9

Foundations of
Team Dynamics
McGraw-Hill/ © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights
Irwin reserved.
 Teamwork In the Securities Industry

Paul Tramontano (2nd from

left) and other
professionals in the
securities industry have
formed teams to better
serve clients. Tramontano
heads a 12-person team
(called the Topeka Wealth
Management Group) at
Citigroup’s Smith Barney.

McShane/Von Glinow © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights

OB4e Slide 9-2 reserved.
 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

McShane/Von Glinow © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights

OB4e Slide 9-3 reserved.
 Groups versus Teams

• All teams 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)

McShane/Von Glinow © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights

OB4e Slide 9-4 reserved.
 Many Types of Teams

• Departmental teams • Skunkworks

• Production/service/ • Task force (project)

leadership teams teams

• Self-directed teams • Virtual teams

• Advisory teams • Communities of

practice

McShane/Von Glinow © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights

OB4e Slide 9-5 reserved.
 Why Rely on Teams

• Compared with individuals working alone,

teams tend to:
– Make better decisions
– Make better products and services due to more
knowledge and expertise
– Increase employee engagement

McShane/Von Glinow © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights

OB4e Slide 9-6 reserved.
 Why Informal Groups Exist

1.Innate drive to bond

2.Social identity
– We define ourselves by group memberships
3.Goal accomplishment
4.Emotional support

McShane/Von Glinow © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights

OB4e Slide 9-7 reserved.
 Team Effectiveness Defined

• Fulfills objectives assigned to the team

• Fulfills satisfaction and well-being of team
members
• Maintains team’s survival

McShane/Von Glinow © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights

OB4e Slide 9-8 reserved.
 Team Effectiveness Model

Organizational and Team

Team Design
Team Environment Effectiveness

•Task characteristics
• Reward systems
•Team size • Achieve
• Communication
•Team composition organizational
systems
goals
• Physical space
• Satisfy member
• Organizational needs
environment Team Processes
• Maintain team
• Organizational
•Team development survival
structure
• Organizational •Team norms
leadership •Team roles
•Team cohesiveness

McShane/Von Glinow © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights

OB4e Slide 9-9 reserved.
 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

McShane/Von Glinow © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights

OB4e Slide 9-10 reserved.
 Levels of Task Interdependence

High A
Reciprocal
B C

A B C
Sequential

Resource
Pooled
Low A B C

McShane/Von Glinow © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights

OB4e Slide 9-11 reserved.
 Shell Looks for Team Players

Shell holds the 5-day Gourami

Business Challenge in Europe,
North America, and Asia to
observe how well the university
students work in teams. One of
the greatest challenges is for
Gourami session in Asia -- Courtesy of Shell International Ltd
students from different cultures
and educational specializations
to work together.

Gourami session in U.S.A. -- Courtesy of Shell U.S.

McShane/Von Glinow © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights

OB4e Slide 9-12 reserved.
 Team Composition
1.Motivation
– To perform task
– To work cooperatively the team
2. Competencies
– Skills and knowledge to perform the
task
– Ability to work effectively with each
Gourami session in Asia -- Courtesy of Shell International Ltd
other
3.Homogeneous or heterogeneous,
depending on task requirements

Gourami session in U.S.A. -- Courtesy of Shell U.S.

McShane/Von Glinow © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights

OB4e Slide 9-13 reserved.
 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 team • Better representation
members outside the team

McShane/Von Glinow © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights

OB4e Slide 9-14 reserved.
 Stages of Team Development

Performing

Norming

Storming

Existing teams
Forming might regress Adjourning
back to an
earlier stage of
development
McShane/Von Glinow © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights
OB4e Slide 9-15 reserved.
 Team Norms

• Informal rules and expectations team

establishes to regulate member behaviors
• Norms develop through:
– Initial team experiences
– Critical events in team’s history
– Experience/values members bring to the team

McShane/Von Glinow © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights

OB4e Slide 9-16 reserved.
 Changing Team Norms

• Introduce norms when forming teams

• Select members with preferred norms
• Discuss counter-productive norms
• Reward behaviors representing desired norms
• Disband teams with dysfunctional norms

McShane/Von Glinow © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights

OB4e Slide 9-17 reserved.
 Team Roles
• Role -- set of behaviors people are
expected to perform in 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 more important at particular stages

McShane/Von Glinow © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights

OB4e Slide 9-18 reserved.
 Team Cohesiveness at Lighthouse

Photo: Robert Hirtie. Courtesy of Atlantic Business Magazine & Lighthouse Publishing

The staff at Lighthouse Publishing is a highly cohesive group that

successfully keeps its much larger competitors off-guard. This
cohesiveness has particularly come through when faced with new
and unexpected challenges, such as new products or machine
breakdowns.

McShane/Von Glinow © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights

OB4e Slide 9-19 reserved.
 Team Cohesiveness Defined

Photo: Robert Hirtie. Courtesy of Atlantic Business Magazine & Lighthouse Publishing

• 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

McShane/Von Glinow © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights

OB4e Slide 9-20 reserved.
 Influences on Team Cohesiveness

Member
Similarity

External Team
Challenges Size
Increasing
Team
Team Cohesiveness Member
Success Interaction

Somewhat
Difficult Entry

McShane/Von Glinow © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights

OB4e Slide 9-21 reserved.
 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

McShane/Von Glinow © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights

OB4e Slide 9-22 reserved.
 Cohesiveness and Performance

Team Norms
Support Moderately
High task
Company high task
Goals performance
performance

Team Norms Moderately

Oppose Low task
low task
Company performance
performance
Goals

Low Team High Team

Cohesiveness Cohesiveness

McShane/Von Glinow © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights

OB4e Slide 9-23 reserved.
 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

McShane/Von Glinow © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights

OB4e Slide 9-24 reserved.
 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

McShane/Von Glinow © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights

OB4e Slide 9-25 reserved.
 9

Foundations of
Team Dynamics
McGraw-Hill/ © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights
Irwin reserved.