1. Foundations of Team Dynamics

2. Teamwork at Pearson Int’l Airport
Events surrounding and following the Air France crash at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport illustrate the importance of teams in complex organizational activities.
CP Photo/Franck Gunn

3. What Are Teams? Groups of two or more people
Exist to fulfill a purpose
Interdependent -- interact and influence each other
Mutually accountable for achieving common goals
Perceive themselves as a social entity
CP Photo/Franck Gunn

4. Groups vs Teams All teams are groups.
Some groups are just people assembled together.
Teams have task interdependence whereas some groups do not (e.g., group of employees enjoying lunch together).

5. Types of Teams and Groups
Permanent
Temporary
Production team
Management team
Task force
Skunkwork
Formal
Teams
Friendship
group
Commuter
group
Informal
Groups

6. Why Informal Groups Exist
Innate drive to bond
Social identity
We define ourselves by group memberships
Goal accomplishment
Emotional support

7. Why Rely on Teams
Compared with individuals working alone, teams tend to
Make better decisions
Make better products and services due to more knowledge and expertise
Increase employee engagement

8. Team Effectiveness Defined
Fulfills objectives assigned to the team
Fulfills satisfaction and well-being of team members
Maintains team’s survival

9. Team Effectiveness Model
Organizational and
Team Environment
Reward systems
Communication systems
Physical space
Organizational environment
Organizational structure
Organizational leadership
Task characteristics
Team size
Team composition
Team Design
Achieve organizational goals
Satisfy member needs
Maintain team survival
Team
Effectiveness
Team development
Team norms
Team roles
Team cohesiveness
Team Processes

10. Team’s Task and Size Task characteristics Team size
Better when tasks are clear, easy to implement
Share common inputs, processes, or outcomes
Task interdependence
Team size
Smaller teams are better
But large enough to accomplish task

11. Levels of Task Interdependence
High
Reciprocal A B C
Sequential A B C
Pooled
Resource A B C
Low

12. Team Composition at Bioware
Bioware looks for people like Sophie Smith (shown here) who are highly talented and work well in the Edmonton electronic games company’s team-oriented culture. “We look carefully for signs that may indicate the person is not a team player," says Ray Muzyka, who shares the CEO role with Greg Zeschuk.
Straughn Butts/Edmonton Journal

13. Team Composition Motivation Competencies
To perform task
To work cooperatively the team
Competencies
Skills and knowledge to perform the task
Ability to work effectively with each other
Homogeneous or heterogeneous, depending on task requirements
Straughn Butts/Edmonton Journal

14. Homogeneous vs. Heterogeneous Teams
Homogeneous Teams
Heterogeneous Teams
Less conflict
Faster team development
Performs better on cooperative tasks
Better coordination
High satisfaction of team members
More conflict
Longer team development
Performs better on complex problems
More creative
Better representation outside the team

15. Stages of Team Development
Performing
Adjourning
Existing teams might regress back to an earlier stage of development
Norming
Storming
Forming

16. Team Norms
Informal rules and expectations team establishes to regulate member behaviours
Norms develop through:
Initial team experiences
Critical events in team’s history
Experience/values members bring to the team

17. Changing Team Norms Introduce norms when forming teams
Select members with preferred norms
Discuss counter-productive norms
Reward behaviours representing desired norms
Disband teams with dysfunctional norms

18. Conformity to Team Norms
100
Day 12:
Peer pressure begins
Day 28: Employee has doubled performance 75
Units
Pressed
per Hour 50
Day 20: Employee begins working alone
Day 1: Employee begins job with team 25 4 8 12 16 20 24 28 32 36 40
Production Days

19. Team Roles
Role: Set of behaviours people are expected to perform by holding certain positions.
Formally assigned or informally acquired based on personality preferences
Belbin’s Team Role Model
Nine team roles -- all needed for optimal team performance.
People choose preferred role based on their personality.
Some roles should be strongest at certain times.

20. Team Cohesiveness at Lighthouse
Photo: Robert Hirtie. Courtesy of Atlantic Business Magazine & Lighthouse Publishing
The staff at Lighthouse Publishing in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia, is a highly cohesive group that successfully keeps its much larger competitors off-guard. This cohesiveness has particularly come through when faced with new and unexpected challenges, such as new products or machine breakdowns.

21. Team Cohesiveness Defined
Photo: Robert Hirtie. Courtesy of Atlantic Business Magazine & Lighthouse Publishing
The degree of attraction people feel toward the team and their motivation to remain members.
Calculative: Members believe the team will fulfill goals and needs.
Emotional: Team is part of person’s social identity.

22. Influences on Team Cohesiveness
Member
Similarity
Increasing Team
Cohesiveness
External
Challenges
Team
Size
Team
Success
Member
Interaction
Somewhat
Difficult Entry

23. Team Cohesiveness Outcomes
Want to remain members
Willing to share information
Strong interpersonal bonds
Resolve conflict effectively
Better interpersonal relationships

24. Cohesiveness and Performance
Moderately
high task
performance
High task performance
Team Norms Support Company
Goals
Moderately
low task
performance
Low task
performance
Team Norms Oppose Company
Goals
Low Team Cohesiveness
High Team Cohesiveness

25. The Trouble With Teams Individuals better/faster on some tasks
Process losses - cost of developing and maintaining teams
Companies don’t support best work environment for team dynamics
Social loafing

26. How to Minimize Social Loafing
Make individual performance more visible
Form smaller teams
Specialize tasks
Measure individual performance
Increase employee motivation
Increase job enrichment
Select motivated employees

27. Foundations of Team Dynamics