Establishing Norms
Question 1
Norms are rules or the expected behavior of a group that is shared within the group. Norms vary from one group to another as they are the expected way of behaving for a common group. Norms are the values of a particular culture or group which are believed by the people in that culture. Norms are in most cases unspoken and unwritten, but all the members of a group or culture value them and live by them. Whenever teams or groups work together on a project, they come up with agreement on how to complete the project, and the agreement acts as the rule for completion of the project. These are the norms of a group.
Norms are important in a group as they enable the group to be effective and efficient when conducting their activities. The norms within a group allow each group member to stick to their responsibility which minimizes the conflicts in the workgroup. Thee leader has an easy time in managing a group with norms unlike when the group has no norms. Another importance of norms is that they help group members to focus their energy on the right work since each member of the group is aware of what is expected of him or her in the group. Norms help to reduce stress, and unplanned conflicts since each member of the group understand the expectations of the group towards him/her. This ensures that each group member sticks to what is expected of them.
Norms are established where ideas orb all group members are listed so that every opinion is included in the norms. The leader goes through the list and asks members if they are ready to accept the norms. After all the members are ready to support the norms, adopt them as the group norms since they comprise of members suggestions. Group norms are enforced formally or informally where non-verbal cues are employed during the enforcement. Sanctions can also be used where group members are punished in case they don’t abide by the norms.
Question 2
In a team, I think the best balanced should be social behaviors which enables the creation of a good relationship between the group members. When the task behavior is given more concentration, members will concentrate on completion of the task without caring whether other group members are stuck in their projects. If a group can balance both, then that can be the best group as it will ensure completion of tasks on time and group members develop their skills while conducting the tasks. This is because the best people in the group will have the interest in explaining how to go about a task which leads to development of skills. Task and social behaviors should always be at balance in a group for effective operation.
The factors that can cause the balance of task and social behaviors to change include conflicts. In a group where group members have increased conflict, the relationship of the members become poor which affects the way tasks are conducted in the group. Discrimination is another cause of balance to change. This is where the leader favors few members in a group and the behavior affects other members in the same group. This leads to changed on tasks and social behavior. The leader should perform social behavior as it leads to development of skills for the members and enhance the relationship between group members which ensures cooperation among team members.