![that foster[s] rapid … accurate” choices. To test this theory,
Dane and colleagues conducted a series of lab experiments.
In one of the experiments, the researchers asked students to rate
the difficulty of basketball shots. First, they took photos of
basketball players taking shots. Then they asked coaches to rate
the difficulty of these shots on a scale of one to ten. Following
this they gathered the student participants. The students were
first separated into two groups. One group had extensive
basketball experience (e.g., played three years of high school
basketball). The other did not. In the two experience groups,
students were asked to develop an analytic model with specific
factors (e.g., the closeness of the defender) that would allow
them to make judgments about difficulty. The other students
were asked to use intuition. They then gave the students a
limited amount of time to make the choices. Whom do you think
had the higher scores?
Results of the Basketball Experiment
Intuition Used
Analysis Used
Low Expertise
21.34*
24.89
High Expertise
30.09
26.46
*High score is better
It turns out that the individuals with the highest scores were the
students who had played basketball and used intuition. The
lowest scores came from the students without basketball
expertise who used intuition. The researchers also ran a similar
test with fake versus real designer brand handbags. Here, the
experts were students who owned several of the real bags versus
those who did not. The results were virtually identical.
Do the Research
How much expertise do you think is necessary for intuition to](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/chapter16handleconflictnegotiationanddecisionmakingd-220921043658-378f5758/85/CHAPTER-16Handle-Conflict-Negotiation-and-Decision-MakingD-31-320.jpg)
![plane crash!” But it turned out this time would be different.
This was largely due to the pilot, Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger,
whose experience and quick thinking allowed him to
successfully crash land US Airways Flight 1549 into the Hudson
River, saving the lives of everyone on board.
In an interview with Greta van Susteren of Fox News,
Sullenberger was asked to recount what happened. Van Susteren
commented, “It probably took about twenty seconds to explain;
you had to make that decision like [snaps her fingers] that.”
Sullenberger responded, “It was sort of an instinctive move
based upon my experience and my initial read of the situation.”
What Sullenberger describes is intuitive decision making. It is
precisely why pilots spend considerable time in flight
simulators. The goal is to develop the experience necessary for
dealing with problems that may only occur once, if ever, in a
career. While systematic decision making works in normal
operating mode, in times of crisis, what is needed is intuitive
decision making. Intuition allows someone to quickly size up a
situation and act out of instinct. That is exactly what
Sullenberger did that allowed him to save hundreds of lives.
Know How to Make Decisions in Crises
A unique situation is decision making during a crisis. One of
the mistakes people make in these situations is turning to a
knee-jerk reaction. This occurs because our brain is wired to
focus on self-protection, which may cause us to focus on the
safety for ourselves and not for others. We also tend to operate
based on emotion and not logic. In crisis situations, adrenaline
kicks in and switches off the logical part of the brain, which
reduces our ability to make a quality decision.
What can help with decision making under crisis is training and
preparation. In a crisis we go through three stages of reacting:
(1) stalling, (2) deciding what to do, and (3) acting. Training on
these three stages can increase decision quality. By preparing
for a crisis, you can reduce the stall time because individuals
have some idea of what to expect as far as how their body will
react. For example, we know that when individuals are in crisis,](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/chapter16handleconflictnegotiationanddecisionmakingd-220921043658-378f5758/85/CHAPTER-16Handle-Conflict-Negotiation-and-Decision-MakingD-37-320.jpg)
CHAPTER 16Handle Conflict, Negotiation, and Decision MakingD
- 1. CHAPTER 16 Handle Conflict, Negotiation, and Decision Making Don't neglect the power of “yes” LEARNING OBJECTIVES At the end of this chapter you will be able to: · Understand what conflict is, why it is occurring and how to manage it. · Describe methods for effective negotiations. · List tools that will help you make more effective and less biased decisions. WHAT'S INSIDE? · Be a Critical Thinker: Dealing with Deception at the Bargaining Table · Bringing OB to Life: Intuition and US Airway Flight 1549 · Checking Ethics in OB: Is a Two-Tiered Wage System Ever Justified? · OB in the Office: What to Do When Face-to-Face Negotiations Are Not Possible: Tips for Negotiating via Email · OB in the Office: Sooner or Later You'll Know How to Negotiate a Better Raise · Research Insights: Analytical and Intuitive Decisions: When to Trust Your Gut · Worth Considering or Best Avoided? Labor and Management Sides Disagree. Is a Strike the Answer? You are at work and you hear your colleagues disagreeing wi th each other loudly. Their voices can be heard throughout the office, and you notice people popping their heads up to see what's going on. You are in charge of the team, and you know that your organization prides itself on having a collegial culture. What do you do? For many people, the answer is clear: Conflict is bad—we need to get rid of it. Conflict makes people uncomfortable and harms
- 2. our ability to work together, so managers need to step in and resolve differences. Is this always true? Couldn't it be that conflict can also play a positive role in the workplace? In this chapter, we show that conflict can be good when it surfaces important issues that need to be discussed. The key to managing it is knowing how to determine what kind of conflict is occurring and then using it to generate better decisions. This requires developing skills in areas that are becoming increasingly important in today's workplace: conflict, negotiation, and decision making. 16.1 Manage Conflict LEARNING OBJECTIVES Understand what conflict is, why it occurs, and how we can manage it more effectively. · Define what conflict is and why it occurs. · Understand conflict management strategies. · Guard against common conflict management pitfalls. Why Do We Have Conflict? Conflict occurs whenever disagreements exist in a social situation over issues of substance, or whenever emotional antagonisms create frictions between individuals or groups.1 Team leaders and members can spend considerable time dealing with conflicts. Sometimes they are direct participants, and other times they act as mediators or neutral third parties to help resolve conflicts between other people.2 Because conflict dynamics are inevitable in the workplace, we need to know how to handle them.3 Functional and Dysfunctional Conflict Any type of conflict in teams and organizations can be upsetting both to the individuals directly involved and to others affected by its occurrence. As with the opening example, it can be uncomfortable to work on a team where two coworkers are continually hostile toward each other, or where your team is constantly battling over resources.4 As Figure 16.1 points out, however, it's important to recognize that conflict can serve a functional or dysfunctional purpose.
- 3. Functional conflict, also called constructive conflict, results in benefits to individuals, the team, or the organization. This positive conflict can bring important problems to the surface so they can be addressed. Constructive conflict increases the amount of information used for decision making. This can allow decisions to be more carefully considered—or perhaps even reconsidered—to increase the chances that the right path of action is taken. Constructive conflict can also be used to stimulate creative solutions to complex problems. Dysfunctional conflict, or destructive conflict, works to the disadvantage of an individual or team. It diverts energies, hurts group cohesion, promotes interpersonal hostilities, and creates an overall negative environment for workers. This type of conflict occurs when two team members are unable to work together because of interpersonal differences (destructive emotional conflict), or when the members of a work unit fail to act because they cannot agree on task goals (destructive substantive conflict). Destructive conflicts can decrease performance and job satisfaction as well as contribute to absenteeism and job turnover. Managers and team leaders should be alert to destructive conflicts and be quick to take action to prevent or eliminate them—or at least minimize any harm done. Figure 16.1The two faces of conflict: functional conflict and dysfunctional conflict Worth Considering or Best Avoided? Labor and Management Sides Disagree. Is a Strike the Answer? It's hard to find a person who isn't in favor of good-quality schools. But when it comes time to change schools in search of a better future, teachers, administrators, and school boards sometimes have a hard time reaching agreement. Take a case in the city of Chicago. In 2012, Mayor Rahm Emmanuel supported changes to lengthen school days, pay teachers on merit based in part on measures of student
- 4. performance, close some schools, and open new ones. After months of negotiations, teachers were given a 16 percent salary increase over four years. Nonetheless, the teacher's union went on strike over concerns about teacher evaluations, job security, and rules for hiring and firing teachers. Even after a tentative agreement was reached by negotiators, the strike continued. Karen Lewis, President of the Chicago Teachers Union, told reporters that teachers were “not happy with the agreement. They'd like it to actually be a lot better.” Robert Bruno, a labor law professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, said, “I'm hard pressed to imagine how they could have done much better.” A parent commented, “What's the point of going on strike if you don't get everything you need out of it?”5 When the strike was over, more than 350,000 Chicago school kids had missed nine days of school. Do the Analysis In contrast to the Chicago school situation, GM and the Canadian Auto Workers Union negotiated a new labor contract without a strike. The union's top negotiator said his workers, “clearly have a bright future,” and GM's negotiator said a new labor deal “will enable significant new product, technology and process investments.”6 Is striking the answer when labor– management conflict hits the wall? Who wins and who loses when strikes occur? When conflicts occur, does having the threat of a strike on the table make management more willing to listen? What skills and conditions make reaching agreements more likely in high-conflict situations? Types of Conflict A first step in conflict management is determining whether the conflict is functional or dysfunctional. We also need to recognize why the conflict is occurring. Most conflict can be sorted into two basic types—substantive and emotional.7 Each type is common, ever present, and challenging to deal with. Whereas substantive conflict can be functional when it is used to generate new ideas and new ways of thinking that benefit the
- 5. individuals or the team, emotional conflict is almost always dysfunctional. Substantive conflict is a fundamental disagreement over ends or goals to be pursued and the means for their accomplishment. A dispute with one's boss over a plan of action to be followed is an example of substantive conflict. When people work together every day, it is only normal that different viewpoints on a variety of substantive workplace issues will arise. At times, people will disagree over such things as team and organizational goals, the allocation of resources, the distribution of rewards, policies and procedures, and task assignments. Emotional conflict involves interpersonal difficulties that arise over feelings of anger, mistrust, dislike, fear, resentment, and the like. It is commonly known as a “clash of personalities.” How many times, for example, have you heard comments such as, “I can't stand working with him,” or “She always rubs me the wrong way,” or “I wouldn't do what he asked if you begged me?” When emotional conflicts creep into work situations, they can drain energies and distract people from task priorities and goals. Yet, they emerge in a wide variety of settings and are common in teams, among coworkers, and in superior– subordinate relationships. What Conflict Management Strategy Should I Use? Most conflict management approaches focus on conflict resolution, an attempt to eliminate the underlying reasons for conflict.8 But if the conflict is functional we don't want to eliminate it, we want to stimulate it to generate positive outcomes. The strategy we use needs to take this into consideration. We can choose between two general approaches: · Reducing differences involves getting everyone involved to adopt new attitudes, behaviors, and approaches toward one another. This conflict management strategy focuses on conflict resolution and is an appropriate strategy for handling dysfunctional conflict. It does this by appealing to higher values and superordinate identity. · Tolerating differences involves pushing members to value and
- 6. appreciate differences. This strategy focuses on conflict management rather than conflict resolution. It does this by emphasizing the benefits of having people think in different ways, including heterogeneous backgrounds, beliefs and perspectives. While it can and should be used for dysfunctional conflict, it is particularly appropriate for functional conflict.Strategies for Handling Dysfunctional Conflict When dysfunctional conflict goes unresolved, it often leads to future conflicts of the same or related sort.9 Rather than trying to deny the existence of conflict or settle on a temporary resolution, it is always best to deal with dysfunctional conflicts in such ways that they are completely resolved. You can do this using direct face-to-face conflict management strategies or indirect and more structural strategies. The latter are required when dysfunctional conflict cannot be directly resolved. Think about it. Aren't there times when personalities and emotions prove irreconcilable? In such cases an indirect, or structural, approach to conflict management can often help.Relational Conflict Relational conflict is emotional conflict that comes from incompatibility in identity, ideology, interpersonal style and values.10 We see this in public discourse currently in conflict over political party ideologies and identities and in global contexts in conflicts between ethnic groups. It also occurs in the workplace when employees with different techincal training argue over performance standards or approaches to getting work done. One strategy for reducing relational conflict is the ladder of inference, in which members critically analyze why they have a particular ideological belief.11 The ladder of inference works to address identities and ideologies that are part of our cognitive scripts and schema. Another strategy is to reduce perceived differences by developing more inclusive categories through recategorization, decategorization, or cross- categorization. Perhaps the most well-known way of doing this is superordinate identity.12 For example, instead of “We are
- 7. Democrats” and “We are Republicans,” superordinate identity is, “We are all Americans.” Upward referral uses the chain of command for conflict resolution.13 Problems are moved up from the level of conflicting individuals or teams for more senior managers to address. While this approach can work, it does have limitations. If conflict is severe and recurring, the continual use of upward referral may sustain conflict rather than result in true conflict resolution, much like children running to their parents rather than resolving conflicts themselves.Status Conflict Status conflict occurs when individuals or groups attempt to establish hierarchical differentiation or undermine the authority of others.14 This conflict is inherently political in that it comes from power differences. It can be seen when a low -power person needs the help of a high-power person who does not respond, when people who hold dramatically different values are forced to work together on a task, or when a high-status person is required to interact with and perhaps be dependent on someone of lower status.Process Conflict Process conflict is disagreement in how roles and responsibilities should be assigned.15 It comes from things like arguments over who gets preferred tasks and how much work one party does compared to another. It can also come from task and workflow interdependencies that occur between work units, such as disputes among people and teams who are required to cooperate to meet challenging goals. Process conflict occurs in hospitals, for example, when doctors feel they don't get test results in time to be able to appropriately care for their patient. Figure 16.2Structural diff erentiation as a potential source of conflict among functional teams Process conflict can also come from structural differentiation, when different teams and work units pursue different goals with different time horizons, as shown in Figure 16.2. For example, actual or perceived resource scarcity can also foster destructive conflict. Working relationships are likely to suffer as
- 8. individuals or teams try to position themselves to gain or retain maximum shares of a limited resource pool. They are also li kely to resist having their resources redistributed to others. There are several effective strategies for handling conflict that is dysfunctional in teams. Figure 16.3 provides a summary of those strategies for conflicts associated with relationships, status, and processes in team coordination.Strategies for Handling Functional Conflict Functional conflict, or task conflict, occurs when people have disagreements about the content and outcomes of tasks being performed.16 It is consistent with substantive conflict as defined earlier. Functional conflict represents disagreements over ideas, procedures, processes or directions that should be used when performing a task. It is critically important in situations of complexity where tasks are ambiguous and uncertain. In these situations, conflicting perspectives are needed because old ways of doing things won't work. Instead, novel and creative solutions to problems are required. Functional conflict cannot be handled using a reducing differences strategy because eliminating differences gets rid of the diversity needed to address complexity. Instead, you need to capitalize on differences. This is done by what Harvard professor Ronald Heifetz calls cooking the conflict—creating conditions for people to engage their differences to generate creative tension.17 If the tension is too low, meaning people are not engaging in conflict, then you turn up the heat by injecting tension to pull out the differences. If the tension is too high, meaning conflict is becoming dysfunctio nal, then you reduce the heat by finding commonality across differences or identifying ways to connect across ideas to move forward. Figure 16.3Summary of strategies for handling dysfunctional relationship, status, and process conflicts in teams Strategies for Handling Dysfunctional Conflict Type of Conflict Reduce Differences Tolerate Differences
- 9. Relationship Conflict · Find common ground · Appeal to higher values, mission, vision · Ladder of inference · Superordinate identity · Find value in other's identities, beliefs · Upward referral · Perspective taking Status Conflict · Negotiate to reduce status differences · Flatten hierarchies and the power structure · Change rules to level status and power · Reduce formalities (e.g., dress code) · Reinforce and legitimise hierarchy · Highlight value of status differential · Demonstrate benefit of differences in power Process Conflict · Distribute responsibilities evenly · Job sharing · Rotate duties and assignment · Appeal to sportsmanship, team expectations · Clarify distinctiveness of roles · Reinforce areas of specialisation and expertise · Coordinate distance contributions A key element of managing this in projects is recognizing at which point the conflict is beneficial for task performance and at which point it is detrimental. When it becomes detrimental, you need to reduce the conflict and focus back on how individuals can work together and accomplish the goal. How Can I Guard against Conflict Management Pitfalls? As shown in Figure 16.4, conflict management strategies can vary in their emphasis on cooperativeness and assertiveness in the interpersonal dynamics of the situation. The key to understanding conflict management approaches is recognizing that not all of them focus on win-win. When some parties lose, the potential for conflict remains and might even escalate.
- 10. Therefore, you want to try to guard against conflict strategies that pursue lose–lose or win–lose outcomes.18 Avoid Lose–Lose Strategies Lose–lose conflict occurs when nobody fully gets what they want in a conflict situation. The underlying reasons for the conflict remain unaffected, and a similar conflict is likely to occur in the future. Lose–lose outcomes are likely when the conflict management strategies involve little or no assertiveness. This can occur on a range: · Avoidance is when no one acts assertively; everyone pretends the conflict doesn't exist and hopes it will go away. · Accommodation, or smoothing, is playing down differences and highlighting similarities and areas of agreement; thi s attempt at peaceful coexistence ignores the real essence of a conflict and often creates frustration and resentment. · Compromise occurs when each party shows moderate assertiveness and cooperation and is ultimately willing to give up something of value to the other; because no one gets what they really wanted, the antecedent conditions for future conflicts are established. Figure 16.4Five direct conflict management strategies · occurs when each party shows moderate assertiveness and cooperation and is ultimately willing to give up something of value to the other; because no one gets what they really wanted, the antecedent conditions for future conflicts are established. Figure 16.4Five direct conflict management strategies Minimize Win–Lose Strategies In win–lose conflict, one party achieves its desires at the expense and to the exclusion of the other party's desires. This is a high-assertiveness and low-cooperativeness situation. It may result from outright competition in which one party achieves a victory through force, superior skill, or domination. It may also occur as a result of authoritative command, whereby a formal authority such as manager or team leader simply dictates a solution and specifies what is gained and what is lost by whom.
