Understanding

Work Teams

10-1
 OB Model
Dependent
Variables (Y)
Three Levels

Independent
Variables (X)

E X H I B I T 1–6
1-2
 OBJECTIVES
A. The growing popularity of using teams in organizations
B. Work team and group:Types of team
C. Internal Team Processes: Development of Work Teams
D. Team decision making
E. Team Dynamics
F. Identify the characteristics of effective teams
G. How organizations can create team players
H. Decide when to use individuals instead of teams
I. Show how the understanding of
teams differs in a global context
 A. The growing popularity of
using teams in organizations

• Organizations turn to teams to utilize talents.

• Teams outperform individuals when the tasks done
require multiple skills, judgment, and experience.
• Without teamwork and mutual understanding between
employees, the organizational can never have perfect
symbiosis between the different subsystems that
comprise it
• Working in team requires cooperation with others,
sharing information, confronting differences, and
sublimating personal interests..

10-4
 The development of teamwork requires the experience
of:
• Working together for a considerable period to iron
out all the issues between different employees from
different backgrounds and their different work ethics.
• Concerted coordination between team members is
important in the development of teamwork and
therefore the team coordinator's role becomes
paramount.
Teamwork has many advantages:
• Complex issues can be tackled by pooling expertise and
resources
• Problems are exposed to a greater diversity of knowledge,
skill and experience
• Boosts morale and ownership through participative decision
making
• Improvement opportunities that cross departmental or
functional boundaries can be more easily addressed
• The recommendations are more likely to be implemented
than if they come from an individual
 Group: two or more individuals who come into personal and meaningful
contact on a continuing basis

 Work team: a small number of employees with complementary skills

who collaborate on a project, are committed to a common purpose, and are
jointly accountable for performing tasks that contribute to achieving an
organization’s goals
 Empowered Autonomous Crews
Teams work groups

Self-managing Cross-functional Quality

teams teams circles

Project Task High-performance

teams forces teams

Emergency Committees Councils

response teams
 Types of teams (Cont)
Problem solving teams
 Teams were typically composed of employees who met to discuss ways of
improving quality, efficiency, and the work environment.
 Members share ideas for example on how work processes and methods can be
improved. Rarely are they given the authority to unilaterally implement their
suggested actions. teams only make recommendations.
 Some organizations have created teams to not only make recommendations but
also to implement solutions.
Self-Managed Work Teams: The team, perform highly related or interdependent jobs
and take on many of the responsibilities of their former supervisors.
• This includes planning and scheduling of work, assigning tasks to members,
collective control over the pace of work, making operating decisions, and taking
action on problems.
• Fully self-managed work teams even select their own members and have the
members evaluate each other’s performance. As a result supervisory roles become
less important.
Cross-Functional Teams are teams made up of employees from about the same
hierarchical level, but different work areas, come together to accomplish a task.
• Many organizations have used horizontal, boundary-spanning groups for years.
• A task force is a temporary cross-functional team. Cross-functional teams are
challenging to manage.
Virtual teams: members operate across space, time, organizational boundaries , linked through
information technologies to achieve organizational tasks;
• may be a temporary task force or permanent service team in order to achieve a common
goal.
• Despite their ubiquity, virtual teams face special challenges such as less social rapport and
direct interaction among members.. Their members report less satisfaction with the group
interaction process than do face-to-face teams.
• For virtual teams to be effectived , management should ensure the following.
 Trust is established among members.
 Team progress is monitored closely. This ensures the team doesn’t lose sight of its goals
and no team member “disappears”.
 And, the efforts and products of the team are publicized throughout the organization, so
the team does not become invisible.
Advisory teams:
include committees, advisory councils, work councils, and review panels;
• provide recommendations to decision makers;
• may be temporary, but often permanent, some with frequent rotation of
members.
Skunkworks:
• Multiskilled entities that are usually located away from the organization and
relatively free of its hierarchy;
• often initiated by an entrepreneurial team leader (innovation champion) who
borrows people and resources (bootlegging) to create a product or develop a service.
Communities of practice:
• bound together by shared expertise and passion for a particular activity or interest;
• often similar to virtual teams in that many rely on information technologies as main
source of interaction, but purpose is to share information, not make a product or
provide a service.
 Virtuoso Teams

