1. Managing Groups and Teams
C H A P T E R 13
Managing Groups and Teams
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2. Chapter Objectives After studying this chapter and the case exercises at the end, you should be able to:
Specify the level of employee involvement in a team situation.
Analyze a team situation and list at least six specific reasons why the team is not performing effectively, and what you would suggest doing about it.
Analyze a team situation and discuss at least seven reasons why you believe the team does or does not have the necessary characteristics to perform productively.
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3. Chapter Objectives (cont’d)
Explain specifically why you believe a person is or is not a potential “team player.”
Conduct a productive group decision-making meeting.
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4. Teams: Employee Involvement In Action
Employee Involvement Program
Any formal program that lets employees participate in formulating important work decisions or in supervising all or part of their own work activities.
Reasons for Organizing Work Teams
Improving product quality
Improving productivity
Improving employee morale
Improving staffing flexibility
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5. Employee Involvement in Your Company: An Informal Checklist
Information sharing: Managers make decisions on their own, announce them, and then respond to any questions employees may have.
Managers usually make the decisions, but only after seeking the views of employees.
Managers often form temporary employee groups to recommend solutions for specified problems.
Managers meet with employee groups regularly—once per week or so—to help them identify problems and recommend solutions.
Intergroup problem solving: Managers establish and participate in cross-functional employee problem-solving teams.
Ongoing work groups assume expanded responsibility for a particular issue, like cost reduction.
Employees within an area function full time, with minimal direct supervision.
Total self-direction: Traditional supervisory roles do not exist; almost all employees participate in self-managing teams.
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FIGURE 13–1
Source: Adapted from Jack Osborn et al., Self-Directed Work Teams (Homewood, IL: Business One Irwin, 1990), p. 30.

6. Groups and Teams Group Team
Two or more persons who are interacting in such a way that each person influences and is influenced by each other person.
Team
A group of people committed to a common purpose, set of performance goals, and approach for which the team members hold themselves mutually accountable.
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7. Group Dynamics Group Norms Group Cohesiveness
The informal rules that groups adopt to regulate and regularize group members’ behavior.
Group Cohesiveness
The degree of interpersonal attractiveness within a group, dependent on factors like proximity, similarities, attraction among the individual group members, group size, intergroup competition, and agreement about goals.
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8. Teams At Work Suggestion Team Problem-solving Team Quality Circle
A team formed to work in the short term on a given issue such as increasing productivity.
Problem-solving Team
A team formed to identify and solve work-related problems.
Quality Circle
A team of 6 to 12 employees who meet about once per week on company time to solve problems affecting their work area.
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9. Teams At Work Venture (also Project or Development) Team
A small team that operates as a semiautonomous unit to create and develop a new idea.
Transnational Team
A work team composed of multinational members whose activities span many countries.
Make transnational teams more effective by:
Clarifying the team’s goal.
Facilitating communications.
Building trust and teamwork.
Demonstrating mutual respect.
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10. Virtual Team Virtual Team
Groups of geographically and/or organizationally dispersed coworkers who interact using a combination of telecommunications and information technologies to accomplish an organizational task.
Virtual teams may be temporary, existing only to accomplish a specific task. Or they may be permanent and address ongoing matters.
Membership is often fluid, evolving according to changing task requirements.
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11. Web-Based Tools for Virtual Teams
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FIGURE 13–2
Source: Adapted from Gina Imperato, “Read Tools for Virtual Teams,” Fast Company July 2000, p. 382.

12. Self-Directed Work Teams
Self-managing/Self-directed Work Team
A highly trained team of employees, including 6 to 18 people on average, who are fully responsible for turning out a well-defined segment of finished work.
They are empowered to direct and do virtually all of their own work
Their work results in a singular, well-defined item or service.
They represent the highest level of employee involvement.
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13. Why Teams Fail: The Leadership, Focus, and Capability Pyramid
Source: Adapted from Steven Rayner, “Team Traps: What They Are, How to Avoid Them.” National Productivity Review. Summer 1996, p Reprinted by permission of John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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FIGURE 13–3

