Why are teams important in organizations? When is a team effective? What are the stages of team development? How can we understand teams at work? 7-2 Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Team  Group of people with complementary skills, brought together to achieve a common purpose for which they hold themselves collectively accountable. 7-3 Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Teamwork  Occurs when team members accept their collective responsibility to best use their skills by actively working together to achieve goals. 7-4 Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Types of teams  Teams that recommend things  Established to study specific problems and recommend solutions to them.  Teams that run things  Have formal responsibility for leading other groups.  Teams that make or do things  Functional groups that perform ongoing tasks. 7-5 Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Organizations today consist of networks of teams, with team members serving multiple roles. Vertical role – manager serves as team leader and team member. Horizontal role – employee is a member of more than one team and serves multiple roles. 7-6 Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

7-7 Formal teams  Officially designated to serve a specific organizational purpose.  May be permanent or temporary and vary in size and composition.

Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 7-8 Informal groups  Emerge without being officially designated by the organization.  Types of informal groups  Friendship groups  Interest groups

Social network analysis – identifies the informal groups and networks of relationships that are active in an organization. 7-9 Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

7-10 Formal groups  Cross-functional teams or task forces  Engage in special problem-solving efforts drawing on input of the functional areas; can evolve into ‘silos’  Problem-solving teams  Formed to complete a specific task with a clear end point  Employee involvement team – meet regularly to examine workplace issues  Quality circle- makes recommendations related to quality and productivity  Virtual group  Members work together via compu ters

Cross-functional teams  Consist of members representing different functional departments or work units.  For example, team may consist of members from manufacturing, marketing, human resources, and accounting Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Functional silos problem  Occurs when members of functional units focus only on their internal functional matters and minimize their interactions with members dealing with other functions Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Employee involvement team  Teams whose members meet regularly to collectively examine important workplace issues.  Quality circle - small team that meets periodically to discuss and develop solutions relating to quality and productivity Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Virtual Team  Members convene and work together electronically.  Can accomplish same tasks as face-to-face teams, but are free from geographic barriers Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Advantages of virtual teams  Cost-effectiveness and speed.  Focuses task accomplishment and decision making by reducing the emotional considerations that may surface in face-to- face meetings Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Disadvantages of virtual teams  The lack of personal contact between team members may impair development of work relationship and productivity.  Group decisions are made in a limited social context Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Self-managing teams  Small teams empowered to make the decisions needed to manage themselves on a day-to-day basis.  Duties often replace those that were traditionally done by the manager Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Advantages of self-managing teams  Productivity and quality improvements.  Production flexibility and faster response to technological change.  Reduced absenteeism and turnover.  Improved work attitudes and quality of work life Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Disadvantages of self-managing teams  Structural changes in job classifications and management levels eliminate the need for first- line supervisors.  Managers must learn to deal with teams rather than individuals.  Supervisors who are displaced by self-managing teams may feel threatened Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Multiple Skills  Team members are trained in performing more than one job on the team Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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7-22 Effective Team  One that achieves high levels of task performance, member satisfaction, and team viability.

Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Inc Effective teams achieve high levels of:  Task performance  Members attain performance goals regarding quantity, quality, and timeliness of work results.  Members satisfaction  Members believe that their participation and experiences are positive and meet important personal needs.  Team viability  Members are sufficiently satisfied to continue working together on an ongoing basis.

Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Inc Synergy  The creation of a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts.  Individual can accomplish more through teamwork than by working alone.

Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Inc Why teams are good for organizations  Teams are good for people.  Teams can improve creativity.  Teams can make better decisions.  Teams can increase commitments to action.  Teams help control their members.  Teams help offset large organization size.

Common team challenges  Social loafing  Personality conflicts  Uncertain or competing goals  Poorly defined agendas  Perceptions that team lacks progress 7-26 Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

7-27 Social loafing  The tendency of people to work less hard in a group than they would individually.  Reasons for social loafing  Individual contributions are less noticeable in the group context.  Some prefer to see others carry the workload.

Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Inc Prevent social loafing  Define roles and tasks to maximize individual interests.  Raise accountability by making individuals’ performance expectations clear and identifiable.  Tie individual rewards to performance contributions to the group.

Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Inc Social facilitation theory  Individual behavior is influenced by the presence of others in a group or social setting.  Positive result is extra effort when individual has the skills required for the task.  Negative result is an increase in social loafing and withdrawal from the group.

Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 7-30

Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Inc Forming stage  Initial entry of members to a group.  Member challenges  Getting to know each other  Discovering what is considered acceptable behavior  Determining the group’s real task  Defining group rules

Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Inc Storming stage  A period of high emotionality and tension among group members.  Member challenges  Hostility and infighting  Formation of coalitions and cliques  Clarification of members’ expectations

Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Inc Norming stage  The point at which the members really begin to come together as a coordinated unit.  Member challenges  Holding team together may over supersede task accomplishment.  Sense of cohesiveness may discourage minority views.  Can result in false sense of team maturity.

Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Inc Performing stage  Marks the emergence of a mature, organized, and well-functioning team motivated by group goals.  Member challenges  Dealing with complex tasks.  Maintaining effort toward performance.

Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Inc Adjourning stage  A well-integrated team is able to  Disband when its work is finished  Work together in the future  Particularly important for temporary groups

Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 7-36

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Inputs Resources Technology Structures Rewards Information Throughputs Norms Cohesion Roles Communication Decision making Outputs Task Performance Member satisfaction Team viability 7-38 Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Open Systems Model of Team Effectiveness

Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Inc Team effectiveness is affected by the nature of the task  Well defined tasks contribute to effectiveness.  Complex tasks pose challenges of uncertainty, information needs, and team members interaction. o Provide intense satisfaction when achieved.

Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Inc Nature of task affects outcome Technical demands  Routine or complex  Social demands of a task  Relations, ego involvement, and controversies over ends and means

Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Inc Team composition  A team must have the right skills and competencies available for task performance and problem solving.  In homogeneous teams, members are very similar to one another.  In heterogeneous groups, members vary in age, gender, race, and ethnicity.

Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Inc FIRO-B Theory (“fundamental interpersonal orientation”)  Identifies individual differences in how people relate to one another in groups  Individual difference determine needs to express and receive feelings of inclusion, control, and affection.

Status A team member’s relative rank or organizational position.  Status congruence – member’s position or authority within the team is equivalent to that outside the team Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

7-44 Team size  Can make a difference in a team’s effectiveness.  As team size increases, performance and member satisfaction increase up to a point.  Problem-solving teams should have 5 to 7 members.

Organizational setting and support  Important contributors to team effectiveness include:  Clear goals, communicated well.  Office design (open spaces vs. small, isolated cubicles).  Technology – accessibility and reliability 7-45 Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

7-46 Diversity-consensus dilemma  Diversity of the team members expands the skills and perspectives available for problem solving  But, diversity can also pose challenges to problem solving due to differences in values, experiences, demographics, and cultures.

Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Inc Group dynamics  Required behaviors — those that are formally defined and expected by the team.  Emergent behaviors — those that team members display in addition to what the organization asks of them.