1. Chapter 3: Team Behavior and Tools
Teach your students to work effectively in teams
Does projects take too much time?
What is team? (A team is a small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, performance goals, and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable.
Difference between working in a team and a working group

2. Differences between a working group and a team Working group Team
Strong, clearly focused leader
The groups purpose is the same as the broader organizational mission
Individual work products
Runs efficient meeting
Measures its effectiveness indirectly by its influence on others
Discusses, decides, and deligates
Individual and mutual accountability
Specific team purpose that the team itself develops
Collective work products
Encourages open-ended discussions and active problem-solving meetings
Measures performance directly by assessing collective work products
Discusses, decides, and does real work together

3. What it means to be an effective team member
Take responsibility for the success of the team
Be a person who delivers on commitments
Be a contributor to discussions
Give your full attention to whoever is speaking and demonstrate this by asking helpful questions
Develop techniques for getting your message across to the team (always speak in a load, clear voice)
Learn to give and receive useful feedback

4. Characteristics of an Effective Team
Team goals are as important as individual goals
The team understands the goals and is committed to achieving them
Trust replaces fear and people feel comfortable taking risks
Respect, collaboration, and open-mindedness are prevalent
Team members communicate readily;diversity of opinions is encouraged
Decisions are made by consensus and have acceptance and support of team members
Communication skills, team skills, and problem solving ability are three qualities recruiters are generally look for in job interviews

5. Assume Different Role in A Team
Team sponsor: the manager who has the need for the output of the team
Team Leader: leads meetings, manages day-to-day activities, help team members, communicate with the sponsor, removes barriers, helping resolve conflicts (see the following table)
Team Facilitator: a person who assists leader,assist in data-collection activities. The key role of the facilitator is to keep the group focused on its task
Process observer: observes process and progress of the meetings. One task of the process observer is to look for hidden agendas that prevent an effective team progress.

6. Team Roles Traditional Leader Passive Leader Facilitative Leader
Directive and Controlling
Hands off
Creates open environment
No questions- Just do it
Too much freedom
Encourage questions
Retain all decision-making authorities
Lack of guidance and direction
Provides guidance
Nontrusting
Extreme empowerment
Embraces creativity
Ignores input
Uninvolved
Considers all ideas
Autocratic
A Figurehead
Maintains focus: weighs goals vs criteria

7. Stages of Teams Development
Orientation (forming)
Dissatisfaction (storming)
Resolution (norming)
Production (performing)
Termination (adjourning)
(study table 3.3 for suggested guidelines for an effective team)

8. People play various roles during a group activity
People play various roles during a group activity. It should be helpful in your role as a team leader or team member to recognize some of the behavior listed in this table. It is the task of the team leader to try to change the hindering behavior and to encourage team members in their various helping roles Helping Roles Hindering Roles Task Roles Maintenance Roles
Initiating: Proposing tasks;defining problems
Encouraging
Dominating:Asserting authority or superiority
Information or option seeking
Harmonizing: attempting to reconcile disagreement
Withdrawing: not talking or contributing
Information or opinion giving
Expressing group feeling
Avoiding: changing the topic; frequently absent
Clarifying
Gate keeping: helping to keep communication channels open
Degrading: puttingdown others’ ideas; joking in barbed way
Summarizing
Compromising
Uncooperative: side conversation: whispering and private conversations across table
Consensus testing
Standard setting and testing: checking whether group is satisfied with procedures

9. Respects other team members without question
Problems with Teams Characteristics of a Good Team Member: Characteristics of a disruptive team member:
Respects other team members without question
Listens carefully to the other team members
Participates but does not dominate
Self confident but not dogmatic
Knowledgeable in his or her discipline
Communicate effectively
Disagrees but with good reason and in good taste
Shows lack of respect for others
Tends to intimidate
Stimulate confrontation
Is a dominant personality type
Talks all the time, but does not listen
Does not communicate effectively
Overly critical

