Understanding Work Teams

Definition

A work team is a collection of people whose individual efforts

result in a level of performance which is greater than the sum
of their individual contributions. It results into:

• Improved organizational performance

• Employee Benefits
• Reduced Costs
• Organizational Enhancement
 Work groups Work teams
Goal Individual common
Primary motive of share information and help perform collectively
interaction each other perform within
their responsibility

Performance outcome sum of individual's efforts synergetic effect

Responsibility & Individual collective
accountability

Skills random and varied complementary

leadership a strong and focused shared leadership
objective same as of organization specific
Meetings effectively run open-ended and problem-
solving
Performance organizational performance work product performance
effectiveness
Size any size preferably small
 Types of Work Teams
• Problem-solving Team: It consists of around 5 to 12 employees
from the same department who meet for a specific number of
hours per week to discuss various ways of improving quality,
efficiency and the work environment. Example: Quality circle
• Self-Managed Work Team: Self-managed autonomous work
team consists of around 10 to 15 employees who are assigned
the responsibilities like planning and designing work
schedules, making operating decisions and handling various
work-related problems
• Cross-Functional Team: It consists of employees from the same
hierarchical level, but from different functional areas of the
organization to achieve a specific objective
• Virtual Team: A team that uses computer technology to tie
together physically dispersed members in order to achieve a
common goal
Types of Work Teams
Creating Effective Teams
 Team Effectiveness Model-Context

• Adequate resources: Timely information, proper equipment,

adequate staffing, encouragement and administrative
assistance
• Leadership and structure: Delegation of responsibility with
facilitation
• Climate of trust: Interpersonal cooperation and trust
• Performance evaluation and reward systems: Group based
appraisals, profit sharing, gain-sharing, small group
incentives, etc
 Team Effectiveness Model-Composition
• Abilities of members: Knowledge, skills and abilities of members

• Personality of members: Conscientiousness, Openness to experience and

Agreeableness

• Allocation of roles: Creator, Promoter, Assessor, Organizer, Producer, Controller,

Maintainer, Advisor and Linker

• Diversity of Members: The degree to which members of a work unit share a

common demographic attribute such as age, gender, race, educational level or
length of service in an organization and the impact of this attribute on turnover is
known as Organizational Demography

• Size: Five to nine members

• Member preferences: Abilities, personalities and skills

 Team Effectiveness Model-Process

• Common Plan and Purpose: Analyzing team’s mission,

developing goals and creating strategies
• Specific goals: Specific, measurable and realistic performance
goals
• Team efficacy: Confidence and belief of success in teams
• Mental Models: Knowledge and beliefs about how the work
gets done by team
• Conflict levels: Relationship conflicts and Task conflicts
• Social Loafing: When individuals work collectively or as a
group, they tend to expend less effort than what they would
have put in individually
Key Roles of Teams
 Turning Individuals into Team Players

• Providing a supportive environment

• Relevant skills and role clarity
• Focus on super-ordinate goals
• Team Rewards
• Selection
• Training
• Rewards
• Providing Diversity Training