- 11. Win–lose strategies fail to address the root causes of the conflict and tend to suppress the desires of at least one of the conflicting parties. As a result, future conflicts over the same issues are likely to occur. Aim for Win–Win Strategies Win–win conflict is achieved by a blend of both high cooperativeness and high assertiveness.19 Collaboration and problem solving involve recognition by all conflicting parties that something is wrong and needs attention. It stresses gathering and evaluating information in solving disputes and making choices. All relevant issues are raised and openly discussed. Win–win outcomes eliminate the reasons for continuing or resurrecting the conflict because nothing has been avoided or suppressed. The ultimate test for collaboration and problem solving is whether or not the conflicting parties see that the solution to the conflict achieves each party's goals, is acceptable to both parties, and establishes a process whereby all parties involved see a responsibility to be open and honest about facts and feelings. When success in each of these areas is achieved, the likelihood of true conflict resolution is greatly increased. This process often takes time and consumes lots of energy, however. Each party must be willing to commit. Collaboration and problem solving aren't always feasible. People may not be willing to come to the table, and strategies used might not be effective. In situations where resolution is possible, however, knowing the right strategy can help. Know When to Use Alternative Conflict Management Strategies · Avoidance may be used when an issue is trivial, when more important issues are pressing, or when people need to cool down temporarily and regain perspective. · Accommodation may be used when issues are more important to others than to yourself or when you want to build credits for use in later disagreements. · Compromise may be used to arrive at temporary settlements of complex issues or to arrive at expedient solutions when time is
- 12. limited. · Authoritative command may be used when quick and decisive action is vital or when unpopular actions must be taken. · Collaboration and problem solving are used to gain true conflict resolution when time and cost permit. Study Guide 16.1 Why do we have conflict? · Conflict appears as a disagreement over issues of substance or emotional antagonisms that create friction between individuals or teams. · Moderate levels of conflict can be functional for performance, stimulating effort and creativity. · Too little conflict is dysfunctional when it leads to complacency; too much conflict is dysfunctional when it overwhelms us. What conflict management strategy should I use? · Conflict management strategies differ depending on whether the situation involves functional or dysfunctional conflict. Dysfunctional conflict should be eliminated through conflict resolution; functional conflict should be stimulated to generate creative solutions. · Two broad conflict management strategies are reducing differences and tolerating differences. Reducing differences works for dysfunctional conflict; tolerating conflict works for both functional and dysfunctional conflict. How can I guard against common conflict management pitfalls? · Avoid lose–lose conflict, which results from avoidance, accommodation (smoothing), and compromise. · Minimize win–lose conflict associated with competition and authoritative command. · Aim for win–win conflict, which is achieved through collaboration and problem solving. 16.2 Learn How to Negotiate LEARNING OBJECTIVES Describe methods for effective negotiations. · Understand why you need to negotiate.
- 13. · Know how to use different negotiation strategies. · Guard against common negotiation pitfalls. We've all done it. We wish we had negotiated a starting salary or a pay raise. We're kicking ourselves—why didn't we ask for more? If we had, would it have made a difference? Many people avoid negotiation because they think they will be looked upon badly. What they may not realize is that in many cases negotiating effectively is a sign of competence and capability. For some positions, where people are expected to take on leadership or business development responsibilities, you can look bad if you don't negotiate. In this module, we show you how to be a better negotiator. The trick is being informed and not afraid. When people negotiate effectively, all parties benefit. And although this may sound crazy, negotiating can actually be fun. Why Should I Negotiate? Negotiation is the process of making joint decisions when the parties involved have different preferences.20 Negotiation applies to a variety of situations, including major issues like job offers and salary agreements, but also everyday job situations like negotiating over job assignments, budgets, departmental resources, policy issues, and directions of new initiatives. It is an essential skill and has special significance in many workplaces today where work is less structured, more collaborative and highly dynamic. The Need to Negotiate You and a colleague are starting new jobs after completing your MBA programs. You are both offered a salary of $100,000. You are happy with the salary and accept the position outright, but your colleague negotiates and gets $107,000. You might justify this by saying that it isn't worth risking your reputation or getting your new manager upset over $7,000. But what is the real cost to you? It isn't just the $7,000—it is that amount compounded over a lifetime. If you and your counterpart receive the same pay raises and promotions during your career, after thirty-five years you would have to work eight more years to
- 14. have the same amount as your colleague.21 When we don't negotiate or do so well, we lose out on important opportunities and rewards. To negotiate effectively, we need to have bargaining power. Bargaining power is the strength of the position we bring to a negotiation situation.22 When we have high bargaining power, it is easier to negotiate because we have more control over the outcome. Like all power, bargaining power is based on dependencies—the more dependent one party is on the other, the less bargaining power that party has.23 In the example of the salary negotiation, we have more bargaining power if we have less dependency on the hiring company for a job. The ideal bargaining power situation occurs when we have multiple companies trying to hire us and we can choose the one that fits us best. Negotiation Goals and Outcomes In any negotiation, you have to remember that there are two important goals at stake: substance goals and relationship goals.24Substance goals deal with outcomes that relate to the content issues under negotiation. Negotiation over the terms of a contract is one example. Relationship goals deal with outcomes that relate to how well people involved in the negotiation and any constituencies they may represent are able to work with one another once the process is concluded. In the new-hire example, the key relationship is with the boss, your coworkers, and the company. We all know that negotiations don't always end with substance achieved and relationships intact. However, that shouldn't deny the importance of striving for both. Effective negotiation occurs when substance issues are resolved and working relationships are maintained or even improved. In practice, think of this as striving to satisfy two criteria for effective negotiation: · Quality of outcomes. The negotiation results in a quality agreement that is wise and satisfactory to all sides. · Harmony in relationships. The negotiation is harmonious and fosters rather than inhibits good interpersonal relations. OB in the Office
- 15. What to Do When Face-to-Face Negotiations Are Not Possible: Tips for Negotiating via Email Negotiations are almost always challenging, and these challenges can be exacerbated when negotiations take place via email instead of face-to-face. Email is now the most used form of corporate communication and it saves both money and time. Research indicates that email negotiations can inhibit the trust and relationship building that are so often at the heart of any resolution. So how can we improve our email negotiations? First, whenever possible, make sure that email is one forum for negotiating and not the only forum. If face-to-face meetings are not possible, utilize video conferencing options to build rapport. Add telephone and email to follow up on proposals and iron out details. Make sure your emails are clear and concise and have clear objectives. Read your emails out loud before pressing the send button to make sure they convey the proper tone and avoid innuendo. Choose carefully which parties you copy on the email. It can be tempting to add team members at all levels in the organization, but what may have started out as a targeted communication for one or two people can turn into a stream of consciousness that can go on tangents when so many parties get involved. Negotiations are all about back-and-forth communication. To encourage that communication make sure to ask specific questions via email and state what your intended goals are. Follow up if you do not receive the answers you are seeking. Make sure there is a back-and-forth discussion rather than a one-sided communication. Pay specific attention to the subject lines of your emails because those few words are the first impression each party has. They should also be informative and can be changed when you forward a communication to parties new to the negotiation. When it feels as though the tone of the conversation is losing productivity and efficiency, remember to bring the personal
- 16. relationship back into play and follow up with a phone call or video conference. Use email as one of a variety of negotiating tools but not the only one. How Do I Negotiate? Once we have made the decision to negotiate, we need to know how to do it. This involves understanding the basic negotiating strategies available and the steps in the negotiation process.Understand Negotiation Strategies In most negotiations, there are two broad strategies you can use, and they differ markedly in approach and possible outcomes.25 Which one you use can have a major influence on how the negotiation transpires and the outcomes that result. The first is distributive negotiation. It focuses on positions staked out or declared by conflicting parties. In distributive negotiation, each party tries to claim certain portions of the available pie whose overall size is considered fixed. Distributive negotiation is analogous to the notion of “my way or the highway.” The second is integrative negotiation. Also called principled negotiation, it focuses on the merits of the issues. In integrative negotiation, the parties involved look for mutually agreed-upon ways of distributing the pie, rather than staking claims to certain portions of it. They try to enlarge the available pie. Integrative negotiation is analogous to, “Let's find a way to make this work for both of us.” OB in the OfficeSooner or Later You'll Need to Know How to Negotiate a Better Raise During your career, the time will most assuredly come for you to negotiate a pay raise, a new set of responsibilities, or increased benefits. Chances are, you'll find yourself unprepared for the discussion. You may pay a price for that. There's quite a bit of advice for how to negotiate pay raises. A compilation of thoughts and tips follows. · Prepare, prepare, prepare: Do the research to find out what
- 17. others make for a similar position inside and outside the organization, including everything from salary to benefits, bonuses, incentives, and job perks. Internet research at sites like LinkedIn and Glassdoor.com can help you fill in a lot of the blanks here. · Document and communicate: Identify and communicate your value. Put forth a set of accomplishments that show how you have saved or made money and created value for an employer or how your skills and attributes will do so for a prospective one. · Advocate and ask: Be your own best advocate. In salary negotiation, the rule is “Don't ask, don't get.” But don't ask too soon—your boss or interviewer should be the first to bring up salary. · Stay focused on the goal: The goal is to satisfy your interests to the maximum extent possible. This means everything from getting immediate satisfaction to being better positioned for future satisfaction. · View the details from the other side: Test your requests against the employer's point of view. Ask if you are being reasonable, convincing, and fair. Think about the other person's perspective: How can the boss explain to higher levels and to your peers a decision to grant your request? · Don't overreact to bad news: Never quit on the spot if you don't get what you want. Be willing to search for and consider alternative job offers.Distributive Negotiation Participants in distributive negotiation usually approach it as a win–lose episode. Distributive negotiation tends to unfold in one of two directions: a hard battle for dominance or a soft and quick concession. Neither one delivers great results. · Hard bargaining: Each party holds out to get its own way. Parties seek dominance over the other and try to maximize self- interests, leading to competition. This approach may lead to a win–lose outcome in which one party dominates and gains, or it can lead to an impasse. · Soft bargaining: One or both parties make concessions just to get things over with. This leads to accommodation, in which one
- 18. party gives in to the other, or compromise, in which each party gives up something of value in order to reach agreement. In both cases some latent dissatisfaction is likely to remain. Figure 16.5 illustrates classic two-party distributive negotiation by the example of the graduating senior negotiating a job offer with a recruiter.26 Look at the situation first from the graduate's perspective. She has told the recruiter that she would like a salary of $60,000; this is her initial offer. However, she also has in mind a minimum reservation point of $50,000—the lowest salary that she will accept for this job. Thus, she communicates a salary request of $60,000 but is willing to accept one as low as $50,000. The situation is somewhat the reverse from the recruiter's perspective. His initial offer to the graduate is $45,000, and his maximum reservation point is $55,000; this is the most he is prepared to pay. Figure 16.5The bargaining zone in classic two-party negotiation The bargaining zone is the range between one party's minimum reservation point and the other party's maximum reservation point. In Figure 16.5, the bargaining zone is $50,000 to $55,000. This is a positive bargaining zone since the reservation points of the two parties overlap. Whenever a positive bargaining zone exists, bargaining has room to unfold. Had the graduate's minimum reservation point been greater than the recruiter's maximum reservation point (for example, $57,000), no room would have existed for bargaining. Classic two-party bargaining always involves the delicate task discovering the respective reservation points—one's own and the other's. Progress can then be made toward an agreement that lies somewhere within the bargaining zone. Checking Ethics in OB Is a Two-Tier Wage System Ever Justified? The time is the early 2000s. The industry is the domestic auto industry. The “Big Three”—Chrysler, Ford, and General Motors—are struggling. It is tough to earn a profit because costs, especially legacy pension costs, are high. Competition
- 19. from foreign carmakers is also increasing. They are building new cost-efficient plants and making huge inroads in the domestic companies' market share. How did America's big firms respond? They decided to use a two-tier wage system that paid new workers substantially less (up to one-half less) than existing workers doing the same job and put a ceiling on the newer workers' wages, which meant they could never be paid more than $19 an hour. Going along with this system meant saving thousands of jobs, so the industry's labor unions went along. Following the Great Recession that began in 2008, the strategy seemed to have been a wise one, as car sales dropped dramatically. However, discontent grew among the newer workers who knew they could never hope to earn at the level of their coworkers who had been hired before 2007.27 In 2015, the UAW and General Motors negotiated a new contract for workers that included the end of the two-tier system.28 Do the Analysis Is saving thousands of jobs a sufficient justification for paying workers doing the same job different wages? Do more senior workers deserve to make more money than their less experienced coworkers? Was the negotiation of a two-tier wage system a win-win for automakers and workers in 2007? What are the pros and cons of a two-tier wage system?Integrative (Principled) Negotiation The integrative, or principled, approach involves a willingness to negotiate based on the merits of the situation. It is less confrontational than the distributive and permits a broader range of alternatives to be considered in the negotiation process by adopting a win–win orientation. The foundations for gaining truly integrative agreements can be described as supportive attitudes, constructive behaviors, and good information. Each party must have a willingness to trust one another, a willingness to share information with the other party, and a willingness to ask concrete questions of the other party. Even though it may take longer, the time, energy, and effort needed to negotiate an
- 20. integrated agreement can be well worth the investment. To use an integrative approach, you should keep in mind the following principles: · Separate people from the problem. · Don't allow emotional considerations to affect the negotiation. · Focus on interests rather than positions. · Avoid premature judgments. · Keep the identification of alternatives separate from their evaluation. · Judge possible agreements by set criteria or standards. Be a Critical ThinkerDealing with Deception at the Bargaining Table The NFL draft is a critical and important event for draft-eligible players and teams. The stakes are high, as choices about fit between teams and players could have major implications for the careers of young players, the short-term competitiveness of teams, and return on a team's long-term investment. In the weeks leading up to the NFL draft, and especially during the three days when the event takes place, conditions are rife for trickery, dishonesty, and misdirection. Team managers and owners participate in elaborate ruses and even outright lies to better position themselves for negotiations with other teams, draft picks, and agents. Former Dallas Cowboys Coach Bill Brandt told USA Today, “I refer to this time before the draft as ‘National Liars Month' in the NFL.”29 Researchers at Harvard University30 have detailed four ethical challenges to honesty and integrity in the negotiations process. · Ethical Challenge 1: Human nature is such that we are lured by temptation. The more lucrative the reward, the more likely we are to deceive the other party at the negotiating table. Even when directly asked or challenged to be honest, our focus on the reward or bribe could lead us down the path of deception. During a professional sports draft, the rewards for teams and
- 21. players could be millions of dollars, so players often exaggerate their credentials, teams misdirect in terms of their intentions, and agents fabricate competing offers. · Ethical Challenge 2: Although we know that there are no guarantees in life, humans strive for certainty and security. When faced with uncertainty, ethics are often compromised, and we become deceptive. The more uncertainty there is in contract negotiations and the outcome of the draft, the more likely teams and players will mislead each other. Each year, only about 7 percent of eligible players are actually drafted by NFL teams.31 For a player in the NFL draft, there is a great deal of uncertainty regarding which team will want him on the roster, which city he could live in, and even whether he'll be drafted at all. With uncertainty and the stakes so high, there is often a great deal of trickery and deception when seeking offers from coaches and team managers. If teams are not certain about a player's likely success in the league, they are prone to misleading competitors about their intentions. · Ethical Challenge 3: Power, or lack thereof, can affect how we conduct ourselves in negotiations. Humans are self- preservationists. When we feel powerless, our ethical standards could slip. New athletes entering the NFL have often complained about their lack of power in the draft process and in discussions with team ownership, and as such, regularly seek to restore power and credibility in negotiations. · Ethical Challenge 4: If the likely victims of our deception are anonymous or impersonal, we are more likely to lie. A group of owners, or a team full of unknown peers, is usually much more impersonal than a well-known colleague such as an agent or coach—people with whom players have established rapport. Be a Critical Thinker Check Fairness Should there be a penalty for lying at the negotiating table? Seek Depth If so, what should the penalty be and how should it be applied? The integrative approach relies on the concept of BATNA:
- 22. the best alternative to a negotiated agreement.32 BATNA is important to integrative negotiation because each party must know what he or she will do if an agreement cannot be reached. They must identify and understand their personal interests in the situation and know what is really important to them in the case at hand. When these issues are clear, the parties can work to understand what the other party values and see how they can bring the two together.Engage the Negotiation Process The negotiation process does not begin with negotiation but with the decision to negotiate in a particular way. In most cases, a collaborative rather than adversarial attitude will benefit the negotiation process. It helps achieve the win-win associated with integrative negotiation. As described by Stanford professor Margaret Neale, negotiation is “about finding a solution to your counterpart's problem that makes you better off than you would have been had you not negotiated.”33 This requires that you view negotiation not only relative to your interests, but also to the others' interests. This negotiation process can be summarized in three steps. · Step 1: Assess Think about the situation and decide whether negotiating is appropriate. Ask yourself, “If I were to negotiate could I generate a positive outcome?” Then think about the other side: “Could negotiating on this issue benefit them?” Try not to jump too quickly to no. Keep your mind open and be creative in broadly exploring the questions. Have others help you if you find yourself answering no when, in fact, negotiating would be beneficial. · Step 2: Prepare If the answers to step 1 are yes, the next step is to prepare. This is one of the most crucial stages in negotiation. If you do this properly, the rest can be easy. The key to sound preparation is getting as much information as possible. You also need to know what your bargaining power is. The good news is that with networks and the internet, information is more readily available than ever. To prepare, talk to people. Find out what they know.
