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TEAMS AND TEAMWORK

Two heads can be better


than one

Why is an understanding of teams so important?


What are the foundations of successful teamwork?
Building National Competencies

TEAMS AND TEAMWORK

Importance Of Teams
Formal and informal groups are building blocks of
organizations.
Organizations use a variety of committees, task forces, and
cross-functional teams.
Virtual teams are increasingly common in organizations.
Teams offer synergy and other benefits to their members
and the organization.
Teams can also suffer from common performance problems.

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TEAMS AND TEAMWORK

Team

Importance Of Teams

a collection of people who regularly interact to pursue common


goals.

Teamwork
the process of people actively working together to accomplish
common goals.

Formal Group
a group that is officially recognized and supported by the
organization.

Informal Group
a group that is unofficial and emerges from relationships and
shared interests among members.

Committee
people brought together outside of their daily job assignments to
work in a small team for a specific task
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TEAMS AND TEAMWORK

Importance Of Teams
Types of Teams
Project Team
is convened for a specific purpose and disbands after
completing its task.

Cross-functional Team
operates with members who come from different
functional units of an organization.

Employee Involvement Team


meets on a regular basis to help achieve continuous
improvement.
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TEAMS AND TEAMWORK

Importance Of Teams
Types of Teams
Quality Circle Team
employees who meet periodically to discuss ways of
improving work quality.

Self-managing Teams
work team having the authority to make decisions
about how they share and complete their work.

Virtual Teams
Work together and solve problems through computer
based interactions
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TEAMS AND TEAMWOR

Benefits of Teams
Synergy
The creation of a whole greater than or equal to the sum of
its parts

Why Teams Are Good for Organizations

More resources for problem solving


Improved creativity and innovation
Improved quality of decision making
Greater commitments to tasks
Increased motivation of members
Better control and work discipline
More individual need satisfaction

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TEAMS AND TEAMWORK

Importance Of Teams
MANAGEMENT TIPS
Characteristics of High Performance Teams

Clear, elevating goals


Results-driven structure
Competent team members
Unified commitments
Collaborative climate
Standards of excellence
External support and recognition
Principled leadership

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TEAMS AND TEAMWORK

Potential Problems With Teams


Social Loafing
the tendency of some people to avoid responsibility by
free-riding in groups.

Meetings (wasted time)


Seven sins of deadly meetings:

1. People arrive late, leave early, and dont take things seriously.
2. The meeting is too long, sometimes twice as long as necessary.
3. People dont stay on topic; they digress and are easily distracted.
4. The discussion lacks candor; people are unwilling to tell the truth.
5. The right information isnt available, so decisions are postponed.
6. Nothing happens when the meeting is over; no one puts decisions into
action.
National

7.Building
Things
neverCompetencies
get better; the same mistakes are made meeting
after
meeting.

TEAMS AND TEAMWORK

Foundations Of Teamwork

MODULE GUIDE 21.2


Teams need the right members
and inputs to be effective.
Teams must use the right processes to be effective.
Teams move through different stages of development.
Team performance is affected by norms and cohesiveness.
Team performance is affected by task and maintenance roles.
Team performance is affected by use of communication networks.
Team performance is affected by use of decision-making methods.
Team performance suffers when groupthink leads to bad decisions.

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FOUNDATIONS OF TEAMWORK

Effective Teams
Effective Teams
make use of alternative communication networks and
decision-making methods to best complete tasks.

Group Process
The way members interact and work together to
transform inputs into outputs
TEAM EFFECTIVENESS EQUATION
Team effectiveness =
Quality of inputs x (Process gains - Process losses)
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FOUNDATIONS OF TEAMWORK

Effective Teams

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FOUNDATIONS OF TEAMWORK

Group Norms

Effective Teams

Behaviors, rules or standards expected of team members

Cohesion
the attractiveness of the team to its members

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FOUNDATIONS OF TEAMWORK

Effective Teams
Task and Maintenance Roles
Task Activities
contribute directly to the teams performance purpose

Maintenance Activities
support the emotional life of the team as an ongoing
social system.

Distributed Leadership
every member is continually responsible for both
recognizing when task or maintenance activities are
needed and taking actions to provide them.
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FOUNDATIONS OF TEAMWORK

Effective Teams

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FOUNDATIONS OF TEAMWORK

Effective Teams
Communication Networks
Decentralized Communication Network
Allows all members to communicate directly with one
another. Works well for tasks that require lots of
creativity, information processing, and problem
solving.

Centralized Communication Network


Requires members to communicate with each other
via a central hub or port

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FOUNDATIONS OF TEAMWORK

Effective Teams

Building National Competencies

FOUNDATIONS OF TEAMWORK

Effective Teams
Decision Making
The process of making choices through
choosing from alternative courses of action

Groupthink
a tendency of members of highly cohesive
teams to lose their critical evaluative capabilities
and make poor decisions.
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