Ch08 Teamwork and Team Performance

How can we create high performance
teams?
How can team processes be improved?
How can team communications be
improved?
How can team decisions be improved?
Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Characteristics of High Performance Teams

Set a clear and challenging direction.
Believe in the goals and motivated to work hard to
accomplish them.
Turn a general sense of purpose into specific objectives.
Set standards for measuring results and obtain
feedback.
Members have the right mix of technical, problem-
solving and interpersonal skills.
Team Building
Collaborative way to gather and analyze
data about the teams work. The goal is

improved teamwork and increased team
effectiveness.
Teamwork
Participation by
all members
Formal retreat approach

Team building occurs during an offsite retreat.
Outdoor experience approach

Members engage in a variety of physically
challenging situations that require teamwork.
Continuous improvement approach

The manager, team leader, or group members
take responsibility for ongoing team building.
New members may worry about:

Participation
Goals
Control
Relationships
Processes
Distributed leadership
Sharing of responsibility for meeting group task and
maintenance needs.
Task activities
Various things members and leaders do that directly
contribute to the performance of important group tasks.
Maintenance activities
Support the social and interpersonal relationships
among team members.
Disruptive behaviors:
Bullying and being overly aggressive toward
other members.
Withdrawing and refusing to cooperate with
others.
Using the group as a forum for self-confession.
Talking too much about irrelevant matters.
Trying to compete for attention and recognition.
Role
Set of expectations associated with a job or position on a team.
Role ambiguity
Occurs when a person is
uncertain about his or her
role and what is expected.
Role overload
Occurs when too much is expected of the
individual.
Role underload
Occurs when too little is expected of the
individual.
Role conflict
Occurs when a person is
unable to respond to role

expectations that conflict
with one another.
Forms of role conflict
Intrasender,
Intersender, Person-role,
Inter-role.
Role negotiation
Process for discussing and agreeing upon
what team members expect of one

another.
Team members meet to discuss, clarify,
and agree on their individual role

expectations each holds for the other.
Norms
Represent ideas or beliefs about how
members are expected to behave.

Considered rules or standards of conduct
that are supposed to guide members.

Help members to guide their own behavior
and predict what others will do.
Key norms that can have positive or

negative implications.
Performance norms.
Ethics norms.
Organizational and personal pride norms.
High-achievement norms.
Support and helpfulness norms.
Improvement and change norms.
Leaders can
Influence
Norms
Cohesiveness
The degree to which members are
attracted to a group and motivated to

remain a part of it.
There is a strong relationship between
cohesiveness, conformity to group norms,

and performance.
Inter-team dynamics
The relationships between groups
cooperating and competing with one

another.
Ways to achieve positive inter-team dynamics

Refocusing members on a common enemy or goal.
Negotiating directly.
Engaging members, of different teams, in activities
learning how to work cooperatively together.

Refocusing reward systems to emphasize
contributions to overall organizational performance

and on how much teams help one another.
To assure high performance, team

interaction patterns and communication
networks must be aligned with
interaction patterns and team tasks.
Centralized
Decentralized
Restrictive
Decentralized communication
network
Members communicate directly, as
needed, and share information with one

another.
Centralized communication network

Team leader acts as a central control point.
Team leader collects and distributes
information among members.

Members work independently. Results are
passed to the team leader and pooled to

create finished product.
Restricted communication network

Subgroups disagree with one anothers
positions.
Poor communication is characteristic of
this type of situation.
Proxemics involves use of space as people

interact.
Architects and consultants that specialize in office
design help executives create spaces conducive to

intense communication and teamwork needed in
todays work environment.
Design of office space, and the size and availability
of meeting rooms can positively impact the

effectiveness of team communication.
Virtual communication networks

Technology provide numerous
resources for real time

communication.
Empowers team members to be in
constant electronic contact with one

another or a central database.
Online team building activities are
critically important to high quality

results.
What innovations in electronic

communication do you predict in
your working lifetime?
Teams make decisions by choosing from alternative

actions.
Decision by lack of response
One idea after another is suggested without any

discussion-taking place.
Decision by authority rule
The chairperson, manager, or leader makes a decision

for the team.
Decision by minority rule
Two or three people are able to dominate or railroad

the group into making a decision to which they agree.
Decision by majority rule
Formal voting usually takes place, or members may be

polled, publicly or confidentially, to find the majority
viewpoint.
Decision by consensus
Discussion leads to one alternative being favored by

most members and the other members agree to support
it.
Decision by unanimity
All group members agree totally on the course of

action to be taken.
Assets and Liabilities of Consensus and Unanimity

Advantages:
More information, knowledge and expertise is applied to solve problem.
Discussion leads to broader understanding of final decision.
Increases acceptance and strengthens commitment of members to
follow through and support decision.
Disadvantages:
Imperfect decisions may result from social pressures to conform to
group, or undue influence of team leader.
Team decisions take more time than individual decisions.
Groupthink
The tendency of members in highly
cohesive groups to lose their critical

evaluative capabilities.
Brainstorming
Used in teams to actively generate as
many ideas and alternatives as possible.

All criticism is ruled out
All ideas are welcomed
Emphasis on creativity and imagination
Quantity is wanted
Building on others ideas or piggybacking is encouraged
Think about how team cohesiveness and

groupthink might be related.
Can cohesiveness ever reduce groupthink?
For example, when there is a cohesive team,
and members are familiar with each other, they

may be less likely to censor their opinions and
more likely to disagree.
Agree or disagree?
Nominal group technique

Members are asked to respond individually
and in writing to a nominal question.
Delphi technique
Involves generating decision-making
alternatives through a series of survey

questionnaires.

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How can we create high performance

Characteristics of High Performance Teams

solving and interpersonal skills.

Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

data about the teams work. The goal is

Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Formal retreat approach

Outdoor experience approach

challenging situations that require teamwork.

Continuous improvement approach

take responsibility for ongoing team building.

Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

New members may worry about:

Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

contribute to the performance of important group tasks.

among team members.

Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

unable to respond to role

Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

what team members expect of one

and agree on their individual role

Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

members are expected to behave.

that are supposed to guide members.

and predict what others will do.

Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Key norms that can have positive or

Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

attracted to a group and motivated to

cohesiveness, conformity to group norms,

Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

cooperating and competing with one

Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Ways to achieve positive inter-team dynamics

learning how to work cooperatively together.

contributions to overall organizational performance

Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

To assure high performance, team

Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

needed, and share information with one

Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Centralized communication network

information among members.

passed to the team leader and pooled to

Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Restricted communication network

this type of situation.

Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Proxemics involves use of space as people

design help executives create spaces conducive to

of meeting rooms can positively impact the

Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Virtual communication networks

resources for real time