BUILDING THE TEAM

What are Teams?

Groups of two or more people Exist to fulfill a purpose Interdependent -- interact and

influence each other Mutually accountable for achieving

common goals Perceive themselves as a social

entity

Team as a collection of individuals

Team as a collection of individuals with a shared common vision

Alignment of purpose

Groups versus Teams

All teams are groups

Some groups are just people assembled together

Teams have task interdependence whereas some groups do not (e.g., group of employees enjoying lunch together)

Many Types of Teams

Departmental teams Production/service/ leadership teams Self-directed teams Advisory teams Skunkworks Task force (project) teams Virtual teams Communities of practice

Why Informal Groups Exist

1. Innate drive to bond2. Social identity

We define ourselves by group memberships

3. Goal accomplishment4. Emotional support

Advantages of Teams

Make better decisions Make better products and services due to more knowledge and expertise

Increase employee engagement

Compared with individuals working alone, teams tend to:

The Trouble With Teams Individuals better/faster on some

tasks

Process losses - cost of developing and maintaining teams Brooks’ Law -- more delays when adding

members to a team already behind schedule

Social loafing Occurs when individuals exert less effort

when working in groups than alone

How to Minimize Social Loafing Make individual performance

more visible Form smaller teams Specialize tasks Measure individual performance

Increase employee motivation Increase job enrichment Select motivated employees

TEAM EFFECTIVENESS MODEL AND COMPONENTS

Team Effectiveness Model

•Task characteristics

•Team size

•Team composition

Team Design

• Achieve organizational goals

• Satisfy member needs

• Maintain team survival

TeamEffectiveness

•Team development•Team norms•Team cohesiveness•Team trust

Team Processes

Organizational

and Team

Environment

Team’s Task and Size

Task characteristics Better when tasks are clear, easy to

implement Share common inputs, processes, or

outcomes Task interdependence

Team size Smaller teams are better But large enough to accomplish task

Levels of Task Interdependence

Sequential

Pooled

Reciprocal

Resource

A B C

A B C

A

B C

High

Low

Team Composition Effective team members must be willing and

able to work on the team Effective team members are good at the 5 C’s:

Cooperating Coordinating Communicating Comforting (psych support) Conflict resolving

Team diversity Homogeneous or heterogeneous, depending

on task requirements

Team Development

Team development involves: Interpersonal knowledge and trust Understand and agree on roles Discover appropriate behaviors Learn to coordinate with each other Develop team mental models

Existing teams might regress back to an earlier stage of development

Forming

Storming

Norming

Performing

Adjourning

Stages of Team Development

Team Norms

Informal rules and shared expectations team establishes to regulate member behaviors

Norms develop through: Initial team experiences Critical events in team’s history Experience/values members bring to the

team

Changing Team Norms

Introduce norms when forming teams

Select members with preferred values

Discuss counter-productive norms

Reward behaviors representing desired norms

Disband teams with dysfunctional norms

Team Cohesion

The degree of attraction people feel toward the team and their motivation to remain members

Calculative -- members believe the team will fulfill goals and needs

Emotional -- team is part of person’s social identity

Teamsize

Memberinteraction

• Smaller teams more cohesive

• Regular interaction increases cohesion• Calls for tasks with high interdependence

Membersimilarity

• Similarity-attraction effect• Some forms of diversity have less effect

Influences on Team Cohesion

Teamsuccess

External challenges

• Successful teams fulfill member needs• Success increases social identity with team

• Challenges increase cohesion when not overwhelming

Somewhat difficult entry

• Team eliteness increases cohesion• But lower cohesion with severe initiation

Influences on Team Cohesion (con’t)

Team Cohesiveness Outcomes

1. Want to remain members

2. Willing to share information

3. Strong interpersonal bonds

4. Resolve conflict effectively

5. Better interpersonal relationships

Team Norms Support Goals

Team Norms Oppose Goals

High Team Cohesiveness

Low Team Cohesiveness

Cohesiveness and Performance

Low taskperformance

Moderatelyhigh taskperformance

Moderatelylow taskperformance

High taskperformance

Trust Defined

A psychological state comprising the intention to accept vulnerability based upon positive expectations of the intent or behavior of another person

Three Levels of Trust

Identity-based Trust

Knowledge-based Trust

Calculus-based Trust

High

Low

Three Levels of Trust (con’t)

Calculus-based trust Based on deterrence Fragile, limited, dependent on

punishment Knowledge-based trust

Based on predictability and competence Fairly robust, develops over time

Identification-based trust Based on common mental models and

values Increases with person’s social identity

with team

SELF-DIRECTED TEAMS AND VIRTUAL TEAMS

Self-Directed Team Attributes

Formal groups that complete an entire piece of work requiring several interdependent tasks and have substantial autonomy over the execution of these tasks.

1. Complete an entire piece of work requiring interdependent tasks

2. Substantial autonomy over execution of the team’s tasks

Self-Directed Team Success Factors

Responsible for entire work process High interdependence within the

team Low interdependence with other

teams Autonomy to organize and

coordinate work Technology supports team

communication/coordination

Virtual Teams

Teams whose members operate across space, time, and organizational boundaries and are linked through information technologies to achieve organizational tasks Increasingly possible because of:

Information technologies Knowledge-based work

Increasingly necessary because of: Knowledge management Globalization

Virtual Team Success Factors

Member characteristics Technology savvy Self-leadership skills Emotional intelligence

Flexible use of communication technologies

Opportunities to meet face-to-face

TEAMDECISION MAKING

Team Decision Making Constraints Time constraints

Time to organize/coordinate Production blocking

Evaluation apprehension Belief that other team members are silently

evaluating you Conformity to peer pressure

Suppressing opinions that oppose team norms Groupthink

Tendency in highly cohesive teams to value consensus at the price of decision quality

Concept is losing favor -- need to consider specific features instead (e.g. overconfidence)

General Guidelines for Team Decisions

Team norms should encourage critical thinking

Sufficient team diversity Ensure neither leader nor any

member dominates Maintain optimal team size Introduce effective team structures

Constructive Conflict

Occurs when team members debate their different perceptions about an issue in a way that keeps the conflict focused on the task rather than people.

Problem: constructive conflict easily slides into personal attacks

Rules of Brainstorming

1. Speak freely

2. Don’t criticize

3. Provide as many ideas as possible

4. Build on others’ ideas

Evaluating Brainstorming Strengths

Produces more innovative ideas Strengthens decision acceptance and team

cohesiveness Sharing positive emotions encourages creativity Higher customer satisfaction if clients

participate Weaknesses

Production blocking still exists Evaluation apprehension exists in many groups Fewer ideas generated than when people work

alone

Electronic Brainstorming Participants share ideas using

software Usually in the same room, but may be

dispersed Question posted, then participants

submit their ideas or comments on computer

Comments/ideas appear anonymously on computer screens or at front of room

Evaluating Electronic Brainstorming Strengths

Less production blocking Less evaluation apprehension More creative synergy More satisfaction with process

Weaknesses Too structured Technology-bound Candid feedback is threatening Not applicable to all decisions

Describeproblem

IndividualActivity

TeamActivity

IndividualActivity

Write downpossiblesolutions

Possiblesolutionsdescribedto others

Vote onsolutionspresented

Nominal Group Technique