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UNDERSTANDING WORKTEAMS

What is Work Group?

A group that interacts primarily to shareinformation and to make decisions to help each

other perform within his or her area ofresponsibility.

What is a Work Team?

A group whose individual efforts result in aperformance that is greater than the sum ofthose individual inputs.

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Types of Teams: Thee Types of Teams

Problem-Solving Teams Groups of 5 to 12employees from the same department who meet for afew hours each week to discuss ways of improvingquality, efficiency, and the work environment.

Self-Imposed Work Teams Groups of 10 to 15people who take on responsibilities of their formersupervisors.

Cross-Functional Teams Employees from about thesame hierarchical level, but from different work areas,who come together to accomplish a task.

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Task Force A temporary cross-functional team

Committees - Groups make up of members from across

departmental lines.

Size of work teams the lesser the better. When youhave more than 15, it becomes difficult to coordinate and

frequent conflicts, miscommunications can result andteam may not be able accomplish the goal.

Abilities of Team members people with technicalexpertise, problem solving, decision-making skills, andinterpersonal skills, etc are some of the qualities requiredfor a team.

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Allocating Roles and Promoting Diversityon the basis of personalities and

preferences. Assess the qualities of anindividual and put that person in chargethat he can contribute best to the team

task.Social Loafing and Accountability

Individuals that hide inside a group

considered to be social loafing and coaston the groups effort because theirindividual contributions cant be identified.

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Successful teams make membersindividually and jointly accountable for the

teams purpose, goals, and approach.They are clear on what they areindividually responsible for and what theyare jointly responsible for.

Synergy The whole is greater than the sumof its parts

Trust a characteristic of high-performance

teams where members believe in theintegrity, character, and ability of eachother.

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Integrity honesty and truthfulness.Competence technical and interpersonal

knowledge and skill.Consistency reliability, predictability, and

good judgment in handling situations.Loyalty willingness to protect an ssave

face for a personOpenness willingness to share ideas andinformation freely.

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What can be done to reinvigoratemature teams?

Four suggestions:

1. Prepare members to deal with theproblems of maturity.

2. Offer refresher training

3. Offer advanced training

4. Encourage teams to treat theirdevelopment as a constant learningexperience.