1. Chapter 9: Teams and Teamwork
PSYC 352

2. Terminology Dyad: Two-person unit Group vs. Team No real distinction
Team: A social aggregation in which a limited number of individuals interact on a regular basis to accomplish a set of shared objectives for which they have mutual responsibility.

3. Origins of Work Teams Factors that led to the use of teams:
Information age
Educated and trained population
Rate of change in work activities
Teams are not always better than individuals

4. Individual vs. Team vs. Organization
Level of Analysis
Individual vs. Team vs. Organization
Micro vs. Meso vs. Macro

5. Types of Teams (Larson & LaFasto, 1989)
Problem Solving Team: A type of team created for the purpose of focusing on the resolution of a particular problem or issue.
Creative Team: A type of team created for the purpose of developing innovative possibilities or solutions.

6. Types of Teams (Larson & LaFasto, 1989)
Tactical Team: A type of team created for the purpose of executing a well-defined plan or objective.
Ad Hoc Team: A type of team created for a limited duration that is designed to address itself to resolving one particular problem.

7. Types of Teams (Larson & LaFasto, 1989)
Broad Objective
Dominant Feature
Process Emphasis
Example
Problem Resolution
Trust
Focus on Issues
CDC
Creative
Autonomy
Explore possibilities and alternatives
IBM PC Team
Tactical
Clarity
Directive, highly focused tasks, role clarity, well-defined operational standards, accuracy
Cardiac Surgery Team

8. Principles of Teamwork
Feedback provided and accepted
Backing up team members
Collective group
Within-team interdependence
Leadership makes a difference

9. Team Structure Structure of a team includes: Diversity in teams:
Number of members
Demographic composition
Experience of members
Diversity in teams:
Information diversity
Value diversity

10. Team Processes: Stages of Development
Norming
Performing
Adjourning

11. Team Structure: Roles
Diversity within a team is reflected in the members filling different roles.
Effective teams are composed of members who serve different roles on the team and their roles are defined by possession of selected mental abilities and personality characteristics.
Leadership
Liaison
Leader
Shaper
Resource investigator
Worker
Completer-Finisher
Creator
Team Facilitator
Monitor-evaluator
Work Producer
Team Maintenance
Belbin, 1981

12. Team Processes: Socialization
Socialization: process of mutual adjustment that produces changes over time in the relationship between a person and a team.
How socialization works (Moreland & Levine, 2001):
Evaluation
Commitment
Role transition and phases of membership (investigation, socialization, maintenance, resocialization, remembrance)

13. Team Processes: Interpersonal Processes
Communication
Conflict
Cohesion
Trust

14. Team Processes: Shared Mental Models
Shared Mental Model:the cognitive processes held in common by members of a team regarding how they acquire information, analyze it, and respond to it.
What is shared (Cannon-Bowers & Salas, 2001)?
Task-specific knowledge
Task-related knowledge
Knowledge of teammates
Shared attitudes and beliefs

15. Team Processes: Shared Mental Models
Groupthink:a phenomenon associated with team decision making in which members feel threatened by forces external to the team, resulting in a deterioration in the cognitive processing of information.
3 Causes:
High level of cohesion
Structural organizational flaw
Proactive situational context

16. Groupthink Example
A board of directors of an international air freight service must decide whether the company should enter a cost-cutting war with their competitors. The board begins its decision-making meeting with the chairperson’s loaded questions: “Should we enter into this foolish price war or just keep rates the way they are?”

17. Team Processes: Decision Making
Multi-level theory of team decision making (Hollenbeck, LePine, & Ilgen, 1996):
Team informity
Staff validity
Dyadic sensitivity

18. Improving Team Decision Making
Assign the devil’s advocate role
Be open to dissenting points of view
Seek outside opinions
Break up into smaller groups
Rethink issues before making final decision
Use brainstorming

19. Virtual Teams
Virtual teams: Task-focused teams that meet without being physically present or working at the same time.
Defining Characteristics (Avolio et al., 2001):
Communication takes place electronically
Team members are dispersed geographically
Members may interact synchronously or asynchronously

20. Virtual Teams Challenges: Development of shared mental models
Evaluation of team results
Achievement of team cohesion
Problems with leadership

21. Intergroup Conflict Causes: Lack of resources Goal incompatibility
Time compatibility
Influence tactics

22. Intergroup Conflict Consequences:
Conflict changes group members’ perceptions of each other
Group becomes more cohesive
Strained interaction between the two groups
Argumentative behavior
Attitudes passed on to new members
Goals focus inward, away from organization as a whole

23. Overcoming Intergroup Conflict
Superordinate Goals: goals that both groups endorse and that often require cooperative intergroup behavior to be achieved
Getting 2 conflicting groups together by itself will not reduce conflict
Conflict can be reduced if members cooperate to achieve superordinate goals.

24. Overcoming Intergroup Conflict
One problem occurs in conflicting groups is that they do not communicate.
One strategy to overcome the conflict is to plan a negotiation between the 2 groups.
Negotiation:facilitates communication and is usually seen a a fair method of dispute resolution.

25. Overcoming Intergroup Conflict
Member exchanges: members of conflicting groups role play each other.
Intergroup team development: team activities to improve relationships between groups.

26. Overcoming Intergroup Conflict
Reducing need for intergroup interaction:
Create conditions in which two groups have little or no need to interact
Reduce interdependence among groups
The resource allocation process:
Ensure groups have similar resources
Allocate resources fairly

27. Special Issues in Teams
Personnel Selection
Training
Performance Appraisal

28. Personnel Selection in Teams
Traditional individual personnel selection methods may not take the social context of teams into consideration.
Selection of team members requires best mix of personnel.
Establishing team requirements involves identifying and assessing the congruence among members with regard to personality and values.

29. Personnel Selection in Teams
Prieto (1993) asserts that 5 social skills are critical for an individual to enhance group performance:
Gain group’s acceptance
Increase group solidarity
Be aware of group consciousness
Share group identification
Manage others’ impressions

30. Team Training
Logic of team training is similar to individual training, although mechanism is somewhat different.
Team task analysis provides information about knowledge, skills, and attitudes the team members must possess to be successful.

31. Team Training Team Performance Cognition Knowledge Behaviors Skills
Attitudes
Affect
Think Do
Feel

32. Team Performance Appraisal
Major issue: extent to which individuals will slacken their performance within the team.
Social loafing: a phenomenon identified in groups or teams in which certain individuals withhold effort or contributions to the collective outcome.

33. Team Performance Appraisal: Social Loafing
Three types of social loafing:
Free riding
Sucker effect
Felt dispensability
Share the same characteristics:
Concern with impact of individual contributions on team performance.
Expectation of return on effort
Teamwork can weaken individual effort-team success-individual outcome link

34. Team Activity