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Group Dynamics for Teams
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Group Dynamics for Teams

Sixth Edition
July 2020 | 472 pages | SAGE Publications, Inc
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Grounded in psychology research but with a practical focus on organizational behavior issues, Group Dynamics for Teams helps readers understand and participate in teams more effectively in day-to-day work. Best-selling author Daniel Levi and new co-author David A. Askay thoroughly examine basic group dynamics concepts, such as goals, norms, cooperation, and communication, as well as review the main challenges that teams face, such as conflict, decision making, problem solving, creativity, and valuing diversity. Throughout the book are discussions of the organizational context of teams, including the impacts of organizational culture, virtual teamwork, rewarding teams, and team building.
 
New to This Edition
 
Acknowledgments
 
About the Authors
 
Introduction
 
Part I: Characteristics of Teams
 
Chapter 1: Understanding Teams
Learning Objectives

 
1.1 Why Groups and Teams Matter

 
1.2 Defining Groups

 
1.3 Defining Teams

 
1.4 Why Organizations Use Teams

 
1.5 Purposes and Types of Teams

 
1.6 History of Teams and Group Dynamics

 
Summary

 
Team Leadership Challenge 1

 
Survey: Attitudes Toward Teamwork

 
Activity: Working in Teams

 
 
Chapter 2: Defining Team Success
Learning Objectives

 
2.1 Nature of Team Success

 
2.2 Conditions for Team Success

 
2.3 Characteristics of Successful Teams

 
2.4 Positive-Psychology View of Team Success

 
2.5 Using Teams in the Workplace

 
Summary

 
Team Leadership Challenge 2

 
Activity: Understanding Team Success

 
 
Part II: Processes of Teamwork
 
Chapter 3: Team Beginnings
Learning Objectives

 
3.1 Stages of Group Development

 
3.2 Group Socialization

 
3.3 Team Goals

 
3.4 Team Norms

 
3.5 Application: Jump-Starting Project Teams

 
Summary

 
Team Leadership Challenge 3

 
Activity: Observing Team Development

 
Activity: Developing a Team Charter

 
 
Chapter 4: Understanding the Basic Team Processes
Learning Objectives

 
4.1 Motivation

 
4.2 Group Cohesion

 
4.3 Team Roles

 
4.4 Task and Social Behaviors

 
4.5 Team Adaptation and Learning

 
4.6 Basic Team Processes in Virtual Teams

 
Summary

 
Team Leadership Challenge 4

 
Activity: Tracking Teamwork Behaviors

 
 
Chapter 5: Cooperation and Competition
Learning Objectives

 
5.1 Teamwork as a Mixed-Motive Situation

 
5.2 Why Are People in Teams Competitive?

 
5.3 Problems With Competition

 
5.4 Benefits of and Problems With Cooperation

 
5.5 Application: Encouraging Cooperation

 
Leading Virtual Teams: Building Trust and Social Relationships

 
Summary

 
Team Leadership Challenge 5

 
Survey: Cooperative, Competitive, or Individualistic Orientation

 
Activity: Understanding Competitive Versus Cooperative Goals

 
 
Chapter 6: Communication
Learning Objectives

 
6.1 The Communication Process

 
6.2 Flow of a Team’s Communication

 
6.3 Emotional Intelligence

 
6.4 Facilitating Team Meetings

 
6.5 Communication Skills for Team Meetings

 
Summary

 
Team Leadership Challenge 6

 
Survey: Team Emotional Intelligence

 
Activity: Observing Communication Patterns in a Team

 
 
Part III: Issues Teams Face
 
Chapter 7: Managing Conflict
Learning Objectives

 
7.1 Conflict Is Normal

 
7.2 Sources of Conflict

 
7.3 Types of Conflict

 
7.4 Conflict Management

 
7.5 Preventing and Preparing for Team Conflict

 
Summary

 
Team Leadership Challenge 7

 
Survey: Conflict Management Styles

 
Activity: Observing Conflict Management Styles

 
 
Chapter 8: Social Influence and Power
Learning Objectives

 
8.1 Understanding Social Influence and Power

 
8.2 Types Of Power

 
8.3 Power Dynamics

 
8.4 Empowerment

 
8.5 Application: Acting Assertively

 
Summary

 
Team Leadership Challenge 8

 
Activity: Using Power Styles—Passive, Aggressive, and Assertive

 
 
Chapter 9: Decision Making
Learning Objectives

 
9.1 Decision Making in Teams

 
9.2 Deciding How to Decide: Evaluating Decision-Making Approaches

 
9.3 Individual Decision Making

 
9.4 Group Decision Making

 
9.5 Crowd and Algorithmic Decision Making

 
Summary

 
Team Leadership Challenge 9

 
Activity: Making Consensus Decisions

 
Activity: Group Versus Individual Decision Making

 
 
Chapter 10: Leadership and Followership
Learning Objectives

 
10.1 Defining Leadership

 
10.2 Leadership Emergence

 
10.3 Models of Effective Leadership

 
10.4 Team Leadership

 
10.5 Followership

 
Summary

 
Team Leadership Challenge 10

 
Activity: Observing the Leader’s Behavior

 
 
Chapter 11: Problem Solving
Learning Objectives

 
11.1 Understanding Problems

 
11.2 Descriptive Approach: How Teams Typically Solve Problems

 
11.3 Rational Problem Solving: How Teams Should Solve Problems

 
11.4 Application: Constructing a Shared Mental Model Through Process Mapping

 
Summary

 
Team Leadership Challenge 11

 
Activity: Using Problem-Solving Techniques

 
 
