Organizational Behaviour

Canadian Edition
Schermerhorn, Hunt, Osborn, Currie

Prepared by: Joan Condie

 Chapter 10

Teamwork and High-Performance

Teams
Questions
 What is a high-performance team and what is
teamwork?
 What is teambuilding?
 What can be done to improve team processes?
 How do teams contribute to the high-performance
workplace?

Schermerhorn, Hunt, Osborn, Currie Organizational Behaviour, Canadian Edition Copyright 2005 John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd.
High-Performance Teams

Team = small group of people

with complementary skills who
work together to achieve a
common purpose that together
they hold themselves
accountable for

Schermerhorn, Hunt, Osborn, Currie Organizational Behaviour, Canadian Edition Copyright 2005 John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd.
High-Performance Teams
 Types of teams:
 To recommend things
• Temporary group (e.g., task force, ad hoc

committee) to study problem and

recommend solutions
 To run things
• Management teams with responsibility for

leading other groups

 To make or do things
• Perform ongoing tasks

Schermerhorn, Hunt, Osborn, Currie Organizational Behaviour, Canadian Edition Copyright 2005 John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd.
Nature of Teamwork
 High-performance teams characterized by:
 Sense of collective accountability
 Belief in team goals
 Strong core values
 General sense of purpose translated into specific
performance objectives
 Right mix of technical, problem-solving and
interpersonal skills
 Creativity

Schermerhorn, Hunt, Osborn, Currie Organizational Behaviour, Canadian Edition Copyright 2005 John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd.
Diversity & Team Performance
 Homogeneous teams quickly build harmonious
relationships but may be limited in terms of ideas,
viewpoints, creativity
 Heterogeneous teams have more stresses in
development stages but better long-term
performance potential due to pool of information,
talent, and perspectives

Schermerhorn, Hunt, Osborn, Currie Organizational Behaviour, Canadian Edition Copyright 2005 John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd.
Team-Building

Team-building = sequence of planned collaborative

activities designed to gather and analyze data on
group functioning and then make improvements
 Steps in team-building:
1. Identify problem in group functioning
2. Gather data and analyse
3. Plan improvements
4. Implement action plans
5. Evaluate results (and then begin cycle again as it is an
ongoing process)

Schermerhorn, Hunt, Osborn, Currie Organizational Behaviour, Canadian Edition Copyright 2005 John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd.
Team-Building Approaches
 Formal retreat approach
 Off-site intensive assessment and planning, often
with consultant
 Continuous improvement approach
 Regular meetings by group committed to
monitoring group processes and making day-to-
day changes to improve
 Outdoor experience approach
 Members need teamwork to master variety of
physically challenging situations

Schermerhorn, Hunt, Osborn, Currie Organizational Behaviour, Canadian Edition Copyright 2005 John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd.
Improving Team Processes:
New Members
 New members are concerned about issues of:
 Participation
 Goals
 Control
 Relationships
 Profiles of typical entry problems:
 Tough battler
 Friendly helper
 Objective thinker

Schermerhorn, Hunt, Osborn, Currie Organizational Behaviour, Canadian Edition Copyright 2005 John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd.
Improving Team Processes: Sharing
Responsibility for Group Needs
 All members need to undertake task and
maintenance leadership where:
 Task activities contribute directly to performance of
important tasks (e.g., offer ideas, seek information)
 Maintenance activities support emotional life of
group’s social system (e.g., encourage others, invite
participation)
 As well, all share responsibility for avoiding
disruptive behaviour
• E.g., aggression, withdrawal, irrelevant chat
Schermerhorn, Hunt, Osborn, Currie Organizational Behaviour, Canadian Edition Copyright 2005 John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd.
Improving Team Processes:
Roles and Role Dynamics
 Important that all members know expectations of self
and other members; problems occur with uncertainty
or conflicting expectations
 Role = set of expectations for a team member or
person in a job
 Role ambiguity = uncertainty about expectations
 Role overload = too much work expected of individual
 Role underload = too little work expected of individual

Schermerhorn, Hunt, Osborn, Currie Organizational Behaviour, Canadian Edition Copyright 2005 John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd.
Roles and Role Dynamics
 Role conflict = individual is unable to satisfy role
expectations that conflict with each other
 Intrasender role conflict
 Intersender role conflict
 Person-role conflict
 Interrole conflict

Schermerhorn, Hunt, Osborn, Currie Organizational Behaviour, Canadian Edition Copyright 2005 John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd.
Improving Team Processes:
Positive Norms

Norms = ideas or beliefs about how members of a

group are expected to behave; rules or standards
of conduct for behaviour
 Examples of norms:
• Re performance, punctuality, helping others

