10-12-2020

Team definition: In 1990s

2

 Collection of individuals
 Interdependent in tasks
 Share responsibility for outcomes
 See themselves and are seen by others as intact
social entity embedded in larger social system(s)
TEAMS  Manage relationships across organizational
boundaries

Cohen, S. G., & Bailey, D. E. (1997). What makes teams work: Group effectiveness research
from the shop floor to the executive suite. Journal of Management, 23(3), 239-290.

Team definition: Now Maximizing productivity: Synergy

3 4

 (a) Two or more individuals who

 (b) Socially interact (face-to-face or, increasingly,
virtually)
 (c) Possess one or more common goals
 (d) Are brought together to perform organizationally
relevant tasks;
 (e) Exhibit interdependencies with respect to workflow, Group synergy is when the team does better than any
goals, and outcomes of the individuals on the team. This is the ideal all
 ( f ) Have different roles and responsibilities; groups hope to achieve.
 (g) Are together embedded in an encompassing
organizational system, with boundaries and linkages to
the broader system context and task environment.
Mathieu, J. E., Gallagher, P. T., Domingo, M. A., & Klock, E. A. (2019). Embracing complexity:
Reviewing the past decade of team effectiveness research. Annual Review of Organizational
Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 6, 17-46.

1
 10-12-2020

Synergy: Where does this come from? Decision rules

5

 Information integration from diverse views  Majority rule

 Buy-in, more motivational pull  Minority rule

 Voting
 De-biasing
 Consensus

 Qualified consensus as a decision rule

Solutions to deal with process losses

Decrease Process Losses
7 8
in groups
 Time spent before discussion: Goals, rules,  Contracts
responsibilities  Build trust
 Decision rules  Shared activities
 Group monitoring  Self-disclosure
 Expert identification
 Appropriate use of conflict

2
 10-12-2020

Takeaways
9

 Teams are more effective than individuals but you

need to actively manage …diversity, conflict etc.

 Establishing agreed-upon expectations in teams will

NOT eliminate problems but will help your team
succeed.