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TEAM EFFECTIVENESS
“There is no ‘I’ in TEAM! And this is the secret of a team SUCCESS !”
Table of contents

 What is Team Effectiveness?  Four strategies to improve Team

 Team Effectiveness using the scaled
comparison.
 Aspects of excellent team.
 Maxims of team management
 Boehm’s Principles
 What does Team Effectiveness
measure?
 Structural Elements
 Positive Interdependent
Behaviors
Effectiveness
 Clarify your team mission
 Set team goals!
 Create a plan
 Conduct progress reviews.
 Team effectiveness model
Background

• Defining “Team”
– Teams generally consist of two or more people
who
• Are interdependent
• Exist for a purpose/task
• Are mutually accountable to achieve that
purpose/task
• Perceive themselves as a social entity

– Groups versus Teams?

 Groups, Teams and
Organizational Effectiveness

• Group
– Two or more people who interact with each
other to accomplish certain goals or meet
certain needs.
15-5
 Background

• As noted previously (e.g., tutorials),

ability to work in teams is essential
in most modern organisations
– Why?
– Advantages of teams?
– Disadvantages of teams?
 Types of Teams

• Departmental Teams • Task force or project teams

• Production/Service/ • Skunkworks (team who

Leadersip teams research & develop projects

• Self-directed or • Virtual teams

autonomous teams
• Communities of practice
• Advisory teams (share their knowledge &
info)
 WHAT IS TEAM EFFECTIVENESS?

Team effectiveness refers to the system of

getting people in a company or institution
to work together effectively.
Characteristics of an Effective Team

Effective teams operate in an environment

in which there is two way trust in an
environment of open and honest
communication

9
The Team Model

10
 Teamwork Represents Values that:
• Encourage listening and
responding
constructively to the
views expressed by
others
• Give others the benefit
of the doubt
• Provide support
• Recognize the interests
and achievements of
others
John R. Katzenbach and Douglas K. Smith, “The Discipline of Teams”, Harvard Business Review, March-April, 1993, pp. 111-120
- 11 -
 Characteristics of Losing Teams

• Dominated by one individual

• Compromise between two
competing business
strategies
• Engage in groupthink
• Not all team members
contribute

- 12 -
Winning Teams

• Trust
• Clear time frame and agreed upon goals
• Get facts and do analyses before making
decisions
• Divide responsibilities
• All team members contribute
• Challenge and play devil’s advocate
- 13 -
Team Effectiveness:
Potential for Process Gains

• Potential advantages of using teams

– As a whole, team has more knowledge, ability, effort
than any single team member
– Diversity of views, knowledge, experience can lead to
innovation, fewer errors
– Potential for constructive conflict – task conflict
focused on issue and not personalised
– Can increase individual motivation and engagement
Team Effectiveness:
Potential for Process Losses

• Potential disadvantages
of using teams
– Individuals better/faster at
some tasks
– Development and
maintenance costs
– Potential for destructive
conflict – personalised or
relationship conflict
– Teams often don’t utilise
all available knowledge
• Drive to defend
• Time constraints
• Evaluation apprehension
• Pressure to conform
 Team Effectiveness:
Potential for Process Losses

• Social loafing can occur where people exert less

effort when working in a team/group
• Tips to reduce social loafing
– Keep group size small
– Increase identifiability and accountability
– Specialise tasks to make individual efforts
indispensible
– Set clear, challenging goals
– Increase involvement and engagement
– Increase identification with the group
TEAM EFFECTIVENESS USING
THE SCALED COMPARISON

Team Effectiveness is a proven and practical

diagnostic tool for assessing team effectiveness
and improving work group performance.

Team Effectiveness gives the team a very precise

and reliable consensus as to what team members
see going well and what needs improvement.
Cont..
TEAM EFFECTIVENESS USING THE SCALED COMPARISON

• Team Effectiveness helps team members to very

quickly pinpoint the gap between where they are and
where they need to be.

• With Team Effectiveness, all team members participate

in team improvement through a sharing of their views
about team performance and needed improvement.

• Unlike other diagnostic tools, Team Effectiveness

works with teams as small as 5 to 7 members.
 ASPECTS OF EXCELLENT TEAM
Balance and Coverage are two of the most
important aspects of excellent teams:-

• Whenever team is out of balance, it is vulnerable.

