“Together Everyone Accomplishes More” Teams “Together Everyone Accomplishes More”

Work Teams 78% of organizations use teams That number increases to 83% when talking about large organizations (500+ members) Why so popular? Motivation Performance Increases Creativity Innovation But the effective management of teams requires consideration of a bunch of different factors than managing individuals.

Objectives Explore the elements of the management of teams Design Development Process Discuss the challenges of successfully managing teams

Groups vs. Teams Group: Team: Two or more people who interact with each other to accomplish certain goals or meet certain needs. Team: A group whose members work intensely with each other to achieve a specific, common goal. All teams are groups but not all groups are teams. The ideal definition of a team is hard to achieve.

Types of work teams Functional Team: A manager and subordinates from a particular functional area or department. Cross-functional Team: A group of individuals who normally work within different functional areas but who are brought together to accomplish a task. Self-managing Team: A formal group of employees that operate without a manager and are responsible for a complete work process or segment.

Essentials of Team Design Team design is the most important thing to get right Goals: Define team’s goal to gain focus and urgency Size: Smallest team that can do the job Leadership: Choose an enabling, credible/powerful leader Rewards: Reward the team not the individual

Size Matters Group size affects how a group performs. Large groups - good for getting diverse input Small groups - good at making use of information Normally, small groups (say 2 to 9 members) interact better and tend to be more motivated. Free Rider tendency: Individual members reduce their effort and contribution as groups increase in size, because responsibility becomes dispersed. Reduce by: Keeping the group no larger than necessary Make individual efforts identifiable and accountable. Emphasize each member’s valuable contributions.

Essentials of Team Process Stages of development Conflict Cohesiveness Norms

Teams develop through stages High Adjourning Performing Degree of Maturity Norming – “Norms” Storming – “Control” Forming – “Existence” Low Start End Time Together

The Stages Storming: Forming: Norming: Performing: Aimed at answering key questions: Who are We? What do we do? Who is our leader? Storming: Conflict arises through the promotion of agendas and challenges to leadership. Norming: Characterized by cooperation, consensus, and shared understanding of goals and rules. Performing: Focus on achievement of goals.

Examples: Group Development In what stage does each task occur: A consensus develops as to group goals and how the group should work to get there. Feelings of friendship and camaraderie arise. The real work gets done. There is conflict over leadership and how to achieve group goals. There is conflict because some members don’t want to submit to the demands of other group members. Members try to reach a common understanding of what the group’s goal should be and how to get there.

Conflict Management Functional vs. dysfunctional conflict Conflict - perceived incompatible differences resulting in interference or opposition Task Conflict Relationship Conflict Process Conflict Functional vs. dysfunctional conflict Conflict can help group performance! Functional conflict resolution occurs when the conflict is settled by compromise (give and take) or collaboration (finding a way to make both parties better off). Low-Med levels Functional Usually Dysfunctional Low levels Functional

Conflict and Performance The same goldilocks curve. You see the groups internal process – you want it to be self-critical, innovative. You don’t want apathy, stagnation, and you don’t want disruption and chaos.

Example - Conflict Top managers at United Motorcycles are alarmed because the average customer age is steadily rising. Conflict occurs over how to attract younger buyers. Case 1: The new guy suggests extending the brand by introducing an entry-level bike. Two grizzled veterans suggest he doesn’t understand enough about the company to even understand what he’s saying. Functional or dysfunctional? Why? Case 2: A pitched battle develops between advocates of a new brand and those who agree with the new guy. The CEO challenges each group to make a presentation that will convince the other. Functional or dysfunctional? Why?

Group Cohesiveness Cohesiveness: Degree to which members are attracted to a group and share the group’s goals Usually good for performance, unless group’s goals are not aligned with organization’s goals. Build cohesiveness through: Smaller groups Group identity – name the group, engage in competition with other groups. Success – small initial successes

Norms, Conformity and Deviance Acceptable standards or expectations that are shared by the group’s members For example working hours, behavior rules, & output quotas. Conformity – compliance with norms. Members follow norms (conform) to obtain rewards, imitate respected members, and because they feel the behavior is right. When a member deviates, other members tend to try to make them conform, expel them, or change the group norms to accommodate. Desire for acceptance by group makes some members susceptible to conformity pressures Deviance is not all bad. Excessive conformity reduces flexibility Deviance allows for new ideas in the group.

Deviance and Performance The goldilocks relationship – just the right amount of deviance. Too much conformity = inflexibility, don’t change even when it makes sense. Too little conformity, the group doesn’t control its member’s behavior. Example of the receptionist at a dental office.

Design Trumps Process Good design and good process both help, but Teams with good designs suffer less from lack of leadership, and benefit more from strong leadership. Even teams with good processes are not particularly effective if design is deficient. Think of design as the foundation of team performance So why do we spend so much time on team process? Team process is most often in our immediate control. Even well designed teams have problems with process.