1. Developing and Leading Effective Teams
Chapter 11 focuses on how organizations can tap the full potential of work groups and teams by covering the key topics: Work Teams; Effective Teamwork through Cooperation, Trust, and Cohesiveness; Virtual Teams and Self-Managed Teams; and Team Building.
McGraw-Hill/Irwin
Copyright © 2010 by the McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

2. Ch. 11 Learning Objectives
Explain how a work group becomes a team.
Identify and describe four types of work teams.
Explain the model of effective work teams, and specify the two criteria of team effectiveness.
Identify five teamwork competencies team members need to possess.
Discuss why teams fail.
Objectives 1 and 2 identify different types of work teams. Objectives 3, 4, and 5 look at what makes teams succeed or fail.

3. Ch. 11 Learning Objectives
List at least four things managers can do to build trust.
Distinguish two types of group cohesiveness, and summarize cohesiveness research findings.
Define virtual teams and self-managed teams
Describe high-performance teams and discuss team leadership.
Objectives 6 and 7 examine how trust and cohesiveness contribute to effective teamwork. Objectives 8 and 9 explore modern applications of the team concept.
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4. Teams
Team Small group with complementary skills who hold themselves mutually accountable for common purpose, goals, and approach
This description of a team is based on Katzenbach and Smith’s definition of a team, which when related to Tuckman’s theory of group development from Chapter 10—forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning, a team is a task group that has matured to the performing stage.
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5. Evolution of Teams A Work Group Becomes a Team When:
Leadership becomes a shared activity
Accountability shifts from strictly individual to both individual and collective
The group develops its own purpose or mission
Problem solving becomes a way of life, not a part-time activity
Effectiveness is measured by the group’s collective outcomes and products
This list of indicators provides a good way to distinguish between a group and a team.
It is also helpful to note what the research indicates about team size. While the average North American team consists of ten members, eight members is the most common size.
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6. Teams What are the characteristics of a successful basketball team?
What parallels can we make to work teams?
In answering the questions presented on this slide, we can say that successful basketball teams and successful work teams share many common characteristics, a few of which are described here:
Coordination and timing – people need to be at the right place at the right time and be able to rely on one another to complete their tasks because they are dependent on one another.
Shared goals and purpose
Mutual accountability for their outcomes
Formal and informal leaders – the coach or the manager is typically the formal leader but individual team members often take on leadership roles and act as role models to more junior players or employees.
Outcomes of success – teams that experience some success usually become more cohesive, more confident, and experience greater loyalty among team members
Feedback, coaching, and self-assessment are used to help improve performance.
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7. Types of Work Teams
This table shows four general types of teams and what the results of their efforts typically are.
Advice teams help broaden the information base for managerial decisions.
Production teams perform day-to-day operations.
Project teams apply specialized knowledge for creative problem solving.
Action teams combine high specialization with high coordination to exhibit peak performance on demand.
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8. Effective Work Teams
It is important to understand how to measure the effectiveness of teams. This figure provides two simple criteria: number one, did the team get the job done? and, number two, is the team viable, that is, are team members satisfied and willing to contribute throughout the duration of the team’s life cycle?
The organization also has to create a positive environment, provide adequate support, and reward individuals for collaborating with others in order to make teams as effective as they can be.
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9. Teamwork Competencies
Orients Team to Problem-solving Situation
Organizes and Manages Team Performance
Promotes a Positive Team Environment
Facilitates and Manages Task Conflict
Appropriately Promotes Perspective
These competencies have been shown to contribute to positive teamwork and outcomes.
Orients team to problem-solving situation by ensuring data and information is available and that all members understand the situation or problem.
Organizes and manages team performance by establishing specific and challenging team goals and monitoring the team’s performance.
Promotes a positive team environment by reinforcing norms of tolerance, respect, and excellence and by recognizing team member’s efforts.
Facilitates and manages task conflict by encouraging productive conflict and helping determine a “win-win” approach.
Appropriately promotes perspective by changing or modifying one’s point of view only if a defensible argument is made by another team member.
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10. Characteristics of Effective Teamwork
This table outlines 12 characteristics of effective teamwork.
