Group behaviour

8.5 Group behaviour

In 1981 Meredith Belbin expanded on the Jungian approach to personality and temperament by applying the technique to management and project teams. In examining the work of teams in action, his research identified eight roles within a team structure:

1 The chairman – calm, co-ordinating and controlled

2 The shaper – directive, creative, and a balance to the chairman

3 The plant – creative, often an ‘off the wall’ thinker, sometimes a little tangential to the needs of the team at that time

4 The monitor/evaluator – the person to bring the plant down to earth and

provide some critical thinking on the ideas that have been brought to the forefront

5 The company worker – the backbone of a good team, providing stability and solid work for the team’s function, gets the job done

6 The teamworker – good at bringing the team together, but may not be

a great decision-maker

7 The completer/finisher – conscientious, often meticulous, keeps the team

focused on what has to be done, deals with outcomes and (awful jargon) ‘deliverables’

8 The resourcer/investigator – a great starter, full of enthusiasm, an

extrovert keen for a challenge who, once the challenge is being met, often loses interest in the work that needs to be completed.

Few of us would want to be labelled as totally matching any single one of these roles, but as you reflect on your own behaviours you may recognise some of these attributes in your own role in a team. Belbin’s work did show that most managers or project workers adopt one or two of these roles with a high degree of consistency. Again, some degree of sensitivity in interpretation is required; an individual’s role in a group is also bounded by the job specification imposed on them and shaped by the perceived attributes that historically the individual has been shown to exhibit. We know little of the ‘hidden talents’ an individual may have. It has been argued that the job specification will have as much impact on the role and direction your job will take as any personal temperament preferences and style of

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working might suggest. Does the worker fit the job, or the job the worker?

Belbin’s work suggested that, by using psychometric tests, it was possible to predict the role an individual could take on within a team. According to Belbin, a team will perform more effectively and be more successful if all of the eight group member role behaviours are covered by members of that team. To do this, Belbin devised a team role inventory; on the basis of answering a series of multiple choice questions from a set of seven, a team role style would be identified for each team member. Many texts offer an opportunity to fill in the inventory as devised by Belbin, including the

Organisational Behaviour Workbook 10 by Huczynski and Buchanan. An understanding of the personality and behaviour of the individuals with

whom we work is vital to the success of the project, the quality of the work produced and, in no small measure, to the work experience. Recognising the kinds of behaviours that could be manifested by colleagues – and possibly more importantly by yourself – might lead you to think a little bit more not only about the conscious behaviours that we manifest, but also about the more unconscious behaviours of which we are not aware.

The interactions we have with others are underpinned by individual attributes (gender, intellect, culture, etc.). Some of these behaviours will

Behaviour Unknown known to self

to self Behaviour

known to others

Unknown to others

Figure 8.3 JOHARI window 11 .

Behaviour in media organisations and organisational behaviour

manifest themselves in a conscious and public manner, and others we will not be aware of.

W. R. Bion suggested that four behaviour models manifest themselves as outcomes of known and unknown behaviours, and illustrated them in the JOHARI window (Figure 8.3). The behaviours are explained as follows:

䊉 Public – this is behaviour known to oneself and also apparent to others

䊉 Hidden – we knowingly hide some of our behaviours in certain situations

䊉 Blind – we also know or may have discovered that on many occasions others have recognised behaviours and traits in ourselves that we have

not been aware of until that moment; we have been blind to those behaviours and may remain so

䊉 Unconscious – behaviours unknown to ourselves and, on the face of it, unknown to others manifest themselves by having an impact on either the

public, blind or hidden areas that we might present; these may not necessarily be rational or irrational behaviours, and may be something that others consider ‘out of character’.

Organisations such as the Tavistock Group have worked with individuals and companies to show how some of the unconscious behaviours inform our conscious actions. For example, in personal relationships a member of the family, a friend or a colleague will finish a relationship with person A and then strike up one with person B. To others (us) he or she will express a view that

A and B are completely different individuals, yet to you, as an observer of your friend’s choice of new partner, it seems that A and B are remarkably similar. Not only are they similar as individuals, but the patterns of behaviour that your friend is exhibiting appears to be a repetition of the previous relationship. Meanwhile, the individual in question is oblivious to these behaviours. This has sometimes been labelled the ‘theatre of the mind’ – we play out the same scenes with new people. What about your own repeated patterns in both social and the work environment? In the film Groundhog Day , our anti-hero, Bill Murray, is condemned to relive the same day over and over again. It is only when he has learned new behaviours and gained an insight into his behaviour that he is able to progress. In doing so, he gets the girl and breaks the cycle of events. The vicious circle has become a virtuous one reinforced through positive behaviours.

This leads us on to exploring the concept of the ‘mental model’. In becoming an adult, we create a framework of the world within which we can successfully operate. We do this by creating a multiplicity of mental models

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that at any particular point in time help us to make sense of our environment and allow us to function at all, and ideally, effectively. We have mental models of social interaction as well as those of a more mechanistic nature. These allow us to function in the social and work environment, and govern our expectations of how all systems work. The danger for each of us is that there is a tendency to throw away or reject new information if it doesn’t fit the current model.

At one time, the physical model for the world was that it was flat and the sun went round it. To disagree with that model was an act of heresy. Gallileo confronted the conventional wisdoms of the day by suggesting that the earth went round the sun. By doing so, he not only undermined the current laws of nature and science but also challenged fundamental religious beliefs. He was offering data that did not fit the current model.

This aspect of human behaviour has been known for some time. The allegorical tale of Plato’s Cave provides a philosophical approach. He asked us to imagine the following scenario.

Some people are chained up within a cave and have no knowledge of the outside world. The only light available comes from a fire at the mouth of the cave. They cannot see the fire, but they see the shadows formed from people and other objects going by outside. Those chained to the walls of the cave believe that the shadows are the reality, and give

Consequences and other changes in the external environment

Acting Discovering

Choosing

Figure 8.4 Simple single-loop learning.

Behaviour in media organisations and organisational behaviour

meaning and essence to them. One of the cave dwellers escapes, discovers that the shadows are a mere artefact of a larger reality, and realises all is not as it first thought. He returns to the cave to inform the other inhabitants. Like Gallileo, he is ridiculed for what he suggests. The cave dwellers have devised and maintained a mental model of the world around them, based on the knowledge that they had available to them to that time. When new information comes along they have a choice – to change their mental model, reject the new data or possibly, as Alexander the Great is reputed to have done, ‘shoot the messenger’. This model of behaviour has been described as single-loop learning (Figure 8.4). If the new data do not fit the existing model or paradigm, they are rejected.

Complex or double-loop learning (Figure 8.5) requires the individual to question the existing model or paradigm and change it to account for the new data. This is a difficult task, because it makes the assumption that we need to test and question every new piece of data that comes to us. In fact, once established, single-loop is not really learning any more. In more recent times, Einstein’s work had a similar impact on Newtonian physics. It is alleged that Einstein was quite disparaging towards some of his predecessors, especially Max Plank, for not seeing the ‘new model’. Double-loop learning is the cornerstone to innovation and creativity; it requires us to question and revise our mental models. This has often been called a ‘paradigm shift’.

Consequences and other changes in the external environment

Acting

Discovering

New mental model has an impact or changes old model

Choosing

New mental model

Figure 8.5 Complex double-loop learning.

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