Theories Supporting Teamwork
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School of Accounting and Management, TrinidadATTEMPT: 1ANGLIA RUSKIN UNIVERSITYAssignment CoversheetSTUDENT DETAILSStudent Number:##########FACULTYLord Ashcroft International Business SchoolASSIGNMENT DETAILSModule RefMOD001120 / F01SAM / 2016/7Module TitleOrganisational BehaviourModule Element010 – ASSIGNMENT, 800 WORDSTo Be Marked BySubmission date (by 2pm)08/April/ 2017Submission of this assignment agrees to the following: I understand that the piece of work submitted will be considered as the final and complete version of my assignment of which I am otherwise the sole author. I understand both the meaning and consequences of plagiarism and that my work has been appropriately attributed unless otherwise stated. I have not knowingly allowed another to copy my work.Mitigation – you have 5 working days after the deadline to submit a claim for mitigating circumstances. If there are matters or circumstances which have had a serious adverse effect on your performance in any assessment, you are advised to seek advice from a Faculty Student Adviser.Mitigation Forms and further details are available at www.anglia.ac.uk/mitigation.WORD COUNT: 794Disk included (tick)ASSESSMENT FEEDBACK – LECTURER TO COMPLETETurnitin receipt numberSignature of MarkerDate% Mark(Un-moderated)TITLE PAGETerms of Reference: Produce a paper discussing the nature of group behaviour and how it influences work performance, by drawing on the prescribed text and/or relevant academic literature, using traditional and contemporary theory to support all ideas.To:         ########Module Lecturer Organisational BehaviourMOD001120        Anglia Ruskin University
Date:        08/April/2017Table of ContentsFRONT PAGE (COVER SHEET)TITLE PAGEiTERMS OF REFERENCEiTABLE OF CONTENTSiiINTRODUCTION1DISCUSSION1CONCLUSION2BIBLIORGRAPHY3INTRODUCTION:The Chartered Management Institute defines team as a group of people working towards common goals and objectives and sharing responsibility for the outcomes. Whereas a group is defined as any number of people who (1) interact with one another; (2) are psychologically aware of one another; and (3) perceive themselves to be a group. However in this Organisational Behaviour study, the terms are used interchangeably. Mullins, J. (2016)This assignment will use contemporary theories such as, Lussier’s (2010) theory on team performance and traditional theories as Zajonc’s (1965) analysis of social facilitation to discuss the nature of group behaviour, the value of teamwork, and how it influences work performance within a group.DISCUSSION:Introducing the Social facilitation theory, Triplett, N. (1898) deduced that when either an audience was present or there was coaction, the performance of an individual was enhanced. Zajonc, R. (1965) in testing Triplett’s theory he agreed but only when it’s a task that is well-learnt or dominant, one the individual is accustomed to performing. Thus the audience facilitates or enhances the individual’s dominant response. Zajonc, R. (1965) in further clarifying his theory he noted if an individual has to perform a complex task or a non-dominant one, in the presence of others, the opposite happens, persons perform worst or experience social interference.Michaels et al (1982) further validated Zajonc’s theory of dominant responses.  While examining the performance of skilled and unskilled pool players with and without an audience, it was observed that the performance of the better players improved with an audience while the performance of poorer players was repressed. Thus an audience does facilitate and enhance an individual’s dominant responses. In argument with Zajonc, Baron, R. S. (1986) proposed the Distraction-conflict theory such that when persons are watching an individual perform an easy task, the person can successfully narrow their focus to the task at hand thus performance is improved. On the other hand when the task is difficult, the person can suffer from attentional overload and performance gets worse.