4.3 Group behaviour in organisations

4.3.1 Group development and decision-making.

• Tuckman and Jensen's (2010) stages of group development.
• Belbin's nine team roles.
• faulty decision-making, explanations and strategies to avoid it:.
• groupthink including features with examples.

This matters because —group development determines what can be inferred or chosen; begin with the stated conditions and keep the conclusion tied to the evidence.

Example: apply —group development to one small, clearly defined case, show the key step or comparison, and explain the result in words.

Boundary: —Group development is not a universal recommendation. Check the syllabus scope, assumptions, units and the limits of the evidence before generalising.

4.3.2 Individual and group performance.

• individual and group performance focusing on social facilitation and social loafing including definitions, drive theory and evaluation apprehension, social impact theory.
• group performance across cultures focusing on social loafing in individualistic and collectivist cultures, including a study, e.g. Earley (1993).
• performance monitoring of employee productivity (exemplified by the following key study).
• Key study looking at concentration levels when being monitored: Claypoole and Szalma (2019), focus on experiment 1, specifics of methodology for experiment 2 will not be needed.

This matters because —group performance determines what can be inferred or chosen; begin with the stated conditions and keep the conclusion tied to the evidence.

Example: apply —group performance to one small, clearly defined case, show the key step or comparison, and explain the result in words.

Boundary: —Group performance is not a universal recommendation. Check the syllabus scope, assumptions, units and the limits of the evidence before generalising.

4.3.3 Conflict at work.

• levels of group conflict (intra-individual, inter-individual, intra-group and inter-group). Causes of organisational and interpersonal group conflict.
• Thomas-Kilmann's five conflict-handling modes.
• bullying at work; types, phases and causes, including a study, e.g. Einarsen (1999).
• Relevant issues and debates and methodology for this topic include: application to everyday life, individual and situational explanations, cultural differences, reductionism versus holism, idiographic versus nomothetic.

This matters because —conflict at work determines what can be inferred or chosen; begin with the stated conditions and keep the conclusion tied to the evidence.

Example: apply —conflict at work to one small, clearly defined case, show the key step or comparison, and explain the result in words.

Boundary: —Conflict at work is not a universal recommendation. Check the syllabus scope, assumptions, units and the limits of the evidence before generalising.