What are Teams?  Groups of two or more people  Exist to fulfill a purpose  Interdependent -- interact and influence each other  Mutually accountable for achieving common goals  Perceive themselves as a social entity

Team as a collection of individuals

Team as a collection of individuals with a shared common vision  Alignment of purpose

Groups versus Teams  All teams are groups  Some groups are just people assembled together  Teams have task interdependence whereas some groups do not (e.g., group of employees enjoying lunch together)

Many Types of Teams  Departmental teams  Production/service/ leadership teams  Self-directed teams  Advisory teams  Skunkworks  Task force (project) teams  Virtual teams  Communities of practice

Why Informal Groups Exist 1. Innate drive to bond 2. Social identity  We define ourselves by group memberships 3. Goal accomplishment 4. Emotional support

Advantages of Teams  Make better decisions  Make better products and services due to more knowledge and expertise  Increase employee engagement Compared with individuals working alone, teams tend to:

The Trouble With Teams  Individuals better/faster on some tasks  Process losses - cost of developing and maintaining teams  Brooks’ Law -- more delays when adding members to a team already behind schedule  Social loafing  Occurs when individuals exert less effort when working in groups than alone

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

Team Effectiveness Model Task characteristics Team size Team composition Team Design Achieve organizational goals Satisfy member needs Maintain team survival Team Effectiveness Team development Team norms Team cohesiveness Team trust Team Processes Organizational and Team Environment

Team’s Task and Size  Task characteristics  Better when tasks are clear, easy to implement  Share common inputs, processes, or outcomes  Task interdependence  Team size  Smaller teams are better  But large enough to accomplish task

Levels of Task Interdependence Sequential Pooled Reciprocal Resource ABC ABC A BC High Low

Team Composition  Effective team members must be willing and able to work on the team  Effective team members are good at the 5 C’s:  Cooperating  Coordinating  Communicating  Comforting (psych support)  Conflict resolving  Team diversity  Homogeneous or heterogeneous, depending on task requirements

Team Development  Team development involves:  Interpersonal knowledge and trust  Understand and agree on roles  Discover appropriate behaviors  Learn to coordinate with each other  Develop team mental models

Existing teams might regress back to an earlier stage of development Forming Storming NormingPerforming Adjourning Stages of Team Development

Team Norms  Informal rules and shared expectations team establishes to regulate member behaviors  Norms develop through:  Initial team experiences  Critical events in team’s history  Experience/values members bring to the team

Changing Team Norms  Introduce norms when forming teams  Select members with preferred values  Discuss counter-productive norms  Reward behaviors representing desired norms  Disband teams with dysfunctional norms

Team Cohesion  The degree of attraction people feel toward the team and their motivation to remain members  Calculative -- members believe the team will fulfill goals and needs  Emotional -- team is part of person’s social identity

Team size Member interaction Smaller teams more cohesive Regular interaction increases cohesion Calls for tasks with high interdependence Member similarity Similarity-attraction effect Some forms of diversity have less effect Influences on Team Cohesion

Team success External challenges Successful teams fulfill member needs Success increases social identity with team Challenges increase cohesion when not overwhelming Somewhat difficult entry Team eliteness increases cohesion But lower cohesion with severe initiation Influences on Team Cohesion (con’t)

Team Cohesiveness Outcomes 1. Want to remain members 2. Willing to share information 3. Strong interpersonal bonds 4. Resolve conflict effectively 5. Better interpersonal relationships

Team Norms Support Goals Team Norms Oppose Goals High Team Cohesiveness Low Team Cohesiveness Cohesiveness and Performance Low task performance Moderately high task performance Moderately low task performance High task performance

Trust Defined A psychological state comprising the intention to accept vulnerability based upon positive expectations of the intent or behavior of another person

Three Levels of Trust Identity-based Trust Knowledge-based Trust Calculus-based Trust High Low

Three Levels of Trust (con’t)  Calculus-based trust  Based on deterrence  Fragile, limited, dependent on punishment  Knowledge-based trust  Based on predictability and competence  Fairly robust, develops over time  Identification-based trust  Based on common mental models and values  Increases with person’s social identity with team

Self-Directed Team Attributes Formal groups that complete an entire piece of work requiring several interdependent tasks and have substantial autonomy over the execution of these tasks. 1. Complete an entire piece of work requiring interdependent tasks 2. Substantial autonomy over execution of the team’s tasks

Self-Directed Team Success Factors  Responsible for entire work process  High interdependence within the team  Low interdependence with other teams  Autonomy to organize and coordinate work  Technology supports team communication/coordination

Virtual Teams  Teams whose members operate across space, time, and organizational boundaries and are linked through information technologies to achieve organizational tasks  Increasingly possible because of:  Information technologies  Knowledge-based work  Increasingly necessary because of:  Knowledge management  Globalization

Virtual Team Success Factors  Member characteristics  Technology savvy  Self-leadership skills  Emotional intelligence  Flexible use of communication technologies  Opportunities to meet face-to-face

Team Decision Making Constraints  Time constraints  Time to organize/coordinate  Production blocking  Evaluation apprehension  Belief that other team members are silently evaluating you  Conformity to peer pressure  Suppressing opinions that oppose team norms  Groupthink  Tendency in highly cohesive teams to value consensus at the price of decision quality  Concept is losing favor -- need to consider specific features instead (e.g. overconfidence)

General Guidelines for Team Decisions  Team norms should encourage critical thinking  Sufficient team diversity  Ensure neither leader nor any member dominates  Maintain optimal team size  Introduce effective team structures

Constructive Conflict  Occurs when team members debate their different perceptions about an issue in a way that keeps the conflict focused on the task rather than people.  Problem: constructive conflict easily slides into personal attacks

Rules of Brainstorming 1. Speak freely 2. Don’t criticize 3. Provide as many ideas as possible 4. Build on others’ ideas

Evaluating Brainstorming  Strengths  Produces more innovative ideas  Strengthens decision acceptance and team cohesiveness  Sharing positive emotions encourages creativity  Higher customer satisfaction if clients participate  Weaknesses  Production blocking still exists  Evaluation apprehension exists in many groups  Fewer ideas generated than when people work alone

Electronic Brainstorming  Participants share ideas using software  Usually in the same room, but may be dispersed  Question posted, then participants submit their ideas or comments on computer  Comments/ideas appear anonymously on computer screens or at front of room

Evaluating Electronic Brainstorming  Strengths  Less production blocking  Less evaluation apprehension  More creative synergy  More satisfaction with process  Weaknesses  Too structured  Technology-bound  Candid feedback is threatening  Not applicable to all decisions

Describeproblem Individual Activity Team Activity Individual Activity Write down possiblesolutionsPossiblesolutionsdescribed to others Vote on solutionspresented Nominal Group Technique