a. Group cohesion describes the strength of the bond uniting the group. It refers to the degree of unity and cooperation within a group. It involves the emotional bond, trust and shared goals among members which contributes to the group’s togetherness. When cohesion is strong, the group will remain strong, stable and continue to exist. Conversely, when cohesion is weak the group may ultimately disband. Group cohesion often leads to increased productivity and satisfaction of members of the group.

b. Characteristics of an effective team:

i. Success: An effective team successfully achieves its goals or objectives.

ii. Focus: An effective team is aware of its goals and objectives and always keeps these in mind. They use their time and resources well.

iii. Collective decision-making: An effective team reaches decisions through discussion and agreement.

iv. Good communication: In an effective team, the team members communicate with one another well and keep one another well-informed. They are also truthful in communicating with each other.

v. Collaboration: In an effective team, the members will cooperate and collaborate. Each team member will do whatever is necessary to get the job done, even if this means doing work that is unfamiliar and outside their normal experience.

vi. Positive conflict: Positive conflict occurs when there is disagreement, but the team members are willing to discuss their differences fully and reach a suitable agreement about what the solution should be. Some conflicts are inevitable in teams and the way that the conflicts are resolved is important.

vii. Mutual support: In an effective team, each team member is aware of the contributions provided by the other team members.

viii. Team spirit: In an effective team, team members identify themselves with the team and feel a part of the team. Team spirit and team loyalty are strong.

c. Explain briefly of the following concepts:

i. Formal organization: A formal organization is a structure created and maintained by its leaders. It is a structured group where there are stated rules and regulations, with a defined hierarchy of duties and obligations that are expected to be carried out by each individual. It is often shown as an organization chart, with job descriptions.

ii. Organization structure: It is the framework within which the activities of people in the organization are coordinated and managed. It is a system that defines how certain activities are directed to achieve the goals of an organization. Common organizational structure includes entrepreneurial structure, functional structure, divisional structure, matrix structure and boundary-less structure.

iii. Flat organization: A flat organization is one in which the scalar chain is short, (minimal number of levels in its hierarchy) with only a few layers between top management and employees.

iv. Outsourcing: Outsourcing is the practice of contracting work, tasks, processes or services to external third parties rather than handling them internally. Companies do this to take advantage of specialist external expertise to free up management time to concentrate on core activities. For example, a national food retail company might outsource its delivery work to a specialist transport company.

v. Shared services: It refers to the provision of a service by one part of an organisation or group where that service had previously been found in more than one part of the organisation or group. It involves the consolidation of support functions in an organisation into a centralised unit, the unit then provides such service to different departments within the organisation rather than duplicating such service across the organisation. Thus, the funding and resourcing of the service are shared and the providing department effectively becomes an internal service provider.