- 23. Ask about what kinds of resources are available. For example, if you are negotiating a job offer, find salary information and know what the market rate is. Remember that salary is just one element of a hiring package—ask others what typical hiring packages are for people in your field. · Step 3: Engage The third step is to engage in the negotiation. Don't be afraid to make the first ask as long as you are okay with that outcome. You can also wait and see what is offered and then use that information to make a counteroffer. For principled negotiation, frame your request relative to how it can be mutually beneficial. In the salary negotiation, express that your hope is to stay in the position for a while and tell them that having the right salary will help ensure your longevity. Think through what you will need to be effective in the position and use that to frame your request. If you are being hired to start a new program in the organization, identify the resources you will need to be successful and make your request in that light. How Can I Guard against Common Negotiation Pitfalls? The negotiation process can be complex on ethical and many other grounds. It is subject to volatile interpersonal and team dynamics. As if this isn't enough, all negotiators need to guard against the common negotiation pitfalls listed below.34Myth of the Fixed Pie The myth of the fixed pie is the tendency to stake out your negotiating position based on the assumption that in order to gain your way, something must be subtracted from the gains of the other party. This is a purely distributive approach to negotiation. The whole concept of integrative negotiation is based on the premise that the pie can sometimes be expanded or used to the maximum advantage of all parties, not just one. Escalating Commitment Escalating commitment occurs when negotiations begin with parties stating extreme demands and then people become committed to them and reluctant to back down. Concerns for
- 24. protecting one's ego and saving face may lead to the irrational escalation of a conflict. Self-discipline is needed to spot tendencies toward escalation in one's own behavior as well as in the behavior of others. Overconfidence Overconfidence occurs when people believe their positions are the only correct ones. As a result they ignore the other party's negotiating power or needs. In some cases, negotiators completely fail to see merits in the other party's position— merits that an outside observer would be sure to spot. Such overconfidence makes it harder to reach a positive common agreement. Communication Problems Communication problems can also cause difficulties during a negotiation. As Roger Fisher and William Ury suggested, “negotiation is the process of communicating back and forth for the purpose of reaching a joint decision.”35 This process can break down because of a telling problem—the parties don't really talk to each other, at least not in the sense of making themselves truly understood. It can also be damaged by a hearing problem—the parties are unable or unwilling to listen well enough to understand what the other is saying. Indeed, positive negotiation is most likely when each party engages in active listening and frequently asks questions to clarify what the other is saying. Each party occasionally needs to stand in the other party's shoes and to view the situation from the other's perspective.36 Know When to Bring in a Third Party It would be ideal if everyone involved in a negotiation followed high ethical standards of conduct, but an overemphasis on self- interests can sidetrack this goal. The motivation to behave ethically in negotiations can be put to the test by each party's desire to get more than the other from the negotiation or by a belief that there are insufficient resources to satisfy all parties. After the heat of negotiations dies down, the parties may try to rationalize or explain away questionable ethics as unavoidable,
- 25. harmless, or justified. After-the-fact rationalizations can have long-term negative consequences, such as not being able to achieve one's wishes again the next time negotiations take place. At the very least, the unethical party may be the target of revenge tactics by those who were disadvantaged. People who have behaved unethically can become entrapped by such behavior and may be more likely to display it again in the future. In such cases, it may be necessary to bring in a third party. In a process called alternative dispute resolution, a neutral third party works with persons involved in a negotiation to help them resolve impasses and settle disputes. They are helpful in moving things forward when negotiations come to an impasse or when parties don't trust each other's motives. There are two primary forms through which dispute resolution is implemented. In arbitration, such as the salary arbitration now common in professional sports, the neutral third party acts as a judge and has the power to issue a decision that is binding on all parties. This ruling takes place after the arbitrator listens to the positions advanced by the parties involved in a dispute. In mediation, the neutral third party tries to engage the parties in a negotiated solution through persuasion and rational argument. This is a common approach in labor–management negotiations, where trained mediators acceptable to both sides are called in to help resolve bargaining impasses. Unlike an arbitrator, the mediator is not able to dictate a solution. Study Guide 16.2 Why should I negotiate? · Negotiation is the process of making decisions and reaching agreement in · situations where participants have different preferences. · Managers may find themselves involved in various types of negotiation situations, including two-party, group, intergroup, and constituency negotiation. · Effective negotiation occurs when both substance goals (dealing with outcomes) and relationship goals (dealing with
- 26. processes) are achieved. · Ethical problems in negotiation can arise when people become manipulative and dishonest in trying to satisfy their self- interests at any cost. How do I negotiate? · The distributive approach to negotiation emphasizes win–lose outcomes; the integrative or principled approach to negotiation emphasizes win–win outcomes. · In distributive negotiation, the focus of each party is on staking out positions in the attempt to claim desired portions of a fixed pie. · In integrative negotiation, sometimes called principled negotiation, the focus is on determining the merits of the issues and finding ways to satisfy one another's needs. · The negotiation process consists of three steps: assess, prepare, and engage. All three steps involve thinking through the situation in a creative manner to identity ways by which all parties involved can come out of the negotiation better off. How can I guard against common negotiation pitfalls? · The success of negotiations often depends on avoiding common pitfalls such as the myth of the fixed pie, escalating commitment, overconfidence, and both the telling and hearing problems. · When negotiations are at an impasse, third-party approaches such as arbitration and mediation offer alternative and structured ways for dispute resolution. 16.3 Be a More Effective Decision Maker LEARNING OBJECTIVES List tools that will help you make more effective and less biased decisions. · Understand the common approaches to decision making. · Know how to be a better decision maker by recognizing decision traps and avoiding decision biases. · Guard against common decision-making pitfalls. We need to make decisions all the time. Our days are full of choice. What school should I go to? What career should I
- 27. pursue? What job should I take? What city should I live in? How much should I spend on housing? It's no wonder so many people feel overwhelmed when it comes to decision making. Although decision making is important in our personal lives, most people are not trained in it. In this module, we show how to become a more effective decision maker by avoiding decision traps and guarding against common decision-making pitfalls. This begins with understanding the common approaches to decision making. What Are Common Approaches to Decision Making? Decision making is the process of choosing a course of action for dealing with a problem or an opportunity.37 The process is usually described in five steps that constitute the ideal or so- called rational decision model, as shown in Figure 16.6. We are all familiar with this model. It begins with defining the problem, generating alternative solutions and analyzing those solutions to choose a preferred course of action. It ends with implementing the solution and analyzing its effectiveness. Figure 16.6An example of the rational decision model applied to ethical reasoning While this process is straightforward, the reality is that in organizations, making the right choices can be complicated. Not every problem requires an immediate response, sometimes emotion and gut reactions count as much as reasoning, and the best decision may actually be the one not made. In fact, the first challenge to overcome in decision making is the decision to decide. Asking and answering the following questions can sometimes help. · What really matters? Small and less significant problems should not get the same time and attention as bigger ones. · Might the problem resolve itself? Putting problems in rank order leaves the less significant for last. Surprisingly, many of these less important problems resolve themselves or are solved by others before you get to them. · Is this my, or our, problem? Many problems can be handled by
- 28. other people. These should be delegated to people who are best prepared to deal with them. Ideally, they should be delegated to people whose work they most affect. · Will the time spent make a difference? An effective decision maker recognizes the difference between problems that realistically can be solved and those that simply are not solvable. Choices at each step in the decision-making process depend on the decision maker and the environment. There are times when it's best to be quick, intuitive, and creative, and times when we should be slow, deliberative, and cautious. Sometimes, it's best to make choices alone; other times, it's best to involve others. These are associated with classical, behavioral, and intuitive models of decision making.38 Classical Decision Making The classical decision-making model sees the decision maker as rational and fully informed.39 It assumes a certain environment in which the problem is clearly defined, all possible action alternatives are known, and consequences are clear. This allows decision makers to optimize by finding the best solution to the problem. This model fits the five-step decision-making process presented in Figure 16.6. It represents an ideal situation of complete information whereby the decision maker moves through the steps one by one in a logical fashion. It nicely lends itself to various forms of quantitative decision analysis as well as to computer-based applications.40 Figure 16.7Decision making viewed from the classical and behavioral perspectives Behavioral Decision Making As Nobel laureate Herbert Simon noted, the reality is that many, perhaps most, decision situations faced by individuals and teams in organizations don't fit the assumptions of the classical decision-making model. Recognizing this, the premise of the alternative behavioral decision-making model is that people act only in terms of their perceptions, which are frequently imperfect.41 Behavioral scientists recognize that human beings
- 29. have cognitive limitations—constraints on what we are able to know at any given point in time. These limitations restrict our information-processing capabilities. The result is that information deficiencies and overload compromise the ability of decision makers to operate according to the classical model. Instead, they end up acting with bounded rationality— incomplete information and time and resource constraints that limit the ability to be rational. The behavioral model recognizes that things are interpreted and made sense of as perceptions, and decision making occurs within the box of a simplified view of a more complex reality. Figure 16.7 illustrates how the ideals in a classical decision model are compromised by cognitive limitations and bounded rationality. Armed with only partial knowledge about the available action alternatives and their consequences, decision makers in the behavioral model are likely to choose the first alternative that appears satisfactory to them. Herbert Simon calls this the tendency to satisficing. He states, “Most human decision making, whether individual or organizational, is concerned with the discovery and selection of satisfactory alternatives; only in exceptional cases is it concerned with the discovery and selection of optimal decisions.”42Systematic and Intuitive Decision Making Individuals and teams may be described as using both comparatively slow systematic and quick intuitive thinking as they make decisions and try to solve problems. Systematic decision making is consistent with the rational model in which a decision is approached in a step-by-step and analytical fashion. You might recognize this style in a team member who tries to break a complex problem into smaller components that can be addressed one by one. Teams engaged in systematic thinking will try to make a plan before taking action and to search for information and proceed with problem solving in a fact-based and logical fashion. Systematic thinking is also known as an analytical approach and is often recommended for better decision making.43
- 30. We think of intuition as the ability to know or recognize quickly and readily the possibilities of a given situation.44 Individuals and teams using intuitive decision making are more flexible and spontaneous in decision making.45 You might observe this pattern in someone who always seems to come up with an imaginative response to a problem, often based on a quick and broad evaluation of the situation. Decision makers in this intuitive mode tend to deal with many aspects of a problem at once, search for the big picture, jump quickly from one issue to another, and act on hunches from experience or on spontaneous ideas. This approach is common under conditions of risk and uncertainty. Because intuitive thinkers take a flexible and spontaneous approach to decision making, their presence on a team adds potential for creative problem solving and innovation. Does this mean that we should always favor the more intuitive and less systematic approach? Most likely not—teams, like individuals, should use and combine the two approaches to solve complex problems. In other words, there's a place for both systematic and intuitive thinking in management decision making. Research InsightsAnalytical and Intuitive Decisions: When to Trust Your Gut Traditionally, managers were advised to use analytical rather than intuitive decision-making skills. This is because people believed that intuitive decision making would lead to biased and bad decisions. However, recent research shows that this may be not true. In a paper published by Erik Dane and colleagues, findings show that for experienced decision makers, intuitive heuristics can actually lead to better decision making.46 Why would that be? The review of the literature suggested that intuition-based decision making works well for experts facing tasks that cannot be broken down into component parts. As the authors note, “Experts are well equipped to capitalize on the potential benefits of intuition because they possess … domain knowledge
- 31. that foster[s] rapid … accurate” choices. To test this theory, Dane and colleagues conducted a series of lab experiments. In one of the experiments, the researchers asked students to rate the difficulty of basketball shots. First, they took photos of basketball players taking shots. Then they asked coaches to rate the difficulty of these shots on a scale of one to ten. Following this they gathered the student participants. The students were first separated into two groups. One group had extensive basketball experience (e.g., played three years of high school basketball). The other did not. In the two experience groups, students were asked to develop an analytic model with specific factors (e.g., the closeness of the defender) that would allow them to make judgments about difficulty. The other students were asked to use intuition. They then gave the students a limited amount of time to make the choices. Whom do you think had the higher scores? Results of the Basketball Experiment Intuition Used Analysis Used Low Expertise 21.34* 24.89 High Expertise 30.09 26.46 *High score is better It turns out that the individuals with the highest scores were the students who had played basketball and used intuition. The lowest scores came from the students without basketball expertise who used intuition. The researchers also ran a similar test with fake versus real designer brand handbags. Here, the experts were students who owned several of the real bags versus those who did not. The results were virtually identical. Do the Research How much expertise do you think is necessary for intuition to
- 32. be superior? How do you know if you have it, and how can you get it? Can you think of other important research questions you would want to test to learn more about the role of trusting the gut in decision making? How Can I Be a Better Decision Maker? The pathways to good decisions can seem like a minefield of challenging issues and troublesome traps. Whether working individually or as part of a team, being a more effective decision maker requires avoiding decision traps and recognizing decision biases. Avoid Decision Traps Judgment, or the use of intellect, is important in all aspects of decision making. When we question the ethics of a decision, for example, we are questioning the judgment of the person making it. Work by Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman, his colleagues, and many others shows that people are prone to mistakes and biases that often interfere with the quality of decision making.47 These can work as decision traps. Many decision traps can be traced back to the use of heuristics. While heuristics serve a useful purpose by making it easier to deal with uncertainty and the limited information common to problem situations, they can also lead us toward systematic errors that affect the quality, and perhaps the ethical implications, of any decisions made.48 · The availability heuristic involves assessing a current event based on past occurrences that are easily available in one's memory. An example is the product development specialist who decides not to launch a new product because of a recent failure of another launch. In this case, the existence of a past product failure has negatively, and perhaps inappropriately, biased judgment regarding how best to handle the new product. · The representativeness heuristic involves assessing the likelihood that an event will occur based on its similarity to one's stereotypes of similar occurrences. An example is the team leader who selects a new member not because of any special qualities of the person, but because the individual comes
- 33. from a department known to have produced high performers i n the past. In this case, the individual's current place of employment—not job qualifications—is the basis for the selection decision. · The anchoring and adjustment heuristic involves assessing an event by taking an initial value from historical precedent or an outside source and then incrementally adjusting this value to make a current assessment. An example is the executive who makes salary increase recommendations for key personnel by simply adjusting their current base salaries by a percentage. In this case, the existing base salary becomes an “anchor” that limits subsequent salary increases. This anchor may be inappropriate, such as in the case of an individual whose market value has become substantially higher than what is reflected by the base salary plus increment approach. Recognize Decision Biases In addition to decision traps, decision makers are also prone to decision biases. One bias is confirmation error, whereby the decision maker seeks confirmation for what is already thought to be true and neglects opportunities to acknowledge or find disconfirming information. A form of selective perception, this bias involves seeking only information and cues in a situation that supports a preexisting opinion. A second bias is the hindsight trap where the decision maker overestimates the degree to which he or she could have predicted an event that has already taken place. One risk of hindsight is that it may foster feelings of inadequacy or insecurity in dealing with future decision situations. A third bias is the framing error. It occurs when managers and teams evaluate and resolve a problem in the context in which they perceive it—either positive or negative. Suppose research shows that a new product has a 40 percent market share. What does this really mean to the marketing team? A negative frame views the product as deficient because it is missing 60 percent of the market. Discussion and problem solving within this frame would likely focus on: “What are we doing wrong?” If the
- 34. marketing team uses a positive frame and considers a 40 percent share as a success, the conversation might be: “How can we do even better?” We are constantly exposed to framing in the world of politics—the word used to describe it is spin. How Can I Guard against Common Decision-Making Pitfalls? Even if you manage to avoid decision traps and biases, there are still other pitfalls you can fall into. You can find yourself escalating commitment to a bad decision, simply because you already have so much invested in it. Or you can make the mistake of using the wrong decision style for a group, which could lead to the wrong decision or others who are unhappy with the decision process. Watch for Escalating Commitment After the process of making a decision is completed and implementation begins, it can be hard for decision makers to change their minds and admit they made a mistake even when things are clearly not going well. The time and effort expended on a decision is conceptually similar to a company's sunk financial cost in a new investment. Instead of backing off, the tendency is to press on to victory. This is called escalating commitment—continuing and renewing efforts on a previously chosen course of action, even though it is not working.49 The tendency toward escalating commitment is reflected in the popular adage, “If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.” Escalating commitments are a form of decision entrapment that leads people to do things that the facts of a situation do not justify. This is one of the most difficult aspects of decision making to convey to executives because so many of them rose to their positions by turning losing courses of action into winning ones.50 Managers should be proactive in spotting failures and more open to reversing decisions or dropping plans that are not working. This is easier said than done. The tendency to escalate commitments often outweighs the willingness to disengage from them. Decision makers may rationalize negative feedback as a temporary condition, protect their egos by not admitting that the original decision was a
- 35. mistake, or characterize any negative results as a learning experience that can be overcome with added future effort. Perhaps you have experienced an inability to call it quits or been on teams with similar reluctance. It's hard to admit to a mistake, especially when a lot of thought and energy went into the decision in the first place; it can be even harder when one's ego and reputation are tied up with the decision. By way of advice, researchers suggest the following ways to avoid getting trapped in escalating commitments. · Set advance limits on your involvement and commitment to a particular course of action; stick with these limits. · Make your own decisions; don't follow the lead of others because they are also prone to escalation. · Carefully determine just why you are continuing a course of action; if there are insufficient reasons to continue, don't. · Remind yourself of the costs of a course of action; consider saving these costs as a reason to discontinue. Know Whom to Involve In practice, good organizational decisions are made by individuals acting alone, by individuals consulting with others, and by people working together in teams.51 In true contingency fashion, no one option is always superior to the others: who participates and how decisions are to be made should reflect the issues at hand.52 When individual decisions, also called authority decisions, are made, the manager or team leader uses information gathered and decides what to do without involving others. This decision method assumes that the decision maker is an expert on the problem at hand. In consultative decisions, by contrast, inputs are gathered from other persons and the decision maker uses this information to arrive at a final choice. Team members work together to make the final choice by consensus or unanimity and, it is hoped, without resorting to a vote. Victor Vroom and his colleagues identify different ways in which individual, consultative, and team decisions are made.53 They want decision makers to understand the
- 36. differences and be able to make good, informed choices among them in real situations. There are two forms of the authority decision to recognize and understand. In one, the authority figure makes the decision alone, using information avail able at that time. In another, the authority figure obtains information from team members and then makes a decision on behalf of the group. There are also two forms of the consultative decision. In one, the team leader shares the problem with team members individually, gets their ideas and suggestions, and then makes a decision. In another, the team leader shares the problem with team members as a group, collectively obtains their ideas and suggestions and then makes a decision. In the team or consensus decision, the leader shares the problem with team members as a group, engages them in lots of sharing and discussion, and then seeks consensus to arrive at a final decision. When choosing among the decision options, consultative and team decisions are recommended when the leader lacks sufficient expertise and information to solve the problem alone, the problem is unclear and help is needed to clarify the situation, acceptance of the decision and commitment by others are necessary for implementation, and adequate time is available to allow for true participation. Consultative decisions are also preferred as pathways for talent development and engagement. Authority decisions work best when team leaders have the expertise needed to solve the problem, they are confident and capable of acting alone, others are likely to accept and implement the decision they make, and little or no time is available for discussion. Realistically speaking, if problems must be resolved immediately, the authority decision may be the only option. Bringing OB to Life Intuition and US Airways Flight 1549 On the afternoon of January 15, 2009, television news anchors broke in with news about a plane that had crashed in the Hudson River. The immediate reaction was “Oh no, not another tragic
- 37. plane crash!” But it turned out this time would be different. This was largely due to the pilot, Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, whose experience and quick thinking allowed him to successfully crash land US Airways Flight 1549 into the Hudson River, saving the lives of everyone on board. In an interview with Greta van Susteren of Fox News, Sullenberger was asked to recount what happened. Van Susteren commented, “It probably took about twenty seconds to explain; you had to make that decision like [snaps her fingers] that.” Sullenberger responded, “It was sort of an instinctive move based upon my experience and my initial read of the situation.” What Sullenberger describes is intuitive decision making. It is precisely why pilots spend considerable time in flight simulators. The goal is to develop the experience necessary for dealing with problems that may only occur once, if ever, in a career. While systematic decision making works in normal operating mode, in times of crisis, what is needed is intuitive decision making. Intuition allows someone to quickly size up a situation and act out of instinct. That is exactly what Sullenberger did that allowed him to save hundreds of lives. Know How to Make Decisions in Crises A unique situation is decision making during a crisis. One of the mistakes people make in these situations is turning to a knee-jerk reaction. This occurs because our brain is wired to focus on self-protection, which may cause us to focus on the safety for ourselves and not for others. We also tend to operate based on emotion and not logic. In crisis situations, adrenaline kicks in and switches off the logical part of the brain, which reduces our ability to make a quality decision. What can help with decision making under crisis is training and preparation. In a crisis we go through three stages of reacting: (1) stalling, (2) deciding what to do, and (3) acting. Training on these three stages can increase decision quality. By preparing for a crisis, you can reduce the stall time because individuals have some idea of what to expect as far as how their body will react. For example, we know that when individuals are in crisis,