Virtuoso Teams
• High-stakes projects need all-star teams. But all-stars often play by their own
rules--and fight like cats and dogs.
• Virtuoso teams differ from traditional teams along every dimension, from the way
they recruit members to the way they enforce their processes and from the
expectations they hold to the results they produce.
Choose Members for Skills
 Insist on hiring only those with the best skills, regardless of the individuals'
familiarity with the problem.
 Recruit specialists for each position on the team.
Emphasize the Individual
 Celebrate individual egos and elicit the best from each team member.
 Encourage members to compete, and create opportunities for solo performances.
 Choose a solution based on merit.
 Assure that creativity trumps efficiency.
 C. Internal Team Processes: Development
of Work Teams
High End or
recycle

End or Performing
recycle
Degree of Maturity

Adjourning
End or Norming
recycle

End or Storming
recycle

Forming
Low
Start Time Together End
Chapter 17: PowerPoint 17.14
(Adapted from Figure 17.5)
 Internal Team Processes: Development
of Work Teams (cont)

The Five-Stage Model of team development.

First is the Forming stage. It is characterized by a great deal of uncertainty about the group’s
purpose, structure, and leadership. Members try to determine what types of behavior are
acceptable. This stage is complete when members have begun to think of themselves as part
of a group.
Second is the Storming stage. This is a period of intragroup conflict. Members accept the
existence of the group, but there is resistance to constraints on individuality. Conflict arises
over who will control the group. When this stage is complete, there will be a relatively clear
hierarchy of leadership within the group.
Third is the norming stage. It is one in which close relationships develop and the group
demonstrates cohesiveness, now a strong sense of group identity and closeness. This stage is
complete when the group structure solidifies and the group has assimilated a common set of
expectations of what defines correct member behavior.
Fourth is the performing stage. The structure at this point is fully functional and accepted. Group
energy has moved from getting to know and understand each other to performing. For
permanent work groups, performing is the last stage in their development.
Lastly is the adjourning stage. This is an adjourning stage. In this stage, the group prepares for its
disbandment. Attention is directed toward wrapping up activities.
Developmental Stages
1. Aspects of Team Development
a. Teams develop from immature (low) to mature (high) along a
continuum of maturity
b. No particular period of time is needed for a team to progress
from one stage to the next
d. There is possibility of a team ending at each stage or recycling
to a previous stage
e. Stages represent general tendencies,teams may develop by
going through repeated cycles rather than linearly each stage
simply reveals primary issues facing team members
GROUP/ TEAM NORMS

 Standards of behavior shared by

group members
 Formed only for things
important to the group
 May be written, but more often
orally communicated; can be
implicit
 Accepted in various degrees by
group members
 May apply to all or to only some
group members
 Norms may specify:

How much work to do

How customers should be treated
Importance of high quality
What members should wear
What kinds of jokes are acceptable
How members should feel about the organization
How they should deal with their managers, and so on
 Exists When Three Criteria Have Been
Met
 There is a performance standard of
appropriate behavior for team members

 Members must generally agree on the

standard

 Members must be aware that the team

supports the particular standard
through a system of rewards and
punishments
 Free rider/social loafing: a team member who isn’t
contributing fully to team performance but still shares
in team rewards

 Groupthink: an agreement-at-any-cost mentality that

results in ineffective work team decision making and
may lead to poor solutions;
 Groupshift:
Describes the way of discussing given set of
alternatives and arriving at a solution.
  Productive controversy: when team members
value different points of view and seek to draw
them out to facilitate creative problem solving

 Focus on issues rather than people

 Defer decisions until issues and ideas are explored
 Follow procedures that equalize sharing of power and
responsibility

 Managers can help shape norms

Chapter 17: PowerPoint 17.24

 “My advice for any new team: Don’t short-
change your startup. Take time to understand
what you’re going to do and how you’re
going to deal with the possible bumps along
the way.”

