Chapter 18 teamwork

Topics
Teamwork Chapter 18

 Teams & their applications within organizations
 Types of teams
 Stages of Development
 Team Characteristics
 Individual contributions to teams
 Teamwork costs and benefits
 Ability to manage teams – component of
manager and organization success
Copyright © 2005 by South-Western, a division of Thomson Learning. All rights reserved.
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Teamwork

 Over the past two decades, the use of
teams has increased dramatically in
response to
new competitive pressures,
the need for greater flexibility and speed, &
a desire to give people more opportunities
for involvement
Manager’s Challenge: Rowe

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What is a Team?

A unit of 2 or more people who
interact or coordinate their work to
accomplish a specific goal

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Differences Between
Groups and Teams
Groups Teams
 Designated leader  Shares/rotates leader
 Individual accountability  Accountable to each other
 Identical purpose for group  Specific team vision or
& organization purpose
 Individual work products  Collective work products
 Runs efficient meetings  Encourages open-ended
 Effectiveness=influence on discussions
business  Effectiveness=value of
 Discusses, decides, collective work
delegates work to  Discusses, decides, shares
individuals work

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Work Team Effectiveness Model

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Formal Teams - A team created by the
organization as part of the formal organization
structure
Vertical Team - composed of a manager and
subordinates, sometimes called functional or command
teams.
Horizontal Team - composed of employees from the
same hierarchical level but from different areas of
expertise.
Committee – A long-lasting, sometimes permanent
team in the organization structure created to deal with
tasks that recur regularly.
Special-Purpose Team - created outside the formal
organization for special projects and disband once the
project is completed.
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Self-Directed Teams
A team consisting of multi-skilled workers who rotate jobs
 Employees with several skills and functions
 Given access to various resources –
information, equipment, machinery, and
supplies needed to perform the complete
task
 Empowered with decision making authority
freedom to select new members , solve
problems, spend money, monitor results and
plan for the future
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Teams in the New Workplace

 Virtual teams- consist of geographically
or organizationally dispersed members
linked via technology
 Global teams- cross-border teams
made up of members from different
nationalities
– intercultural
– virtual
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Challenges of Virtual Teams

 Select the right team members
 Manage socialization
 Foster trust
 Effectively manage communications

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Characteristics of Teams
Teams of 5-12 seem to work best

 Size
 Ideal size is thought to be 7
 Variations of from 5 to 12 typically are associated
with good team performance
 Small teams (2-4 members) show more
agreement, ask more questions
 Large teams (12 or more) tend to have more
disagreements; subgroups form, conficts among
them occur
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Size- Diversity - Member Roles
 Diversity
 Produce more innovative solutions to problems
 Source of creativity
 Contribute to a healthy level of conflict that leads
to decision making
 Work team performance –racial, national, ethnic
 Shortterm = difficulty learning to work together
 Leadership helps problems fade over time

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spend time and energy helping the team reach its goal

 Member Roles -  Socio-emotional role
 Task specialist role spend support team members’
time and energy helping the emotional needs
team reach its goal  Encourage
 Initiate ideas  Harmonize
 Give opinions  Reduce
 Seek information tension
 Summarize  Follow
 Energize  Compromise

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Team Member Roles
High Task Specialist Role Dual Role
· Focuses on task · Focuses on task and people.
accomplishment · May be a team leader.
over human needs. · Important role, but not
· Important role, but if adopted essential if members adopt
by everyone, team’s social task specialist and
Member needs won’t be met. socioemotional roles.
Task
Behavior Nonparticipator Role Socioemotional Role
· Contributes little to either task · Focuses on people needs of
or team over task.
people needs of team. · Important role, but if adopted
· Not an important role-if by everyone, team’s tasks
adopted by too many members, won’t be accomplished.
Low team will disband.
Low Member Social Behavior High
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Stages of Team Development
Adjourning:
Task completion
Leader: Bring closure, signify completion

Performing:
Cooperation, problem solving
Leader: Facilitate task
accomplishment
Norming:
Establishment of order and cohesion
Leader: Help clarify team roles, norms, values

Storming:
Conflict, disagreement
Leader: Encourage participation

Forming:
Orientation, break the ice
Leader: Facilitate social interchanges
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Team Cohesiveness
High cohesiveness is attractive feature of team

 Extent to which team members are
attracted to the team and motivated
to remain in it
 Determinants
 Team structure
 Context

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Determinants of Team Cohesiveness
Team structure and context influence cohesiveness

 Team Structure
 Team interaction - the more time spent together,
the more cohesive the team
 Shared goals - members agree on goals, they will
be more cohesive
 Personal attraction to the team - similar attitudes
and values and enjoy being together

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Determinants of Team Cohesiveness
Team structure and context influence cohesiveness

 Team Context
 Moderate competition with other teams –
cohesiveness increases as it strives to win
 Team success & favorable evaluation of the team
by outsiders – add to cohesiveness

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Consequences of Team Cohesiveness
High morale – mixed team performance
 Morale – higher in cohesive teams
– Increased communication among members
– Friendly team climate
– Maintenance of membership

 Team Performance – mixed
– Cohesive Team members’ productivity tends to be uniform
– Non-cohesive teams have wider variation in member
productivity

Experiential Exercise: Is Your Group a Cohesive Team?

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Team Norms

 Standard of conduct that is shared by team
members and guides their behavior
• Valuable - define
boundaries of
acceptable
behavior

• Not written down

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Conflict
Most important team characteristic
 Antagonistic interaction in which one party
attempts to thwart the intentions or goals of
another
● Conflict is inevitable whenever people work
together in teams
● Among members within a team or between one
team and another
● Can have healthy impact = energizes people
toward higher performance

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Balancing Conflict and Cooperation

 Groupthink = tendency for people to be so
committed to a cohesive team that they are
reluctant to express contrary opinions
 Abilene Paradox = (Jerry Harvey) tendency to go
along with others for the sake of avoiding conflict
 Low levels of conflict –associated with poor
decision making in top management teams

Ethical Dilemma: Consumer Safety or Team Commitment?

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Causes of Team Conflict

•Scarce Resources: include money, information, and supplies.
•Jurisdictional Ambiguities: conflicts emerge when job
boundaries and responsibilities are unclear.
•Communication Breakdown: poor communications result in
misperceptions and misunderstandings of other people and
teams.
•Personality Clashes: personality clashes are caused by
basic differences in personality, values, and attitudes.
•Power and Status Differences: occur when one party has
disputable influence over another.
•Goal Differences: conflict often occurs simply because
people are pursuing conflicting goals.
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Balancing Conflict and Cooperation

 Superordinate Goals = goal that cannot be
reached by a single party
 Bargaining / Negotiation = parties engage
one another in an attempt to systematically
reach a solution
 Mediation = process of using a third party to
settle a dispute

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Guidelines for Helping Managers
Facilitate Communication
Focus on substantive issues vs. interpersonal conflicts

 Focus on facts
 Develop multiple alternatives
 Maintain a balance of power
 Never force a consensus

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Potential Benefits of Teams

 Enhance individual productivity through
● Increased member effort
● Team members’ personal satisfaction
● Integration of diverse abilities and skills
● Increased organizational flexibility

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Potential Cost of Teams

 When teams do not work well it is usually
because of
● Power realignment
● Free riding – a person who benefits from team
membership but does not make a
proportionate contribution to the team’s work
● Coordination costs – the time and energy to
coordinate the activities of a team to enable it
to perform its task
● Revising systems
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Chapter 18 teamwork

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