MGMT20001 · Organisational Behaviour
Teams and Groups
A team is two or more people who act interdependently toward a common objective — more than a group, where outputs simply add up. Teamwork can lift productivity and the quality of working life, but only if you manage the predictable costs: process loss and social loafing (the Ringelmann effect), worst when individual effort is invisible. Teams develop through Tuckman’s five stages (forming, storming, norming, performing, adjourning — storming is normal), and members always do two kinds of work: task and maintenance. Effectiveness is engineered through inputs (environment, design) feeding processes (norms, cohesion, trust). In self-managed 'bossless' teams, Barry (1991) shows leadership becomes a set of distributed functions. The leadership ladder — trait → behavioural → contingency → contemporary — and manager-vs-leader round out the chapter.
What this chapter covers
- 01Group vs team — interdependence and the common objective
- 02Why teams + the costs: process loss, social loafing, the Ringelmann effect
- 03Tuckman's five stages of group development
- 04Task vs maintenance (socio-emotional) roles
- 05Team-effectiveness inputs → processes → effectiveness
- 06Self-managed teams & distributed leadership (Barry 1991)
- 07The leadership ladder (trait → behavioural → contingency) + manager vs leader
Worked example: place the team and fix the imbalance
- +1Tuckman stage: conflict over roles and goals is storming — normal team development, not a sign the team is broken.
- +1Missing role: with quieter members talked over, no one is playing the gatekeeper / harmoniser — a maintenance role.
- +1Team-cost: effort slipping when contributions are invisible is social loafing (process loss; the Ringelmann effect).
- +1Fix the maintenance gap: assign someone to draw quiet members in and ease tension; treat storming as normal and work the roles through toward norming.
- +1Curb social loafing: make individual contributions identifiable, keep the team small, and raise task meaningfulness.
Key terms
- Team vs group
- A team is 2+ people acting interdependently toward a common objective, with individual and mutual accountability. A group's members pursue their own work near one another, outputs simply adding up.
- Social loafing (Ringelmann effect)
- People exerting less effort in a group than alone — the headline form of process loss, worst when individual contributions are invisible. Curbed by making effort identifiable and keeping teams small.
- Tuckman's five stages
- Forming → storming → norming → performing → adjourning. Storming (conflict over roles and goals) is normal, not failure; stages can recur when a new member, task or crisis hits.
- Task vs maintenance roles
- Task roles get the job done (initiating, informing, summarising, evaluating); maintenance (socio-emotional) roles keep the group functioning (encouraging, harmonising, gatekeeping). High-performing teams do both.
- Distributed leadership (Barry 1991)
- In a self-managed 'bossless' team, leadership is not a person but a bundle of functions (envisioning, organising, spanning, social maintenance) shared across members. Self-managed is not leaderless — the functions still must be performed.
Teams and Groups FAQ
What actually makes a 'team' different from a 'group'?
Interdependence and a common objective. In a team my output depends on yours and we share accountability for one goal; in a group members each pursue their own work near one another and outputs simply add up. Your MGMT20001 case-study team chasing one report grade is the textbook team.
Is 'storming' a sign the team is failing?
No — storming (conflict over roles, goals and status) is the normal working-through of a team's development, and managed well it builds toward norming. Two traps: treating it as dysfunction to stamp out, and assuming development is strictly linear (a new member or crisis can throw a team back a stage).
How do you curb social loafing?
Make individual contributions identifiable, keep the team small, raise job enrichment and task meaningfulness, and select members who value teamwork. Name the Ringelmann effect for the marks — loafing is worst when no one can see who did what.
What is distributed leadership?
In self-managed 'bossless' teams (Barry 1991), leadership is a set of functions — envisioning, organising, spanning, social maintenance — shared across members rather than held by one boss. Self-managed is not leaderless: the functions still must be covered.
Exam move
Lock down the group-vs-team distinction and the Tuckman sequence — you'll be asked to place a scenario in the right stage and to remember storming is normal. Be able to tell a task role from a maintenance role and to diagnose an imbalance, then prescribe. Memorise the social-loafing / Ringelmann fixes (make effort visible, small teams). For leadership, hold the ladder (trait → behavioural → contingency → contemporary) and the clean line that Fiedler is fixed, path–goal is flexible; and keep distributed leadership (Barry) ready for self-managed-team questions.