• Great teams need coverage across key positions

with strong individual players.
 BOEHM’S PRINCIPLES

• The principle of top talent : Use better and fewer people

• The principle of job matching : Fit the tasks to the skills

and motivation of the people available.

• The principle of career progression : An organization

does best in the long run by helping its people to self-
actualize.
Cont..
 BOEHM’S PRINCIPLES

• The principle of team balance : Select people

who will complement and harmonize with one
another.
• The principle of phase out : Keeping a misfit on
the team doesn’t benefit anyone.
FACTORS AFFECTING TEAM EFFECTIVENESS

• The right mix of skills:- Bringing together the

people having different skills that complement
each other.
• The right motivation:- Team effectiveness is
directly related to the interest that team is
having on the project.
• The ability to solve conflicts without
compromising the quality of the project.
WHAT DOES TEAM EFFECTIVENESS MEASURE?
Team Effectiveness assesses all of the major
components of effective work groups, employing
multiple statements for each of a number of basic
elements. Some of the elements are :-

• Structural Elements
• Positive Interdependent Behaviors
WHAT DOES TEAM EFFECTIVENESS MEASURE?
• Structural Elements • Positive Interdependent
– Shared Team Vision Behaviors
– Clear Team Goals – Effective Decision Making
– Clear Team Roles – Encouragement of Innovation
– Effective Leadership – Effective Conflict
Behavior Management
– Natural Collaboration
– Effective Meeting
Management
Team Processes

• What happens when

our team members get
to work?
• One major issue is
Group/Team
Development
– How do teams develop
and change over time?
 Team Processes: Development
• Tuckman’s Model of Group Development (1965)
Performing Adjourning
Norming

Storming Return to
Independence
Forming
Dependence/
interdependence

Is this a good model for the teams you’ve

Independence experienced? Does it fit all teams?
Team Process Development
 Team Processes: Development

• Other models suggest that groups don’t go through stages at

all but complex cycles

• Punctuated Equilibrium (Gersick)

– Long periods of little or no development
– Important times (e.g., looming deadlines, halfway point) spur
activity and change
 Team Processes: Development

• Regardless of model, central processes occur during team

development
• Team membership formation
– Development of cohesion and bonding to group
– Start to think of team as part of social identity
• Team competence
– Form routines, roles, norms, that improve effectiveness
– Form shared mental models about resources, goals, etc.
 Team Processes: Cohesion

• Cohesion – attraction to group or task and desire to

remain a member
– Results from both cognitive and emotional processes
• Cohesion increases when
– Members are similar
– Teams are smaller
– Members interact frequently
– Somewhat difficult to enter the team
– Team success
– External competition
 Team Processes: Cohesion
• Cohesion is generally beneficial
– More motivation
– More willing to share information
– Can resolve conflict effectively
– Better interpersonal relationships within team
– Better performance (if team norms aligned with organisation
norms)
• Cohesion can be harmful when
– Team members stop doing above to ‘protect’ group
– Team norms inconsistent with organisation norms
 Team Processes: Trust
• Trust refers to positive expectations of another person in
situations involving risk

• Three levels of trust

– Calculus-based trust
– Knowledge-based trust
– Identification-based trust
• Based on emotional bond and mutual understanding
• Likely to be present in highly effective teams
STRATEGIES TO IMPROVE
TEAM EFFECTIVENESS

The task of building better teams and

improving their effectiveness can be
broken down into four simple and
straightforward steps:

1) Clarify Your Team Mission

2) Set Team Goals!
3) Create A Plan
4) Conduct Progress Reviews.
CLARIFY YOUR Make sure that your
mission is the team's
TEAM MISSION reason for being - its
purpose!
For example:-
• If your team is
responsible for new
products, your mission
might be to create
innovative products and
services that make the
client's life easier and
more enjoyable -- Or
products and service
that save the client
money, Etc.
 SET TEAM

• Every team should have

definite objectives or goals.
• There are some guidelines
for setting up the team
goals.
 SETTING UP TEAM GOALS
1) The goals should support the team's mission or
purpose.
2) Goals should be measurable. For example, instead of
saying, we want to increase sales this month; a
specific goal should be set. A measurable goal might
be, this month we will increase sales by fifteen
percent over last month's sales totals.
3) Goals should have a date.
 CREATE A PLAN

A team plan is simply a written blueprint for the team's

success.
• spell's out the team's mission,
• outlines the teams goals, and
• It lays out a strategy for fulfilling the team mission and
reaching the goals.
• It states the responsibilities of each person on the team,
what they do, and how they do it.
• It should outline what each person does, and how he or she
is accountable.
CONDUCT PROGRESS REVIEWS
These are simply
meetings where the
team members
come together to
discuss the team's
results and future
plans.
ITEMS TO BE COVERED IN TEAM
PROGRESS REVIEW

• Check to make sure the team is effectively

accomplishing its mission.

