TEAM DYNAMICS
What are Teams?
- a small number of people with shared leadership who
perform interdependent jobs with both individual and
group accountability, evaluation, and rewards.
TWO TYPES OF TEAMS
Permanent Teams- are responsible for a specific set of
tasks or work processes in the organization.
Temporary teams- Unlike permanent teams, temporary
teams loose their importance, once the task is
accomplished.
Types of Formal Teams:
Production team- is relatively permanent, a group of
people that are responsible for turning inputs into
finished products through a series of production.
Management team- is a team of individuals who
manage other teams. Such team may have a common
objective and work cooperatively
Task force/Project Teams- is relatively temporary
teams, which investigate a particular problem or
opportunity and disband when the decision is made.
Skunkworks Team- is relatively temporary, it is a Cross-
functional teams, usually separated from the main
organization, that borrow people and resources and
have relatively free rein to develop new products or
services.
What are Groups?
-Two or more members with a clear leader who perform
independent jobs with individual accountability,
evaluation, and rewards.
-A collection of people who interact with one another,
accept rights and obligations as members and who
share a common identity.
Informal group- are groups not initiated by the
organization and usually do not perform organizational
goals, instead they exist primarily for the benefit of their
members.
Types of informal groups:
Friendship group- is a relatively permanent and
informal and draws its benefits from the social
relationships among its members.
Community of Practices- is a relatively temporary, that
bound together by shared expertise and passion for a
particular activity or interest.
Team effectiveness refers to how the team affect the
organization, individual team members, and the team
existence.
Organizational and Team Environment
 Reward System- Team members tend to work
together more effectively when they are at least
partly rewarded for team performance.
 Communication System-
 Physical Space- It shapes employees
perceptions about being together as a team and
influences the team’s ability to accomplish
tasks.
 Organizational Environment-
 Organizational Structure-
 Organizational Leadership-
Level of task interdependence
-Pooled Interdependence
-Sequential Interdependence
-Reciprocal (highest level)
Interdependence
Team Diversity- refers to the differences between
individual members of a team that can exist on various
dimensions like age, nationality, religious background or
task skills, sexual orientation, and political references,
among others
The two composition of team diversity
Homogeneous teams- teams that include members
with common technical expertise, demographics (age,
gender), ethnicity, experiences, or values.
Heterogenous teams- teams that include members with
diverse personal characteristics and backgrounds.
Team 5 competencies.
1.Cooperating – share resources, accommodate others.
2.Coordinating – align work with others, keep team on
track
3.Communicating – sharing information freely,
efficiently , respectfully and listen actively.
4.Comforting – show empathy, build confidence.
5.Conflict resolving – diagnose problem resources, use
best conflict handling styles
Team Processes
These processes – team development, norms, roles, and
cohesiveness are influenced by both team design and
organizational and team environment factors.
Mental Models- defined as team members’ shared,
organized understanding and mental representation of
knowledge about key elements of the team’s relevant
environment
Role - set of behaviors people are expected to perform
in certain positions in a team and organization.
Team Cohesiveness
-The degree of attraction people feel toward the team
and their motivation to remain members.
Factors influence team cohesiveness
1. Member similarity
2. Team Size
3. Member Interaction
4. Somewhat Difficult Entry
5. Team Success
6. External Competition and Challenges

Social loafing – occurs when persons make less effort to

achieve a goal when they work in a group than when
they work alone.