- 38. they experience paralysis or panic. Their heart rates go up, they have difficulty breathing, they may get hot or stressed, and vision may even be impaired—all leading to poor decision quality. In these situations, it is best to take a breath, let the initial response pass, and then try to act when thinking is clearer. Take a minute if you have it, try to assess the situation, and then decide what to do in a slightly cooler environment. Study Guide 16.3 What are the different approaches to decision making? · In the classical decision model, optimum decisions identifying the absolute best choice are made after analyzing with full information all possible alternatives and their consequences. · In the behavioral decision model, satisficing decisions that choose the first acceptable alternative are made with limited information and bounded rationality. · In the intuitive model, decision makers deal with many aspects of a problem at once, jump quickly from one issue to another, and act on hunches from experience or on spontaneous ideas. What are common decision traps and biases? · Common decision traps include the use of judgmental heuristics. Such heuristics include availability decisions based on recent events, representativeness decisions based on similar events, and anchoring and adjustment decisions based on historical precedents. · Common decision biases include confirmation error, seeking information to justify a decision already made; the hindsight trap, overestimating the extent to which current events could have been predicted; and framing error, or viewing a problem in a limited context. How can I guard against common decision-making pitfalls? · Individuals and teams must know who should be involved in making decisions, making use of individual, consultative, and team decisions as needed to best fit the problems and opportunities being faced. · Individuals and teams must be able to counteract tendencies toward escalating commitment to previously chosen courses of
- 39. action that are not working; they must know when to quit and abandon a course of action. · Understand how to make decisions under crisis. Self-Test Chapter 16 Multiple Choice 1. A/an ____________ conflict occurs in the form of a fundamental disagreement over ends or goals and the means for accomplishment. 1. a. relationship 2. b. emotional 3. c. substantive 4. d. procedural 2. __________ is particularly appropriate for functional conflict. 1. a. Tolerating differences 2. b. Reducing differences 3. c. Avoidance 4. d. Win-lose 3. __________ conflict involves interpersonal difficulties that arise over feelings of anger, mistrust, dislike, fear, resentment, and similar. 1. a. Emotional 2. b. Substantive 3. c. Relational 4. d. Status 4. The indirect conflict management approach that uses the chain of command for conflict resolution is known as ___________. 1. a. upward referral 2. b. avoidance 3. c. smoothing 4. d. appeal to common goals 5. A lose–lose conflict is likely when the conflict management approach is one of ____________. 1. a. collaborator 2. b. altering scripts
- 40. 3. c. accommodation 4. d. problem solving 6. Which approach to conflict management can be best described as both highly cooperative and highly assertive? 1. a. competition 2. b. compromise 3. c. accommodation 4. d. collaboration 7. Both ____________ goals should be considered in any negotiation. 1. a. performance and evaluation 2. b. task and substance 3. c. substance and relationship 4. d. task and performance 8. In _____________ one or both parties make concessions just to get things over with. 1. a. hard bargaining 2. b. the bargaining zone 3. c. soft bargaining 4. d. bargaining power 9. When a person approaches a negotiation with the assumption that in order for him to gain his way, the other party must lose or give up something, the ____________ negotiation pitfall is being exhibited. 1. a. myth of the fixed pie 2. b. escalating commitment 3. c. overconfidence 4. d. hearing problem 10. A team leader who makes a decision not to launch a new product because the last new product launch failed is falling prey to the ____________ heuristic. 1. a. anchoring 2. b. availability 3. c. adjustment 4. d. representativeness 11. A ________ occurs when managers and teams evaluate and
- 41. resolve a problem in the context in which they perceive it. 1. a. confirmation error 2. b. framing error 3. c. hindsight trap 4. d. escalating commitment 12. The _________ decision model views decision makers as acting in a world of complete certainty while the ____________ decision model views decision makers as acting only in terms of what they perceive about a given situation. 1. a. classical; systemic 2. b. classical; behavioral 3. c. behavioral; systemic 4. d. behavioral; classical 13. The rational decision model is a ______ step model of decision making, beginning with defining the problem and ending with implementation and evaluation. 1. a. three- 2. b. four- 3. c. five- 4. d. six- 14. The ____________ bases a decision on incremental adjustments to an initial value determined by historical precedent or some reference point. 1. a. representativeness heuristic 2. b. anchoring and adjustment heuristic 3. c. confirmation trap 4. d. hindsight trap 15. The ____________ is the tendency to focus on what is already thought to be true and not to search for disconfirming information. 1. a. representativeness heuristic 2. b. anchoring and adjustment heuristic 3. c. confirmation trap 4. d. hindsight trap Short Response 16. List and discuss the different types of conflict faced in
- 42. organizations. 17. Under what conditions might a manager use avoidance or accommodation? 18. What are heuristics, and how can they affect individual decision making? 19. What is escalating commitment, and why is it important to recognize it in decision making? Applications Essay 20. Discuss the common pitfalls you would expect to encounter in negotiating your salary for your first job, and explain how you would best try to deal with them. CHAPTER 16 Handle Conflict, Negotiation, and Decision Making Don't neglect the power of “yes” LEARNING OBJECTIVES
- 43. At the end of this chapter you will be able to: · Understand what conflict is, why it is occurring and how to manage it. · Describe methods for effective negotiations. · List tools that will help you make more effective and less biased decisions. WHAT'S INSIDE ? · Be a Critical Thinker: Dealing with Deception at the Bargaining Table · Bringing OB to Life: Intuition and US Airway Flight 1549
- 44. · Checking Et hics in OB: Is a Two - Tiered Wage System Ever Justified? · OB in the Office: What to Do When Face - to - Face Negotiations Are Not Possible: Tips for Negotiating via Email · OB in the Office: Sooner or Later You'll Know How to Negotiate a Better Raise · Research Insi ghts: Analytical and Intuitive Decisions: When to Trust Your Gut · Worth Considering or Best Avoided? Labor and Manage ment Sides Disagree. Is a Strike the Answer? You are at work and you hear your colleagues disagreeing with
- 45. each other loudly. Their voices c an be heard throughout the office, and you notice people popping their heads up to see what's going on. You are in c harge of the team, and you know that your organization prides itself on having a collegial culture. What do you do? For many people, the ans wer is clear: Conflict is bad — we need to get rid of it. Conflict makes people uncomfortable and harms our ability to work together, so managers need to step in and resolve differences. Is this always true? Couldn't it be that conflict can also play a posit ive role in the workplace? In this chapter, we show that conflict can be good when it surfaces important issues that need to be discussed. The key to managing it is know ing how to determine what kind of conflict is occurring and then using it to generate b etter decisions. This requires developing skills in areas that are becoming increasingly important in today's workpl ace: conflict, negotiation, and decision making. CHAPTER 16
- 46. Handle Conflict, Negotiation, and Decision Making Don't neglect the power of “yes” LEARNING OBJECTIVES At the end of this chapter you will be able to: manage it. methods for effective negotiations. biased decisions. WHAT'S INSIDE? Bargaining Table ight 1549 -Tiered Wage System Ever Justified? -to-Face Negotiations Are Not Possible: Tips for Negotiating via Email Negotiate a Better Raise to Trust Your Gut Sides Disagree. Is a Strike the Answer? You are at work and you hear your colleagues disagreeing with each other loudly. Their voices can be heard throughout the office, and you notice people popping their heads up to see what's going on. You are in charge of the team, and you know that your organization prides itself on having a collegial culture. What do you do?
- 47. For many people, the answer is clear: Conflict is bad—we need to get rid of it. Conflict makes people uncomfortable and harms our ability to work together, so managers need to step in and resolve differences. Is this always true? Couldn't it be that conflict can also play a positive role in the workplace? In this chapter, we show that conflict can be good when it surfaces important issues that need to be discussed. The key to managing it is knowing how to determine what kind of conflict is occurring and then using it to generate better decisions. This requires developing skills in areas that are becoming increasingly important in today's workplace: conflict, negotiation, and decision making. Instructions For your assignment this week, select two of the following scenarios and answer all parts of the questions as prompted. ****************** Although colleges and universities have utilized distance learning (i.e., online classes) for many years, teaching kindergarten through 12th-grade students using an online platform is much rarer. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic of 2020 forced K-12 schools throughout the world to turn to distance learning to teach children under 18. But how effective is an online curriculum for children who are only familiar with physical classrooms? To answer this question, your local school district asks you to conduct a series of studies focusing on the new distance learning curriculum they developed to teach K-12 students.
- 48. Fortunately, the school district does have a control group option available to you should you need it. That is, some classrooms can use in-person instruction as the school has adequate safety measures in place to protect these students. The school administrator who hired you has four goals (though only the first goal must be addressed in all study designs): · First, the school administrator must know if online students are adequately learning material appropriate for their age group (as measured by an end-of-semester exam that all students must pass). · Second, the administrator would like to know if the curriculum they developed works equally well across students with different computer experience (experienced versus inexperienced). · Third, the administrator would like to know if students are improving as they progress through the semester. · Fourth, the administrator would like to know if the curriculum helps male and female students equally. The school administrator recognizes that the COVID-19 pandemic is temporary but that other pandemics might occur in the future, or K-12 schools might naturally evolve an online component. Thus, the administrator would like to know how well distance learning students perform over the next four calendar years. Assignment Instructions: You have come up with a series of studies to test the administrator’s goals. · Use the information in the study designs presented below to determine whether the design involves a posttest-only between- groups design, a pretest-posttest between groups design, a matched pairs design, a block design, a within-group design (pretest, posttest), or a longitudinal design. · Determine if the study meets the first goal of the administrator. · Determine whether the study meets at least one other goal, and if not, describe how you would alter the study design to meet at
- 49. least one other administrator goal. Scenario A You design a study where you randomly assign students to one of two conditions. In one condition, students take the curriculum fully online. In the second condition, they take the curriculum fully in person. However, because you think familiarity and experience with computers might impact how students adapt to fully online classes, you first find students who are experienced with computers as well as students who are not experienced with computers. To make sure the two conditions are composed of students who share similar traits and abilities, you pair up experienced computer users and send one to Condition 1 and the other to Condition 2. You do the same for the next pair (and the next). You also pair up students who are not experienced with computers and similarly assign one to Condition 1 and the other to Condition 2. Here, the independent variable is the condition (online versus in-person teaching), and the dependent variable(s) is the extent to which the child learns the age-appropriate material (as measured by passing the final exam and/or assignments). 1. This study best describes which of the six research designs described in this lesson? Explain your response, including how this study design meets the first administrator goal. 2. Does this design meet any of the other administrator goals? · If yes, which one and why? · If no, how could you redesign the study to meet at least one other administrator goal? Scenario B You design a study where you randomly assign students to one of two conditions. In one condition, students take the curriculum fully online. In the second condition, they take the curriculum fully in person. All students take a pretest at the start of the semester and a post-test at the end of the semester. Here, there are two independent variables. One is the type of course (online versus in person), and the second is timing (pretest at the start of the semester versus post-test at the end of
- 50. the semester). The dependent variable(s) is the extent to which the child learns the age-appropriate material (as measured by passing the final exam and/or assignments). 1. This study best describes which of the six research designs described in this lesson? Explain your response, including how this study design meets the first administrator goal. 2. Does this design meet any of the other administrator goals? · If yes, which one and why? · If no, how could you redesign the study to meet at least one other administrator goal? Scenario C You design a study where you randomly assign students to one of two conditions. In one condition, children will have in- person instruction in a physical classroom. In the second condition, the children will have online instruction. Both conditions will use the same curriculum, though the online version is remote. The independent variable will be the condition (in person or online), and the dependent variable(s) will be the extent to which the child learns the age-appropriate material (as measured by passing the final exam and/or assignments). 1. This study best describes which of the six research designs described in this lesson? Explain your response, including how this study design meets the first administrator goal. 2. Does this design meet any of the other administrator goals? · If yes, which one and why? · If no, how could you redesign the study to meet at least one other administrator goal? Scenario D You design a study where you randomly assign students to one of two conditions. In one condition, children will have in- person instruction in a physical classroom. In the second condition, the children will have online instruction. However, you first match students on multiple key characteristics that you think might impact their learning. In this case, you focus on their computer experience and gender. That is, you pair students
- 51. with the same computer experience and then randomly assign one member of each pair to the online condition and the other member to the in-person condition. Similarly, you pair inexperienced students, you pair males, and you pair females, and once again assign one member of each pair to the online condition and the other to the in-person condition. You do this for all students. Thus, male experienced computer users, male inexperienced computer users, female experienced computer users, and female inexperienced computer users are present in both online and in-person classes. The dependent variable(s) is the extent to which the child learns the age-appropriate material (as measured by passing the final exam and/or assignments). 1. This study best describes which of the six research designs described in this lesson? Explain your response, including how this study design meets the first administrator goal. 2. Does this design meet any of the other administrator goals? · If yes, which one and why? · If no, how could you redesign the study to meet at least one other administrator goal? Scenario E Unfortunately, you find that the school district cannot give you an adequate in-person comparison group; therefore, all students will participate in the new online curriculum. Since they still want your help to assess the program's effectiveness, you decide to do so by assessing student knowledge at the start of the semester and comparing it to their knowledge at the end of the semester. The dependent variable(s) is the extent to which the child learns the age-appropriate material (as measured by passing the final exam and/or assignments). 1. This study best describes which of the six research designs described in this lesson? Explain your response, including how this study design meets the first administrator goal. 2. Does this design meet any of the other administrator goals? · If yes, which one and why? · If no, how could you redesign the study to meet at least one
- 52. other administrator goal? Scenario F You design a study where you randomly assign students to one of two conditions. In one condition, children will have in- person instruction in a physical classroom. In the second condition, the children will have online instruction. Fortunately, your study design allows you to follow and assess both sets of students multiple times over four years. Even as the students advance from one grade to the next, your study will determine if taking classes online helps or hurts their ability to pass assignments and final exams (the dependent variables in this study). The independent variables would be (a) the varying amounts of times assessments are taken (quarterly, mid- semester, end of the semester, the following semester, the next school year, etc.) and (b) the two conditions, in-person and online instruction. 1. This study best describes which of the six research designs described in this lesson? Explain your response, including how this study design meets the first administrator goal. 2. Does this design meet any of the other administrator goals? · If yes, which one and why? · If no, how could you redesign the study to meet at least one other administrator goal? Length: 5-7 pages, not including title and reference pages References: Include a minimum of 3 scholarly resources. The completed assignment should address all of the assignment requirements, exhibit evidence of concept knowledge, and demonstrate thoughtful consideration of the content presented in the course. The writing should integrate scholarly resources, reflect academic expectations and current APA standards, and adhere to Northcentral University's Academic Integrity Policy. CHAPTER 12 Teams and Teamwork: Two Heads Really Are Better Than One
- 53. Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much. - Helen Keller Chapter Quick Start Surely you’ve experienced the highs and the lows of teams and teamwork—as a team member and as a team leader. Teams and teammates can be inspirational and they can also be highly frustrating. People in teams can accomplish great things or end up doing very little. The more we know about teams, teamwork, and our personal tendencies toward team contributions, the better prepared we are to participate in today’s team-driven organizations. LEARNING OBJECTIVES 12.1 Explain the ways teams contribute to organizations. 12.2 Describe current trends in the use of teams in organizations. 12.3 Summarize the key processes through which teams work. 12.4 Discuss the ins and outs of team decision making. Career Readiness – What to Look for Inside Thought Leadership Skills Make You Valuable Analysis >Make Data Your Friend Unproductive Meetings Are Major Time Wasters Choices >Think before You Act Creating Disharmony to Build a Better Team Ethics >Know Right from Wrong Social Loafing Is Hurting Team Performance Insight >Learn about Yourself Don’t Short Your Team Contributions · EvaluateCareer Situations: What Would You Do? · ReflectOn the Self-Assessment: Team Leader Skills · ContributeTo the Class Exercise: Work Team Dynamics · ManageA Critical Incident: The Rejected Team Leader
- 54. · CollaborateOn the Team Project: Superstars on the Team · AnalyzeThe Case Study: Auto Racing: When the Driver Takes a Back Seat “Sticks in a bundle are hard to break”—Kenyan proverb “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, determined people can change the world”—Margaret Mead, anthropologist “Pick good people, use small teams and give them great tools so that they are very productive.”—Bill Gates, businessman and philanthropist “Gettin’ good players is easy. Gettin’ 'em to play together is the hard part”—Casey Stengel, Hall of Fame Major League baseball manager From proverbs to societies to sports to business, the operation of teams and teamwork has been a consistent focal point of collective organization and is widely recognized as a critical tool for accomplishing great things.1 Even so, just the words group and team elicit both positive and negative reactions from people who have been involved—either as observers or participants—in these collectives. Although it is an embedded idiom in Western culture that “two heads are better than one,” we also are warned by an idiom equally embedded in our culture that “too many cooks spoil the broth.” A true skeptic of the collective action implied by groups or teams might say: “A camel is a horse put together by a committee.” Teams have a great deal of performance potential but also are extremely complex in how they function. Teams can be a supercharged vehicle to achieve great successes, and they can also be the cause of equally monstrous failures.2 More than a third of individuals participating in teams report dissatisfaction with teamwork. Less than half of team members report receiving training in team dynamics.3 Still, many people prefer to work in teams than working alone. What is clear is that there is a great deal of variability in responses to—and the effectiveness of— teams in organizations today. 12.1 Teams in Organizations
- 55. LEARNING OBJECTIVE 12.1 Explain the ways teams contribute to organizations. WileyPLUS See Author Video Learn More About · Teamwork pros · Teamwork cons · Meetings, meetings, meetings · Organizations as networks of groups A team is a relatively small set of people with complementary skills who regularly interact, and work interdependently to achieve shared goals.4Teamwork is the process of team members working together to accomplish these goals. Managers must be prepared to perform at least the four important teamwork roles shown in Figure 12.1. A team leader serves as the appointed head of a team or a work unit. A team member serves as a contributing part of a project team. A network facilitator serves as a peer leader and networking hub for a special task force. A coach or developer serves as a team’s advisor to improve team processes and performance. A team is a collection of people who regularly interact to pursue common goals. Teamwork is the process of people actively working together interdependently to accomplish common goals. FIGURE 12.1 Roles managers play in teams and teamwork. A fundamental difference between teams and groups is whether members’ goals or outcomes require that they work interdependently or independently of one another. The interdependence characteristic of teams puts members in positions where they depend on each other to fulfill tasks and carry out their work.5 Interdependence influences the way team members combine inputs such as ideas and efforts to create outcomes such as a completed task or project.6 And when team members are interdependent, they tend to share information and communicate more often, as well as act cooperatively and
- 56. helpfully toward one another.7 Interdependence is the extent to which team members depend on one other to complete their work effectively. Teamwork Pros Although working effectively with other members can be hard work, the effort is worth it when the team meets anticipated performance expectations.8 One great benefit of teams is their capacity to accomplish goals and performance expectations far greater than what’s possible for individuals alone. This collective performance potential is called synergy, the creation of a whole that is greater than the sum of its individual parts. Synergy is the creation of a whole greater than the sum of its individual parts. Synergy pools individual talents and efforts to create extraordinary results through collective action. When Jens Voigt, a former Tour de France star, was asked to describe a “perfect cyclist,” he instead described this composite of his nine-member team: “We take the time trial legs of Fabian Cancellara, the speed of Stuart O’Grady, the climbing capacity of our leaders, and my attitude.” Voigt’s point was that the tour is simply too hard for a single rider to win based on individual talents alone.9 Team connections can help everyone to do their jobs better — getting help, solving problems, sharing ideas, responding to favors, motivating one another, and avoiding roadblocks. Team relationships can also help satisfy important needs that may be difficult to meet in regular work or personal settings. Just being part of a team that offers positive interpersonal interactions can provide a sense of security, belonging, and emotional support.10 In sum, it’s no secret that teams can be hard work. But it’s also true that they’re most often worth it. The many benefits of teams include the following. · Performance gains through synergy · More resources for problem solving · Improved creativity and innovation · Improved decision-making quality
- 57. · Greater member commitment to tasks · Increased member motivation · Increased need satisfaction of members Teamwork Cons We all know that the expected performance gains from teams don’t always materialize. Problems with team operations and between members can easily transform their great potential into frustration and failure.11 Personality conflicts and work style differences can disrupt how teams function. Unclear tasks, ambiguous agendas, and ill- defined problems and roles can cause teams to work too long on the wrong things. Sometimes members start out motivated and then lose their motivation because teamwork takes too much time and effort away from other tasks, deadlines, and priorities. A lack of success also can hurt members’ morale. It’s also easy for members to lose motivation when the team is poorly organized and led, or when other members slack off.12 Anyone who’s had any experience working in teams has encountered social loafing. This is the presence of “free-riders” who slack off because responsibility is spread throughout the team and others are present to do the work, picking up the slack.13 Although social loafing can be very frustrating and can hurt team performance, there are things that leaders or team members can do when others don’t do their work. The possibilities include making individual contributions more visible, rewarding individuals for their contributions, making task assignments more interesting, and keeping team sizes small so that free-riders are subject to more intense peer pressure and leader evaluation.14 Social loafing is the tendency of some members to avoid responsibility by “free-riding” during group tasks. Ethics: Know Right from WrongThe student complained that free-riders were making it hard for his team to perform well.Social Loafing Is Hurting Team Performance
- 58. 1. Psychology study: A German researcher asked people to pull on a rope as hard as they could. First, individuals pulled alone. Second, they pulled as part of a group. The results from this study showed that people pull harder when working alone than when working as part of a team. Such “social loafing” is the tendency for individuals to reduce their level of effort when working with others. 2. Faculty office: A student wants to speak with the instructor about issues with his team’s performance on the last project. There were four members, but only two of them did almost all of the work. The other two largely disappeared, showing up only at the last minute to be part of the formal presentation. His point is that the team was disadvantaged because two free-riders were responsible for reduced performance capacity. 3. Telephone call from the boss: “John, I really need you to serve on this committee. Will you do it? Let me know tomorrow.” In thinking about this, John ponders: I’m overloaded, but I don’t want to turn down the boss. I’ll accept but let the committee members know about my situation. I’ll be active in discussions and try to offer viewpoints and perspectives that are helpful. However, I’ll let them know up front that I can’t be a leader or volunteer for any extra work.What Do You Think? What are the ethical issues involved in team situations when some members sit back and let others do more of the work the entire team is responsible for doing? When you join a team, do all of the team’s members have an ethical obligation to do a similar amount of work—why or why not? When it comes to John, does the fact that he intends to be honest with the other committee members make any difference? Isn’t he still going to be a social loafer while earning credit from his boss for serving on the committee? Is his approach ethical—or should he simply decline to participate on the committee? What factors would make you more/less comfortable with another member not pulling their weight on the team?
