve groundbreaking and
significant tasks.
Why study teamworking?

•The six main dimensions along which the members of a group differ are power, status, liking,
communication, role, and leadership. A person may be placed high on one dimension and
simultaneously low on another.
•There are five bases or types of power – reward, coercive, referent, legitimate, and expert.
•The status structure of a group is determined by how much status an individual member possesses.
There is formal status and social status.
•The liking (emotional) structure of a group is revealed through the use of sociometry.
•A communication network analysis maps the direction and quantity of oral communication in a group.
It is depicted on a communigram.
•The role structure of a group can differentiate those members who perform task-focused roles,
relations-oriented roles, and self-oriented roles.
•Meredith Belbin’s team role theory distinguishes the roles played by the members of a team. They
are plant, resource investigator, coordinator, shaper, monitor-evaluator, teamworker, implementer,
completer-finisher, and specialist.
RECAP

We can share our thoughts and ask questions
J
Pavel Adámek
adamek@opf.slu.cz