WEEK 12: TEAMS Flashcards
Define teams and describe their characteristics
A team can be defined as an interdependent collection of individuals who work together toward a common goal and who share responsibility for specific outcomes for their organization
Characteristics of teams:
1) Groups of two or more people
2) Have an organizational identity as a group
3) Have shared objectives in relation to work –> exist to fulfill a purpose
4) Members have well defined roles –> and are mutually accountable for achieving them
What are some advantages of team work in the workplace?
Organizational issues:
* Amount of information and knowledge available – information age
* More educated and trained workforce
* Rate of Change in Work Activities - adaptability
* More complex organizations: mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures * Streamlining factory production/flexible production
Interpersonal issues
* Sense of team identity, cohesion and unity
* Awareness of common goal: to improve way of working
* Openness and opportunities to talk and share info
* Willingness to listen, provide feedback
* Trust one another
* Greater commitment to work
Explain the Model of Team Performance
- The most well received model of team performance appears to be the Input-Process-Output (IPO) heuristic model developed by McGrath in 1964
- This model has 3 components 1)Inputs, 2) Group Processes and 3) Outputs
Inputs: describe the composition of the team in terms of each individual member within the context of the organization .
- can be subdivided into two categories:
1) group composition: knowledge, skills, abilities, demographics and personalities of individual team members
and 2) organizational context: the organizational environment, culture, resources, job design, etc.
Group Processes: Moreover, group processes describe the activities and events which occur within the context of the group as the team strives to complete their shared objectives.
- Conflict management, communication between members, decision making processes, as well as trust and solidarity amongst members are all encompassed under the umbrella of group processes
Outputs: described as the products of inputs and group processes, or in other words, measures of how the team performed
- Several outputs can be used to evaluate team performance or effectiveness, such as productivity and innovation, team member health and well-being, and the overall viability of the group (i.e., how likely the team is to remain together)
What are the 4 categories of teams?
1) Problem- Resolution Teams
2) Creative Teams
3) Tactical Teams
4) Ad hoc Team
What are Problem-Resolution Teams?
Problem resolution teams bring together a group of experts whose objective is to solve a complex problem
- Dominant feature is trust
- Process emphasis: focus on issues
What is a Creative Team?
Creative Teams come together with the objective of creating something new/different/innovative/appealing
- Dominant feature: autonomy
- Process emphasis: exploration of opportunities and alternatives
What are Tactical Teams ?
Tactical Teams form with the objective of solving specific problems.
- Dominant feature is clarity
- Process emphasis: directive, highly focused tasks, role clarity, well defined operational standards, accuracy
What are Ad Hoc teams?
Ad Hoc teams come together to solve various problems. Their objectives vary depending on the specific case at hand
- Dominant feature: limited time span–> they are often short lived, and disband after the goals have been met
- Process emphasis: reflect both tactical and problem-solving principles
Explain Cannon-Bowers (1995) Model of Competencies
According to this model, each team has primary and secondary competencies. Primary competencies refer to those which are related to the task- they describe the main tasks/objectives that the team is meant to do. Secondary competencies refer to those which are related to the success of the team- they describe the tasks within the team such as communication, problem solving, etc.
- This model allows us to see how KSAOs very for different types of teams
- According to the model, competencies can be specific or generic.
- specific primary competency x specific secondary competency = context-driven team competency (ex. tactical teams)
- generic primary competency x specific secondary competency = team- contingent team competency (ex. creative teams)
-specific primary team competency x generic secondary team competency = task-contingent team competency (ex. problem-resolution teams)
- generic primary competency x generic secondary team competency = transportable team competency (ex. Ad Hoc Teams)
Compare and Contrast Homogenous Teams and Diverse Teams
Homogeneous Teams:
- Less conflict
- Faster team development
- Performs better on cooperative tasks
- Better coordination
- High satisfaction of team members
- More opportunity for negative social processes
- If team members are too similar, there is a danger of “group think”- which occurs when the group will make/agree upon a decision only so that the group remains together instead of making the best decision for the group
Diverse Teams:
- More conflict
- Longer team development
- Performs better on complex problems
- More creative
- Information Diversity - increases performance
- Value Diversity - decreases performance
What types of tasks do teams do best?
– Decision making
– Innovation, creativity
– Tasks requiring large knowledge base
– Sufficiently complex
– Can be divided into more specialized roles requiring frequent coordination
– Well-structured (easier to coordinate)
What types of tasks do teams not do well?
Team work may not be best suited for jobs where which….
- No interdependency among people in an operation
– Operational expertise limited to a few people
– Work is mundane and repetitious
– Consistency is more important than innovation
– Single experts are best qualified to make independent decisions
– Stability is more important than flexibility
What are the 8 team roles?
A team role is a set of behaviours that people are expected to perform within their team. Sometimes these roles are formally assigned, other times they occur naturally during team development and are related to personal characteristics. All of these roles must be covered to some capacity in order for a team to be successful.