Jeanie Duck, Senior Vice President, The

Boston Consulting Group
 How Norms
Exert Influence on an Individual’s Behavior

9-25
 Example teamwork in Orgn.
Sales people Undertake selling to clients

Sales Manager Ensures the Sales People are equipped to sell properly

Marketing Manager Designs a product is attractive to potential buyers

Accountants Control the costs of the product to keep it competitively priced

Investment Analysts Maximise the return on the client's investment, making the product more
attractive to buy

Administrators Process the applications quickly so that the client does not lose patience and
move to a competitor company

Personnel Recruit high performing sales people, and provide training to maximise sales

Stationery suppliers Provide marketing literature that looks professional and makes the product
seem attractive

Cleaning staff Keep sales offices looking attractive, so that clients and prospects feel
comfortable visiting the branches
• Example shows the need for a corporate
culture recognises and values the contribution
that everyone makes to the sales process, and
other important goals.
• It shows the hierarchy of goals that exists
within the company
• The whole organisation is truly a team,
working together towards a set of common
goals
 D. Team decision making: Compare the effectiveness of
interacting, brainstorming, nominal, and
electronic meeting groups

• Interacting Groups
– Most group decision-making takes place in interacting groups.
– In these groups, members meet face to face and rely on both verbal and
nonverbal interaction to communicate with each other.
– Interacting groups often pressure individual members toward
conformity of opinion.

 Brainstorming
 Overcome pressures for conformity
 The process:
 The group leader states the problem clearly.
 Members then “free-wheel” as many alternatives as they can.
 No criticism is allowed.
 One idea stimulates others, and group members are encouraged to
“think the unusual
9-28
 Team decision making: Compare the effectiveness of interacting,
brainstorming, nominal, and
electronic meeting groups (cont)

The nominal group technique(NGT)

 Restricts discussion or interpersonal communication during the decision-making
process.
 Group members are all physically present, but members operate independently.
 The chief advantage of the nominal group technique is that it permits the group to
meet formally but does not restrict independent thinking, as does the interacting
group.

 Nominal begins when a problem is presented, then the following steps take place:
 Members meet as a group but each member writes down his or her ideas on the
problem.
 After this silent period, each member presents one idea to the group.
 The ideas are discussed for clarity.
 Each group member rank-orders the ideas.
 The idea with the highest aggregate ranking determines the final decision.

9-29
 Team decision making: Compare the effectiveness of interacting,
brainstorming, nominal, and
electronic meeting groups (cont)

The computer-assisted group or electronic meeting blends the nominal

group technique with sophisticated computer technology.

 Early evidence, suggests electronic meetings don’t achieve most of

their proposed benefits.
 Lead to decreased group effectiveness,
 Require more time to complete tasks,
 Result in reduced member satisfaction compared with face-to-
face groups.

9-30
Compare the effectiveness of interacting,
brainstorming, nominal, and
electronic meeting groups

9-31
 PSA Peugeot Citroën’s
Team Space
PSA Peugeot Citroën set up an
“obeya room” (shown here) to
speed up team decision making.
Plastered with charts and notes
on key issues, the space
encourages face-to-face
interaction to quickly resolve
issues.

8-32
 E.Team Dynamics
• Team Dynamics are the unseen forces that
operate in a team between different people or
groups.
• It is psychological forces that influence the
direction of team's performance and behavior.
• Those dynamics are created by the personalities
involved and how they interact.
• Team dynamics can be specified to positive and
negative/poor.
 Positive team dynamics are working based on
trust, work collectively, hold each other
accountable and aiming to achieve a collective
goal.
 However, poor team dynamics can show a lack
of respect and difficult to reach decisions.
• Team Dynamics can strongly influence how a
team reacts, behaves or performs, and the
effects of team dynamics are often very complex
 Team dynamic: examples
• Suppose in a team of six people working in an office, two
people have a strong friendship. This friendship is a
"natural force" that may have an influence on the rest of
the team, and can be manifest in various ways, either
positively or negatively.
• Other factors can also play an influence. For example, if a
wall of cupboards were to be placed across the middle of
the office, this would also form a 'natural force' that
influences the communication flow and may separate the
group into two further sub-groups.
• Sometimes, an "absence" of a natural force can also be a
team dynamic. For example, if the leader or manager is
permanently removed from the office, the group may be
drawn into a change of behaviour.
 How Do we Recognise Team Dynamics?