- 59. Meetings, Meetings, Meetings “Meetings are unproductive and inefficient.” “Meetings keep me from completing my own work.” “Meetings come at the expense of deep thinking.” The prior comments come from a survey of senior managers.15 How do they stack up with your experiences? What do you think when someone says: “Let’s have a meeting”? Are you ready and willing to attend? Or are you apprehensive and even irritated to have to set aside time and participate? Good meetings don’t happen by accident. People have to work hard and work together to make meetings productive and rewarding. Face-to-face and virtual meetings are where lots of information is shared, decisions get made, and people gain understanding of the issues and of one another. They’re important and necessary. This is why knowing more about teams and teamwork is so useful. Organizations as Networks of Teams Formal teams are officially recognized and supported by the organization. They may be called departments (e.g., market research department), units (e.g., audit unit), groups (e.g., customer service group), or divisions (e.g., office products division). These formal teams create interlocking networks that serve as the foundation of the organization’s structure, and managers are key “linking pins” among them. Managers lead formal teams at one level while also serving as members of teams at the next higher level as well as teams formed across functional areas.16 A formal team is an officially recognized collective that is supported by the organization. Informal groups also are important in all organizations. They emerge from natural or spontaneous relationships. Some informal groups are interest groups where members join together to pursue a common cause, such as better working conditions. Some emerge as friendship groups that develop for personal reasons, including shared non-work interests and social
- 60. connections. Others exist as support groups, where members help one another to do their jobs or to cope with problems. An informal group is unofficial and emerges spontaneously from relationships and shared interests among members. Analysis: Make Data Your FriendMeetings are frequent, but many employees say the ones they attend are ineffective.Unproductive Meetings Are Major Time Wasters A survey of some 38,000 workers around the world links low productivity with bad meetings, poor communication, and unclear goals. · 69% of meetings attended are considered ineffective. · 32% of workers complain about team communication. · 31% complain about unclear objectives and priorities.Your Thoughts? Do the results from this survey match your own experiences with team meetings? Given the common complaints about meetings, what can a team leader do to improve them? Think about recent meetings you have attended. In what ways were the best meetings different from the worst meetings? Did your own behavior play a significant role in both of these cases? How do the interactions of team members influence the quality of these meetings? Why? Although informal groups can become forums for airing dissatisfactions and spreading rumors, the social connections they offer also play many positive roles in organizations. Tapping into relationships can help speed workflow and “get things done” in ways not possible within the formal structure. Being part of informal groups can satisfy needs that are otherwise left unmet in one’s job, including opportunities for friendship, security, support, and a sense of belongingness.Learning CheckLEARNING OBJECTIVE 12.1 Explain the ways teams contribute to organizations.Be Sure You Can · define team and teamwork
- 61. · explain why interdependence is a key characteristic of teams · identify four roles managers perform in teams · define synergy · explain teamwork pros and cons · discuss the implications of social loafing · explain the potential benefits of informal groups12.2 Trends in the Use of TeamsLEARNING OBJECTIVE 12.2 Describe current trends in the use of teams in organizations. WileyPLUS See Author VideoLearn More About · Committees, project teams, and task forces · Cross-functional teams · Self-managing teams · Virtual teams · Team building The trend is toward greater empowerment in organizations. In practice, one way this shows up is in the expanded use of committees, project teams, task forces, cross-functional teams, self-managing teams, and virtual teams. Committees, Project Teams, and Task Forces A committee brings employees together outside of their daily job duties to work together for a specific purpose. A committee’s agenda is typically narrow, focused, and ongoing. Organizations usually have a variety of permanent or standing committees dedicated to a wide variety of issues, such as diversity, quality, and product development. Committees are led by a designated head or chairperson, who is accountable for the committee’s performance. A committee is designated to work on a special task on a continuing basis. Project teams or task forces bring people together to work on common problems, but on a temporary basis. The goals and task assignments are specific and completion deadlines are clear. Creativity and innovation may be part of the agenda. Project
- 62. teams, for example, can be formed to develop a new advertising campaign, redesign an office layout, or streamline a work process.17 A project team or task force is convened for a specific purpose and disbands when its task is completed. Cross-Functional Teams Many organizations use cross-functional teams that pull together members from across different functional units to work on common goals. These teams help reduce the functional chimneys problem by eliminating “walls” that can limit communication and cooperation between different departments and functions. Target CEO Gregg Steinhafel, for example, says that his firm uses cross-functional teams from “merchandising, marketing, design, communications, presentation, supply chain and stores” to create and bring new limited-edition fashions to customers.18 A cross-functional team operates with members who come from different functional units of an organization. The functional chimneys problem is a lack of communication across functions. Self-Managing Teams Traditional work teams consisting of first-level supervisors and their subordinates are increasingly being replaced in a grow ing number of organizations with self-managing work teams. As shown in Figure 12.2, members of these teams have a high degree of task interdependence, authority to make decisions about how they work, and collective responsibility for results.19 The expected advantages are better performance, reduced costs, greater engagement, and higher morale. Members of a self-managing work team have the authority to make decisions about how they share and complete their work. FIGURE 12.2 Organizational and management implications of self-managing work teams.
- 63. Ethics: Know Right from WrongThe student complained that free-riders were making it hard for his team to perform well.Social Loafing Is Hurting Team Performance 1. Psychology study: A German researcher asked people to pull on a rope as hard as they could. First, individuals pulled alone. Second, they pulled as part of a group. The results from this study showed that people pull harder when working alone than when working as part of a team. Such “social loafing” is the tendency for individuals to reduce their level of effort when working with others. 2. Faculty office: A student wants to speak with the instructor about issues with his team’s performance on the last project. There were four members, but only two of them did almost all of the work. The other two largely disappeared, showing up only at the last minute to be part of the formal presentation. His point is that the team was disadvantaged because two free-riders were responsible for reduced performance capacity. 3. Telephone call from the boss: “John, I really need you to serve on this committee. Will you do it? Let me know tomorrow.” In thinking about this, John ponders: I’m overloaded, but I don’t want to turn down the boss. I’ll accept but let the committee members know about my situation. I’ll be active in discussions and try to offer viewpoints and perspectives that are helpful. However, I’ll let them know up front that I can’t be a leader or volunteer for any extra work.What Do You Think? What are the ethical issues involved in team situations when some members sit back and let others do more of the work the entire team is responsible for doing? When you join a team, do all of the team’s members have an ethical obligation to do a similar amount of work—why or why not? When it comes to John, does the fact that he intends to be honest with the other committee members make any difference? Isn’t he still going to be a social loafer while earning credit from his boss for serving
- 64. on the committee? Is his approach ethical—or should he simply decline to participate on the committee? What factors would make you more/less comfortable with another member not pulling their weight on the team? Meetings, Meetings, Meetings “Meetings are unproductive and inefficient.” “Meetings keep me from completing my own work.” “Meetings come at the expense of deep thinking.” The prior comments come from a survey of senior managers.15 How do they stack up with your experiences? What do you think when someone says: “Let’s have a meeting”? Are you ready and willing to attend? Or are you apprehensive and even irritated to have to set aside time and participate? Good meetings don’t happen by accident. People have to work hard and work together to make meetings productive and rewarding. Face-to-face and virtual meetings are where lots of information is shared, decisions get made, and people gain understanding of the issues and of one another. They’re important and necessary. This is why knowing more about teams and teamwork is so useful. Organizations as Networks of Teams Formal teams are officially recognized and supported by the organization. They may be called departments (e.g., market research department), units (e.g., audit unit), groups (e.g., customer service group), or divisions (e.g., office products division). These formal teams create interlocking networks that serve as the foundation of the organization’s structure, and managers are key “linking pins” among them. Managers lead formal teams at one level while also serving as members of teams at the next higher level as well as teams formed across functional areas.16 A formal team is an officially recognized collective that is supported by the organization. Informal groups also are important in all organizations. They
- 65. emerge from natural or spontaneous relationships. Some informal groups are interest groups where members join together to pursue a common cause, such as better working conditions. Some emerge as friendship groups that develop for personal reasons, including shared non-work interests and social connections. Others exist as support groups, where members help one another to do their jobs or to cope with problems. An informal group is unofficial and emerges spontaneously from relationships and shared interests among members. Analysis: Make Data Your FriendMeetings are frequent, but many employees say the ones they attend are ineffective.Unproductive Meetings Are Major Time Wasters A survey of some 38,000 workers around the world links low productivity with bad meetings, poor communication, and unclear goals. · 69% of meetings attended are considered ineffective. · 32% of workers complain about team communication. · 31% complain about unclear objectives and priorities.Your Thoughts? Do the results from this survey match your own experiences with team meetings? Given the common complaints about meetings, what can a team leader do to improve them? Think about recent meetings you have attended. In what ways were the best meetings different from the worst meetings? Did your own behavior play a significant role in both of these cases? How do the interactions of team members influence the quality of these meetings? Why? Although informal groups can become forums for airing dissatisfactions and spreading rumors, the social connections they offer also play many positive roles in organizations. Tapping into relationships can help speed workflow and “get things done” in ways not possible within the formal structure. Being part of informal groups can satisfy needs that are otherwise left unmet in one’s job, including opportunities for
- 66. friendship, security, support, and a sense of belongingness.Learning CheckLEARNING OBJECTIVE 12.1 Explain the ways teams contribute to organizations.Be Sure You Can · define team and teamwork · explain why interdependence is a key characteristic of teams · identify four roles managers perform in teams · define synergy · explain teamwork pros and cons · discuss the implications of social loafing · explain the potential benefits of informal groups12.2 Trends in the Use of TeamsLEARNING OBJECTIVE 12.2 Describe current trends in the use of teams in organizations. WileyPLUS See Author VideoLearn More About · Committees, project teams, and task forces · Cross-functional teams · Self-managing teams · Virtual teams · Team building The trend is toward greater empowerment in organizations. In practice, one way this shows up is in the expanded use of committees, project teams, task forces, cross-functional teams, self-managing teams, and virtual teams. Committees, Project Teams, and Task Forces A committee brings employees together outside of their daily job duties to work together for a specific purpose. A committee’s agenda is typically narrow, focused, and ongoing. Organizations usually have a variety of permanent or standing committees dedicated to a wide variety of issues, such as diversity, quality, and product development. Committees are led by a designated head or chairperson, who is accountable for the committee’s performance. A committee is designated to work on a special task on a
- 67. continuing basis. Project teams or task forces bring people together to work on common problems, but on a temporary basis. The goals and task assignments are specific and completion deadlines are clear. Creativity and innovation may be part of the agenda. Project teams, for example, can be formed to develop a new advertising campaign, redesign an office layout, or streamline a work process.17 A project team or task force is convened for a specific purpose and disbands when its task is completed. Cross-Functional Teams Many organizations use cross-functional teams that pull together members from across different functional units to work on common goals. These teams help reduce the functional chimneys problem by eliminating “walls” that can limit communication and cooperation between different departments and functions. Target CEO Gregg Steinhafel, for example, says that his firm uses cross-functional teams from “merchandising, marketing, design, communications, presentation, supply chain and stores” to create and bring new limited-edition fashions to customers.18 A cross-functional team operates with members who come from different functional units of an organization. The functional chimneys problem is a lack of communication across functions. Self-Managing Teams Traditional work teams consisting of first-level supervisors and their subordinates are increasingly being replaced in a growing number of organizations with self-managing work teams. As shown in Figure 12.2, members of these teams have a high degree of task interdependence, authority to make decisions about how they work, and collective responsibility for results.19 The expected advantages are better performance, reduced costs, greater engagement, and higher morale.
- 68. Members of a self-managing work team have the authority to make decisions about how they share and complete their work. FIGURE 12.2 Organizational and management implications of self-managing work teams. Multitasking is a key feature of all self-managing teams, whose members have the skills to perform several different jobs. Within a team the emphasis is always on participation. Team members share tasks and take responsibility for management functions traditionally performed by supervisors. These “self- management” responsibilities include planning and scheduling work, training members in various tasks, distributing tasks, meeting performance goals, ensuring high quality, and solving day-to-day problems. In some self-managing teams, members have the authority to “hire” and “fire” members. Virtual Teams Scene: U.S.-based IT manager needs to meet with team members in Brazil, the Philippines, and Poland. Rather than pay for everyone to fly to a common location, he checks world time zones, sends e-mail and messages to schedule a virtual meeting. Probably working from home, he turns on his tablet to join team members online using any number of virtual meeting platforms. Members of virtual teams, also called distributed teams, work together through computer mediation rather than face to face.20 Their use can save time, lowever travel costs when members work in different locations, and reduce complications for members working on different time schedules.21 Virtual teams can also be very efficient because members adhere to time schedules and are less prone to stray off task. Members of virtual teams are also less likely to get sidetracked by interpersonal difficulties. A vice president of human resources at Marriott, for example, once called electronic meetings “the quietest, least stressful, most productive meetings you’ve ever had.”22 Members of a virtual team work together and solve problems
- 69. through computer-mediated interactions. Virtual teams do have potential disadvantages, ones that need to be addressed through good team leadership. The lack of face-to- face interaction limits the role of emotions and nonverbal cues in communication, and can cause ineffective communication and feelings of depersonalization.23 “Human beings are social animals for whom building relationships matters a great deal,” says one scholar. “Strip away the social side of teamwork and, very quickly, people feel isolated and unsupported.”24 The following guidelines can help keep the possible downsides of virtual teamwork to a minimum.25 · Select team members high in initiative and capable of self- starting. · Select members who will join and engage the team with positive attitudes. · Select members known for working hard to meet team goals. · Begin with social messaging that allows members to exchange information about each other in order to personalize the process. · Assign clear goals and roles so that members can focus while working alone and also know what others are doing. · Gather regular feedback from members about how they think the team is doing and how it might work more effectively. · Provide regular feedback to team members about team accomplishments. Team Building Anyone interested in sports knows only too well that even the most experienced teams run into problems. Long seasons take their tolls, teams have losing streaks, players have slumps, and teammates come and go with injuries and trades. And don’t forget the arguments and complaints that cause frictions among team members. When such things happen, the best coaches and managers don’t let things go too far. They step in and take actions to restore the teamwork needed for performance success. Work teams face similar challenges and need similar “tune ups.”
