Chapter 6
Why have teams become so popular?
Great way to use employee talents
Teams are more flexible and responsive to changes in
the environment
Can quickly assemble, deploy, refocus, and disband
Facilitate employee involvement
Increase employee participation in decision making
Democratize an organization and increase motivation
Note: teams are not ALWAYS effective
Groups vs Teams
Workgroup Work team
• Share information and • Generates positive synergy
make decisions to help each through coordination
member perform within his • Individual efforts result in a
or her area of responsibility level of performance
• No need or opportunity to greater than the sum of
engage in collective work individual inputs
with join effort
• The summation of each
member’s individual
contribution
Groups vs Teams
Workgroups Work Teams
Share information Goal Collective performance
Neutral (sometimes negative) Synergy Positive
Individual Accountability Individual and mutual
Random and varied Skills Complementary
Types of Teams
Problem-Solving
Teams Self-Managed Work Cross-Functional
Teams Teams
- 5 to 12 employees
from the same - 10 to 15 people - Employees from
department - Take on the about the same
responsibilities of hierarchical level
- A few hours each
week their former - From different
supervisors work areas
- Discuss ways of
improving quality, - Come together to
efficiency, and the accomplish a task
work environment
Types of Teams
Virtual Teams
Teams that use computer technology to tie together
physically dispersed members in order to achieve a common
goal
Characteristics
Limited socializing
The ability to overcome time and space constraints
To be effective, needs:
Trust among members
Close monitoring
To be publicized
A Team-Effective Model
Context
• Adequate resources
• Leadership and
structure
• Climate of trust
• Performance evaluation
Caveat 1: This is a general guide
and reward systems only.
Composition
• Abilities of members
• Personality
• Allocating roles
Team
• Diversity
• Size of teams
effectiveness
• Member flexibility
• Member preferences
Process
Caveat 2: The model assumes that
• Common purpose teamwork is preferable to
• Specific goals individual work.
• Team efficacy
• Conflict levels
• Social loafing
Creating Effective Teams: Context
Adequate Resources
• Need the tools to complete the job
Effective Leadership and Structure
• Agreeing to the specifics of work and how the team fits together to integrate
individual skills
• Even “self-managed” teams need leaders
• Leadership especially important in multi-team systems
Climate of Trust
• Members must trust each other and the leader
Performance and Rewards Systems that Reflect Team Contributions
• Cannot just be based on individual effort
Creating Effective Teams:
Composition
Abilities of Need technical expertise, problem-solving, decision-making,
Members and good interpersonal skills
Personality of Conscientiousness, openness to experience, and
Members agreeableness all relate to team performance
Allocating Many necessary roles must be filled
Roles and
Diversity Diversity can often lead to lower performance
Size of team The smaller the better: 5 to 9 is optimal
Member’s Do the members want to be on teams?
Preference
for Teamwork
Key Roles on Team
Creating Effective Team: Work design
Freedom and Autonomy
Ability to work independently
Skill Variety
Ability to use different skills and talents
Task Identity
Ability to complete a whole and identifiable task
or product
Task Significance
Working on a task or project that has a
substantial impact on others
Creating Effective Team: Process
Commitment to Create a common purpose that provides direction
a Common
Have reflexivity: willing to adjust plan if necessary
Purpose
Establishment Must be specific, measurable, realistic, and challenging
of Specific
Team Goals
Team Efficacy Team believes in its ability to succeed
Mental Models Have an accurate and common mental map of how the work gets
done
A Managed Task conflicts are helpful; interpersonal conflicts are not
Level of Conflict
Minimized Team holds itself accountable both individually and as a team
Social Loafing
Turning Individuals into Team Players
Selection
• Make team skills one of the interpersonal skills in the hiring
process.
Training
• Individualistic people can learn
Rewards
• Rework the reward system to encourage cooperative efforts
rather than competitive (individual) ones
• Continue to recognize individual contributions while still
emphasizing the importance of teamwork
Be aware! Teams aren’t always the
Answer
Teams take more time and resources than
does individual work.
Three tests to see if a team fits the situation:
Is the work complex and is there a need for different
perspectives: will it be better with the insights of more
than one person?
Does the work create a common purpose or set of
goals for the group that is larger than the aggregate
of the goals for individuals?
Are members of the group involved in
interdependent tasks?
Be aware! Teams aren’t always the
Answer
Global Implications
Extent of Teamwork
Other countries use teams more often than does the U.S.
Self-Managed Teams
Do not work well in countries with low tolerance for
ambiguity and uncertainty and a high power distance
Team Cultural Diversity and Team Performance
Diversity caused by national differences interferes with team
efficiency, at least in the short run
After about three months the differences between diverse
and non-diverse team performance disappear
Summary and Managerial Implications
Effective teams have common characteristics:
Adequate resources
Effective leadership
A climate of trust
Appropriate reward and evaluation systems
Composed of members with correct skills and roles
Are smaller
Do work that provides freedom, autonomy, and the chance to
contribute
The tasks are whole and significant
Has members who believe in the team’s capabilities
Managers should modify the environment and select team-
oriented individuals to increase the chance of developing effective
teams.