Chapter 12: Creativity, Innovation, and Design Thinking
Learning Objectives

 
12.1 Creativity and Innovation

 
12.2 Four Phases of the Idea Journey

 
12.3 What Is Design Thinking?

 
12.4 The Design Thinking Process

 
12.5 Promoting Team Creativity and Innovation

 
12.6 Virtual Creativity

 
Summary

 
Team Leadership Challenge 12

 
Activity: Comparing Different Creativity Techniques

 
 
Chapter 13: Diversity and Inclusion
Learning Objectives

 
13.1 The Importance of Diversity

 
13.2 Difference and Diversity

 
13.3 How Diversity Operates

 
13.4 Effects of Diversity on Team Performance

 
13.5 Application: Supporting Diversity and Inclusion

 
Summary

 
Team Leadership Challenge 13

 
Survey: Work Group Inclusion

 
Activity: Understanding Gender and Status Differences in a Team

 
 
Part IV: Organizational Context of Teams
 
Chapter 14: Team, Organizational, and International Culture
Learning Objectives

 
14.1 What Is Culture?

 
14.2 Team Culture

 
14.3 Defining Organizational Culture

 
14.4 Organizational Culture and Teamwork

 
14.5 Dimensions of International Culture

 
14.6 International Differences in Teamwork

 
14.7 Multinational Teams

 
14.8 Cultural Intelligence

 
Summary

 
Team Leadership Challenge 14

 
Survey: Individualism–Collectivism

 
Activity: Evaluating a Team’s Culture and Cultural Context

 
Activity: Comparing Teams in the United States and Japan

 
 
Chapter 15: Virtuality and Teamwork
Learning Objectives

 
15.1 Virtuality and Virtual Teams

 
15.2 Communication Technologies

 
15.3 Geographic Dispersion

 
15.4 Managing Virtuality on Teams

 
Summary

 
Team Leadership Challenge 15

 
Activity: Developing Norms for Virtual Teams

 
Activity: Experiencing Teamwork in a Simulated Virtual Team

 
 
Chapter 16: Evaluating and Rewarding Team Performance
Learning Objectives

 
16.1 Performance Management

 
16.2 Evaluating Performance

 
16.3 Rewarding Performance

 
Summary

 
Team Leadership Challenge 16

 
Survey: Individual Versus Team Rewards

 
Activity: Evaluating and Rewarding a Project Team

 
Activity: Team Halo Effect

 
 
Chapter 17: Team Development Interventions
Learning Objectives

 
17.1 What Are Team Development Interventions?

 
17.2 Team Building

 
17.3 Types of Team-Building Programs

 
17.4 Team Training

 
17.5 Types of Training

 
Summary

 
Team Leadership Challenge 17

 
Activity: Team Building

 
Activity: Appreciative Inquiry of Teamwork

 
 
Appendix: Guide to Student Team Projects
A.1 Starting the Team

 
 
A.2 Planning and Developing the Project
A.3 Monitoring the Project and Maintaining Teamwork

 
A.4 Performing Team Writing

 
A.5 Wrapping Up and Completing the Project

 
 
References
 
Index

Supplements

Instructor Website
study.sagepub.com/levi6e

Online resources included with this text

The online resources for your text are available via the password-protected Instructor Resource Site, which offers access to all text-specific resources, including a test bank and editable, chapter-specific PowerPoint® slides.

This book has all the content I want to cover in class and the Instructor resources are a welcome addition.

Mr Joseph Nicholas Cooper
Communication, Mercy College-Dobbs Ferry
January 8, 2024
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Great coverage of topic, well organized. I especially like the Leadership Challenge exercises and many of the Activities as well, though I teach this class online and many of these activities cannot be adapted for remote learning. Considering how many course are now offered online (or hybrid), it would be good to offer options that do not involve face-to-face interaction.

Dr Debra Louis
Management, Maharishi International University
December 20, 2022
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Key features
NEW TO THIS EDITION:
  • Chapter-opening learning objectives have been updated and rephrased to align with Bloom’s Taxonomy.
  • An emphasis on culture, diversity, and virtuality appears throughout the text and in dedicated chapters.
  • Chapters have been updated with contemporary and engaging examples ranging from aggregating group responses to locate a lost sunken submarine to the use of desk doors at Amazon as a symbol of organizational values.
  • Updated and expanded research includes over 500 new references, 280 of which are from research conducted since 2014.

KEY FEATURES:

  • Practical coverage of basic group dynamics concepts, including goals, norms, cooperation, and communication, gives readers the understanding they need to work effectively in teams.
  • An emphasis on the main challenges that teams face, such as conflict, decision making, problem solving, creativity, and valuing diversity, prepares students to be more effective team members and leaders.
  • Case studies with discussion questions provide a realistic look at how teams function in the everyday world.
  • Student learning aids include summaries of key content, chapter-ending activities for application of concepts, and surveys with discussion questions that personalize the learning experience.
  • Examines basic group dynamics concepts, such as goals, norms, cooperation, and communication
  • Reviews the main challenges that teams face—such as conflict, decision making, problem solving, creativity, and valuing diversity
  • Discusses the organizational context of teams—including the impacts of organizational culture, virtual teamwork, rewarding teams, and team building
  • An appendix contains tools and advice to help students in project teams