Roles in Teams
1. Leader- overall responsibility for performance
2. Shaper- set objectives/priorities for the team
3. Worker- turns concepts to procedures
4. Creator- creates new ideas
5. Resources Investigator - reports on ideas, development, and resources of the group
6. Monitor-Evaluator - analyses problems, allows the team to stay on track
7. Team Facilitator- supports team’s strengths, compensates for weaknesses
8. Completer- Finisher - searches for things to do, makes sure that everything is being done
Explain the four categories of interpersonal processes in teams
1) Communication
- communication within a team must be regular, open and continuous
- Team members must feel like they are in a trusted environment
2) Conflict
-unpleasant to deal with but may increase elaboration of view when dealt with in a positive environment
-beneficial vs competitive conflict
3) Cohesion
- refers to a team member’s motivation to remain in the group
- increased by team success, external competition, difficult entry process, team size, member interaction, member similarity
4) Trust
- belief that there is no control over someone’s behaviour but that they will choose to act in a way that benefits you
- calculus-based trust: trusting only for the purpose of self interest
-knowledge-based trust: trusting another person’s knowledge/competence only
-identification-based trust: fully trusting someone as a person. There is a mutual understanding and a shared emotional bond here.
List the Pros and Cons of virtual teams
Pros:
- Increased technology resources
– Save time and travel expenses
– Greater potential to acquire necessary human capital, skills, knowledge, and capacities from global environment
– Ability to be on multiple teams
– Increased ability to contribute
– More ideas = better decision
– Less social stratification
– Greater level of cultural intelligence
Cons:
- Increased time
– Require varying levels of technological skill
– “ZOOM” fatigue
– Training required
– Low cohesion, trust, and shared understanding among dispersed worker
* Virtual collaboration behaviors * Virtual socialization skills
* Virtual communication skills
– Managing people who can’t be seen
– Demotivation due to remote work+++++
Outline Tuckman’s team developmental stages
- forming- the group forms.
- In the beginning, individuals will be unsure of the team’s purpose, how they fit in, and whether they’ll work well with one another. They may be anxious, curious, or excited to get going. - Storming - conflict, decision making , etc
- people start to push against the established boundaries. Conflict or friction can also arise between team members as their true characters – and their preferred ways of working – surface and clash with other people’s. If conflict is resolved–>team moves into …. - Norming - team develops norms for roles, tasks, behaviours and expectations
-People start to resolve their differences, appreciate one another’s strengths, and respect the authority of the leader.
- Now that they know one another better, team members will feel more comfortable asking for help and offering constructive feedback. They’ll share a stronger commitment to the team’s goals, and they should make good progress toward it. - Performing
-The team seeks so perform to its full potential. With hard work and structured processes, the team is likely to achieve its goals efficiently. - Adjourning
- Many teams reach this stage naturally. For example, projects come to an end, or permanent teams are disbanded and people redeployed.
- People who like routine, or who have developed close working relationships with colleagues, may find this time difficult.
What are some conflict resolution strategies at the organizational and individual levels?
Organizational:
* Open Communication
* Conflict Coaching
* Mediation
* Establishing Clear Expectations
* Time Management
* Conflict Resolution Training
Individual:
* Active Listening
* Empathy
* Use of I-Statements
* Cultural Sensitivity
* Clarification
* Collaboration
* Negotiation
* Constructive Feedback
* Agree-to-Disagree
Beneficial vs Competitive Conflict
Beneficial Conflict: challenging people’s opinions within the team in positive away that allows the team to progress and move forward
Competitive Conflict: has no positive outcome
What is Process Loss?
Occurs when aspects of the group process interfere with team performance. Causes include…
- brainstorming not effective at quantity of suggestions
- “Production Blocking” (can’t put ideas forward when others are talking, can’t formulate ideas when others are talking)
- “Social Loafing”
- Personality factors (Shyness, egocentricity, lack communication skills, cultural differences, dominant personalities)
- Status, gender, hierarchy
- “Risky Shift”
- “Diffusion of Responsibility”
- Satisficing” (stopping when you reach a demografic solution, may not be the best solution)
- “Group Think”
What is Social Loafing? How do we minimize it?
Social loafing phenomenon occurs when there are large discrepancies between contribution amongst members within a group
- Reduced motivation and performance in groups that occurs when there is a reduced feeling of individual accountability or a reduced opportunity for evaluation of individual performance.
- free riding : occurs when a member does not pull their weight and expects other members to “carry” them
- sucker effect: occurs when one member fears being the “sucker” who gets stuck doing the majority of the work, and so they become hesitant to charge charge/appear dependable
- felt dispensability: occurs when one member does not contribute enough to the cause as they feel the other group members are more intelligent/capable and therefore their contributions do not matter
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
How can we measure team success (output)?
Outcome measures: task accuracy, timeliness, latency, quality, productivity etc
Process measures:
- how long did the team last?
- Can the team cooperate on future tasks?
- Are team members mentally and physically healthy?
- Did the team experience any growth or development ?