by looking for the forces that influence team behaviour. These

forces might include:
• Personality styles (eg: including or excluding people)
• Office layout (eg: cupboards dividing teams into two)
• Tools and technology (eg: email, bulletin board,
information pool enabling hidden communication).
• Organisational culture (eg: company cars acting as
status symbols to separate groups of employees)
How Can Team Dynamics Be Managed Constructively?
we need to:
• Look for the team dynamics - the 'natural forces' at
play
• Determine whether they are acting for good or ill,
• Make interventions to make the effect of those
dynamics more positive.
• For example, if a wall of cupboards is inhibiting
communication within a group, that wall can be
repositioned and the room layout designed to
encourage communication (without making the
environment too uncomfortable for those who value
their privacy when working on individual tasks).
Example: The Impact Of A Friendship
The positive effect of a strong friendship in a team
might be: the friends communicate a lot together...
• ...which naturally results in other members being
drawn into the discussion
• ...which results in a good 'social' feel to the group
• ...which makes people enjoy being in the group
• ...which improves motivation and commitment
The negative effect of a strong friendship :
to cause the other four people to feel excluded...
• ...which means they are less likely to include the two
friends in decision making
• ...which means that there are likely to be two sub-
groups
• ...which means that information may not flow across the
whole group, but only within the subgroups
• ... that miscommunication may lead to
misunderstanding and poor collective performance
• This friendship has an impact on the group's
performance, and is therefore a team dynamic.
• Whether it is good or bad depends on other
factors. In the first, positive, example, there is a
natural force of "inclusion" which results in
people being drawn into productive discussions.
• In the second, negative example, there is a
natural force of "exclusion" which results in
communication between groups being stifled.
F. Identify the characteristics
of effective teams

10-40
 Identify the characteristics
of effective teams (cont)

Factors for creating effective teams have been summarized as in Exhibit 10–3. There are two caveats.
 First, teams differ in form and structure. Be careful not to rigidly apply the model’s predictions to all teams.
 Second, the model assumes that it is already been determined that teamwork is preferable over individual
work.

Context:
What Factors Determine Whether Teams Are Successful? Four contextual factors most significantly to team
performance follow.
 Adequate resources are needed. All work teams rely on resources outside the group for sustain . A scarcity
of resources directly reduces the ability of the team to perform its job effectively.
 Leadership and Structure must be present. Teams can’t function if they can’t agree on who is to do what
and ensure all members share the workload. Leadership is especially important in multiteam systems, in
which different teams coordinate their efforts to produce a desired outcome.

 A Climate of Trust must be created. Members of effective teams trust each other and exhibit trust in their
leaders. When members trust each other they are more willing to take risks. When members trust their
leadership they are more willing to commit to their leader’s goals and decisions.
 A Performance Evaluation and Reward System must be in place. Individual performance evaluations, fixed
hourly wages, individual incentives are not consistent with the development of high-performance teams.
In addition to evaluating and rewarding employees for their individual contributions, management should
modify the traditional, individually oriented evaluation and reward system to reflect team performance
and focus on hybrid systems that recognize individual members for their exceptional contributions and
reward the entire group for positive outcomes. Management should consider group-based appraisals,, and
other system modifications that will reinforce team effort and commitment.
 Identify the characteristics
of effective team (cont)
• Composition
– Abilities of members : Part of a team’s performance depends on the knowledge, skills,
and abilities of its individual members.
– Personality : Many of the dimensions identified in the Big Five personality model have
shown to be relevant to team effectiveness. Teams that rate higher on mean levels of
conscientiousness and openness to experience tend to perform better, and the
minimum level of team member agreeableness also matters. Teams did worse when
they had one or more highly disagreeable members.
– Allocating roles : people should be selected for a team to ensure that there is diversity
and that all various roles are filled. Managers need to understand the individual
strengths that each person can bring to a team, select members with their strengths in
mind, and allocate work assignments accordingly.
– Diversity : Teams have different needs, and people should be selected for a team to
ensure that there is diversity and that all various roles are filled
– Size of teams :, keeping teams small is a key to improving group effectiveness. Generally
speaking, the most effective teams have five to nine members. Experts suggest using the
smallest number of people who can do the task flexibily.
– Member preferences : Not every employee is a team player. High performing teams are
likely to be composed of people who prefer working as part of a group.

