Foundations of

Team Dynamics
 What are Teams?
► Groups of two or more people
► Exist to fulfill a purpose
► Interdependent -- interact and influence each
other
► Mutually accountable for achieving common
goals
► Perceive themselves as a social entity
 Groups versus Teams
►Allteams are groups
►Some groups are just people
assembled together
►Teams have task interdependence
whereas some groups do not (e.g.,
group of employees enjoying lunch
together)
 Types of Teams
•Departmental teams •Task force (project) teams

•Production/service/ •Skunkworks
leadership teams
•Virtual teams
•Self-directed teams
•Communities of practice
•Advisory teams
 Informal Groups
► Groups
that exist primarily for the benefit of their
members
► Reasons why informal groups exist:
1.Innate drive to bond
2.Social identity -- we define ourselves by group
memberships
3.Goal accomplishment
4.Emotional support
Advantages and Disadvantages of
Teams
Advantages
 Make better decisions, products/services
 Better information sharing
 Higher employee motivation/engagement
► Fulfills drive to bond
► Closer scrutiny by team members
► Team members are benchmarks of comparison

Disadvantages
 Individuals better/faster on some tasks
 Process losses - cost of developing and maintaining teams
 Social loafing
 Team Effectiveness Model
Organizational and Team
Team Design
Team Environment Effectiveness

• Reward systems •Task characteristics

•Team size • Achieve
• Communication
•Team composition organizational
systems
goals
• Physical space
• Satisfy member
• Organizational
Team Processes needs
environment
• Maintain team
• Organizational •Team development survival
structure •Team norms
• Organizational •Team roles
leadership •Team cohesiveness
 Team’s Task and Size
► Task characteristics
 Better when tasks are clear, easy to implement
 Share common inputs, processes, or outcomes
 Task interdependence
► Team size
 Smaller teams are better
 But large enough to accomplish task
Levels of Task Interdependence
High A
Reciprocal
B C

A B C
Sequential

Resource
Pooled
Low A B C
Team Composition
1.Select people with necessary
Motivation
 To perform task
 To work cooperatively the team
2. Competencies
 Collectively possess skills and
knowledge to perform the task
 Individual competencies to work
effectively with each other

Courtesy of Volvo Car Corporation

3.Homogeneous or
heterogeneous, depending on
task requirements
 Team Types : Homogeneous vs.
Heterogeneous Teams
Homogeneous Teams Heterogeneous Teams

► Less conflict ► More conflict

► Faster team ► Longer team
development development
► Performs better on ► Performs better on
cooperative tasks complex problems
► Better coordination ► More creative
► High satisfaction of ► Better representation
team members outside the team
Stages of Team Development
Performing

Norming

Storming

Existing teams
Forming might regress Adjourning
back to an
earlier stage of
development
 Team Norms
► Informalrules and expectations team
establishes to regulate member behaviors
► Norms develop through:
 Explicit/ clearly stated statements
 Critical events in team’s history
 Initial team experiences
 Beliefs/values members bring to the team
 Team Roles
► Role -- set of behaviors people are
expected to perform by holding certain
positions
 Formally assigned or informally acquired based
on personality preferences
► Belbin’s Team Role Model
 Nine team roles -- all needed for optimal team
performance
 People choose preferred role based on their
personality
 Some roles should be strongest at certain times
Influences on Team Cohesiveness
Member
Similarity

External Team
Challenges Size
Increasing
Team
Team Cohesiveness Member
Success Interaction

Somewhat
Difficult Entry
Team Cohesiveness Outcomes
• Members of cohesive teams:
 Want to remain members
 Willing to share information
 Strong interpersonal bonds
 Resolve conflict effectively
 Better interpersonal
relationships

J. Major, Ottawa Citizen

 The Trouble With Teams
► Individuals better/faster on some tasks
► Process losses - cost of developing and
maintaining teams
► Companies don’t support best work
environment for team dynamics
► Social loafing
How to Minimize Social Loafing
► Make individual performance more
visible
 Form smaller teams
 Specialize tasks
 Measure individual performance

► Increase employee motivation

 Increase job enrichment
 Select motivated employees
 Team Types: SDTs
► SDTscan be defined as Cross-functional
work groups organized around work
processes, that complete an entire piece of
work requiring several interdependent tasks,
and that have substantial autonomy over
the execution of those tasks.
Self-Directed Team Attributes
Completes an
entire piece of
work
Team – not
Receives team- supervisors
level feedback assigns tasks to
and rewards Self-Directed members
Work Teams

Responsible for Controls work

correcting input, flow, and
problems output
/ have total
authority to
make decisions
 Virtual Teams Defined
► Teams whose members operate across
space, time, and organizational boundaries
and are linked through information
technologies to achieve organizational tasks
 Why Virtual Teams?
► Increasingly possible because of:
 Information technologies
 Knowledge-based work- most knowledge workers are
increasingly mobile, location-independent, and free to
choose where, when, and for whom they will work.
► Increasingly necessary because of:
 Knowledge management-processes that govern the
creation, dissemination, and utilization of knowledge.
 Globalization
High-Performance Virtual Teams
Virtual teams perform better with:

Team • Creative combination of

Environment communication channels

• Structured tasks
Team Tasks • Moderate interdependence

• Smaller size than traditional

Team Size team performing similar tasks
High-Performance Virtual Teams
(con’t)
Virtual teams perform better with:

Team • Good communication and cross-

Composition cultural skills in team members

Team • Some face-to-face meetings to

Processes assist team development

• Important in all teams, but

Team Trust especially virtual teams
General Guidelines for Team Decisions

 Ensure neither leader nor any member

dominates
 Maintain optimal team size
 Team norms encourage critical thinking
 Introduce effective team structures
 Generating Constructive Conflict
 Form heterogeneous decision making team
 Ensure team meets often to face
contentious issues
 Members should take on different discussion
roles
 Rules of Brainstorming
►1. Speak freely
►2. Don’t criticize
►3. Provide many ideas
►4. Build on others’ ideas
 Electronic Brainstorming
 Participants share ideas using software
 Usually in the same room, but may be
dispersed
 Question posted, then participants submit
their ideas or comments on computer
 Comments/ideas appear anonymously on
computer screens or at front of room
 Nominal Group Technique
►A structured team decision -making process
whereby team members independently write down
ideas, describe and clarify them to the group, and
then independently rank or vote on them.
► Produce more and better quality ideas than
traditional interacting groups.
► Usually maintains a high task orientation and low
potential for conflict within the team.
 Nominal Group Technique

Individual Team Individual

Activity Activity Activity

Possible
Write down Vote on
Describe solutions
possible solutions
problem described
solutions presented
to others
 Delphi Technique
A group decision method in which
individual members, acting separately,
pool their judgment in a systematic
and independent fashion

McShane/Von Glinow OB 5e © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All 31

rights reserved
 Steps
1. The problem is identified and members are asked to
provide potential solutions through a series of
carefully designed questionnaires
2. Each member anonymously and independently
completes the first questionnaire
3. Results of the first questionnaire are compiled at a
central location, transcribed, and reproduced
4. Each member receives a copy of the result
5. After viewing the results, members are again asked
for their solutions. The results typically trigger new
solutions or cause changes in the original position
6. Steps 4 and 5 are repeated as often as necessary
until consensus is reached
McShane/Von Glinow OB 5e © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All 32
rights reserved
Foundations of
Team Dynamics