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11. Why Work Teams Fail
The main threat to team effectiveness is unrealistic expectations that lead to frustration. The top left side of this figure lists common management mistakes that generally relate to not creating a supportive environment for teams. The bottom right side identifies common problems for team members.
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12. Effective Teamwork Requires:
Cooperation rather than competition
Within teams
Among teams within organizations
Trust reciprocal faith in others’ intentions and behavior
Cohesiveness a sense of “we-ness”, strength of team members’ desires to remain a part of the team
Effective teamwork requires cooperation, trust, and cohesiveness.
While competition from the outside does promote internal cohesiveness, cooperation within the organization is powerful. In most situations, having competition within the organization, even across teams, is not as effective as cooperation because information is not shared, hostility develops, and all skills are not utilized. Research has found that:
Cooperation is superior to competition in promoting achievement and productivity.
Cooperation is superior to individualistic efforts in promoting achievement and productivity.
Cooperation without intergroup competition promotes higher achievement and productivity than cooperation with intergroup competition.
This example illustrates the negative results of lack of cooperation: GE’s medical systems division assigned two teams of engineers – one in Wisconsin, another in Japan. Both teams were tasked with creating software for two new ultrasound devices. The teams ended up creating features that made their products popular in only their own countries. They also faced language and cultural barriers that they didn’t work to overcome so they ended up duplicating each other’s efforts.
On the next two slides we will discuss trust and cohesiveness further.
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13. Interpersonal Trust Involves a Cognitive Leap
Figure 11-3
Faith in the other person’s good intentions Assumption that other person will behave as desired
Firsthand knowledge of other person’s reliability and integrity
Distrust
Trust
Trust involves a "cognitive leap" beyond the expectations that reason and experience alone would warrant. This carries with it the inherent risk of betrayal. In other words, sometimes you have to just hope that others are doing their part and will act responsibly.
People in work teams have to trust that others will do their part or else they may micro manage each other and they will lose the positive aspects—including the efficiency—of working together.
In order to build and maintain trust, team members should be communicative, supportive, respectful, fair, predictable, and competent.
What can you do to build trust?
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14. Cohesiveness A sense of “we-ness” helps the group stick together
Socio-emotional cohesiveness
Sense of togetherness based on emotional satisfaction
Instrumental cohesiveness
Sense of togetherness based on mutual dependency needed to get the job done
Cohesive group members stick together for one or both of the following reasons: (1) because they enjoy each other’s company or (2) because they need each other to accomplish a common goal.
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15. Test Your Knowledge
Military units engaged in coordinated efforts involving life or death situations would most likely rely on
Socio-emotional cohesiveness
Instrumental cohesiveness
Military units engaged in coordinated efforts involving life or death situations would most likely rely on
Socio-emotional cohesiveness
Instrumental cohesiveness
Answer: B
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16. Enhancing Cohesiveness
Theses steps can be implemented by managers who seek to enhance both types of group cohesiveness.
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17. Test Your Knowledge True (A) or False (B)
Too much team cohesiveness can be a problem for the organization.
In general, success leads to cohesion, rather than cohesion causing success
Smaller teams are more cohesive
External threats hurt team cohesiveness
Members of cohesive teams enjoy more satisfaction and less turnover
1. Too much team cohesiveness can be a problem for the organization.
True, cohesive teams may go in a direction that is counter to the org’s goals. Also, cohesive groups tend to make poorer decisions and are more susceptible to group think.
2. In general, success leads to cohesion, rather than cohesion causing success
True, the meta-analysis on cohesive work teams found that having some wins in their history made teams more successful than as opposed to the cohesiveness itself causing success.
3. Smaller teams are more cohesive
True, smaller teams facilitate more interaction among members
4. External threats hurt team cohesiveness
False, perceptions of an external threat, tend to make teams bond more closely together. Military teams are a good example of this, or a competitor coming out with a new product may energize teams. Another example is when all the members of congress joined together to sing the America the Beautiful right after 9/11.
5. Members of cohesive teams enjoy more satisfaction and less turnover
True, this is true once they can get over the adjustment period of working as a part of a team.
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18. Teams in Action: Basic Distinctions
The table presented on this slide compares types of teams. You will see that although both team types are distinct, they also possess some overlap.
Virtual teams exist as a result of information technology that allows group members in different locations to conduct business.
