“The fundamental fact of social life is precisely that it is social; that human beings do not live in isolation, but associate with other human beings "
Summary
Too much emphasis has been given to the study of people's individual characteristics. Values, attitudes, personality and similar personal characteristics are not inadequate to understand organizational behavior.
Rather, it is that a much richer point of view is obtained by looking at the structured relationships between individuals in organizations and how those relationships limit and allow certain actions to occur.
Organizations come with a myriad of formal and informal control mechanisms that, in effect, shape, direct, and greatly restrict the behavior of their members.
Almost all organizations have formal documentation that limits and models behavior, such as policies, procedures, rules, job descriptions, and job instructions. This formal documentation sets standards for acceptable and unacceptable behavior. If you know the main policies of an organization and have a copy of a specific job description, you already have a tremendous advantage in predicting much of the behavior on the job for that specific employee. Almost all organizations differentiate functions horizontally. In other words, exclusive positions and departments are created.
Organizations also differentiate roles vertically by creating levels of management. By doing so, they create boss-subordinate relationships that restrict the subordinate's behavior. In our lives outside of work, we have no bosses who can tell us what to do, evaluate us and even fire us. But most of us do have it at work. Remember, bosses evaluate employee performance and generally control the allocation of rewards. So if I know what behavior your boss prefers, I can anticipate the behavior he is most likely to adopt.
When a person joins an organization, they are expected to conform to established standards of acceptable behavior. These rules do not have to be written for them to be powerful and to control it. For example, an organization may not have a formal dress code, but employees are expected to “dress appropriately,” which means adjusting to the rules that involve a certain code.
Introduction
"Knowing yourself" could represent a way to try to understand the administrative man, especially to know the effect that the individual can cause in a group, according to the novelist Cervantes said: "because this is the most difficult lesson in life" referring to productive orientation, interest and social feeling, correct perception of people, affirmation of their own will, value of being, the man as a person, relationships between you and me, that is, mental health.
Knowing yourself would reflect people's attitudes, personality, ways of thinking, leadership, that many of these people would individually influence a group, whether by power, by belonging to a social group or membership.
"Understanding other people" is key to knowing the differences individually since they are characteristics of life that all of us understand and accept. For convenience it is necessary to recognize stereotypes about individuals and groups.
Generally we must be objective to avoid assuming the presence of a character trait from the presence of another trait or to allow ourselves generalizations about the individual.
A person who is a member of a group can be influenced in many ways: in his thinking after reconsidering a way of thinking and acting that he possessed and that through a certain time he acquires by belonging to a group, his way of behaving internally and externally, and even His way of dressing can be influenced even in these details, the individual could be molded if he does not have his own identity or obtain those traits or attitudes that seem best to him and adopt them as his own.
Another effect that occurs in the individual in the group is that due to belonging to a certain group he adopts many of the behaviors acquired in the group to feel part of it and be accepted by his peers.
In fact there are factors that contribute to the membership of a group to what is called group dynamics: where the basic economic reasons are described, physical proximity stimulation, belonging: social needs, location and estimation needs and those of Self-realization, each of them go through the stages of development of the growth of a group such as mutual acceptance, decision making, motivation and control; During the development of the groups there are types of groups such as: command, task, interest and friendship, and how do the groups operate? Because according to the roles that arise in their trajectory, they are given a category, norms are imposed, communication is practiced and networks are developed; There is also the effectiveness filter that refers to the size of the group, its dependency,the personal characteristics of the group members, the success of the group, the category to which they belong and the material demands met in some way, each of these group dynamics can be said and perceived the satisfaction of the membership and achievement of the goal.
Within the foundations of individual behavior, it should be remembered that an aptitude is the ability of a person to carry out the different tasks of a job; the general aptitudes of an individual, are constituted by two factors: intellectual and physical.
Intellectual skills are what they need to develop mental activities - thinking, reasoning, and problem solving.
Physical skills are the abilities to perform tasks that demand endurance, dexterity, strength, and other similar characteristics.
The factors that help to obtain the information available in an employee's profile: age, gender, race and seniority of the employee in the service of an organization; they are called biographical characteristics.