10-42
 Team Composition
• Effective team members
must be willing and able
to work on the team
• Effective team members Conflict
Resolving
possess specific Coordinating
• Diagnose conflict
competencies sources
• Align work with
others
(5 C’s in diagram) • Use best conflict- Team Member • Keep team on
handling strategy Competencies track

Comforting Communicating
• Show empathy • Share information
• Provide psych freely, efficiently,
comfort respectfully
• Build confidence • Listen actively

8-43
Identify the characteristics
of effective teams (cont)

10-44
Identify the characteristics
of effective teams:
Team Processes
• Common Plan and Purpose. Effective teams begin by analyzing the team’s mission, developing
goals to achieve that mission, and creating strategies for achieving the goals. Teams that establish a
clear sense of what needs to be done perform better.
• Specific Goals. Successful teams translate their common purpose into specific, measurable, and
realistic performance goals. They energize the team. Specific goals facilitate clear communication
and help teams maintain their focus on results. Team goals should be challenging.
• Team Efficacy. have confidence in themselves and believe they can succeed. Success breeds
success. Management can increase team efficacy by helping the team to achieve small successes
and skill training. Small successes build team confidence. The greater the abilities of team
members, the greater the likelihood that the team will develop confidence and the capability to
deliver that confidence.
• Accurate mental models— organized mental representations of the key elements within a team’s
environment that team members share. If team members have the wrong mental models, which is
particularly likely with teams under acute stress, their performance suffers. If team members have
different ideas about how to do things, the team will fight over how to do things rather than focus
on what needs to be done.
• Conflict Levels : Conflict has a complex relationship with team performance.
 Relationship conflicts—those based on interpersonal incompatibilities, tension,
and animosity toward others—are almost always dysfunctional.
 Task conflicts stimulate discussion, promote critical assessment of problems and
options, and can lead to better team decisions.
 The way conflicts are resolved can also make the difference between effective and
ineffective teams. An effective teams resolved conflicts by explicitly discussing the
issues, whereas ineffective teams had conflicts focused more on personalities and
the way things were said.
• Social Loafing : Individuals can hide inside a group. Effective teams undermine this
tendency by making members individually and jointly accountable for the team’s
purpose, goals, and approach. Members should be clear on what they are
individually responsible for and what they are jointly responsible for on the team
 Identify the characteristics
of effective teams (cont):
• Team Cohesiveness :The degree of attraction
people feel toward the team and their
motivation to remain members
 Calculative -- members believe the team will
fulfill goals and needs
 Emotional -- team is part of person’s social
identity
 Influences on Team Cohesiveness

Member
Similarity

External Team
Challenges Size
Increasing
Team
Team Cohesiveness Member
Success Interaction