Self-managed teams are described as groups of employees granted administrative oversight for their work.
A common characteristic of self-managed teams is cross-functionalism—a term used to describe a team that is made up of technical specialists from different areas.
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19. How to Manage Virtual Teams
Establish regular times for group interaction
Set up firm rules for communication
Use visual forms of communication where possible
Emulate the attributes of co-located teams
Give and receive feedback and offer assistance on a regular basis
Agree on standard technology so all team members can work together easily
One of the keys to success in virtual teams is that meaningful face-to-face contact, especially during the early phases of the group development process, is absolutely essential.
Other research has shown that internet chat rooms tend to create more work and yield poorer decisions than face-to-face meetings and phone calls. Conflict management is also very difficult for virtual team members interacting asynchronously.
Following the practical tips listed on this and the next slide can help virtual teams succeed.
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20. How to Manage Virtual Teams
Consider using 360-degree feedback to better understand and evaluate team members
Provide a virtual meeting room via intranet, web site, or bulletin board
Note which employees effectively use to build team rapport
Smooth the way for an employee’s next assignment if membership on the team, or the team itself is not permanent
Be available to employees, but don’t wait for them to seek you out
Encourage informal, off-line conversations between team members
[No narration required.]
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21. Test Your Knowledge
Joachim is the leader of a virtual team. Due to time zone differences, the team has difficulty finding times to meet but found a time for a conference call today. Aileen, a fellow team member, was supposed to make a presentation to the group but never dialed into the call. In order to preserve the relationships among team members, after the conference call Joachim should:
send an to Aileen's boss regarding her absence from the call.
complain to team members about Aileen's behavior.
call Aileen directly to inquire about her absence from the call.
Joachim is the leader of a virtual team. Due to time zone differences, the team has difficulty finding times to meet but found a time for a conference call today. Aileen, a fellow team member, was supposed to make a presentation to the group but never dialed into the call. In order to preserve the relationships among team members, after the conference call Joachim should:
a. send an to Aileen's boss regarding her absence from the call.
b. complain to team members about Aileen's behavior.
c. call Aileen directly to inquire about her absence from the call.
Answer C – always assume positive intent (e.g., there was a legitimate reason for Aileen missing the call), especially when dealing with a virtual team. Pre-judging the situation could damage the relationship unnecessarily.
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22. Ways to Empower Self-Managed Teams
This table shows ways to empower self-managed teams.
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23. Attributes of High Performance Teams
Participative leadership
Shared responsibility
Aligned on purpose
High communication
Future focused
Focused on task
Creative talents
Rapid response
Research on the effectiveness of teams found these eight attributes of high-performance teams.
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24. Self-Management Leadership Behaviors
Encourages self-reinforcement
Encourages self-observation/evaluation
Encourages self-expectations
Encourages self-goal-setting
Encourages rehearsal
Encourages self-criticism
The process of leading others to lead themselves is called self-management leadership—the fullest meaning of team building in its highest form. Here you see six self-management leadership behaviors. Self-reinforcement is getting team members to praise each other for good work. Self-observation/evaluation is teaching team members to judge how well they are doing. Self-expectation is encouraging team members to expect high performance from themselves and from the team. Self-goal-setting is having the team set its own performance goals. Rehearsal is getting team members to think about and practice new tasks, and self-criticism is encouraging team members to be critical of their own poor performance.
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25. Developing and Leading Effective Teams Supplemental Slides
The following set of slides has been developed in close collaboration with the authors of the text to provide instructors with additional material for class lectures. In most cases, the material is not discussed in the text, and includes updated sources and relevant examples to accompany text information.

26. Where is your trust?
Suppose you lend a friend a DVD to watch on the agreement that he will mail it back to Netflix. You find out your friend forgot to return the movie to the rental company. He apologizes very sincerely and assures you it won’t happen again.
How likely are you to trust him with another DVD?
Now let’s walk through a scenario to demonstrate how trust is established. Let’s assume that you use Netflix which is a service that sends you dvd’s each month to your home. You simply have to return the dvd in the envelope they provide you in order to receive more dvds.
Click
Suppose you lend a friend one of your Netflix DVDs to watch on the agreement that he will mail it back to Netflix. You find out your friend forgot to return the movie to the rental company. He apologizes very sincerely and assures you it won’t happen again.