All of the above contributes to forming the individual effect in the group, and there are even doctrines on learning that explain the process by which knowledge is acquired and which in fact is called behavioral patterns:
a) Classical conditioning: its effect on the individual in the group is that it is the type of learning in which an individual responds to a certain stimulus that would not generally produce such a response; learning a conditioned response involves forming an association between a conditioned and an unconditioned stimulus; It is used to explain why certain behavior is frequent.
b) Operant conditioning: its effect on the individual in the group proposes that the behavior occurs based on its consequences. People learn to behave to achieve something they want or to avoid what they don't want; It is the type of learning in which voluntary and desired behavior leads to a reward or prevents punishment.
The reinforcement process strengthens a behavior and increases the probability that it will repeat itself; People are likely to have desired behaviors if positively reinforced for it; those rewards would be more effective if they immediately follow the desired response and that behavior that is not rewarded or punished is unlikely to recur.
The doctrine of behaviorism argues that behavior follows stimuli in a relatively unthought way, rejects the causes of behavior as concepts such as feelings, thoughts, and other states of mind, and claims that people learn to associate stimulus and response.
c) Social learning: individuals also learn when they observe what happens to other people, because of something that is said to them and through direct experiences. It also assumes that the behavior occurs in terms of the consequences: it takes into account the existence of learning by observation and the importance of perception in the learning process. People respond to the way they perceive and define consequences, not the objective consequences of each other.
The influence of the models is of great importance for the point of view of social learning; that in itself there are four processes that determine the influence that a model has on the individual:
- Attention processes: individuals learn from a model only when they recognize and pay attention to its critical characteristics. Retention process: the influence depends on how well the individual remembers his actions, rather than if it is not available to him. motor reproduction: once a person has observed a new behavior in the model, he must do it; demonstrates that the individual is capable of performing the modeled activities. Reinforcement processes: individuals will be motivated to have the desired behavior if positive incentives or rewards are given; they receive more attention, will understand each other better and will repeat themselves more frequently.
Within the organization, managers have to see how they can teach their employees to behave, so that the organization benefits to the maximum from “modeling behavior”, here we observe the effect of the individual on the group.
There are four ways that behavior is modeled:
- Positive reinforcement, which is what provides something nice after a certain response is given; Example: The boss praises the employee for finishing his job well. Negative reinforcement is the one that avoids an unpleasant consequence after concluding something; Example: If a teacher asks a question and the student does not know her answer, the student begins to review her notes, it is like anticipating that they will ask her, the student learns to review notes with dedication and prevents the teacher from asking her for example: suspend an employee for two days without pay for having arrived in an inconvenient state. Extinction, is the one that eliminates any reinforcement that sustains a behavior.
Positive or negative reinforcement results in learning; They strengthen a response and increase the probability of its repetition, according to these doctrines.
The effect that occurs in the individual, we will begin by explaining that a group is two or more interdependent individuals that interact to achieve specific objectives: there are formal groups that are work groups, defined by the structure of an organization and with work assignments and specific tasks aimed at meeting organizational objectives. Informal groups are social groups, they appear naturally in the workplace and are formed around friendships and common interests.
The groups are developed in five stages: formation, storm, normalization, performance and termination.
- The training phase has two phases: the first occurs when people join the group for a job assignment, then they come together and the second phase begins: the group's purpose, structure, and leadership are defined. It says so because of the internal conflicts that arise when deciding who will control the group and what it has to do here, there is already talk of a leadership hierarchy, that of normalization: it is one in which close relationships develop and the group demonstrates cohesion, the structure of the group solidifies and the group has assimilated a set of common experiences or norms related to the behavior of its members. Performance: the structure of the group is defined and accepted by the members of the group.: the group prepares to disintegrate,it focuses on completing tasks, rather than performance.
The performance potential of a group depends largely on the resources that each individual contributes. These resources include knowledge, skills, abilities, and personality traits, which determine what members can do and how effectively they can perform in a group. Personality traits affect performance, positive traits such as sociability, self-confidence, and independence tend to be positively related to group productivity and mood, and characteristics of a negative personality such as authoritarianism, dominance, and lack of originality tend to be related negatively with productivity and group spirits according to Robbins, Coulter.
Group structure
In the work groups they maintain an internal structure that defines the behavior of the members and influences the performance of the group. The structure defines: roles, norms, acceptance, status systems, group size, cohesion and leadership.