- 70. Team building is a sequence of planned activities used to analyze the functioning of a team and to make constructive, systematic changes in how it operates.26 The process begins with creating awareness that a problem already exists or may develop in the near future. Members then work together to gather data and fully understand the problem, make plans to correct it, implement the plans the team develops, and evaluate results from the plan. This process is repeated as difficulties or new problems are discovered. Team building is a sequence of activities to analyze a team and make changes to improve its performance. There are many ways to gather data for team building, including structured and unstructured interviews, survey questionnaires, and team meetings. Regardless of the method used to understand what’s happening, the basic principle of team building remains the same. It is a careful and collaborative assessment of all of the various aspects of the team, ranging from how members work together to the results they achieve. Team building can be done with consulting assistance or under the direction of a manager. It can also be done in the workplace or take place at outside locations. A popular approach is to bring members together in special outdoor settings where their capacities for teamwork are tested through unusual and physically demanding experiences, such as obstacle courses. There’s lots of room for innovation, with options including activities like scavenger hunts, work with charities, cooking schools, building, sculpting, and competitive activities.27 Says one team-building trainer: “We throw clients into situations to try and bring out the traits of a good team.”28Learning CheckLEARNING OBJECTIVE 12.2 Describe current trends in the use of teams in organizations.Be Sure You Can · differentiate a committee from a task force · explain the benefits of cross-functional teams · discuss potential advantages and disadvantages of virtual teams
- 71. · list the characteristics of self-managing work teams · explain how self-managing teams are changing organizations · describe the typical steps in team building12.3 How Teams WorkLEARNING OBJECTIVE 12.3 Summarize the key processes through which teams work. WileyPLUS See Author VideoLearn More About · Team inputs · Stages of team development · Norms and cohesiveness · Task and maintenance roles · Communication networks An effective team does three things well—performs its tasks, satisfies its members, and remains viable for the future.29 On the task performance side, a team is expected to transform resource inputs (such as ideas, materials, and information) into product outputs (such as a report, decision, service, or commodity). With respect to member satisfaction, members should take pleasure from both the team’s accomplishments and their contributions toward making these happen. As to future viability, the team should have a social fabric and work climate that makes its members willing and able to work well together in the future, again and again as needed. An effective team achieves high levels of task performance, membership satisfaction, and future viability. FIGURE 12.3 An open-systems model of team effectiveness. You sometimes hear top executives saying that team effectiveness comes from having “the right players in the right seats on the same bus, headed in the same direction.”30 The open-systems model in Figure 12.3 supports this view. It shows that a team’s effectiveness is influenced by inputs—“right players in the right seats”—and by process—“on the same bus, headed in the same direction.”31 You can remember the implications of this figure by the following Team Effectiveness
- 72. Equation.32 Team Effectiveness Equation Team effectiveness = Quality of inputs + (Process gains − Process losses). Team effectiveness = Quality of inputs + ( Process gains − Process losses ) Team Inputs Among the important inputs that influence team effectiveness are membership characteristics, resources and setting, nature of the task, and team size.33 You can think of them as drivers that prepare the team for action. A team with the right inputs has a greater chance of having a positive process and being effective.Membership Characteristics The right blend of member characteristics on a team is critical for success. Teams need members with the right abilities, or skill sets, to master and perform tasks well. Teams must also have members whose attitudes, values, and personalities are sufficiently compatible for everyone to work well together. How often, for example, have you read or heard about college sports teams where a lack “chemistry” among talented players leads to subpar team performance? As one of the chapter opening quotes states: “Gettin’ good players is easy. Gettin’ 'em to play together is the hard part.”34 Team diversity, in the form of different values, personalities, identities, experiences, demographics, and cultures among members, affects how teams work.35 It is easier to manage relationships among members of more homogeneous teams— teams where members share similar characteristics. It is harder to manage relationships among the members of more heterogeneous teams—where members are more dissimilar to one another. As team diversity increases, so does the complexity of members’ interpersonal relationships. But the potential complications of membership diversity also come with special performance opportunities. When heterogeneous teams are well managed, the variety of ideas, perspectives, and experiences can be a valuable problem-solving and performance
- 73. asset. Team diversity represents the differences in values, personalities, experiences, demographics, and cultures among members. Choices: Think before You Act“There is no ‘I’ in team!” is a common cry. But basketball superstar Michael Jordan once responded: “There is an ‘I’ in win.”Creating Disharmony to Build a Better Team “There is no ‘I’ in team!” is a common cry. But basketball superstar Michael Jordan once responded: “There is an ‘I’ in win.” What’s the point here? Jordan is suggesting that someone as expert in task direction as himself shouldn’t always be subordinated to the team. Rather, the team’s job may be to support his or her talents so that they shine to their brightest potential. In his book, There Is an I in Team: What Elite Athletes and Coaches Really Know about High Performance, Cambridge University scholar Mark de Rond notes that sports metaphors abound in the workplace. We talk about “heavy hitters” and ask teammates to “step up to the plate.” The real world of teamwork is dominated by the quest for cooperation, perhaps at the cost of needed friction. And that, according to de Rond, is a potential performance problem. “When teams work well,” de Rond says, “it is because, not in spite, of individual differences.” Those in favor of de Rond’s views are likely to argue that even if superstars bring a bit of conflict to the team, the result may well be added creativity and a performance boost. Instead of trying to make everyone happy, perhaps it’s time for managers and team leaders to accept that disharmony can be functional, adding a needed edge. A bit of team tension may be a price worth paying for high performance. Those worried about de Rond’s views might say there’s a fine line between a superstar’s real performance contribution and the collateral damage or negative impact caused by personality and temperament clashes.
- 74. That line is a hard one to spot and to manage.Yo ur Take? Given what we know about teams and your personal experiences with them, should we be finding ways to accommodate superstars on a team … or avoid them?Resources and Tasks Resources and organizational setting also influence how well team members use and pool their talents to accomplish team tasks. Teams function best when members have good information, resources, technology, supportive structures, and rewards. The physical work space also is critical, and many organizations are now architecturally designed to increase collaboration and teamwork. The nature of the tasks teams are responsible for not only sets standards for the talents needed by members, it also affects how they work together. Clearly defined tasks are easier to deal with. Complex tasks require a lot more in terms of information sharing and coordinated action.36 The next time you fly, check out the ground crews. You should notice some similarities between them and NASCAR pit crews. There’s even a chance that some have been through “Pit Crew U.” United is among the organizations sending employees to Pit Instruction & Training in Mooresville, North Carolina. That is where NASCAR racing crews train workers to work intensely and under pressure while meeting goals through teamwork.37Team Size Team size affects how well members work together, handle disagreements, and make decisions. Having an odd numbers of members, such as in juries, helps prevent “ties” when votes need to be taken. And importantly, the number of potential interactions among team members increases geometrically as teams get bigger. Large team size creates communication and relationship problems for members and leaders. It’s also easier for individuals to hide and engage in social loafing in larger teams. The general conclusions from social science research are that very small teams—four members or fewer—may be dominated by one or two strong members. Six- to eight-member teams are probably best for creative problem solving because their
- 75. members are better able to form trusting relationships and function more like families. When teams get larger than this, the added size and complexity can be difficult to manage.38 Amazon.com’s founder and CEO Jeff Bezos has a simple rule when it comes to the of product development teams: No team should be larger than two pizzas can feed.39 Have you ever been on a team that was too large or too small? How did the members interact? And, how well did the team perform? Stages of Team Development Although having the right inputs is critical, it doesn’t guarantee team effectiveness. Team process also plays an important role. This is the way that the members of a team actually work together as they transform inputs into output. Also called group dynamics, the process aspects of any group or team include how members develop norms and cohesiveness, share roles, make decisions, communicate, and handle conflicts.40 Importantly, teams experience different process challenges as they pass through the stages of team development—forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning.41 Team process is the way team members work together to accomplish tasks.Forming Stage The forming stage involves the first entry of individual members into a team. This is a time of initial task orientation and interpersonal testing. When people first come together, they ask questions: “What can or does this team offer me?” “What will I be asked to contribute?” “Can my needs be met while I serve the task needs of the team?” In the forming stage individuals begin to identify with other members and with the team itself. They are concerned about getting acquainted, establishing relationships, discovering what behavior is acceptable, and learning how others perceive the team’s task. This may also be a time when some members rely on others who appear “powerful” or especially “knowledgeable.” Prior experience with team members in other situations and personal impressions of organization culture,
- 76. goals, and practices may affect emerging relationships between members. Difficulties in the forming stage tend to be greater in more culturally and demographically diverse teams.Storming Stage Figure 12.4 shows the storming stage as part of a “critical zone” in team development. It is a period of high emotionality and can be hard to pass through successfully. Tensions often emerge over tasks and interpersonal concerns. There may be periods of outright hostility and infighting. Coalitions or cliques may form around personalities or interests. Subgroups may form around faultlines defined by areas of agreement and disagreement. Conflict also may develop as members compete to impose their preferences on other members and to become influential. Important changes occur in the storming stage as task agendas become clarified and members begin to understand one another’s styles. Attention begins to shift toward obstacles that stand in the way of task accomplishment. Efforts are made to find ways to meet team goals while also satisfying members’ individual needs. Getting through this zone with success can create long-term gains while failures create long-lasting problems. FIGURE 12.4 Storming and norming in the critical zone of team development.Norming Stage It is in the norming stage that team members begin to cooperate. Shared rules of conduct emerge and the team develops a sense of leadership members start to occupy and fulfill key roles. Interpersonal hostilities start to diminish and harmony is emphasized, but minority viewpoints may still be discouraged. The norming stage also is part of the critical zone of team development. As members develop initial feelings of closeness, a division of labor, and shared expectations, this helps protect the team from disintegration. In fact, holding the team together may seem more important than accomplishing important tasks.Performing Stage Teams in the performing stage are more mature, organized, and
- 77. well functioning. They score high on the criteria of team maturity shown in Figure 12.5.42 Performing is a stage of integration in which members are able to deal in creative ways with complex tasks and interpersonal conflicts. The team operates with a clear and stable structure, and members are motivated by team goals. The primary challenges in the performing stage are to continue to refine how the team operates and to build relationships that keep everyone working well together as an integrated unit.Adjourning Stage The final stage of team development is adjourning, when team members prepare to achieve closure and disband. Temporary committees, task forces, and project teams should disband with a sense that important goals have been accomplished. This can be an emotional period after team members have worked together intensely for a period of time. Adjourning is a time when it is important to acknowledge everyone’s contributions, praise them, and celebrate the team’s success. A team ideally disbands with everyone feeling they would like to work together again in the future. Norms and Cohesiveness A team norm is a behavioral expectation of team members.43 It is a “rule” or “standard” that guides behavior. Typical norms relate to things like helpfulness, participation, timeliness, work quality, creativity, and innovation. A team’s performance norm is critical, as it defines the level of work effort and performance that members are expected to contribute. Work groups and teams with positive performance norms are more successful accomplishing task objectives than teams with negative performance norms. A team norm is a behavioral expectation, rule, or standard to be followed by team members. FIGURE 12.5 Criteria for assessing the maturity of a team. Managing Team Norms Team leaders should help and encourage members to develop
- 78. positive norms. During the forming and storming stages of development, norms relating to expected attendance and l evels of commitment are important. By the time the performing stage is reached, norms relating to adaptability and change become relevant. Here are some things leaders can do to help their teams build positive norms:44 · Act as a positive role model. · Reinforce desired behaviors with rewards. · Control results by performance reviews and regular feedback. · Train and orient new members to adopt desired behaviors. · Recruit and select new members who exhibit desired behaviors. · Hold regular meetings to discuss progress and ways of improving. · Use team decision-making methods to reach agreement. There is growing research interest in the extent to which members of teams display virtuousness and share a commitment to moral behavior. Team virtuousness is described as the extent to which members adopt norms that encourage shared commitments to moral behavior. Scholars highlight five norms of moral behavior for special attention by team leaders and members alike.45Optimism expects team members to strive for success even after setbacks. Forgiveness expects team members to forgive one another’s mistakes and avoid assigning blame. Trust expects team members to be courteous and interact in respectful, trusting ways. Compassion expects team members to help and support one another and show kindness in difficult times. Integrity expects team members to be honest in what they do and say while working together. Team virtuousness indicates the extent to which members adopt norms that encourage shared commitments to moral behavior. Managing Team Cohesiveness Team members vary in their adherence to established group norms. Conformity to norms is largely determined by team cohesiveness, the degree to which members are attracted to and motivated to remain part of a team.46 Members of teams that
- 79. are highly cohesive value their membership and strive to maintain positive relationships with other members. Because of this, they tend to conform to team norms. In the extreme, violation of a norm on a highly cohesive team can result in a member being expelled or socially ostracized. team cohesiveness is the degree to which members are attracted to and motivated to remain part of a team. Figure 12.6 shows the power of cohesiveness. The “best-case” scenario is a team with high cohesiveness and a high performance norm. Strong conformity to norms by members of “high-high” teams is likely to have a beneficial effect on team performance. Contrast this with the “worst-case” scenario of high cohesiveness and a low performance norm. Members of “high-low” teams conform to the low performance norm and restrict their work efforts to adhere to the norm. FIGURE 12.6 How cohesiveness and norms influence team performance. We’ve already discussed ways to build positive norms. But, managers and team leaders also must be good at building cohesiveness as well. This can be done in the following ways: · Create agreement on team goals. · Reward team rather than individual results. · Increase membership homogeneity. · Increase interactions among members. · Decrease team size. · Introduce competition with other teams. · Provide physical isolation from other teams. Task and Maintenance Roles Research on collectives such as groups and teams identifies two types of roles or activities that are essential if members are to work well together.47Task activities contribute directly to the team’s performance purpose, while maintenance activities support the emotional life of the team as an ongoing social system. A task activity is an action taken by a team member that
- 80. directly contributes to the team’s performance purpose. A maintenance activity is an action taken by a team member that supports the emotional life of the team. Although the team leader or supervisor should give these activities special attention, the responsibility for task and maintenance activities also should be shared and distributed among all team members. Anyone can help lead a team by satisfying these needs. The concept of distributed leadership makes every member continually responsible for recognizing when task or maintenance activities are needed, and taking actions to provide them. Distributed leadership is when all members of a team contribute helpful task and maintenance behaviors. Leading through task activities involves making an effort to define and solve problems, and to advance work activities toward performance results. Without the relevant task activities such as initiating agendas, sharing information, and others shown in Figure 12.7, teams have difficulty accomplishing their objectives. Leading through maintenance activities, by contrast, helps strengthen the team as a social system. When maintenance activities such as gatekeeping, encouraging others, and reducing tensions are performed, good interpersonal and working relationships are achieved, increasing the probability that the team will stay together over the longer term. FIGURE 12.7 Distributed leadership helps teams meet task and maintenance needs. Both team task and maintenance activities stand in contrast to disruptive activities such as showing incivility toward others, withdrawing from discussions, and fooling around. These and any similar behaviors are self-serving and detract from team effectiveness. Unfortunately, very few teams are immune to dysfunctional behavior. Every team member shares responsibility for minimizing it. Disruptive activities are self-serving behaviors that interfere with team effectiveness.
- 81. Communication Networks There is considerable research on the team interaction patterns and communication networks shown in Figure 12.8.48 When team members must interact intensively and work closely together on complex tasks, this need is best met by a decentralized communication network. Sometimes called the all-channel or star communication network, this is where all members communicate directly with one another. At other times team members can work on tasks independently, with the required work divided among them. This creates a centralized communication network, sometimes called a wheel or chain communication structure. In this pattern of interaction, activities are coordinated and results pooled by a central point of control. A decentralized communication network allows all members to communicate directly with one another. In a centralized communication network, communication flows only between individual members and a hub, or center point. When teams are composed of subgroups with issue-specific disagreements, such as a over the best way to achieve a goal, the resulting interaction pattern often involves a restricted communication network. Here, polarized subgroups may even engage in conflict. Communication between subgroups is limited and biased, with negative consequences for group process and effectiveness. In a restricted communication network, subgroups have limited communication with one another. The best teams use these communication networks in the right ways and at the right times. Centralized communication networks seem to work better on simple tasks.49 These tasks lend themselves to more centralized control because they require little creativity, information processing, problem solving, or collaborative effort. The reverse is true for more complex tasks, for which interacting groups perform better. Decentralized communication networks support the more intense interactions and information sharing required sharing
- 82. required to perform complicated tasks. Even conflicting groups can be useful. When teams get complacent, the conflict that emerges can be a source of creativity and critical evaluation. But when these subgroups stop communicating and helping one another, task accomplishment typically suffers. FIGURE 12.8 Interaction patterns and communication networks in teams. Learning Check LEARNING OBJECTIVE 12.3 Summarize the key processes through which teams work. Be Sure You Can define team effectiveness identify inputs that influence effectiveness discuss how membership diversity influences team effectiveness list five stages of group development define group norm and list ways to build positive group norms define cohesiveness and list ways to increase group cohesion explain how norms and cohesiveness influence team performance differentiate between task, maintenance, and disruptive activities describe the use of decentralized and centralized communication networks 12.4 Decision Making in Teams LEARNING OBJECTIVE 12.4 Discuss the ins and outs of team decision making. WileyPLUS See Author Video Learn More About Ways teams make decisions
- 83. Advantages and disadvantages of team decisions Groupthink Decision making is the process of making choices among alternative courses of action. And, it is one of the most important processes that occurs in teams. The best teams use a variety of decision-making methods as they face different kinds of problems.50 But as with other aspects of teamwork, decision making can be very challenging.51 Edgar Schein, a respected scholar and consultant, says all this can be better understood when we recognize that teams use at least six methods to make decisions: lack of response, authority rule, minority rule, majority rule, consensus, and unanimity.52 Decision making is the process of making choices among alternative possible courses of action. Ways Teams Make Decisions In decision by lack of response, one idea after another is suggested without any discussion taking place. When the team finally accepts an idea, all others have been bypassed by simple lack of response rather than by critical evaluation. The last alternative is chosen by default. In decision by authority rule, the leader, manager, committee head, or other authority figure makes a decision for the team. This can be done with or without discussion and is very time- efficient. Whether the decision ultimately is good or bad, however, depends on whether the authority figure has the necessary information and expertise, and on how well this approach is accepted by other team members. In decision by minority rule, two or three people are able to dominate or “railroad” the team into making a particular decision. This often is done by providing a suggestion and then forcing quick agreement by challenging the team with such statements as “Does anyone object? No? Well, let’s go ahead
- 84. then.” One of the most common things teams do, particularly when signs of disagreement emerge, is to take a vote and arrive at a decision by majority rule. Although this is broadly consistent with the democratic political process, it has some problems. The very act of voting can create coalitions as some members become “winners” and others “losers.” Those in the minority— the “losers”—may feel left out without having had a fair say. They may be unenthusiastic about implementing the decision of the “majority,” and lingering resentments may decrease team effectiveness. Such possibilities are well illustrated in the political arena, where candidates receiving small and controversial victory margins end up struggling against entrenched opposition from the losing party. Teams often are encouraged to achieve decision by consensus. This is where full discussion leads to one alternative being favored by most members, and the other members agree to support it. When consensus is reached, even those who may have opposed the decision know that their views have been heard. Consensus does not require unanimous support, but it does require that members be able to argue, engage in reasonable conflict, and still get along with and respect one another.53 True consensus occurs only when dissenting members have been able to speak their mind and know they’ve been heard.54 A decision by unanimity may be the ideal situation. “Unanimity” means that everyone agrees on what the team will do. This is a logically perfect method, but it also is extremely difficult to achieve in practice. One of the reasons that teams sometimes turn to authority decisions, majority voting, or even minority decisions is the difficulty of managing team processes to achieve consensus or unanimity.