Ok, so at this point indicate what the percentage chance is that you would lend him another dvd in the future.
Do survey: ask: What is the percentage chance you would lend him another DVD in the future?
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27. Where is your trust?
Now, assume you lent a DVD to another friend and when you ask if she sent it back to Netflix she says “Yes.” Later you discover she lied when you see the DVD on top of her TV. Your friend apologizes and promises to follow through next time.
How likely are you to trust this friend with another DVD?
Ok, so now assume you lent a DVD to another friend and when you ask if she sent it back to Netflix she says “Yes.” Later you discover she lied when you see the DVD on top of her TV. Your friend apologizes and promises to follow through next time.
Click
How likely are you to trust this friend with another DVD?
Do survey: ask: What is the percentage chance you would lend her another DVD in the future?
Was your first number greater than your second?
Do survey: ask: Was your first number greater than your second?
My guess is that your first number was greater than you second and that you would be less likely to lend the DVD to this friend. Why, what makes the difference in these two scenarios?
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28. Recent Research on Trust
Schweitzer, Hershey, and Bradlow (2006) – conducted laboratory study and found…..
When trust is broken by untrustworthy actions, it can be restored through consistent trustworthy actions
A promise to act in a trustworthy way helps facilitate the regaining of trust
Deception does serious long-term damage to trust and makes it very difficult to restore, even when followed by trustworthy actions
Well, recent research on how trust is established suggests that when an untrustworthy action (for example, not returning the DVD) was followed by trustworthy actions, the trust could be restored. And, trust was restored faster when promises to be trustworthy were made.
However, when the untrustworthy action was followed by deception (for example, not returning the DVD and lying about it) it did long-term damage to the trust that had been established. This deception made it hard to restore trust even when it was followed by trustworthy actions later.
So how does this apply in the workplace?
In the workplace, trust is essential to day-to-day business, whether it's one colleague trusting that another will do her share of a project, an employee trusting that his boss will reward him for working long hours to meet a deadline, or a customer trusting that a company will fill an order correctly and deliver it on time. As such, developing and maintaining trust in business and professional relationships is essential for staying competitive in this rapidly changing environment.
Now that we’ve discussed how trust can be eroded, let’s discuss ways to build trust.
"Trust is critical for organizations, effective management and efficient negotiations, yet trust violations are common," the authors write. "Trust violations can range from serious misdeeds that constitute fraud ... to more common forms of trust violations, such as the use of deception in negotiations."
A boss may say, "Trust me. This job will be good for your career," when what the boss is really interested in is filling a hole.
Union reps and company managers may be less than forthcoming with each other while trying to reach a labor contract.
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29. How to Build Trust What can you do to build trust? Communicate Support
Respect
Fair
Predictable
Competent
So what are some specific actions you can take to establish trust?
Actions you can take to build trust and to instill faith of others is to be:
communicative, honest, provide accurate feedback, tell people what they need to know in a timely manner
Be supportive, be available and approachable, provide help and coaching
Also showing respect, actively listening to ideas, delegating tasks when appropriate this shows that you trust the other person and should be trusted, too.
d. In terms of rewards or tasks, be fair, don’t take credit for others work, recognize the contributions of others, and be as objective as you can in evaluations
e. As we just discussed being predictable, consistent and keeping your promises helps build trust.
f. Finally, you can’t underestimate how important competence is, in others’ opinions of you. Being a consistently good performer by showing your professionalism, and business sense enhances your credibility and faith others place in you.
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30. Video Cases Teamwork: Team Activities for Coworkers
Videos applicable to this chapter and available on the Organizational Behavior Video DVD, Volume One include:
Teamwork: Team Activities for Coworkers
NOTE: Slides for the complete set of video cases on the Organizational Behavior Video DVD, Volume One can be found on the book’s website in the Instructor’s Resources.
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31. Management in the Movies Hoosiers – “And Two More”
In this scene, Coach Dale is meeting and practicing with his team for the first time.
Questions
What type of leader is Coach Dale?
Is Coach Dale an effective leader?
How does he react to disagreement from his players?
