• How can understanding stages of group development and group properties help employees in a work group function more effectively? As a manager, how would you help employees come to that understanding? Understanding the stages of group development is very important to anyone involved in a group or organization. Understanding the stages can make for a healthy group because in order to perform well you need to have accomplished the prior stages before moving on. Understanding the stages of group development enables employees to work more effectively since results in a clear plan. The stages enable employees to work together as a group to finish the assignments that the company has. As a manager, I would sit down the employees and give them to bottom line. Typically when groups have an idea of the main goal or plan, the individuals come together to work towards that goal.
• Although the optimal level of conflict can be functional, no conflict or too much conflict can be dysfunctional. What steps would you as a manager take to stimulate some degree of conflict when appropriate and reduce conflict when it is excessive? I would ask tough hard questions to stimulate a degree of conflict when it is appropriate. I would also use conflict in problem solving type training just to see how the employees react. Knowing how your employees react during stressful times is a great thing for managers to know.
• What is the difference between a group and a team? Would your strategy be different for putting together a group than creating a team? Explain your answer. A group is a collection of individuals who coordinate their individual efforts. On the other hand, a team is a group of people who share a common team purpose and a number of challenging goals. Members of the team are mutually committed to the goals and to each other. This mutual commitment