Perhaps the question is present Does the size of a group affect its global behavior?The answer to this question is a definite "yes", but the effect depends on the dependent variables that are observed. For example, evidence indicates that smaller groups complete assigned tasks more quickly than larger groups. However, if the group is engaged in problem solving, large groups consistently score better than their smaller counterparts. Transferring these results to specific numbers is a little more risky, but we can offer some parameters. Large groups - with a dozen or more members - are good at obtaining various inputs. So if the group's goal is to find data, larger groups should be more effective. Instead, smaller groups are better at doing something productive with that input. So,groups of about seven members tend to be more effective in taking action. One of the most important discoveries related to group size has been the so-called social laziness. Social laziness is the tendency of individuals to make less effort when they work collectively than when they work individually. It directly defies the logic that the productivity of the group as a whole must at least equal the sum of the productivity of each individual in this group.Social laziness is the tendency of individuals to make less effort when they work collectively than when they work individually. It directly defies the logic that the productivity of the group as a whole must at least equal the sum of the productivity of each individual in this group.Social laziness is the tendency of individuals to make less effort when they work collectively than when they work individually. It directly defies the logic that the productivity of the group as a whole must at least equal the sum of the productivity of each individual in this group.
A common stereotype about groups is that a sense of team spirit stimulates individual effort and improves overall group productivity. In the late 1920s a German psychologist named Ringelmann compared the results of individual and group performance on a rope-pulling task. He expected that the effort of the group would be equal to the sum of the efforts of the individuals in the group, that is, three people pulling together should exert three times more force on the rope than a single person, and eight people should exert eight times more. force. However, Ringelmann's results did not confirm his expectations. Groups of three people exerted force only 2 1/2 times the average of individual performance. Groups of eight collectively achieved less than four times individual effort.
The processes that occur within a work group are communication, decision-making and conflict management are important to understand work groups because they positively or negatively influence performance and satisfaction. An example: of a positive process factor is the synergy of four people in a market research team who have the ability to generate quite a few ideas that individual members could produce. However, the group may also be affected by negative process factors such as social laziness, high levels of conflict or poor communication themselves that would hinder the group's effectiveness.
Decision making and conflict management in a group are extremely important processes; it is very rare for an organization to not use committees, task forces, review committees, study teams, and other similar groups to make decisions; The time spent in meetings is for problem solving, developing solutions, and determining how to implement solutions.
What techniques can a manager use to help groups make more creative decisions? One is electronic meetings where decision-making interacts through linked computers, the other is the nominal group technique in which group members are presented with a problem; each member independently writes their ideas regarding the problem; then each member presents an idea to the group, until all ideas are presented; there is no debate until all ideas have been presented.
And a third option is the brainstorm that refers to the process of generating ideas that promote alternatives and avoid criticism.
When it comes to conflict management, conflict is perceived as incompatible differences that result in some form of interference or opposition. To break down conflicts, one would have to study the conflict from several points of view: traditional where conflict should be avoided, human relations refers to the fact that it is a natural and inevitable result but it is not always negative, but it has the potential to be a positive force that contributes to the performance of a group. And that of interaction which proposes that conflict can be not only a positive force in the group but that a certain conflict is absolutely necessary for a group to perform effectively.
In addition to this, the technique of using a technique that is used in business administration schools is called sociometry, which is an analytical tool to study group interactions.
Sociometry tries to find what people like and dislike and with whom they would or would not like to work. But how is that information obtained? Through interviews or questionnaires. For example, employees might be asked: (1) With whom, within the organization, would you like to partner in the performance of your position? (2) Name some members of the organization with whom you would like to spend part of your free time. This information can also be used to create a sociogram, which is a graphical representation of the preferred social interactions that were obtained through questionnaires or interviews.
Learn to know:
- Social networks: as a set of specific links between a defined series of individuals. Clusters: Groups that exist within social networks. Prescribed clusters: Formal groups such as departments, work teams, workforces or committees. Emerging clusters: Informal groups, Unofficials. Coalitions: Clusters of individuals joining temporarily to achieve a goal. Camarillas.: More permanent informal groups involving friendship. Stars: Individuals with the most links in a network. Links: Individuals connecting two or more groups or clusters, but are not members of any. Bridges: Individuals who serve as a link by belonging to two or more clusters. Isolated: Individuals who are not connected to the network.
Group tasks
The effect of group processes on the performance and satisfaction of its members changes according to the task the group is performing. The complexity and interdependence of tasks influence the effectiveness of a group.
