Abstract
Communication is paramount, and it shapes
the communication network of a group. Placement of a member within a
communication network and the role they play often influences their status
within a group. Fantasy is important since it defines how groups can create
their culture. The principle of symbolic convergence suggests that humans
create a shared reality, deal with uncomfortable issues and meaning through
talking or make decisions on what actions to take in what is often referred to
as fantasy chains. Groups also establish group climate through bonding and
cohesiveness among its members thus contribute to its productivity. Normally an
effective group will end up developing a supportive group climate whereas an
ineffective one creates a defensive climate. Keeping all these in mind, this
paper focuses on a handful of research work done on communication in groups and
factors affecting such communication.
Annotated Bibliography
1.
analysMcEwan D, Ruissen GR, Eys MA, Zumbo BD,
Beauchamp MR (2017) The Effectiveness of Teamwork Training on Teamwork
Behaviors and Team Performance: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of
Controlled Interventions. PLoS ONE 12(1): e0169604.
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0169604
Teams have become commonplace across all
sectors in the contemporary society. Group work or rather teamwork is highly
encouraged in any scenario from football squads to special operations corps and
political parties. For these groups to be effective and achieve their aims, the
members need not only to be highly skilled but also work well together like a
well-oiled machine.
The purpose of the review was to quantify
the effects of the preexisting controlled experimental research of interventions
that occur in teamwork training on teamwork as well as team performance. The
objective of this paper was to conduct a systematic review as well as a
meta-analysis of teamwork interventions that were conducted with an aim to
improve teamwork and elevate team performance by use of controlled experimental
designs. The research delved into numerous articles from various databases
including Journal of applied psychology, Medline, and PsycINFO among others.
The number of articles used by the end of the study was 51 and comprised of 72
(k) unique interventions. The random effects model was utilized with 8439
participants.
The results indicated that teamwork
interventions had a considerable effect on teamwork and team performance. On
removing outlier studies, medium-sized effects were experienced on both
teamwork and team performance. Some notable findings were also revealed upon
additional subgroup analyses.
Limitations include lack of enough
reliable data on variables thus possibility of conducting inappropriate subgroup
analyses. Also, some information such as contact time between participating
teams and interventionists and the duration of the intervention was not
provided consistently. Finally, there was also a significant amount of
variability within various coded categories. The paper concludes that team
performance and teamwork can be fostered through teamwork training.
2.
Kozlowski, S., & Ilgen, D. (2006). Enhancing
the Effectiveness of Work Groups and Teams. Psychological Science In The Public
Interest, 7(3), 77-124. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1529-1006.2006.00030.x
People have been working together in
groups for a common purpose since time immemorial. Human social organization
was spearheaded by our ancestors when they would bond together to accomplish
tasks including hunting game and defending their territories or communities. In
fact, human history is to a large extent a tale of individuals working together
in groups to conquer, explore, and achieve certain ends. Teams impact on lives
every day and their effectiveness across a wide range of societal functions
cannot be overlooked. Yet, the contemporary society seems to recognize work as
a collection of individual jobs and not group work. Nevertheless, various
global forces over the years have pushed organizations throughout the world to
restructure work around teams to curb the unexpected. The restructure has made
team effectiveness a conspicuous yet significant organizational concern.
This monograph aimed to filter through
the thousands of psychological research studies conducted over a period of 50
years that were focused on influencing and understanding the processes relating
to team effectiveness, to identify the known and the unknown in an effort to
improve the effectiveness of teams and work groups.
The study starts by defining team
effectiveness and illustrating the conceptual foundations of its approach. It
then turns to review which focuses fundamentally on topics that have reliable
theoretical and empirical foundations. It then focuses on affective, behavioral,
and cognitive team processes that make team members merge their resources to
accomplish task demands thus be effective. The study later turns to
interventions that can align group processes, thereby providing tools necessary
to improve team effectiveness.