Relevant concepts
Legitimate power
Initiating structure
Transformational leadership
Overview
This film is loosely based on the 1954 Milan High School (Indiana) basketball team. Coach Dale has been out of coaching for 12 years and comes back to coach at Hickory. The first thing he does at practice is assert his authority by firing George, who had been helping out. He also kicks two players out of practice who are not listening. Coach Dale does not seem worried about whether people will like him or his methods. He is most concerned with getting results. Students should discuss the type of manager they would prefer to work for.
Discussion Questions
What type of leader is Coach Dale?
Coach Dale is a leader high in initiating structure. He is more concerned with tasks and less about feelings.
Is Coach Dale an effective leader?
Effectiveness may be defined as getting the best effort from the team. Coach Dale certainly does that as the movie unfolds. In this scene, he gets their attention by showing that no one player is more important than the team.
How does he react to disagreement from his players?
Coach Dale isn’t concerned about disagreement. He is going to do things his way, without discussion.
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32. Groups & Teams
Group - two or more freely interacting individuals, collective norms, collective goals, common identity
Team - Small group with complementary skills who hold themselves mutually accountable for common purpose, goals, and approach
These are indicators that the group is really performing more as a team and a way for you to differentiate between them.
How do teams measure success?
Effectiveness is measured by the group’s collective outcomes and products
Who’s accountable?
Accountability shifts from strictly individual to both individual and collective
Who leads?
Leadership becomes a shared activity
The group develops its own purpose or mission
Problem solving becomes a way of life, not a part-time activity
What is the most common size of a team?
Eight members, the average North American team consists of 10members, but eight is the most common.
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33. Groups Vs. Teams Group Team Goal Share information
Collective performance
Synergy
Neutral (sometimes negative)
Positive
Accountability
Individual
Individual and mutual
Skills
Random and Varied
Complementary
Group = two or more individual interacting and interdependent who have come together to achieve particular objectives. Work group interacts primarily to share information and to make decisions to help each member perform within his or her area of responsibility.
They have no need or opportunity to engage in collective work that requires joint effort. Their performance is merely the summation of each group member’s individual contribution. There is no positive synergy that would create an overall level of performance that is greater than the sum of the inputs.
Work team generates positive synergy through coordinated effort. Their individual efforts result in a level of performance that is greater than the sum of those individual inputs.
These are indicators that the group is really performing more as a team and a way for you to differentiate between them.
How do teams measure success?
Effectiveness is measured by the group’s collective outcomes and products
Who’s accountable?
Accountability shifts from strictly individual to both individual and collective
Who leads?
Leadership becomes a shared activity
The group develops its own purpose or mission
Problem solving becomes a way of life, not a part-time activity
What is the most common size of a team?
Eight members, the average North American team consists of 10members, but eight is the most common.
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34. A Winning Team
Tennessee Volunteers win NCAA Women’s Basketball Title – April 2007
How? In the off-season
Good players recruited
Junior Nicky Anosike developed “The Lady Vol Pact”
The Lady Vol Pact – January 2007
Gained input from all team members
Final draft contained 8 points everyone agreed to
“I will give it my all on both sides of the court”
“I‘ll take any advice given to me by teammates”
Source: Summitt, Vols on Top again, Patrick, D. USA Today 4/4/07 pp. 1C-2C
This article describes how this group of good athletes became a true team and won the 2007 NCAA Women’s Basketball title
Tennessee Volunteers win NCAA Women’s Basketball Title – April 2007
How? In the off-season
Good players recruited
Junior Nicky Anosike developed “The Lady Vol Pact”
She provided some points and got input from the rest of the team.
The Lady Vol Pact
Gained input from all team members
Final draft contained 8 points everyone agreed to
Example included:
“I will give it my all on both sides of the court”
“I‘ll take any advice given to me by teammates”
They all stuck to these major tenets throughout the season and the team members believe it carried them through.
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Source: Summitt, Vols on Top again, Patrick, D. USA Today 4/4/07 pp. 1C-2C

35. Panel Urges Focus on Teamwork
Source: Marklein, M.B., Panel urges collegians to focus on liberal arts USA Today 1/11/07 p. 9D
A panel of higher education and business leaders argued that college graduates must be able to do more than equip themselves for their first job. They need to be able to think creatively and work with others
Key findings: Graduates should possess:
Broad based of knowledge across multiple disciplines
Intellectual and practical skills such as teamwork and problem-solving
A sense of personal and social responsibility, including ethical reasoning
Experience applying what they learn to real world problems
The data presented come from Peter D. Hart Research Associates and is based on surveys of 305 business leaders and 510 recent college graduates from Nov. 2-Dec
This is what employers identified as the most important skills, along with what recent college graduates said they believe employers most value. Respondents were asked to identify the two most important skills
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36. Team Trust Which of the following is true?
