Exploring Impact of Team Dynamics on Individual Behavior at Work

This essay examines the influence of team dynamics on individual behavior within organizations. It discusses how factors such as team size, cohesiveness, and diversity can significantly impact individual performance and attitudes at work. The essay addresses the phenomenon of social loafing, where individuals exert less effort in larger groups, and suggests strategies for mitigating its effects. It also explores how team cohesion, influenced by member similarity, group purpose, and team size, can affect individual behavior by creating expectations for conformity. Furthermore, the essay considers the impact of diversity within teams, noting both the potential for conflict due to differing opinions and the importance of establishing clear codes of ethics to ensure uniformity and focus on shared goals. The analysis is supported by relevant research and offers insights into managing team dynamics to optimize individual and collective performance. Desklib provides access to similar solved assignments for students.

Running Head: ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR 1
Organizational behavior
Name
Institution

ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR 2
According to Hye-jung & Cheolil (2012), Team size can influence individual
performance or behaviors at work. When a group of people come together to perform a particular
task, some members may see that some are not helping them but just following the motions.
Others may just lose who they are and follow the group blindly leaving their personality behind.
When a group has grown in size the following aspects are always present. One of the aspects is
social loafing. This is where an individual exerts less efforts to perform a particular task
compared to his or her capabilities. This behavior can bring about negative attributes to a person
like laziness.
Social loafing is common in all groups of work and as a team leader, it’s good to
recognize and tackle it. According to Adam (2018), social loafing leads to low productivity. This
can be prevented by assigning every member of the group with their own responsibilities which
influences the end results of the projects. Also, evaluating each individual’s performance, giving
them rewards for their contributions can also minimize social loafing problems. Team size can
also exert pressure on individual performance. This is whereby every member of a team is given
their own responsibilities which determines the end result of the project. The employee would,
therefore, be forced to work extra hard to avoid letting other workers down.
Cohesiveness in a team can be defined as an extent to which people in a particular group
find staying together to be in common interest. This can affect individual behavior because they
would be expected to behave in a way which is best for the group (Troy, 2015). The main factors
that influence group cohesiveness are member’s similarity, group purpose and team size. These
factors come after all individual behaviors are controlled and other controls put in place. Group
cohesiveness can be increased if the members take time to understand each other better. Also,
through identifying their goals and agreeing on how to accomplish them can assist workers to

ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR 3
improve work cohesion. Communication and honesty are also important tools in increasing
group cohesion. Members can agree to hold meetings every day to inform each other about the
progress.
Diversity in teamwork means having all types of employees who are different and come
from diverse backgrounds. Since a team is made up of members with differences in age, religion
and cultural ethics this can have an influence on individual behavior (Inesa & Hyonsong, 2015).
For example, an employee can adapt the mode of dress code or a certain religion from another
worker. Due to these differences, a group should have its own code of ethics to ensure
uniformity. This is because diversity can lead to a conflict of opinions whereby every employee
is giving ideas which suit their culture or religion. The leaders should, therefore, set rules which
refocuses employee’s minds to tasks of the group and make them work towards achieving them.

ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR 4
References.
Adam, R.S. (2018). Managing the Team Project Process: Helpful Hints and Tools to Ease the
Workload without Sacrificing Learning Objectives. E-Journal of Business Education
and Scholarship Teaching, 12(1), 45-50
Hye-jung, L & Cheolil, L. (2012). Peer Evaluation in Blended Team Project-Based Learning:
What Do Students Find Important? Educational Technology & Society, 15(4), 5-12
Inesa, K & Hyonsong, C. (2015). An Empirical Study of the Relationships between
Miscommunication and Conflict in Culturally Diverse Work Groups. Journal of
International Business Research, 14(3), 3-10
Troy, H. (2015). Does Cohesion Positively Correlate to Performance in All Stages of a Group's
Life Cycle? Journal of Organizational Culture, Communications and Conflict, 19(1), 2-7