Findings of the research reveal an
emerging science related to workgroups and suggest several approaches to
improving the effectiveness of a team. The study concludes by summarizing the
primary findings and highlighting specific research and policy recommendations
for elevating the effectiveness of teams and work groups.
3.
Parayitam, S., Olson, B., & Bao, Y. (2010).
Task conflict, relationship conflict and agreementâ€seeking
behavior in Chinese top management teams. International Journal of Conflict
Management, 21(1), 94-116. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/10444061011016641
The study was conducted by three
researchers from the Charlton College of Business (University of Massachusetts)
on agreement seeking behavior, relationship conflict, and task conflict in
Chinese top management teams. The purpose of the study was to look into the
effects of task conflict on interpersonal conflict as well as agreement seeking
behavior. It also focused to establish the role of trust on the impact of
agreement seeking behavior alongside interpersonal conflict on the means of
handling conflict including third-party interventions, collaboration, and
avoidance.
The paper used a structured survey tool
to gather data from 252 senior executives from Mainland China. The researchers
then used the regression technique to analyze the data to determine how
interpersonal trust among executives affects the relationship between conflict
and the mechanisms of conflict response. They also examined the link between
relationship conflict, agreement seeking behavior and task among these senior
executives.
The findings of the study illustrated
that interpersonal trust among executives impacts on conflict responses to
better the organization. The results also indicated that task conflict among
top management groups is negatively linked to agreement-seeking behavior but
positively linked to relationship conflict. Data from the study concurs that
intra-group trust affects the relationship between collaborating responses and
agreement-seeking behavior such that lowâ€trusting
teams will have lesser collaboration than highâ€trust groups. The result also agrees that intraâ€group trust affects the link between
third-party responses and agreementâ€seeking
behavior such that lowâ€trusting
teams will have lesser thirdâ€party
responses than highâ€trust
groups and vice versa.The paper suggests that there’s need for administrators
to concentrate on interpersonal trust while dealing with the implications of
relationship and task conflict.
The study provides crucial insights into
top management group literature but has its fair share of weaknesses. The major
limitation is that self-report measures may contain bits of inherent social
desirability bias. All in all, the study significantly contributes to both
practicing managers and strategic management literature. Also, despite the fact
that the study was conducted on Chinese executives, the findings of the study
(that agreement-seeking behavior and interpersonal conflict are affected by
task conflict) greatly contribute to strategic decision-making literature.
4.
Stone, J., & Kwan,
V. (2016). How group processes influence, maintain, and overcome health
disparities. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 19(4),
411-414. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1368430216642612
The paper presents new theory and
research on how group processes impact, maintain, and overpower health
disparities. The researchers present eight papers that illustrate the causes as
well as consequences of health disparities from subjects including
disadvantaged and stigmatized groups as well as health care providers
interacting with patients. Few papers describe interventions and other factors
with the potential to lessen differences in health and well-being. The research
aims to inspire other researchers to consider how their work on intergroup
relations and group processes can develop solutions and help mitigate
disparities in health outcomes for individuals that are disadvantaged.
5.
Dreu, C., & Weingart, L. (2003). Task Versus
Relationship Conflict, Team Performance, and Team Member Satisfaction: A
Meta-Analysis. Web.mit.edu. Retrieved 27 March 2018, from
http://web.mit.edu/curhan/www/docs/Articles/15341_Readings/Negotiation_and_Conflict_Management/De_Dreu_Weingart_Task-conflict_Meta-analysis.pdf
Teamwork is prevalent in organizations
worldwide, yet the challenges of working in groups and teams still prevail. One
of the biggest challenges is conflict that often stems from the tension among
team members due to perceived or real differences. Conflict in groups or teams
is often concerned with task and relationship issues since members of a team
contribute to it through task inputs and social inputs.