Schermerhorn, Hunt, Osborn, Currie Organizational Behaviour, Canadian Edition Copyright 2005 John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd.
Norms
 Functions of norms:
• Clarify expectations, make behaviour predictable,
give common sense of direction, reinforce team
culture
 Potential danger of norms:
• Can work against organization’s best interests
(e.g., “don’t work too hard”, “never do anything
extra beyond your job description”)

Schermerhorn, Hunt, Osborn, Currie Organizational Behaviour, Canadian Edition Copyright 2005 John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd.
Team Cohesiveness
Team cohesiveness = the degree to
which members are attached to and
motivated to remain a part of the team
 Members of highly cohesive groups:
 Value membership
 Try to maintain positive relationships with other
members
 Are energetic when working on team activities
 Are not prone to absenteeism or turnover
 Are genuinely concerned about team performance
 Tend to satisfy a broad range of individual needs

Schermerhorn, Hunt, Osborn, Currie Organizational Behaviour, Canadian Edition Copyright 2005 John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd.
Team Cohesiveness:
Link with Performance

 Effect on performance depends on

“rule of conformity” in group dynamics:
 The more cohesive the group, the greater the
conformity of members to group norms
 Positive performance norms (e.g., “Work hard”)
have a positive effect on task performance
 Negative performance norms (e.g., “Slack off
when the boss isn’t looking”) have a negative
effect on task performance
Schermerhorn, Hunt, Osborn, Currie Organizational Behaviour, Canadian Edition Copyright 2005 John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd.
Influencing Team Cohesiveness
Target To Increase To Decrease
Cohesiveness Cohesiveness
Goals get agreement create disagreement

Membership increase homogeneity increase heterogeneity

Interactions enhance within team restrict within team

Size make smaller make bigger

Competition focus on other teams focus within team

Rewards team results individual results

Location isolate from other teams open up to other teams

Duration keep team together disband team

Schermerhorn, Hunt, Osborn, Currie Organizational Behaviour, Canadian Edition Copyright 2005 John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd.
Use of Teams in
High-Performance Workplace

1. Problem-solving teams
2. Cross-functional teams
3. Virtual teams
4. Self-managing teams

Schermerhorn, Hunt, Osborn, Currie Organizational Behaviour, Canadian Edition Copyright 2005 John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd.
Problem-Solving Teams
 In employee-involvement teams, members meet
regularly to examine work-related problems and
issues (e.g., better satisfy customers)
 Effective use of workers’ knowledge
 Gains commitment for implementing solutions
 Quality circle = special type of employee-
involvement team that meets regularly to focus on
continuous improvement of quality operations

Schermerhorn, Hunt, Osborn, Currie Organizational Behaviour, Canadian Edition Copyright 2005 John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd.
Cross-Functional Teams
 Members from different functions are brought
together to work on common task
 counters functional silos problem
 promotes lateral communication
 promotes integrative or total-systems thinking
 enhances problem-solving through more thorough
information and power to act quickly

Schermerhorn, Hunt, Osborn, Currie Organizational Behaviour, Canadian Edition Copyright 2005 John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd.
Virtual Teams
 Members linked together through networked
computers (supported by groupware)
 Advantages:
• Allows meeting of people in different locations with diverse
background to exchange views and information, collaborate
• Cost-effective and quick when face-to-face meetings impossible
• Computer helps focus efforts on objective info, not emotion
 Disadvantages:
• Lack of direct personal contact can mean less social rapport and
less direct interaction among members
• May increase risk in decision making
• May have too much focus on the technology itself
Schermerhorn, Hunt, Osborn, Currie Organizational Behaviour, Canadian Edition Copyright 2005 John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd.
Self-Managing Teams
 Are empowered to manage themselves on a day-
to-day basis
• E.g., scheduling, allocating tasks, training,
evaluating performance, selecting new members,
quality control (many tasks traditionally belonging
to supervisor)
 5 to 15 members, multiskilled (pay may be linked
to extent of multiskilling)
 Also known as self-directed teams, empowered
teams

Schermerhorn, Hunt, Osborn, Currie Organizational Behaviour, Canadian Edition Copyright 2005 John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd.
Self-Managing Teams
 Benefits:
 Improvements in productivity and quality
 Flexibility
 Faster response to change
 Decreased absenteeism and turnover
 Improved work attitudes, quality of work life
 Challenges:
 Loss of managers
 Adjustment to new expectations (by workers and
remaining managers)
 Not suitable for all organizations

Schermerhorn, Hunt, Osborn, Currie Organizational Behaviour, Canadian Edition Copyright 2005 John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd.
Copyright
Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd. All rights reserved.
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