• Review the team's goals and make necessary

adjustments. This is a great time to keep the
team goals out in front of everyone.

• Set a date for the next Progress Review.

 ITEMS TO BE COVERED IN TEAM PROGRESS REVIEW

• Review the team plan and determine if any

updates or changes need to be made to make
the team more effective. Talk about the things
that are working well, and discuss what areas
need to be improved.

• Clarify responsibilities for each team member

and the actions they need to take next.
 TEAM EFFECTIVENESS MODEL

Teams can continuously improve their

effectiveness by focusing on improving their
functioning in five key areas: Goals, Roles,
Procedures, Relationships and Leadership
5 key areas for Team Improvement
• Goals: What the team aspires to achieve
• Roles: The part each member plays in achieving the team
goals
• Procedures: The methods that help the team conduct its work
together
• Relationships: How the team members ‘get along” with each
other
• Leadership: How the leader supports the team in achieving
results.
 CLEAR ROLES AND
RESPONSIBILITIES
Organization Structure
Job Description
Accountabilities
CLEAR
Resources
• CLEAR
PROCEDURES
Tools and Equipment
CLEAR
• PROCEDURES FOR:
Qualifications POSITIVE
• FOR:
PROCEDURES FOR
• Solving Problems Solving Problems RELATIONSHIPS
Solving
• Problems
and Making Mutual respect and trust
•
and Making
Decisions and Making Support
• Communicating CLEAR GOALS
Decisions
• Managing Conflict Decisions
Vision Inclusion
Communicating
• Completing Tasks
•
Communicating
Mission Involvement
ManagingPlanning
Conflict Value diversity
• Meetings Values
Managing Conflict
Completing
• Tasks
Managing Change Listening
Plans
•
Planning Evaluating Completing Tasks Feedback
• Performance
Meetings STRONG LEADERSHIP
Planning Okay with disagreement
Managing Change Personal Credibility
Evaluating
Meetings
Clear Expectations
Performance Managing
Clear Change
Communication
Evaluating
Engagement and
Involvement
Performance
Develop People and
Team
All members responsible
and accountable
Manage Change
Recognition
What can you do as a leader ?
 “Strong, decisive and
knowledgeable or quiet,
supportive, and cooperative”

Leaders should have two main concerns: people and production

• High concern for people motivates the team and they become
more productive,
• High concern for production creates sense of achievement and
satisfaction
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What’s your style ?
The Commander
Commanders make and
influence most decisions.

The downside of this leadership

style is that the leader can
demotivate and annoy people.

Often decisions are not optimal

- they don’t consider all
available information, options
and perspectives. This style is
effective in short-term, in long-
term it could be dangerous for
people and projects.
 The Coach
The coach is needed when team
lacks focus, expertise and
understanding what should be done
and how.
Coaches tend to be concerned
with growing people,
creating and enabling a
trusting environment.
This leader makes decisions
collectively with a team while
explaining rationale behind
decisions. They listen and
provides feedback.
Coaches encourages personal
growth and looks to build long-
term capabilities in an effort to
prepare the team and
individuals for independent
work.
 The Supporter

Supporters are needed to

help teams.
They help remove barriers
and coordinate activities.
The Supporter is an ego-less,
quiet leader and facilitator

They tend to make joint decisions with the team as equals, delegating
majority of decisions to the team.
In addition, the Coach is concerned with the creation of harmony and
balance between team members.
The Self Organizing Team
A motivated and confident Team
doesn’t need formal leaders.

The team makes most decisions.

Any member
could step in and become leader in
specific areas
and situations. People on these
teams tend to be highly capable,
committed and self-driven.

Teams will transcend through

previous steps and become truly
self-organized after experiencing
victories and failures, growing and
gaining experience together.
Which style of leader do
you need to be?