14. Checklist 13.1 How to Build a Productive Team
Have clear mission/purpose.
Set specific performance goals.
Compose the right team size and mix.
Have an agreed-upon structure appropriate to the task.
Delegate the authority to make the decisions needed, given their mission.
Provide access to or control of the resources needed to complete their mission.
Offer a mix of group and individual rewards.
Foster longevity and stability of membership.
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15. Checklist 13.2 Symptoms of Unproductive Teams
Nonaccomplishment of goals.
Cautious, guarded communication.
Lack of disagreement.
Malfunctioning meetings.
Conflict within the team.
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16. What It Takes to Be a Team Player
Personality
Individualism versus collectivism
Interpersonal Skills
Conflict management skills
Collaborative problem solving skills
Communication skills
Management Skills
Develop and establish goals
Control, monitor, provide feedback
Set work roles and assign tasks
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17. Leading Productive Teams
Team Leader Skills
Coaching, not bossing
Help define, analyze, and solve problems
Encourage participation by others
Serve as a facilitator
Team Leader Values
Respecting fellow team members
Trusting fellow team members
Putting the team first
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18. Typical Leader Transition Problems
Perceived Loss of Power or Status
Unclear Team Leader Roles
Job Security Concerns
The Double Standard Problem
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19. The Leader’s Role in Creating a Self-Managing Team
Forming
The teams and their leaders begin working out their specific responsibilities.
Training is the leader’s main task.
Storming
Questions typically arise regarding who is leading the team and what its structure and purpose should be.
The leader ensures that team members continue to learn and eventually exercise leadership skills.
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20. The Leader’s Role in Creating a Self-Managing Team (cont’d)
Norming
Team members agree on purpose, structure, and leadership and are prepared to start performing.
The leader’s job is to emphasize the need for the team to temper cooperation with the responsibility to supervise its own members.
Performing
A period of productivity, achievement, and pride as the team members work together to get the job done.
Adjourning
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21. How to Improve Team Performance
Select members for skill and teamwork.
Establish challenging performance standards.
Emphasize the task’s importance.
Assign whole tasks.
Send the right signals.
Encourage social support.
Make sure there are unambiguous team rules.
Challenge the group regularly with fresh facts and information.
Train and cross-train.
Provide the necessary tools and material support.
Encourage “emotionally intelligent” team behavior.
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22. Providing an Organizational Context That Supports Teams
Organizational Structure
Organizational Systems
Organizational Policies
Employee Skills
Team Work Approach
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23. Designing Organizations to Manage Teams
Source: Adapted from James H. Shonk, Team-Based Organizations (Homewood, IL: Irwin, 1997), p. 36.
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FIGURE 13–5

24. Pros and Cons of Group Decision Making
More points of view
More ways to define the problem
More possible solutions/alternatives
More creative decisions
Stronger commitment to decisions
Cons
More disagreement and less problem solving
Desire for consensus (groupthink)
Domination by a single individual
Less of commitment to the group decision
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25. Signs That Groupthink May Be a Problem
Source: Adapted from information provided in Irving James, Group Think: Psychological Studies of Policy Decisions and Fiascos, 2nd ed. (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1982).
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FIGURE 13–7

26. Improving Group Decision Making
Devil’s-Advocate Approach
The group appoints a person to prepare a detailed counterargument that lists what is wrong with the group’s favored solution and why the group should not adopt it.
The aim is to ensure a full and objective consideration of the solution proposal.
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27. Improving Group Decision Making (cont’d)
Brainstorming
A creativity-stimulating technique in which prior judgments and criticisms are specifically forbidden from being expressed and thus inhibiting the free flow of ideas, which are encouraged.
Brainstorming rules:
Avoid criticizing others’ ideas until all suggestions are out on the table.
Share even wild suggestions.
Offer many suggestions and comments as possible.
Build on others’ suggestions to create your own.
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28. Improving Group Decision Making (cont’d)
The Delphi Technique
A multistage group decision-making process aimed at eliminating inhibitions or groupthink through obtaining the written opinions of experts working independently.
Process steps
Identify the problem.
Solicit the experts’ individual opinions on the problem.
Analyze, distill, and then resubmit these opinions to other experts.
Continue this process for several more rounds until the experts reach a consensus.
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29. Improving Group Decision Making (cont’d)
The Nominal Group Technique
Each group member writes down his or her ideas for solving the problem at hand.
Each member then presents his or her ideas orally, and the person writes the ideas on a board for other participants to see.
After all ideas are presented, the entire group discusses all ideas simultaneously.
Group members individually and secretly vote on each proposed solution.
The solution with the most individual votes wins.
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30. Improving Group Decision Making (cont’d)
The Stepladder Technique
Individuals A and B are given a problem to solve, and each produces an independent solution.
A and B develop a joint decision, and meet with C, who has analyzed the problem and arrived at a decision.
A, B, and C discuss the problem and arrive at a consensus decision, and are joined by D, who has analyzed the problem and arrived at a decision.
A, B, C, and D jointly develop a final group decision.
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31. Improving Group Decision Making (cont’d)
How to Lead a Group Decision-Making Discussion
See that all group members participate and contribute.
Distinguish between idea getting and idea evaluation.
Do not respond to each participant or dominate the discussion.
Direct the group’s effort toward overcoming surmountable obstacles.
Don’t sit down.
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