The paper used meta-analysis to conduct a
quantitative review of team conflict literature in order to investigate the
extant contrasting perspectives on the link between relationship conflict, team
member satisfaction, task conflict, and team performance. Team conflict
literature was very instrumental in the study. The researchers included
satisfaction as a dependent variable to establish whether conflict impacts on
team performance or satisfaction.
The results of the study aligned with
past theories indicating both strong and negative correlations between team
member satisfaction, relationship conflict, and team performance. However, the
results differ from what has been popularly indicated textbooks and academic
research by revealing a strong and negative (rather than an expected positive)
correlations between team member satisfaction, task conflict, and team
performance. As expected, conflict indicated a stronger negative association
with team performance in highly complex tasks such as projects and decision
making than in less complex tasks such as production. Lastly, task conflict and
relationship conflict were weakly (rather than perceived strongly) correlated
whereas team performance and task conflict were less negatively related.
The paper concluded that the results were
clear about the correlation between relationship conflict and task conflict on
one hand and team performance on the other. Both types of conflict revealed a
negative yet moderate correlation with team performance. Yet there were no
differences detected between the two forms of conflict. Researchers caution
that findings should not be considered as conclusive evidence that suggests no
positive or functional side to conflict. Instead, they recommend that future
research should emphasize on how members of a team manage their relationship
conflicts as well as tasks. New research should also focus on detecting
positive implications of conflict which usually occur in specific
circumstances. Most importantly, the general assumption that team performance
is improved by task conflict and destroyed by relationship conflict should be
thwarted.
6.
Lee, I., Pratto, F., & Johnson, B. (2011).
Intergroup consensus/disagreement in support of group-based hierarchy: An
examination of socio-structural and psycho-cultural factors. Psychological
Bulletin, 137(6), 1029-1064. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0025410
The most common form of a stable society
is believed to be group-based hierarchies. However, history has continuously
indicated that all movements started by oppressed groups to fight dominant
groups takes place in communities that allowed and legitimized certain social
groups to become superior due to potent cultural ideologies. Such a historical
record makes it hard for people to embrace group-based hierarchies or
comprehend what social conditions could lead to its rejection. Despite an
extensive empirical research and formation of social theories on the topic,
social sciences still lack an answer as to when individuals agree or disagree
with people in powerful groups thus approve or reject group-based hierarchy.
The solutions to these challenges are crucial to the dynamics and psychology of
social justice, equality, and intergroup relations among other topics.
The paper conducted meta-analysis
research to investigate the extent to which psycho-cultural, as well as
socio-structural characteristics of the society, align with how much ethnic
groups and gender differ in their support of group-based hierarchies. Women
opposed group-based hierarchy to a large extent than men. Lower power ethnic
groups also firmly opposed group-based hierarchy more than higher-power racial
group members. As expected according to social dominance theory, gender
differences were considerable, less variable, and larger from one sample to
another than differences between racial groups.
Racial group members and the subordinate
gender greatly differed with dominants in their opinion on group-based
hierarchy in societies that enjoyed more gender equality and those that can be
regarded as more modern and liberal. The link between racial groups and gender
are discussed, and implications for relative deprivation theory, social identity
theory, social dominance theory, realistic group conflict theory, system
justification theory, social role theory and biosocial theory are developed.
7.
Horne,
C. (2008). Norm Enforcement in Heterogeneous Groups. Rationality And Society,
20(2), 147-172. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1043463108089543
Research indicates that
two factors are crucial for norm enforcement in homogeneous groups. These are;
the implications of a group member’s behavior for other members and the
interdependence of those group members. Horne extends extant theory to make
relevant predictions about norm enforcement. She uses experimental methods to
test predictions for both heterogeneous and homogeneous groups. The findings
illustrate that the two causal factors in homogeneous groups interact to affect
enforcement as well as compliance with social norms. The factors lead isolated
minorities to administer majority norms but not follow them in heterogenous groups.
They also prompt majorities to follow norms but not impose them.
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