chapter 10 - understanding work teams

Question 1

work group

Answer 1

A work group interacts primarily to share information and make decisions to help each member perform within their respective area of responsibility.

There is no positive synergy that would create an overall level of performance greater than the sum of the inputs. A work group is a collection of individuals doing their work, albeit with some interaction and/or dependency.

Question 2

work team

Answer 2

A work team, on the other hand, generates positive synergy through coordination.

The individual efforts result in a level of performance greater than the sum of the individual inputs. Teams are more likely to be constantly changing and adapting rather than static entities—seeing teams as dynamic systems in this way has led many to focus more on teaming as a verb (e.g., on the processes or actions involved in engaging as a team) rather than on the team itself.

Question 3

similarities in work groups and teams

Answer 3

In both work groups and work teams, there are often behavioral expectations of members, collective normalization efforts, active group dynamics and some level of decision making.

Both may generate ideas, pool resources or coordinate logistics such as work schedules; for the work group. Effort is limited to information gathering for decision makers outside the group.

We think of a work team as a subset of a work group, the team is constructed to be purposeful (symbiotic) in its member interaction.

Question 4

differences in work groups and teams

Answer 4

work groups
- share information
- neutral (sometimes negative)
- individual
- random and varied

work teams
- collective performance
- positive
- individual and mutual
- complementary

Question 5

five types of teams in organizations

Answer 5

five common types of teams in organizations: problem-solving teams, self-managed work teams, cross-functional teams (two parts) , and virtual teams

Question 6

problem solving teams

Answer 6

Problem-solving teams such as quality-control teams have been in use for many years. It is a team of employees from the same department who meet for a few hours each week to discuss ways of improving quality, efficiency and the work environment.

Originally seen most often in manufacturing plants, these were permanent teams that generally met at a regular time, sometimes weekly or daily, to address quality standards and any problems with the products made.

“rarely have the authority to implement their suggestions unilaterally, but if their recommendations are paired with implementation processes, some significant improvements can be realized”

Question 7

self managed work teams

Answer 7

Self-managed teams are a team of employees who autonomously implement
solutions and take responsibility for the outcomes of the solutions (responsibilities
typically adopted by supervisors).

Self-managed work teams are composed of employees who perform highly related or interdependent jobs and who take on some supervisory responsibilities.

• These responsibilities include planning and scheduling work, assigning tasks to members, making operating decisions, taking action to solve problems and working with suppliers and customers.
• Fully self-managed work teams even select their own members who evaluate each other’s performance.
• When these teams are established, former supervisory positions take on decreased importance and are sometimes eliminated.
• With a lack of authority and accountability, teams may spend valuable time and resources aligning team member values and goals to get on the same page
• Often difficult for managers to give up this kind of control

Question 8

cross-functional teams

Answer 8

cross-functional teams, teams made up of employees from about the same hierarchical level but from different work areas who come together to accomplish a task.

These teams are not simple to form and manage
- Expertise is needed because the members are at roughly the same level in the organization which creates leadership ambiguity
- Climate of trust needs to be developed before leadership emergence
- Early stages of development are often long because members need to learn to work with higher levels of diversity and complexity
- Takes time to build trust and teamwork especially among people with different experiences and perspectives
- Organizations characterized by flat structures with evenly dispersed power may derive the least benefit from cross functional-teams

Question 9

strength of traditional cross-functional teams… and how to improve success rate (pgt)

Answer 9

The strength of traditional cross-functional teams is the collaborative effort of individuals with diverse skills from a variety of disciplines

One study of nearly one hundred cross-functional teams across twenty-five major corporations found that they had a success rate of only 25 percent

How to improve success rate?
develop a certain type of cross-functional team, a portfolio governance team (PGT), in which team leaders from different functions and who govern different teams work together to accomplish tasks.

Question 10

2nd type of cross-functional team: portfolio governance team (pgt)

Answer 10

a portfolio governance team (PGT), in which team leaders from different functions and who govern different teams work together to accomplish tasks. Once these teams are up and running, they can accomplish the same aims as cross-functional teams, but with the power of the teams each leader oversees and with less opportunity for conflict. Outside PGTs, cross-functional teams can also be made more successful by:

1. Establishing an accountable leader who is responsible from the team’s formation to its dissolution.
2. Ensuring that each team has established goals, resources, and deadlines.
3. Establishing a clear mission for the team that acts as their main objective.
4. Continuously reevaluating the team and its progress toward success.
5. Reconsidering the usefulness of the team if it is unsuccessful.”

Question 11

virtual teams

Answer 11

“The teams described in the preceding section do their work face-to-face, whereas virtual teams use technology to unite physically dispersed members to achieve a common goal. Members collaborate online using networks (e.g., via the company intranet), corporate social media, videoconferencing, e-mail, and messenger applications”

They may suffer because there is less social rapport and direct interaction among
members.

