Chapter TEN

Understanding Work
Teams

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 Why Have Teams Become So Popular?

 Teams typically outperform individuals.

 Teams use employee talents better.
 Teams are more flexible and responsive to
changes in the environment.
 Teams facilitate employee involvement.
 Teams are an effective way to democratize an
organization and increase motivation.
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 Team Versus Group: What’s the Difference?

Work Group
A group that interacts primarily
to share information and to
make decisions to help each
group member perform within
his or her area of responsibility.

Work Team
A group whose individual efforts
result in a performance that is
greater than the sum of the
individual inputs.
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 Comparing Work Groups and Work Teams

E X H I B I T 10–1

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 Types of Teams

Problem-Solving Teams
Groups of 5 to 12 employees from the
same department who meet for a few
hours each week to discuss ways of
improving quality, efficiency, and the
work environment.

Self-Managed Work Teams

Groups of 10 to 15 people who take
on the responsibilities of their former
supervisors.

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 Types of Teams (cont’d)

Cross-Functional Teams
Employees from about the same hierarchical level,
but from different work areas, who come together
to accomplish a task.

• Task forces

• Committees

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 Types of
Teams
(cont’d)
Virtual Teams
Teams that use computer
technology to tie together
physically dispersed
members in order to
achieve a common goal.

Characteristics of Virtual Teams

1. The absence of paraverbal and nonverbal cues
2. A limited social context
3. The ability to overcome time and space constraints

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 A Team-
Effectiveness
Model

E X H I B I T 10–3

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 Creating Effective Teams

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 Creating Effective Teams (cont’d)

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 Key Roles
of Teams

E X H I B I T 10–4

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 Creating Effective Teams (cont’d)

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 Creating Effective Teams (cont’d)

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 Effects of
Group
Processes

= +

MINUS

Goal: Maximize Process Gains

While Minimizing Process Losses!

E X H I B I T 10–5

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 Creating Effective
Teams: Diversity
Group Demography
The degree to which members of a group share a
common demographic attribute, such as age, sex,
race, educational level, or length of service in the
organization, and the impact of this attribute on
turnover.

Cohorts
Individuals who, as part of
a group, hold a common
attribute.

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 Turning Individuals
Into Team Players
 The Challenges
– Overcoming individual resistance to team membership.
– Countering the influence of individualistic cultures.
– Introducing teams in an organization that has
historically valued individual achievement.
 Shaping Team Players
– Selecting employees who can fulfill their team roles.
– Training employees to become team players.
– Reworking the reward system to encourage
cooperative efforts while continuing to recognize
individual contributions.
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 Teams and Quality Management

 Team Effectiveness and Quality Management

Requires That Teams:
1. Are small enough to be efficient and effective.
2. Are properly trained in required skills.
3. Allocated enough time to work on problems.
4. Are given authority to resolve problems and take
corrective action.
5. Have a designated “champion” to call on when
needed.

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 Beware: Teams Aren’t Always the Answer
 Three tests to see if a team fits the situation:
– Is the work complex and is there a need for different
perspectives?
– Does the work create a common purpose or set of
goals for the group that is larger than the aggregate of
the goals for individuals?
– Are members of the group involved in interdependent
tasks?

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 Chapter Check-Up: Teams

What kinds of things have you experienced in a team

setting that could be considered as process loss?
Choose two and write them down.

Possibilities include: Too much socializing,

coordinating work flow, lag time in
responses to emails, personality conflicts,
attendance and timeliness problems, etc.
© 2007 Prentice Hall Inc. All rights reserved.
 Chapter Check-
Up: Teams
If you were asked to choose people from your class
right now to make up a team for a class project, list
five individuals you would choose.

Now that you have your list, consider what the

composition of your team would look like. How much
diversity would there be? Given what we learned in
this chapter, what would the pros and cons of your
composition be?

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 Chapter Check-Up: Teams
Is conflict in a team good or
bad? Discuss.
Conflict can be both good and bad. Task conflict is
beneficial for a team because it helps protect against
groupthink. Relationship conflict is bad for a team’s
morale.

What, specifically, can you do to create task conflict in

a group? Think about the reality of trying to “stir the
pot”… and write down a phrase you could say (e.g.,
you would feel comfortable saying to your peers) to
create task conflict.

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