Somewhat
Difficult Entry
Influences on Team Cohesiveness
1. Member similarity
• Homogeneous team easier to develop cohesiveness, less conflict, more trust
2. Team size
• Smaller teams, more cohesive
• Easier to agree upon goals, coordinate tasks
• If team too small, difficult to perform the required tasks
3. Member interaction
• More interaction increases cohesiveness
• More interaction through higher task interdependence, co-location, open workspace
4. Somewhat difficult entry
• Somewhat difficult entry increases cohesiveness more prestigious, increases
member bond
5. Team success
• Successful teams more attractive (self-identity)
• Spiral effect – increased success increases cohesiveness
6. External competition and challenges
• Cohesiveness higher with external competition /challenges
•Value membership as a form of social support
Team Cohesiveness Outcomes
1. Want to remain members
2. Willing to share information
3. Strong interpersonal bonds
4. Resolve conflict effectively
5. Better interpersonal relationships
 How organizations can
create team players
Many people are not inherently team players, loners or want to be recognized for their own
accomplishments. Also many organizations that historically nurtured individual
accomplishments.

How does company introduces teams in highly individualistic

environments?
 First by selecting the right people. Hire Team Players. Some people already possess the
interpersonal skills to be effective team players. Care should be taken to ensure that
candidates could fulfill their team roles as well as technical requirements.
 Training can Create Team Players. Developing an effective team doesn’t happen overnight—it
takes time. Training allow employees to experience the satisfaction of teamwork, help
employees improve their problem-solving, communication etc.
 Providing Rewards as Incentives. An organization’s reward system must be reworked to
encourage cooperative efforts rather than competitive ones. Promotions, pay raises, and
other forms of recognition should be given to individuals who work effectively as team
members e.g by training new colleagues, sharing information, etc. .
 Finally, the intrinsic rewards that employees can receive from teamwork. It’s exciting and
satisfying to be part of a successful team.
10-51
Team Player Selection at Menlo Innovations

Ann Arbor, Michigan software

company Menlo Innovations
identifies job applicants with the
best team skills through a group
selection process in which
applicants are paired with each
other to complete software tasks.

8-52
 G. Decide when to use
individuals instead of teams
Teams are not always the answer to organizational productivity. Teamwork takes more time and
often more resources than individual work. Teams have increased communication demands,
conflicts to manage, and meetings to run. The benefits of using teams have to exceed the costs.
• How do we know whether the work of your group would be better done in teams? Three tests
to see whether a team fits our situation.
 First, can the work be done better by more than one person? A good indicator is the
complexity of the work and the need for different perspectives. Simple tasks that don’t require
diverse input are probably better left to individuals.
 Second, does the work create a common purpose or set of goals for the people in the group
that is more than the aggregate of individual goals? Many service departments of new-vehicle
dealers have introduced teams that link customer-service people, mechanics, parts specialists,
and sales representatives. Such teams can better manage collective responsibility for ensuring
customer needs are properly met.
 The final is whether the members of the group are interdependent .Using teams makes sense
when there is interdependence between tasks—the success of the whole depends on the
successof each one, and the success of each one depends on the success of the others. Soccer,
for instance, is an obvious team sport. Success requires a great deal of coordination between
interdependent players. Conversely, except possibly for relays, swim teams are not really teams.
whose total performance is merely the aggregate summation of their individual performances.
 Best Tasks for Teams
1. Complex tasks divisible into specialized roles
2. Well-structured tasks – easier to coordinate
3. Higher task interdependence
– Team members must share materials, information, or
expertise to perform their jobs
– Teams usually better because high interdependence (a)
requires better communication/coordination and (b)
motivates team membership
– But teams less effective if task goals differ (e.g. serving
different clients) – use other coordinating mechanisms
 H. Show how the understanding of
teams differs in a global context
• Research evidence indicates elements of diversity interfere with
team processes, at least in the short term.
• Cultural diversity does seem to be an asset for tasks that call for a
variety of viewpoints. But culturally heterogeneous teams have
more difficulty learning to work with each other and solving
problems. The good news is that these difficulties seem to dissipate
with time.
• Although newly formed culturally diverse teams underperform
newly formed culturally homogeneous teams, the differences
disappear after about 3 months.
• Fortunately, some team performance-enhancing strategies seem to
work well in many cultures.
• One study found that teams in the European Union made up of
members from collectivist and individualist countries benefited
equally from having group goals.
THANK YOU