PowerPoint Presentation by Charlie Cook Copyright © 2005 South-Western. All rights reserved. Module 5 Team Processes

Copyright © 2005 South-Western. All rights reserved.5–2 Figure 5.1 Model of Team Effectiveness Overview

Copyright © 2005 South-Western. All rights reserved.5–3 Team Membership Teams in which members are familiar or tied to each other are better at sharing information Key aspect of an effective team is “transactive memory system”  Team members keep current on what other members know  Members channels information to appropriate person  Members seek best form of expertise when a problem arises Class Notes: Team Process Observation Guide

Copyright © 2005 South-Western. All rights reserved.5–4 Team Membership (cont’d) Key questions concerning membership:  Do team members have required expertise and authority to carry out task?  What are the personalities and styles of members?  What is the racial and gender mix within the team?  How committed are individual members to the team?  Which hierarchical levels and functional teams are represented?  Are team members strangers?  How well can members identify and use expertise of other members? Class Notes: Team Process Observation Guide

Copyright © 2005 South-Western. All rights reserved.5–5 Organizational Context of Team Organization in which a team operates contributes to its success or failure Problems occur when:  Organizational mission is unclear  Tasks are poorly designed  Teams are not allowed sufficient autonomy  Rewards are granted to individuals rather than to teams Class Notes: Team Process Observation Guide

Copyright © 2005 South-Western. All rights reserved.5–6 Organizational Context of Team (cont’d) Questions regarding organizational context include:  Have the goals and tasks of the team been clearly identified?  Are team members rewarded for individual rather than team performance?  Has management granted the team enough autonomy to accomplish the task?  Does the team have access to the information and resources needed to perform its task? Class Notes: Team Process Observation Guide

Copyright © 2005 South-Western. All rights reserved.5–7 Team Processes 1.Task and maintenance functions 2.Decision making 3.Communication 4.Influence 5.Conflict 6.Atmosphere 7.Emotional issues Class Notes: Team Process Observation Guide

Copyright © 2005 South-Western. All rights reserved.5–8 Task and Maintenance Functions Task functions help team members to organize themselves to get work done  Setting team agendas, keeping the team on target, prioritizing tasks, structuring the decision making process, proposing alternative ways to solve problems Maintenance functions hold the team together so that members can continue to get along with each other and even have some fun Class Notes: Team Process Observation Guide

Copyright © 2005 South-Western. All rights reserved.5–9 Figure 5.2 Functions Required for Effective Group Functions Functions that build task accomplishment  Initiating  Seeking Information and Opinions  Providing Information and Opinions  Clarifying  Elaborating  Summarizing  Consensus Testing Functions that build and maintain a group  Harmonizing  Compromising  Gatekeeping  Encouraging Class Notes: Team Process Observation Guide

Copyright © 2005 South-Western. All rights reserved.5–10 Team Decision Making Four steps in decision making:  Identify the problem or opportunity  Analyze the problem  Propose and evaluate solutions  Implement the decision It is important to set a norm of communicating doubts and divergent viewpoints Consensus decision making allows all team members to participate but may take too long Class Notes: Team Process Observation Guide

Copyright © 2005 South-Western. All rights reserved.5–11 Team Decision Making (cont’d) Questions concerning decision making include:  Does the team follow the four steps of decision making?  Does the team move too quickly toward a solution?  Does the team encourage minority opinion?  Which form of decision making does the team use?  Consensus, consultative, or leader decides?  Can the team change its form of decision making if necessary? Class Notes: Team Process Observation Guide

Copyright © 2005 South-Western. All rights reserved.5–12 Team Communication Communication patterns offer clues as to:  Who is influencing the team  Which subgroups and coalitions exist  How well the team is progressing  How members are feeling Team communication patters can be measured using a sociogram Class Notes: Team Process Observation Guide

Copyright © 2005 South-Western. All rights reserved.5–13 Sociogram of Group Communication Figure 5.3 Class Notes: Team Process Observation Guide

