- Specific goals lead to higher performance than do generalized goals.
- In Carl Larson and Frank LaFasto's three-year study of characteristics that explain how and why effective groups develop, they put "a clear and elevated goal" at the top of their list.
- When a group develops its own goals, members are more likely to be motivated to accomplish that goal.
- In Carl Larson and Frank LaFasto's three-year study of characteristics of highly effective groups, "the ability to change group norms" was included in their list of eight key characteristics.
- When setting goals, groups should ask questions about the goal's clarity, difficulty, meaningfulness, and cost.
- Members who engage in disruptive or nonconforming behavior should always be confronted about their behavior as soon as possible.
- When groups experience apathy, intrinsic motivators—such as a sense of meaningfulness and progress—are minimal or missing.
- A leader's ban on the use of cell phones and other interactive technologies during meetings is an example of an explicit procedural norm.
- When a group is having difficulty deciding and the leader has the right to make the final decision, the group is abiding by a status norm.
- When group members are motivated by a shared feeling that they are pursuing a worthy goal, they are experiencing a sense of meaningfulness.
- Constructive nonconformity occurs when a member resists a norm while still working to promote a group goal.
- In some groups, discriminatory norms exclude people because of race, gender, age, ethnicity, religion, or personal philosophy.
- Stanley Milgram and Philip Zimbardo's classic studies demonstrated that people in authority positions exert enormous pressure on people to conform
- Groups can exert enormous pressure on members to conform even when a norm is unethical or dangerous.
- Hidden agendas occur when a member's private goal conflicts with the group's goal.
- When there is enormous pressure for group members to conform, a disruptive member can help the group by not conforming to group norms.
- Destructive nonconformity occurs when a member resists conforming to norms without regard for the best interests of the group and its goals.
- Some norms can work against a group and its goals.
- When group members expect and receive an agenda in advance of meetings and follow the agenda during meetings, they are abiding by an interaction norm.
- Locke and Latham's Goal Theory concludes that groups function best when their goals are easy to accomplish and are set by a strong leader