- 85. Insight: Learn about Yourself Sports teams whose members play together the longest win more because the players get to know each other’s moves and playing tendencies. Don’t Short Your Team Contributions Positive team contributions are things that members do to help their team succeed at their tasks and help one another enjoy the experience of being on the team. Scene—Hospital operating room: Scholars notice that heart surgeons have lower death rates for similar procedures performed in hospitals where they do more operations than in hospitals where they do fewer operations. Why? Researchers say the operations are more likely to be successful because the doctors in the better hospitals spend more time working together with members of their surgical teams. It’s not only the surgeon’s skills that count; they say “The skills of the team, and of the organization, matter.” The ability to practice together increases how effectively the skills of the members of the surgical team can be integrated with one another. Practice increases the potency of team contributions. Scene—NBA basketball court: Scholars find that basketball teams win more games the longer the players have been together. Why? Researchers claim it’s a “teamwork effect.” Sports teams whose members have played together the longest tend to win more games because the players get to know each other’s moves and playing tendencies. Players develop a sense, over time, of what their teammates are thinking and where they will be on the court before they get there. Knowledge of other team members increases the benefits of team contributions. A large part of your career success will depend on how well you
- 86. work in and lead teams. Take a look at the list of “must have” team skills presented here. Do you have the skills portfolio and personal commitment to make truly valuable team contributions? “Must Have” Team Skills Encouraging and motivating others Accepting suggestions Listening to different points of view Communicating information and ideas Persuading others to cooperate Resolving and negotiating conflict Building consensus Fulfilling commitments Avoiding disruptive acts and words Get To Know Yourself Better Have a serious conversation with others who know and work with you about your performance as a team member and team leader. What do you expect that they’ll say? Ask for suggestions on how you could improve your team contributions. Prepare a short presentation to a potential employer describing your team skills. Write a set of notes on how you will describe yourself and what examples you will give to support your potential as a team leader and member. Advantages and Disadvantages of Team Decisions When teams take time to make decisions by consensus or unanimity, they gain special advantages over teams relying more on individual or minority decision methods.55 The process of making a true team decision increases the availability of useful information, knowledge, and expertise. It expands the number of action alternatives that teams examine, and helps to avoid bad decisions that emerge through tunnel vision and the consideration of only one or a few options. Team decisions also increase members’ understanding and acceptance. This helps to build commitment to work hard to implement decisions the team
- 87. has made together. The potential disadvantages of team decision making trace largely to difficulties with group processes. It can be hard to reach agreement when many people are trying to make a team decision. There may be social pressure to conform and even minority domination, where some members feel forced or “railroaded” into accepting a decision advocated by one vocal individual or small coalition. The time required to make team decisions also can be a real disadvantage. As more people are involved in the dialogue and discussion, decision making takes longer. This added time may be costly, even prohibitively so under certain circumstances. Groupthink One of the potential downsides of team decision making is what psychologist Irving Janis called groupthink, the tendency for highly cohesive teams to lose their critical evaluative capabilities.56 Although it may seem counterintuitive, a high level of cohesiveness can be a disadvantage if strong feelings of team loyalty make it hard for members to criticize and evaluate one another’s ideas and suggestions objectively. Groupthink is a tendency for highly cohesive teams to lose their evaluative capabilities. Members of very cohesive teams may feel so strongly about the group that they won’t say or do anything that might harm it. They end up publicly agreeing with actual or suggested courses of action that they have serious private, unspoken doubts or objections about. Teams experiencing groupthink display the following symptoms. · Illusions of invulnerability—Members assume that the team is too good for criticism or is beyond attack. · Rationalizing unpleasant and disconfirming data—Members refuse to accept contradictory data or to thoroughly consider alternatives. · Belief in inherent group morality—Members act as though the group is inherently right and above reproach.
- 88. · Stereotyping competitors as weak, evil, and stupid—Members refuse to look realistically at other groups. · Applying direct pressure to deviants to conform to group wishes—Members refuse to tolerate anyone who suggests the team may be wrong. · Self-censorship by members—Members refuse to communicate personal concerns to the whole team. · Illusions of unanimity—Members accept consensus prematurely, without testing its completeness. · Mind guarding—Members protect the team from hearing disturbing ideas or outside viewpoints. Groupthink occurs as the desire to hold the team together and avoid disagreements results in poor decisions. Janis suggests that this played a role in well-known historical disasters such as the lack of preparedness of U.S. naval forces for the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the Bay of Pigs invasion under President Kennedy, the many roads that led to the United States’ difficulties in the Vietnam War, and the space shuttle Challenger explosion. When you are leading or are part of a team heading toward groupthink, don’t assume there’s no way out. After suffering the Bay of Pigs fiasco, for example, President Kennedy approached the Cuban missile crisis quite differently. He purposely did not attend some cabinet discussions and allowed the group to deliberate without him. His absence helped the cabinet members talk more openly and to be less likely to say things that were consistent with his own thinking. When a decision was finally reached, the crisis was successfully resolved. In addition to having the leader stay absent for some team discussions, Janis has other advice on how to get a team that is moving toward groupthink back on track. You can assign one member to act as a critical evaluator or “devil’s advocate” during each meeting. Subgroups can be assigned to work on issues and then share their findings with the team as a whole. Outsiders can be brought in to observe and participate in team meetings and offer their advice and viewpoints on both team
- 89. processes and tentative decisions. The team can also hold a “second chance” meeting after an initial decision is made to review, change, or even cancel the decision. With actions like these available, there’s no reason to let groupthink lead a team down the wrong pathways.Learning CheckLEARNING OBJECTIVE 12.4 Discuss the ins and outs of team decision making.Be Sure You Can · illustrate how groups make decisions by authority rule, minority rule, majority rule, consensus, and unanimity · list advantages and disadvantages of group decision making · define groupthink and identify its symptomsManagement Learning Review: Get Prepared for Quizzes and Exams SummaryLEARNING OBJECTIVE 12.1 Explain the ways teams contribute to organizations. · A team is a collection of people working together interdependently to accomplish a common goal. · Teams help organizations perform through synergy—the creation of a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. · Teams help satisfy important needs for their members by providing sources of job support and social satisfactions. · Social loafing and other problems can limit the performance of teams. · Organizations operate as networks of formal and informal teams and groups. For DiscussionWhy do people often tolerate social loafers at work?LEARNING OBJECTIVE 12.2 Describe current trends in the use of teams in organizations. · Committees and task forces are used to accomplish special tasks and projects. · Cross-functional teams bring members together from different departments and help improve lateral relations and integration in organizations. · New developments in information technology are making virtual teams commonplace at work, but virtual teams also pose
- 90. special management challenges. · Self-managing teams are changing organizations, as team members perform many tasks previously done by their supervisors. · Team building engages members in a process of assessment and action planning to improve teamwork and future performance. For DiscussionWhat are some of the things that virtual teams probably can’t do as well as face-to-face teams?LEARNING OBJECTIVE 12.3 Summarize the key processes through which teams work. · An effective team achieves high levels of task performance, member satisfaction, and team viability. · Important team inputs include the organizational setting, nature of the task, size, and membership characteristics. · A team matures through various stages of development, including forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning. · Norms are the standards or rules of conduct that influence team members’ behavior; cohesion is the attractiveness of the team to its members. · In highly cohesive teams, members tend to conform to norms; the best situation is a team with positive performance norms and high cohesiveness. · Distributed leadership occurs as members share in meeting a team’s task and maintenance needs. · Effective teams make use of alternative communication structures, such as centralized and decentralized networks, to best complete tasks with distinct communication requirements. For DiscussionWhat can be done if a team gets trapped in the storming stage of group development?LEARNING OBJECTIVE 12.4 Discuss the ins and outs of team decision making. · Teams can make decisions by lack of response, authority rule, minority rule, majority rule, consensus, and unanimity. · Although group decisions often make more information
- 91. available for problem solving and generate more understanding and commitment, they are slower than individual decisions and may involve social pressures to conform. · Groupthink is the tendency for members of highly cohesive teams to lose their critical evaluative capabilities and make poor decisions. For DiscussionIs it possible that groupthink doesn’t only occur when groups are highly cohesive, but also when they are pre- cohesive? Self-Test 12Multiple-Choice Questions 1. When a group of people is able to achieve more than what its members could by working individually, this is called . 1. a. social loafing 2. b. consensus 3. c. viability 4. d. synergy 2. One of the recommended strategies for dealing with a group member who engages in social loafing is to . 1. a. redefine tasks to make individual contributions more visible 2. b. ask another member to encourage this person to work harder 3. c. give the person extra rewards and hope he or she will feel guilty 4. d. just forget about it 3. In an organization operating with self-managing teams, the traditional role of is replaced by the role of team leader. 1. a. chief executive officer 2. b. first-line supervisor 3. c. middle manager 4. d. general manager 4. An effective team is defined as one that achieves high levels of task performance, member satisfaction, and . 1. a. resource efficiency 2. b. future viability
- 92. 3. c. consensus 4. d. creativity 5. In the open-systems model of teams, the is an important input factor. 1. a. communication network 2. b. decision-making method 3. c. performance norm 4. d. set of membership characteristics 6. The team effectiveness equation states the following: Team effectiveness = Quality of inputs + (_ − Process losses). 1. a. Process gains 2. b. Leadership impact 3. c. Membership ability 4. d. Problem complexity 7. A basic rule of team dynamics states that the greater the in a team, the greater the conformity to norms. 1. a. membership diversity 2. b. cohesiveness 3. c. task structure 4. d. competition among members 8. Members of a team tend to start to get coordinated and comfortable with one another in the stage of team development. 1. a. forming 2. b. norming 3. c. performing 4. d. adjourning 9. One way for a manager to build positive norms within a team is to . 1. a. act as a positive role model 2. b. increase group size 3. c. introduce groupthink 4. d. isolate the team 10. To increase the cohesiveness of a group, a manager would be best off . 1. a. starting competition with other groups 2. b. increasing the group size
- 93. 3. c. acting as a positive role model 4. d. introducing a new member 11. Groupthink is most likely to occur in teams that are . 1. a. large in size 2. b. diverse in membership 3. c. high-performing 4. d. highly cohesive 12. A team member who does a good job at summarizing discussion, offering new ideas, and clarifying points made by others is providing leadership by contributing activities to the group process. 1. a. required 2. b. task 3. c. disruptive 4. d. maintenance 13. A decision is one in which all members agree on the course of action to be taken. 1. a. consensus 2. b. unanimous 3. c. majority 4. d. nominal 14. A team performing very creative and unstructured tasks is most likely to succeed using . 1. a. a decentralized communication network 2. b. decisions by majority rule 3. c. decisions by minority rule 4. d. more task than maintenance activities 15. Which of the following approaches can help groups avoid groupthink in situations where there is a very strong leader? 1. a. Have the leader stay absent from some team meetings. 2. b. Be sure to make decisions by minority rule. 3. c. Always vote when disagreements arise. 4. d. Remind everyone about the inherent morality of the group.Short-Response Questions 16. How can a manager improve team effectiveness by modifying inputs?
- 94. 17. What is the relationship among a team’s cohesiveness, performance norms, and performance results? 18. List two symptoms that would alert a manager that a team is suffering from groupthink. What could this manager do to counteract each of these symptoms? 19. What makes a self-managing team different from a traditional work group?Essay Question 20. Marcos Martinez has just been appointed manager of a production team operating the 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. shift in a large manufacturing firm. An experienced manager, Marcos is pleased that the team members really like and get along well with one another, but they also appear to be restricting their task outputs to the minimum acceptable levels. What could Marcos do to improve things in this situation, and why should he do them?Career Skills & Competencies: Make Yourself Valuable! Evaluate Career SituationsWhat Would You Do?1. New Task Force It’s time for the first meeting of the task force that you have been assigned to lead. This is a big opportunity, since it’s the first time your supervisor has given you this level of responsibility. There are seven members of the task force, all of whom are your peers and co-workers. The task is to develop a proposal for increased use of flexible work schedules and telecommuting in the organization. What will your agenda be for the first meeting, and what opening statement will you make?2. Declining Performance You’ve been concerned for quite some time about a drop in the performance of your work team. Although everyone seems to like one another, the “numbers” in terms of measured daily performance are on the decline. It’s time to act. What will you look at, and why, to determine where and how steps might be taken to improve the effectiveness of the work team?3. Groupthink Possibilities The members of the executive compensation committee that you are chairing show a high level of cohesiveness. It’s obvious that
- 95. they enjoy being part of the committee and are proud to be on the board of directors. But the committee is about to approve extraordinarily high bonuses for the CEO and five other senior executives. This is occurring at a time when executive pay is getting a lot of criticism from the press, unions, and the public at large. What can you do to make sure groupthink isn’t causing this committee to potentially make a bad decision? What clues might you use to determine whether groupthink is having an influence on what is taking place? Reflect on the Self-AssessmentTeam Leader SkillsInstructions Consider your experience in groups and work teams while completing the following inventory. Rate yourself on each item using the following scale (circle the number that applies).57 1 = Almost never 2 = Seldom 3 = Sometimes 4 = Usually 5 = Almost always Question: “How do I behave in team leadership situations?” 1 2 3 4 5 1. Facilitate communications with and among team members between team meetings. 1 2 3 4 5 2. Provide feedback/coaching to individual team members on their performance. 1 2 3 4 5 3. Encourage creative and “out-of-the-box” thinking. 1 2 3 4 5 4. Continue to clarify stakeholder needs/expectations. 1 2 3 4 5
- 96. 5. Keep team members’ responsibilities and activities focused within the team’s objectives and goals. 1 2 3 4 5 6. Organize and run effective and productive team meetings. 1 2 3 4 5 7. Demonstrate integrity and personal commitment. 1 2 3 4 5 8. Have excellent persuasive and influencing skills. 1 2 3 4 5 9. Respect and leverage the team’s cross-functional diversity. 1 2 3 4 5 10. Recognize and reward individual contributions to team performance. 1 2 3 4 5 11. Use the appropriate decision-making style for specific issues. 1 2 3 4 5 12. Facilitate and encourage border management with the team’s key stakeholders. 1 2 3 4 5 13. Ensure that the team meets its commitments. 1 2 3 4 5 14. Bring team issues and problems to the team’s attention and focus on constructive problem solving. 1 2 3 4 5 15. Provide a clear vision and direction for the team.Self-
- 97. Assessment Scoring The inventory measures seven dimensions of team leadership. Add your scores for the items listed next to each dimension below to get an indication of your potential strengths and weaknesses. 1, 9 Building the Team 2, 10 Developing People 3, 11 Team Problem Solving and Decision Making 4, 12 Stakeholder Relations 5, 13 Team Performance 6, 14 Team Process 7, 8, 15 Providing Personal LeadershipInterpretation The higher your score, the more confident you are on the particular skill and leadership capability. Consider giving this inventory to people who have worked with you in teams and have them rate you. Compare the results to your self- assessment. Also, remember it is doubtful that any one team leader is capable of exhibiting all of the skills listed. More and more, organizations are emphasizing teams that blend a variety of skills, rather than depending on the vision of the single, heroic leader figure. As long as the necessary leadership skills are represented within the membership of the team, it is more likely that the team will be healthy and achieve a high level of performance. Of course, the more skills you bring with you to team leadership situations, the better the team is likely to perform. Contribute to the Class ExerciseWork Team DynamicsPreparation
- 98. Think about your class work group, a work group you are involved in for another course, or any other group suggested by your instructor. Use this scale to indicate how often each of the following statements accurately reflects your experience in the group.58 1. All the time 2. Very often 3. Sometimes 4. Never happens 1. My ideas get a fair hearing. 2. I am encouraged to give innovative ideas and take risks. 3. Diverse opinions within the group are encouraged. 4. I have all the responsibility I want. 5. There is a lot of favoritism shown in the group. 6. Members trust one another to do their assigned work. 7. The group sets high standards of performance excellence. 8. People share and change jobs a lot in the group. 9. You can make mistakes and learn from them in this group. 10. This group has good operating rules.Instructions Form teams as assigned by your instructor. Ideally, this will be the group you have just rated. Have all members share their ratings, and then make one overall rating for the team as a whole. Circle the items for which there are the biggest differences of opinion. Discuss those items and try to determine what accounts for these differences. In general, the better a team scores on this instrument, the higher its creative potential. Make a list of the five most important things members believe they can do to help the team perform better. Nominate a spokesperson to summarize your discussion for the class as a whole. Manage a Critical IncidentThe Rejected Team Leader You have been a team leader at a big-box electronics store for three years, and the team you supervise is great. Everyone is hard working, gets along really well, comes in early, stays late, helps one another, and gets the job done. The members go out
- 99. together after work and are good friends with each other and with you. A week ago, your team was assigned exclusive responsibility for designing and setting up the upcoming product display for tablets and other mobile devices in an entire section of the store. Crystal—one of your team members—was especially excited about the project. She has been taking online courses at the local technical college and wants to move into advertising design as a career. Because the team works so well together, you had expected the whole process to go smoothly with a bunch of great display formats figured out for you to choose from. But by the end of the week, you’d only gotten one proposal from the team, and it wasn’t very good. You talked to each team member individually. They all stood behind the design the team had submitted. They got mad at you for suggesting that they come up with another design, and wouldn’t even listen to you. They wouldn’t tell you how they came up with the design, how they figured things out, or share any information with you at all. Even though you are the supervisor, you are also a friend, so it was hard when they reacted in such a hostile way to your feedback—particularly in light of the looming deadline.Questions What is happening in this team? These employees know and trust you, but you can’t even get them to talk to you about what’s happening—why? What can you do to get through the wall they’ve put around themselves? Why have you been shut out of the team in this way? What does it mean for the project and how you handle the team moving forward? Collaborate on the Team ProjectSuperstars on the Team During a period of reflection following a down cycle for his teams, Sasho Cirovski, head coach of the two-time NCAA Division I University of Maryland men’s soccer team, came to a realization. “I was recruiting talent,” he said. “I wasn’ t doing a very good job of recruiting leaders.” With a change of strategy, his teams moved back to top-ranked national competition.Question
- 100. What do you do with a “superstar” on your team?Instructions 1. Everywhere you look—in entertainment, in sports, and in business—a lot of attention goes to the superstars. What is the record of teams and groups with superstars? Do they really outperform the rest? 2. What is the real impact of a superstar’s presence on a team or in the workplace? What do they add? What do they cost? Consider the potential cost of having a superstar on a team within the equation: Benefits = Cost − Value. What is the bottom line of having a superstar on the team? 3. Interview the athletic coaches on your campus. Ask them the previous questions about superstars. Compare and contrast their answers. Interview players from various teams, and ask them the same questions. 4. Develop a set of guidelines for creating team effectiveness in a situation where a superstar is present. Be thorough and practical. Analyze the Case StudyAuto RacingWhen the Driver Takes a Back Seat Go to Management Cases for Critical Thinking at the end of the book to find this case. CHAPTER 12 Teams and Teamwork :
- 101. Two Heads Really Are Better Than One Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much. - Helen Keller Chapter Quick Start Surely you’ve experienced the highs and the lows of teams and teamwork — as a team member and as a team leader. Teams and teammates can be inspirational and they can also be highly frustrating. People in teams can accomplish great things or end up doing very little. The more we know about teams, teamwork, and our personal tendencies
- 102. toward team contrib utions, the better prepared we are to participate in today’s team - driven organizations. CHAPTER 12 Teams and Teamwork: Two Heads Really Are Better Than One Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much. - Helen Keller Chapter Quick Start Surely you’ve experienced the highs and the lows of teams and teamwork—as a team member and as a team leader. Teams and teammates can be inspirational and they can also be highly frustrating. People in teams can accomplish great things or end up doing very little. The more we know about teams, teamwork, and our personal tendencies toward team contributions, the better prepared we are to participate in today’s team-driven organizations. 1 PAGE 7 West Coast Transit Case Study