Now , how to turn a group into an effective team? , work teams differ from work groups and have their own unique characteristics. The working groups basically interact to share information and to make decisions that help each member to do their work more effectively and efficiently.
Work teams are groups whose members work intensively on a common and specific goal and use their positive synergy, individual and mutual responsibility together with their complementary skills.
- In work teams: the leadership role is shared, responsibility for oneself and for the team creates a specific objective, the work is done collectively. In the work groups: there is a leader in charge, the responsibility only for himself, his objective is as broad as that of the organization, the work is done individually.
It is extremely important that organizations have an organizational strategy that is usually established by senior management, outlining the organization's goals and the means to achieve them. For example, it could steer the organization toward reducing costs, improving quality, expanding market share, or reducing the size of its administrative operations. The strategy pursued by an organization at any given time will influence the power held by various working groups, which in turn will determine the resources that the organization's senior management is willing to allocate to them to carry out their tasks.
There are a variety of work teams: problem solving teams, self-directed work, multifunctional, virtual, a manager might wonder which of these types of work teams serve me or can I implement in the workplace? Perhaps you could make a combination or define some of them according to the needs of the organization.
Problem solving teams are those teams from the same department that are involved in efforts to improve work activities; Self-directed work teams are those that operate without a manager and are responsible for an entire work process or segment; Multifunctional team teams are work teams made up of individuals from various specialties, and virtual team teams are those that use technology to physically link dispersed members to achieve a common goal.
For the formation of effective work teams, some characteristics should be appreciated in a work team: clear objectives, important skills, mutual trust, unified commitment, good communication, negotiation skills, adequate leadership and internal and external support.
conclusion
Shakespeare said: "Everyone is a stage, and all men and women are simply actors." We use the same metaphor, and all members of the group are actors, each playing a role. By this term we understand a set of expected patterns of behavior that are attributed to someone who occupies a certain position in a social unit. Understanding role behavior would be dramatically simplified if each of us chose a role and performed it regularly and consistently.
Now, it should be noted that the implications for Organizational Behavior of this effect on working groups are important. When managers use collective work to improve morale and teamwork, they must also provide means by which individual efforts can be identified. If this is not done, management must weigh potential productivity losses from group employment against any likely benefit in worker satisfaction. However, this conclusion has a western bias. It is consistent with individualistic cultures, such as in the United States and Canada, which are dominated by self-interest. It is not consistent with collectivist societies, where individuals are motivated by group goals.
Research on group size leads to two additional conclusions: (1) groups with an odd number of members are preferable to those with an even number, and (2) groups of five to seven members do a good job of exercise the best elements of small and large groups. The odd number of members eliminates the possibility of ties when voting. And groups consisting of five to seven members are large enough to form a majority and allow for diverse inputs, yet they are small enough to avoid the negative outcomes frequently associated with large groups, such as dominance by a few members, the formation of subgroups,the participatory inhibition of some members and the excessive time necessary to reach a decision.
Bibliography
- Robbins Stephen P. "Organizational Behavior". 8a. Ed. Prentice Hall, Mexico, 1999. Kenneth Blanchard & Paul Hersey, Management and Behavior, McGraw-Hill Publishing 2009.Koontz, Harold, Weihrich Heinz. "Administration: A global perspective", 12th. Ed. McGraw-Hill, Mexico, 2004.Schermerhorn, John R., Hunt, "Organizational Behavior", Ed. Limusa Wiley, Mexico, 2004.Lussier, Robert N., Achua Christopher F., "Leadership, Theory, Application and Development of Skills ”, 2nd. Ed. Thomson Learning, México 2005. Palomo Vadillo María Teresa, Leadership and motivation of work teams, Editorial Alfaomega, 2011, México. Goldhaber Gerald M., Organizational Communication, Editorial Diana 2010, México.Ballina, Ríos Francisco, “Teoría de the Administration ”An alternative approach. McGraw-Hill, Mexico 2000. Fiedler, Fred Edward."Leadership and Effective Administration". 2nd. Ed. Trillas, Mexico, 1995.
As a colophon and complement to this interesting text on how to achieve efficient teamwork, we suggest the following video, in which the renowned coach and former handball player Xeco Espar teaches what are the five values that, when shared by the members of a group lead him to become a truly effective team. Very interesting exhibition to continue learning about how to achieve effective work teams.