Trust among members is sufficient to ensure successful teams.
Trust is really not that important when working in a team.
Trust is only important when the team members work autonomously on their team-related tasks.
Trust can reduce performance in teams when team members operate autonomously.
Taken from Harvard Business Review V. 83, p. 19 Trust, but Verify
Which of the following is true?
Trust among members is sufficient to ensure for successful teams.
Trust is really not that important when working in a team.
Trust is only important when the team members work autonomously on their team-related tasks.
Trust can decline performance in teams when team members operate autonomously.
Answer D.
Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis surveyed 71 self-managed teams of MBA students. They found that trust dampened performance most in teams whose members were highly autonomous – that is, those whose members worked independent of one another. The trust caused them to no monitor one another as much and so they were not aware of each other’s activities which affected their performance. The trust hampered coordination amongst team members.
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37. Virtual Teams – Quotes from the Front Line
“Since I don’t know those people in [other cities], getting their stuff done is a low priority. My priorities are about things that are in my face, like when people I see every day are standing there looking at me, waiting for me to get their stuff done.”
“Everybody is so busy that you know they’re all multitasking during the call. When I’m the one leading a meeting, I’m pretty sure half of them are checking their s. Nobody pays much attention.”
Taken from Training June 2005, pg vol. 42 Do Your Virtual Teams Deliver?
While technology has enabled teams from across the country and world to work together, there is a lot more required to have them run effectively. Many complain about the lack of personal connection and accountability they experience with a virtual team.
“Since I don’t know those people in [other cities], getting their stuff done is a low priority. My priorities are about things that are in my face, like when people I see every day are standing there looking at me, waiting for me to get their stuff done.”
“Everybody is so busy that you know they’re all multitasking during the call. When I’m the one leading a meeting, I’m pretty sure half of them are checking their . Nobody pays much attention.”
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38. Virtual Teams – Quotes from the Front Line
Example “Problem with the project design. Let’s discuss at next week’s meeting – Sam.”
Receiver’s reaction:
I put a lot of time into that project design
Who is Sam anyway?
Should I trust his judgment?
Taken from Training June 2005, pg vol. 42 Do Your Virtual Teams Deliver?
Example “Problem with the project design. Let’s discuss at next week’s meeting – Sam.”
Receiver’s reaction:
I put a lot of time into that project design
Who is Sam anyway?
Should I trust his judgment?
These are problems endemic to teams who have never met each other. Even face-to-face teams struggle to be productive and without a personal connection to the team member, the challenges are even greater. Here are some tips when working with virtual teams…
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39. Tips for Working on Virtual Teams
Meet face-to-face to start a project and for major milestones
Assume positive intent
If an 's tone sounds off-putting, withhold judgment until you learn more or talk to them directly via phone
Engage in positive predictable behavior
Honor commitments, attend meetings on time, don’t send terse s
Taken from Training June 2005, pg vol. 42 Do Your Virtual Teams Deliver?
Meet face-to-face to start a project and for major milestones
Assume positive intent
If an 's tone sounds off-putting, withhold judgment until you learn more or talk to them directly via phone
Engage in positive predictable behavior
Honor commitments, attend meetings on time, don’t send terse s
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40. Tips for Working on Virtual Teams
Respect.
Ensure everyone feel they have a voice on the team.
Be in the moment.
Pay attention to the meeting you are in – no cell phones, checking , etc.
Contribution
Everyone should be clear what they should do to contribute to the team’s goals.
Taken from Training June 2005, pg vol. 42 Do Your Virtual Teams Deliver?
Respect.
Ensure everyone feel they have a voice on the team.
Be in the moment.
Pay attention to the meeting you are in – no cell phones, checking , etc.
Contribution
Everyone should be clear what they should do to contribute to the team’s goals.
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41. Which Teams are More Productive?