10. Problem Solving Tools
Problem definition (brain storming, affinity diagram, nominal group techniques)
Cause finding (Gathering data (Interviews, focus groups, surveys) Analyzing data (check sheets, histograms) Solution for root causes (cause-and-effect diagram, why-why diagram, interrelationship diagram))
Solution finding and implementation (brain storming, how-how diagram, concept selection method (sec. 5.9) force field analysis implementation plan)

11. An Example of Application of Problem Solving Strategy Agroup of engineering honor students was concerned that more engineering seniors were not availing themselves of the opportunity to do a senior research project. All engineering departments listed this as a course option, but only about 5 percent of the students chose this option. To properly define the problem, the team brainstormed around the question “Why do so few senior engineering students choose to do a research project?”

12. Brainstorming
Brainstorming is a group technique for generating ideas in a non-threatening, uninhibiting atmosphere
The objective of brainstorming is to generate the greatest number of alternative ideas
Brainstorming is most effective when it is applied to specific rather than general problems

13. Four Fundamental Brainstorming Principles
Criticism is not allowed
Ideas brought forth should be picked up by the other people present
Participants should divulge all ideas entering their minds without any constraint
A key objective is to provide as many ideas as possible within relatively short time

14. General Helpful Questions for Brainstorming
Combination: What new ideas can arise from combining purposes or functions?
Substitution: What else? Who else? What other place? What other time?
Modification: What to add? What to subtract? Change color, material, motion, shape?
Elimination: Is it necessary?
Reverse: What would happen if we turn it backward? Turn it upside down? Inside out? Oppositely?
Other use: Is there a new way to use it?

15. Problem: Why do so few engineering seniors do a research project?
When the students group brainstormed, they obtained the following results
Problem: Why do so few engineering seniors do a research project?
Students are too busy.
Professors do not talk up research opportunity.
They are thinking about getting a job.
They are thinking about getting married.
They are interviewing for jobs.
They do not know how to select a topic.
I’m not interested in research. I want to work in manufacturing.
I don’t know what research the professors are interested in.
The department does not encourage students to do research.
I am not sure what research entails.

16. It is hard to make contact with professors.
I have to work part-time.
Pay me and I’ll do research.
I think research is boring.
Lab space is hard to find.
Faculty just uses undergraduate as pair of hands.
I don’t know any students doing research.
I haven’t seen any notices about research opportunities.
Will working in research help me get into grad school?
I would do it if it was required.
Brainwriting, is an alternative form of brainstorming and is used when the topic is emotionally charged that people will not speak out freely in a group.

17. Affinity Diagram Time Constraints: Faculty Issues:
Students are too busy.
They are interviewing for jobs.
I have to work part-time.
Faculty Issues:
Professors don’t talk up research opportunities.
The department does not encourage students to do research research.
It is hard to make contact with professors.
Faculty just use students as a pair of hands.
I would do it if it was required.

18. Lack of Interest: Lack of Information: Other:
They are thinking about getting a job.
They are thinking about getting married.
I am not interested in research. I want to work in manufacturing.
Pay me I’ll do research.
I think research is boring.
I would do it if it was required.
Lack of Information:
They don’t know how to select a topic.
I don’t know what research the professors are interested in.
I’m not sure what research entails.
I don’t know any students doing research.
I haven’t seen any notices about research opportunities.
Will working in research help me get into graduate school?
Other:
Lab space is hard to find
Colored items are removed from active consideration.

19. Nominal Group Technique (NGT)
NGT is a method of group idea generation and decision making
Silent Brainstorming
Independent idea generation
Group activity
Independent evaluation

20. Procedure for NGT: List ideas and display them so that everyone can see them For each idea ask the question “Should this item continued to be considered?” (majority vote keeps the item on the list) Decision making (each member of the team acting independently and anonymously) Say for 5 choices each team member rank choices as A,B,C,D, and E and associate a value of 1-5 for each choice where 5 is best. The ranking of all members of the team would be combined, and the choice with the highest score would be the teams first choice. For number of choices larger than 20 only pick the top 11 choices (20/2 + 1)