Lecture 3: Teamworking Flashcards
(31 cards)
What is a team?
A team is a group whose members have complementary skills and are committed to a common purpose or set of performance goals for which they hold themselves mutually accountable
What is the difference between work groups and teams?
Work groups:
- Share info
- Neutral (sometimes negative) synergy
- Individual accountability
- Random and varied skills
Work teams:
- Collective performance
- Positive synergy
- Individual and mutual accountability
- Complementary skills
What are the key features of teams?
- Shared objectives
- Members work interdependently to meet goals
- Mutual accountability
- Ideally has authority, autonomy, and resources to
meet goals - Ideally team member roles are defined
What was the NHS teams and outcomes study?
From annual NHS survey (>100,000)
Question asked ‘Do you work in a team?’ If yes …
– Does your team have clear objectives?
– Do you have to work closely together to achieve these
objectives?
– Do you meet regularly to review your team effectiveness
and how it could be improved?
What were the findings of the NHS teams and outcomes?
Based on answers to three questions in survey if work in a team:
– Pseudo III: all ‘no’ to three criteria (clear objectives, work
closely, review)
– Pseudo II: any one ‘yes’ to three criteria
– Pseudo I: any two ‘yes’ to three criteria
– Real Team: all ‘yes’ to three criteria
Forms continuum of team working from low (Pseudo III
to moderate (Pseudo I) to high (Real Team)
What is teamwork?
Teamwork is the collaborative efforts
performed by a team towards a common goal
Teamwork is an extremely common work practice
– Around 75% of UK workplaces have at least some
employees in formally-designated teams
– Evidence that trend towards using teams is growing
What factors influence team effectiveness?
- Mcgrath (1984) propsed a way of understanding how team work
Input: Refers to characteristics of the team and its members
(“who”)
Process: Refers to how the team operates and the sorts of
interactions that occur within the team (“how”)
Outcome: Refers to outcomes of the team, e.g., for decisionmaking, performance, well-being
What is the IPO Model?
Inputs:
- Team roles
- Team diversity
Processes:
- Cohesiveness
- Conflict
- Psychological safety,
- Team development
Outputs:
- Productivity
- Creativity/ Innovation
- Decision-making
- Well-being
What can team effectiveness be judged on according to the IPO model?
- Productivity
- Creativity/ Innovation
- Decision making
- Team member well-being
What research supports team productivity?
Delarue et al (2008):
- review of quantitative research
shows that teamworking is associated with improved
behavioural, operational, and financial performance
Birdi et al. (2008):
track HRM practices and financial
performance over 22 years – productivity increases not
evident until 6-9 years after implementing teamworking
What is Social Loafing?
A reduction in effort by individuals when they work in groups
as compared to when they work by themselves (Karau &
Williams, 1993)
- Affects decision-making and also performance more broadly
- Diffusion of responsibility in groups
Pathology of productivity
When is social loafing less likely?
- When individual performance is seen as crucial to group performance
- When excellent group performance leads to valued outcomes
- When individuals are accountable to their peronal inputs and performance
What research supports creativity/innovation?
Research generally shows that a group of individuals generate more ideas overall if they work separately and then combine their ideas rather than if they try to generate ideas in a group
Quality of ideas generated by individuals is at least as good as those generated by groups
What is production blocking?
When one person is talking and other people are required to listen
- Impedes generation of ideas
- May distract and make people forget their ideas
- People unable to make an input
The bigger the tean, the owrse the problem
Two people team found to produce the highest quantity and quality of ideas
Pathology of creativity
How to overcome production blocking?
Brainstorming: Where prior judgement and criticisms are forbidden from being expressed allowing free flow of ideas
What are the guidelines for brainstorming?
- Come up with ideas individually
- Avoid criticising other ideas until all suggestions are out on the table
- Share even crazy suggestions
- Offer as many suggestions as possible
- Build on other suggestions to create your own
What is research regarding team decision-making?
- Different perspectives can be valuable
- Can build on others’ ideas and strengths
- Opportunity for correction of mistakes
- BUT more time-consuming
Group decision making is better than the average member of the group making a decision but not better than the most competent member of the group
What is groupthink?
Poor group decision-making that occurs when team members are more concerned with achieving agreement rather than the best solution (Janis,1982)
Pathology of decision-thinking
What kinds of groups is groupthink the most prevalent in?
- Non-diverse groups (highly cohesive)
- Strong leadership
-High pressure to find a solution - Are isoltaed from outside influences
How to overcome groupthink?
By having structured decision-making and rotating team members to increase external contact
Devil’s advocate approach:
- Appoint person to prepare counterarguments that list what is wrong with group’s favoured solution and why they shouldn’t adopt it/improve upon it
- Aim to ensure full, objective consideration of solution
What resarch supports well-being?
People generally like teamworking:
- Delarue et al (2008): Shows that teamworking is associated with improved affective performance
- Interventions to introduce teamworking lead to long-term job satisfaction and better well-being
Positive effects may be the result of increased autonomy and/or social support
- Both factors are associated with better well-being
What is bullying/ostracism?
- If team members are supportive, working in a team is likely to benefit members’ well-being
- If one member is sidelined or picked on this can be damaging
Pathology of well-being
When to use teams?
- Difficult and complex tasks
- Varied demands or high uncertainty
- Multiple tasks, interdependent tasks
- Tasks that require varied skills
- When staff want opportunities for development and
learning
Who created the different team roles/
Belbin (1981)