Small Teams
Big Teams
82%
16%
Decide by Consensus
One Strong Decision-Maker
81%
17%
People Differ from One Another
People are Similar to One Another
48%
47%
Notes:
Topic: Building Effective Teams
In most warehouses, workers wait for supervisors to tell them what to do, and supervisors in turn do not welcome suggestions from the floor.
In contrast the Toyota North American Parts Center California (NAPPC), is organized into 54 work teams whose members are expected by management to come up with creative ways to make work more stimulating and workers more productive.
Many workers carry a laminated card inscribed with NAPPC’s values including management’s value: “We depend upon our associates’ ideas for continuous improvement.”
NAPPC’s story of achievement holds real value for senior executives in any industry—but the real lesson lies less in the description of self-directed teams and more in the insights gained from why teams fail.
Three defining characteristics of work teams are:
Size
Decision-making process
Composition
The team building experience at NAPPC illustrated that small teams were better than large ones; consensus is better than rule by one; and individuals with dissimilar talents form stronger teams than similarly talented people—
In a Gallup pole of U.S. adults in December 2001 respondents’ views reflected the findings at NAPPC in regard to size and decision making process.
See above slide for visual representation of stats below
82% said that teams are most productive when decisions are made jointly by members
17% voted for one strong leader
The respondents were split on the ideal composition of teams:
47% said that teams are most productive when members are similar to one another
48% said that the best teams consist of people who are different from one another
It seems Americans prefer homogeneous teams—but why?
Most likely they haven’t been trained to view differences among individuals as opportunities to enhance individual output. Without training it’s human nature to gravitate toward people who have similar skills, temperament and demeanor as your own. Rather than form teams—coworkers form clubs.
At NAPPC for example: associates were coached to identify their strengths and figure out ways to mesh these strengths with their teammate’s dominate traits.
The result was differences were transformed into complementary traits. An empathetic team member for example could be sought to mediate team disputes, while someone with good organizational skills could refine the work schedule if needed.
In this way, each member is free to do what he or she does best rather than bear the burden of many duties that may not align with his or her strengths.
Source: “All Together Now,” Gallup Management Journal, Spring 2002 pp
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42. Leaders Building Trust
To Build Trust, Leaders can:
Give people reasons to trust one another instead of reasons to watch their backs
Refuse to reward successes that are built on untrusting behavior
Display trust and trustworthiness in their own actions; personally and on company’s behalf
Notes:
Topic: Building Trust in Teams
No one can manufacture trust or mandate it into existence. When someone says “you can trust me,” we usually don’t and rightly so.
But leaders can make deliberate investments in trust.
For Discussion: What do managers need to do to rebuild trust in today’s workplace?
Source: Excerpted from L Pusak and D Cohen, “How to Invest in Social Capital,” Harvard Business Review, June 2001, pp 86-93
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43. Building Trust in Traditional & Virtual Teams
Nonwork-related communication
Reduction of task and technological uncertainty
Team members who demonstrate initiative
Team leaders who communicate in a predictable manner
Timely and meaningful response to problems and issues
Positive and enthusiastic leadership
Ability to shift focus from procedures to tasks
Crises handled as “business as usual”
Notes:
Topic: Building trust in teams
Researchers say the above factors help build trust in teams.
For Discussion: Which one of these factors is most important? Why? Why is trust building particularly important in virtual teams? How do you generally build trust with your coworkers and/or acquaintances?
Source: List of factors adapted from C Joinson, “Managing Virtual Teams,” HR Magazine, June 2002, pp 69-73
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44. Conclusion Questions for discussion
You might consider the following questions for discussion:
What evidence have you seen at school or on the job of greater reliance on teams and teamwork?
Which of the factors in table 11-1 is the most crucial to a successful team?
Relative to effective teams, why is team viability important?
In your personal friendships, how do you come to trust someone? How fragile is that trust?
Why is delegation so important to building organizational trust?
Why should a group leader strive for both socio-emotional and instrumental cohesiveness? Are virtual teams likely to be just a passing fad? Why or why not?
Would you like to work on a self-managed team? Explain.
How would you respond to a manager who said, “Why should I teach my people to manage themselves and work myself out of a job?”
Have you ever been a member of a high-performing team? If so, explain the circumstances and success factors.
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