Copyright © 2005 South-Western. All rights reserved.5–14 Team Communication (cont’d) Sociograms offer clues as to:  Who are the most and least frequent participators?  Are there shifts in participation? What causes them?  Who talks to whom? Who responds to whom?  How are “silent” and “noisy” members handled?  Are team members with the requisite information contributing? Class Notes: Team Process Observation Guide

Copyright © 2005 South-Western. All rights reserved.5–15 Team Influence Influence commonly shifts throughout a team’s history Influence is related to a member’s status within the organizational hierarchy, level of experience, and personality Team members can influence one another through use of “influence tactics” Class Notes: Team Process Observation Guide

Copyright © 2005 South-Western. All rights reserved.5–16 Figure 5.4 Influence Tactics Rational Persuasion Inspirational Appeals Consultation Ingratiation Personal Appeals Exchange Coalition Tactics Legitimating Tactics Pressure Class Notes: Team Process Observation Guide

Copyright © 2005 South-Western. All rights reserved.5–17 Team Influence (cont’d) Questions on influence patterns include:  Who has the most impact on the team’s actions and decisions?  Whose ideas are ignored? What is the result?  What tactics do members use to influence one another?  Is there rivalry in the team? What effect does it have?  How does the formal leader exert his/her influence? Class Notes: Team Process Observation Guide

Copyright © 2005 South-Western. All rights reserved.5–18 Team Conflict Conflict can be advantageous or problematic, depending on what type of conflict it is  “Good” conflict is called substantive conflict  “Bad” conflict is called affective conflict A frequent problem in cohesive teams is groupthink  Team members avoid all types of conflict and shy away from deviating from the apparent team consensus Class Notes: Team Process Observation Guide

Copyright © 2005 South-Western. All rights reserved.5–19 Team Conflict (cont’d) Questions regarding team conflict include:  How often do members disagree about the work to be done? Is this conflict useful?  To what extent do people take the arguments in the team personally? How can this conflict be managed?  How often do members get angry with one another while working?  Do team members feel free to disagree? Class Notes: Team Process Observation Guide

Copyright © 2005 South-Western. All rights reserved.5–20 Team Atmosphere Team members may have different expectations and assumptions about how team will function Way in which differing expectations are resolved determines what the climate or atmosphere in the team will be Key to creating a trusting, supportive team is “psychological safety”—a shared belief that the team is safe for interpersonal risk taking Class Notes: Team Process Observation Guide

Copyright © 2005 South-Western. All rights reserved.5–21 Team Atmosphere (cont’d) Questions that help characterize team atmosphere include:  Are people friendly and open or formal with one another?  Are people involved and interested?  Are people in constant conflict or disagreement?  Is any attempt made to avoid unpleasantness by ignoring tough issues?  Do people feel safe enough to take interpersonal risks? Class Notes: Team Process Observation Guide

Copyright © 2005 South-Western. All rights reserved.5–22 Supportive and Defensive Environments Characteristics of a supportive environment  Provisionalism  Empathy  Equality  Spontaneity  Problem Orientation  Clear Description Characteristics of a defensive environment  Evaluation  Control  Stratagems  Superiority  Dogmatism Figure 5.5 Source: Patton, Giffin, and Patton Decision-Making Team Interaction. New York: Harper & Row. Class Notes: Team Process Observation Guide

Copyright © 2005 South-Western. All rights reserved.5–23 Emotional Issues Team members may struggle with emotional issues associated with teams:  Identity—who am I in this team?  Goals and needs—what do I want from this team?  Power and control—who will control what we do?  Intimacy—how close will we get to each other? Class Notes: Team Process Observation Guide

Copyright © 2005 South-Western. All rights reserved.5–24 Emotional Issues (cont’d) Group members may react to emotional issues by exhibiting behavior such as:  Fighting and controlling—asserting personal dominance  Withdrawing—trying to reduce discomfort by psychologically leaving the team  Dependency and counterdependency—waiting passively for a leader to emerge who will solve the problem or opposing anyone in the team who represents authority Class Notes: Team Process Observation Guide