- 103. Type your Name Here Colangelo College of Business, Grand Canyon University MGT-420: Organizational Behavior and Management Professor Hardy Type the Assignment Due Date Here West Coast Transit Your introduction should be typed here. It should be at least three sentences and include a thesis statement. Please note that you should follow all APA writing rules within your essay. This means avoid first and second person, do not use contractions, and use citations throughout your paper! For the highest grade, you should have numerous citations in each section. The body of the paper should be between 1600 and 1800 words. The final sentence in your introduction must be a strong thesis statement that introduces every key topic that will be introduced in the paper. Here is an example: In the pages to follow, management of effective teams at West Coast Transit will be explored with particular focus on the stages of group formation, behavioral roles, communication, conflict and conflict management, and the application of motivational theories. Effective Teams Define the three criteria for evaluating effective teams (hint, we covered this in Topic 4 DQ2) with citations from your academic research. Academic research includes the textbook, additional course materials, articles from the GCU library, or Google Scholar. Websites like business.dictionary.com are not acceptable. Once you have defined each criteria, analyze
- 104. whether the “team” in the WCT case study was effective based on the three criteria. Be sure to provide detailed examples and insight to support your conclusion. For the highest grade, you should have numerous citations on each section. All main terms should be defined, cited, then applied. Five Stages of Group Formation Discuss all five stages of group formation and cite your academic sources. Evaluate the WCT Case Study and determine which stage the assembled group is in, and be sure to provide detailed examples and insight to support your findings. Each stage should be defined and discussed with numerous citations. Behavioral Roles Define Schein’s three behavioral roles with citations from your academic research (hint, this is in the textbook). Analyze the WCT case study and identify how each role is evident. Be sure to include detailed examples and insight to justify your position. Strengthen and support your claims with citations. Include numerous supporting citations to strengthen your claims. Effective Communication Define effective communication with citations from your academic research. Include examples from the case study and define any barriers to effective communication that may be present. Be detailed in your examples and conclusions. Strengthen and support your claims with citations. Include numerous supporting citations to strengthen your claims. Two Types of Conflict Describe and define the two main types of conflict identified in the textbook. Determine the type of conflict(s) evident in the WCT case study. Include examples and insight. Strengthen and
- 105. support your claims with citations. Include numerous supporting citations to strengthen your claims. Direct Conflict Management Approach Define and recommend a specific direct conflict management approach from the textbook. Make sure you cite your source. Explain why you chose this approach to manage the conflict with examples and insight. Strengthen and support your claims with citations. Include numerous supporting citations to strengthen your claims. Indirect Conflict Management Approach Define and recommend a specific indirect conflict management approach from the textbook. Make sure you cite your source. Explain why you chose this approach to manage the conflict with examples and insight. Strengthen and support your claims with citations. Include numerous supporting citations to strengthen your claims. Leadership, Maintenance, and Disruptive Activities Define leadership and maintenance activities and cite your academic research. Identify a specific leadership and maintenance activity present in the WCT case study that should be encouraged. Next, define disruptive activities and cite your academic research. Identify a specific disruptive behavior present in the WCT case study that should be discouraged. Provide detailed examples and insight to increase validity. Include numerous supporting citations to strengthen your claims. Motivation Problems and Solution
- 106. s Identify the most significant individual motivational problems experienced by each of the three members of the WCT team. Strengthen and support your claims with citations. Please remember that each paragraph in your essay needs to be at least 3 sentences. Include supporting citations to strengthen your claims. Content Theory Suggest a specific Content Theory from the textbook that Denson could utilize to motivate a member of the team. Be sure to define the specific theory and cite the textbook. Provide examples and insight to justify your choice. Please remember that each paragraph in your essay needs to be at least 3 sentences. Include supporting citations to strengthen your claims. Process Theory Suggest a specific Process Theory from the textbook that Denson could utilize to motivate a member of the team. Be sure to define the specific theory and cite the textbook. Provide examples and insight to justify your choice. Please remember that each paragraph in your essay needs to be at least 3 sentences. Include supporting citations to strengthen your
- 107. claims. Reinforcement Theory Suggest a specific Reinforcement Theory from the textbook that Denson could utilize to motivate a member of the team. Be sure to define the specific theory and cite the textbook. Provide examples and insight to justify your choice. Please remember that each paragraph in your essay needs to be at least 3 sentences. Include supporting citations to strengthen your claims. Conclusion The conclusion is the last paragraph. It should not introduce any new information; it should simply be a summary of your introduction, with a restatement of your thesis. Please remember that each paragraph in your essay needs to be at least three sentences. **Additional notes: use this template, keep the topic headings in place and erase everything that is in red and replace it with your information. Do not use 1st person (ex. I, me, us) or 2nd person (ex. you). I am looking for a minimum of three academic sources and your textbook counts as one source. The case study is not an academic source, but you should cite it as needed and include it in your references. Make sure you create a separate reference page and format your sources according to APA
- 108. requirements. The word count for this paper is between 1600 and 1800 words. Your LopesWrite Percentage must be under 20%. Please proof-read and run your paper through spell-check and follow the template and you should do very well on your paper** References Oke, M. (n.d.). West Coast Transit case study.Grand Canyon University. Retrieved from Course Materials: https://lc.gcu.edu/learningPlatform/user/users.html Uhl-Bien, M., Piccolo, R.F., Schermerhorn, J. R. & Bachrach, D.G. (2021). MGT-420 organizational behavior and management with WileyPLUS. Wiley & Sons. West Coast Transit Case Study West Coast Transit Company Profile West Coast Transit began as a small charter airline in 2005. Its initial vision was providing affordable, on-the-hour flights from California-based airports to its three adjacent states: Arizona,
- 109. Nevada, and Oregon. West Coast Transit recognized that the need for affordable and convenient flights out of California was high enough to sustain a business. The company began its success using smaller commuter planes to transport customers to surrounding airports. There was no flight longer than 2 hours and there was minimal service during the flight. The company’s mission was customer-focused, to provide an opportunity for companies to fly their employees at an affordable rate and whole families to travel affordably. West Coast Transit tripled in size after its first year. Growing demand required the addition of flights, employees, and larger airplanes. The founders of the company reevaluated the vision and future of West Coast Transit. The company was determined to maintain an emphasis on convenient, affordable flights and keep its focus on customer needs. This strategy proved successful. The company has established itself as a dominant regional competitor. West Coast Transit has over 10,000 employees and continues to see growth in its future. Most employees at West Coast Transit rave about the company and appreciate its friendly and employee-centered culture. The company’s leadership cares about its employees and makes every effort to provide them with satisfactory benefits. Most employees are enthusiastic about the impact they make on customers, their salaries and benefits, and the advancement opportunities the company provides. They feel valued and
- 110. respected. One major complaint that a majority of the employees has is the turnaround demand. Employees are given very little time and support to complete a project. There is just too much work to be done. Most employees are successful under pressure but would appreciate an environment that provides adequate time to complete projects productively. West Coast Transit Marketing Project Pete Denson, a manager in the marketing department, has been handed a last-minute project to lead a team consisting of other managers to develop a campaign. The team must complete the project swiftly and flawlessly. Failure is not an option. West Coast Transit’s biggest competitor just released 50 new flight plans at highly competitive fares. This has caused a significant decrease in sales for West Coast Transit. You and your team have been given the task to develop a marketing strategy to drive up sales. West Coast Transit was planning a release celebration for their new Boeing-747 in 6 weeks. The vice president of marketing, Bernie Hollis, demanded a new marketing campaign that will be introduced to the public simultaneously with the new aircraft. This task will require the team to collaborate effectively in a short timeframe. You and three other managers must work under demanding conditions. There is a significant time crunch. Your employees are already overburdened by their daily tasks. Staffing has not kept pace with the recent growth of the company. Many
- 111. employees are relatively new and are not yet fully trained in all aspects of their jobs. While leadership is empathetic to the demands placed on employees, the simple fact is that additional staffing is not an option at this time and the work must get done to support the ongoing success of the company. This project is critical for the future of the company. The company is at risk of laying off hundreds of employees. With the release celebration for the new jet only 6 weeks away, employees need to be prepared to put in significant amounts of unpaid overtime to complete the project before the deadline. The project budget is adequate but could fall short considering the impressive results the company is hoping to achieve. This assignment requires a team that can work together for the good of the company and produce the needed results. Denson calls a meeting of the managers at 4:30 p.m. on a Tuesday, made up of Lea Jing, Jon Mahonney, and Katarina Tanney. The first meeting turns out very different from what you envisaged. Lea Jing is the only participant who had reviewed the agenda, printed it, and came with some suggestions. Jing has always been conscientious, so it is no surprise that she is scheduled to be transferred to another department to head up a high-profile task within West Coast Transit in a month. Mahonney and Tanney acknowledge the receipt of the agenda, but immediately note that the agenda and proposed plan are “massive and unattainable,” considering the
- 112. constraints of time and workloads. Tanney comments, “It doesn’t help when one does not get paid for doing this. How am I supposed to get my team on board?” You try to refocus the team by referring back to the agenda. Although Lea Jing had been quiet and observant all the while, she notes that she had approximately a month left in the department before being relocated to another department. You reply that “one month is a lot of time to get the project done, considering it is a high priority for the organization anyway.” Once again, you proceed to refocus the team, but Tanney interjects by saying it is common knowledge that she has personal family problems, many of which stem from her spending more time at work rather than at home, and she feels that this new project will place an undue stress on her already fragile family life. She mentions that she is in counselling and has to leave right after work every day, so working overtime is out of the picture for her. Frustrated by all the negativity, Denson states abruptly, “We all have problems, we all have complaints. Let’s just all get it out now! Are there any other complaints?” There is an uneasy silence, Jon Mahonney finally speaks up: “C'mon guys, we have been selected to work on this project because the organization feels we are the only ones who can make this happen… Lea, Katarina, you ladies are the best at what you do….I know that the conditions are not ideal, but we have to pull together.” At this point, Tanney stands up and
- 113. heads towards the door while muttering, “It’s 5 p.m., and I have counseling in half an hour.” She stops just shy of the door, turns around, and says to Denson, “Pete, I take exception to your condescending remarks and addressing my personal issue as a ‘complaint.’ Until you apologize and promise to treat me with the respect I deserve, I am not willing to work with you!” © 2021. Grand Canyon University. All Rights Reserved. 2 © 20 21 . Grand Canyon University. All Rights Reserved. West Coast Transit Case Study West Coast Transit Company Profile West Coast Transit began as a small charter airline in 2005. Its initial vision was providing
- 114. affordable, on - the - hour flights from California - based airport s to its three adjacent states : Arizona, Nevada, and Oregon. West Coast Transit recognized that the need for affordable and convenient flights out of California was high enough to sustain a business. The company began its success using smaller commuter planes to transpor t customers to surrounding airports. There was no flight longer than 2 hours and there was minimal service during the flight. The company’s mission was customer - focused ,
- 115. to provide an opportunity for companies to fly their employees at an affordable rate a nd whole families to travel affordably. West Coast Transit tripled in size after its first year . Growing demand required the addition of flights, employees, and larger airplanes. The founders of the company reevaluated the vision and future of West Coast Transit. The company w as determined to maintain an emphasis on convenient, affordable flights and keep its focus on customer needs. This strategy proved successful. The company has established itself as a dominant regional competitor. West Coast Transit ha
- 116. s over 10,000 employees and continue s to see growth in its future. Most employees at West Coast Transit rave about the company and appreciate its friendly and employee - centered culture. The company’s leadership cares about its employees and makes every ef for t to provide them with satisfactory benefits. Most e mployees are enthusiastic about the impact they make on customers, the ir
- 117. salaries and benefits, and the advancement opportunitie s the company provides. They feel valued and respected. One major complaint that a majority of the employees ha s is the turnaround demand. Employees are given very little time and support to complete a project. There is just too much work to be done. Most employees are successful under pr essure but would appreciate an environment that provides adequate time to complete projects productively. West Coast Transit Marketing Project Pete
- 118. Denson , a manager in the marketing department, has been handed a last - minute project to lead a team consisti ng of other managers to develop a campaign. The team must complete the project swiftly and flawlessly. Failure is not an option. West Coast Transit’s biggest competitor just released 50 new flight plans at highly competitive fares. This has caused a signif icant
- 119. decrease in sales for West Coast Transit. You and your team have been given the task to develop a marketing strategy to drive up sales. West Coast Transit was planning a release celebration for their new Boeing - 747 in 6 weeks. The vice presid ent of m arketing , Bernie Hollis, demanded a new marketing campaign that will be introduced to the public simultaneously with the new aircraft. This task will require the team to collaborate effectively in a short timeframe. You and th r e
- 120. e other managers must work under demanding condition s. There is a significant time crunch. Your e mployees are already overburdened by their daily tasks. Staffing has not kept pace with the recent growth of the company. Many employees are relatively new and are not yet © 2021. Grand Canyon University. All Rights Reserved. West Coast Transit Case Study West Coast Transit Company Profile West Coast Transit began as a small charter airline in 2005. Its initial vision was providing affordable, on-the-hour flights from California-based airports to its three adjacent states: Arizona, Nevada, and Oregon. West Coast Transit recognized that the need for affordable and convenient flights out of California was high enough to sustain
- 121. a business. The company began its success using smaller commuter planes to transport customers to surrounding airports. There was no flight longer than 2 hours and there was minimal service during the flight. The company’s mission was customer-focused, to provide an opportunity for companies to fly their employees at an affordable rate and whole families to travel affordably. West Coast Transit tripled in size after its first year. Gr owing demand required the addition of flights, employees, and larger airplanes. The founders of the company reevaluated the vision and future of West Coast Transit. The company was determined to maintain an emphasis on convenient, affordable flights and keep its focus on customer needs. This strategy proved successful. The company has established itself as a dominant regional competitor. West Coast Transit has over 10,000 employees and continues to see growth in its future. Most employees at West Coast Transit rave about the company and appreciate its friendly and employee-centered culture. The company’s leadership cares about its employees and makes
- 122. every effort to provide them with satisfactory benefits. Most employees are enthusiastic about the impact they make on customers, their salaries and benefits, and the advancement opportunities the company provides. They feel valued and respected. One major complaint that a majority of the employees has is the turnaround demand. Employees are given very little time and support to complete a project. There is just too much work to be done. Most employees are successful under pressure but would appreciate an environment that provides adequate time to complete projects productively. West Coast Transit Marketing Project Pete Denson, a manager in the marketing department, has been handed a last-minute project to lead a team consisting of other managers to develop a campaign. The team must complete the project swiftly and flawlessly. Failure is not an option. West Coast Transit’s biggest competitor just released 50 new flight plans at highly competitive fares. This has caused a significant decrease in sales for West Coast Transit. You and your team have been given the task to develop a marketing strategy to drive up sales. West Coast Transit was
- 123. planning a release celebration for their new Boeing-747 in 6 weeks. The vice president of marketing, Bernie Hollis, demanded a new marketing campaign that will be introduced to the public simultaneously with the new aircraft. This task will require the team to collaborate effectively in a short timeframe. You and three other managers must work under demanding conditions. There is a significant time crunch. Your employees are already overburdened by their daily tasks. Staffing has not kept pace with the recent growth of the company. Many employees are relatively new and are not yet The purpose for this assignment is analyze methods of poor communication and its effect on motivation, teamwork, and effective conflict management and resolution. Write a paper (1,600-1,800 words) in which you address the following based on the information provided in the "West Coast Transit Case Study" resource. 1. Describe the three criteria for evaluating effective team/group work (as stated in the textbook) and use the criteria to analyze the effectiveness of the team. 2. Review each of the five stages of group formation. Determine what stage(s) are evident in the case and provide a justification
- 124. of your response. 3. Apply Schein's three behavioral profiles to specific members of the team. Identify how the profiles are demonstrated in the case. 4. Evaluate whether the communication among the participants in the case was effective or not. Justify your answer by considering any existing barriers to communication. 5. Review the two main types of conflicts described in the textbook. Explain how each type of conflict is evident in the case. 6. Propose how Denson should resolve the conflict in this case using one direct conflict management approach. Explain your response. 7. Additionally, propose an indirect conflict management approach. Explain your response. 8. Identify one specific leadership activity and one specific maintenance activity that should be encouraged. Identify the most significant disruptive behavior that should be discouraged. 9. Identify a significant motivational problem experienced by each individual: Jing, Mahonney, and Tanney. Describe how Denson should motivate each person. Be sure to provide a specific motivational suggestion for each person based on their motivational needs. Ensure that you have at least one suggestion from each of the motivational theory/techniques: content theories, process theories, and reinforcement strategies.
- 125. You are required to use at least two external scholarly sources in addition to the textbook and the case study resource. Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center. The purpose for this assignment is analyze methods of poor communication and its effect on motivation, teamwork, and effective conflict management and resolution. Write a paper (1,600 - 1,800 words) in which you address the following based on the information provided in the "West Coast Transit Case Study" resource. 1. Describe the three criteria for evaluating effective team/group work (as stated in the textbook) and use the criteria to analyze the effectiv eness of the team.
- 126. 2. Review each of the five stages of group formation. Determi ne what stage(s) are evident in the case and provide a justification of your response. 3. Apply Schein's three behavioral profiles to specific members of the team. Identify how the p rofiles are demonstrated in the case. 4. Evaluate whether the communication among the participants in the case was effective or not. Justify your answer by considering any existing barriers to communication. 5. Review the two main types of conflicts described in the textbook. Explain how each type of conflict is evident in the case.
- 127. 6. Propose how Denson should resolve the conflict in this case using one direct conflict management approach. Explain your response. 7. Additionally, propose an indirect conflict management approach. Explain your response. 8. Identify one specific leadership activity and one specific maintenance activity that should be encouraged. Identify the most significant disruptive behavior that should be discouraged. 9. Identify a significant motivational p roblem experienced by each individual: Jing, Mahonney, and Tanney.
- 128. Describe how Denson should motivate each person. Be sure to provide a specific motivational suggestion for each person based on their motivational needs. Ensure that you have at least one s uggestion from each of the motivational theory/techniques: content theories, process theories, and reinforcement strategies. You are required to use at least two external scholarly sources in addition to the textbook and the case study resource. Prepare th is assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center. The purpose for this assignment is analyze methods of poor communication and its effect on motivation, teamwork, and effective conflict management and resolution. Write a paper (1,600-1,800 words) in which you address the following based on the information provided in the
- 129. "West Coast Transit Case Study" resource. 1. Describe the three criteria for evaluating effective team/group work (as stated in the textbook) and use the criteria to analyze the effectiveness of the team. 2. Review each of the five stages of group formation. Determine what stage(s) are evident in the case and provide a justification of your response. 3. Apply Schein's three behavioral profiles to specific members of the team. Identify how the profiles are demonstrated in the case. 4. Evaluate whether the communication among the participants in the case was effective or not. Justify your answer by considering any existing barriers to communication. 5. Review the two main types of conflicts described in the textbook. Explain how each type of conflict is evident in the case. 6. Propose how Denson should resolve the conflict in this case using one direct conflict management approach. Explain your response. 7. Additionally, propose an indirect conflict management approach. Explain your response. 8. Identify one specific leadership activity and one specific maintenance activity that should be encouraged. Identify the most significant disruptive behavior that should be discouraged.
- 130. 9. Identify a significant motivational problem experienced by each individual: Jing, Mahonney, and Tanney. Describe how Denson should motivate each person. Be sure to provide a specific motivational suggestion for each person based on their motivational needs. Ensure that you have at least one suggestion from each of the motivational theory/techniques: content theories, process theories, and reinforcement strategies. You are required to use at least two external scholarly sources in addition to the textbook and the case study resource. Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center.