Virtual teams should be managed differently than in-person teams

As such, for virtual teams to be effective, trust is very important. Management should ensure that
(1) trust is established among members (one inflammatory remark in an e-mail can severely undermine team trust),
(2) progress is monitored closely (so the team does not lose sight of its goals and no team member “disappears”), and
(3) the efforts and products of the team are publicized throughout the organization (so the team does not become invisible)

Question 12

multiteam system

Answer 12

Multiteam system is a collection of two or more interdependent teams that share a superordinate goal; a team of teams

“Typically, a single team alone cannot fulfill an organization’s broad objectives. Often, it takes an entire system of teams collaborating with and among one another and who contribute in their own ways to realizing the organization’s objectives.”

Question 13

boundary spanners

Answer 13

One study showed that multiteam systems performed better when they had “boundary spanners” whose jobs were to coordinate with all constituents. This reduced the need for some team member communication, which was helpful because it reduced coordination demands.

Question 14

boundary spoilers

Answer 14

Conversely, some members may emerge as “boundary spoilers,” who can hinder effective coordination when they communicate inaccurate perspectives or practices to members of other teams

Question 15

how to organize key concepts of effective teams?

Answer 15

into three general categories:

First are the resources and other contextual influences that make teams effective.
The second relates to the team’s composition.
Finally, process and state variables are events within the team that influence effectiveness

Question 16

five of the contextual factors that most significantly relate to team performance:

Answer 16

adequate resources, leadership and structure, culture and climate, a performance evaluation and reward system → that reflects team contributions, and crises and extreme contexts

Question 17

five of the contextual factors that most significantly relate to team performance: adequate resources

Answer 17

Adequate resources

“Every work team relies on resources outside the group to sustain it. A scarcity of resources directly reduces the ability of a team to perform its job effectively and achieve its goals.”
““perhaps one of the most important characteristics of an effective work group is the support the group receives from the organization.”49 This support includes timely information, proper equipment, adequate staffing, encouragement, and administrative assistance.”

Question 18

five of the contextual factors that most significantly relate to team performance: leadership and structure

Answer 18

• beyond initiating structure for team members, leaders play critical motivational roles for team members. For example, well-performing teams tend to have leaders who are transformational (see the chapter on leadership) and empowering.
• the relationship between the leader and their team member followers has been found to be more important for job attitudes, job performance, and turnover intentions than the relationships between team members themselves.

Question 19

five of the contextual factors that most significantly relate to team performance: culture and climate

Answer 19

• these studies suggest that a shared sense of vision, a sense of being able to share and collaborate in a nonthreatening environment, a concern for performance quality, encouragement of creative and innovative solutions, and practicing regular, frequent interaction are the most important factors for team climate.
• for example, perceptions of fair and just policies, practices, and procedures have proved very important for team attitudes, conflict, and performance

Question 20

five of the contextual factors that most significantly relate to team performance: performance evaluation and reward system

Answer 20

• individual performance evaluations and incentives may interfere with the development of high-performance teams. So, in addition to evaluating and rewarding employees for their individual contributions, management should utilize hybrid performance systems that incorporate individual rewards to recognize individual contributions and group rewards to recognize positive team outcomes
• furthermore, when instituting a performance management system, constructive feedback can have a positive effect on team performance.59 However, one should take care to avoid bias and discrimination in implementing a team reward system

Question 21

five of the contextual factors that most significantly relate to team performance: crises and extreme contexts

Answer 21

• these contexts can unlock the potential of team members who do truly great things under stress. They can also lead to the unraveling of the team fabric, resulting in disaster
• leaders are most effective during disasters when they support team problem solving, are supportive of the team members, initiate structure and planning, delegate, and coordinate as well as help team members make sense of the situation.

Question 22

team composition

Answer 22

• the abilities of members
• personalities of team members
• allocation of roles
• diversity and cultural differences (see also the requisite chapter on diversity, equity, and inclusion in organizations.)
• size of the team, and members’ preferences for teamwork
• team size
• member preferences

others:
- team process and states
- team conflict
- self loafing
- team states
- team efficacy: effective teams have confidence in themselves; they believe they can succeed
- team identity
- team cohesion: members are emotionally attached to one another
and motivated toward the team because of their attachment.

Question 23

team process (part of team composition)

Answer 23

“Why are processes important to team effectiveness? Teams should create outputs greater than the sum of their inputs”

“Effective teams show reflexivity, meaning they reflect on and adjust their purpose when necessary.”

“The members of an effective team share accurate mental models. In other words, they share an understanding of the key elements within their task environment.”

“Teams should also develop transactive memory systems, which represent the ways in which team members collect, integrate, generate, and distribute knowledge to develop a shared understanding of their environment.”

Question 24

how organizations can create effective teams

Answer 24

• training
  “A large body of research suggests that team training is effective at improving team member attitudes, team processes, and cognitive aspects like developing shared mental models and that these findings generalize to particularly important industries”
• rewarding
  “A friend told me he’d had a virtual ‘happy hour’ with his team in the last few weeks, and everyone came! That’s every single employee—unheard of before this mess.”