1 Team Development and Performance OS 386 October 17, 2002 Fisher

2 Agenda Review team development and performance models Conduct discussion on team roles Talk about team training, other performance issues Exam feedback (1:50)

3 Team Effectiveness: Outcomes Achieve organizational goals Get the project done Improve quality Reduce costs Satisfy team member needs Social needs Maintain team survival As long as needed by the organization!

4 Team Design Task characteristics Clear, easy to implement Interdependence Team size Larger teams require more coordination Team composition Heterogeneous teams are more complex, but tend to be better at problem solving

5 Stages of Team Development Existing teams might regress back to an earlier stage of development Forming Storming Norming Performing Adjourning Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

6 Team Norms Informal rules and expectations teams establish to regulate member behaviors Norms develop through:  Explicit statements  Critical events in team ’ s history  Initial team experiences  Beliefs/values members bring to the team

7 Team Roles Assessment described five roles Encourager Gatekeeper Harmonizer Initiator Summarizer Each can play important role on a team People typically are inclined to take on one or two of the roles

8 Team discussion Form into project teams Share results of team roles assessment Scores on each of the five dimensions Use results to think about how your team will function Prepare and hand in summary of your discussion

9 Team Roles Debrief How much variation was there among your team members? Were any roles missing in your team? Will this be a problem with your team paper? Are any of the roles more important than others?

10 Team Cohesiveness Cohesion leads to many positive outcomes Want to remain members Willing to share information Strong interpersonal bonds Resolve conflict effectively Factors leading to cohesive teams include Similarity Small size Experiencing team success

11 Team Training Taskwork Technical proficiency or skills Cross training Teamwork Skills related to effective team functioning Communication, coordination, conflict resolution Includes traditional teambuilding, adventure learning May include additional training for team leaders

12 A unique application How would you approach team training when teams have constantly changing memberships? Flight crews Emergency rooms

13 Team Efficacy and Performance Team Efficacy: a team ’ s belief in its capability to achieve a goal Studied in collegiate hockey Teams with higher efficacy were more likely to win Losses decreased team efficacy but not self-efficacy Implications for coaching Source: Feltz & Lirgg (1998). Perceived Team and Player Efficacy in Hockey. Journal of Applied Psychology, 83(4),

14 Integrating new team members New team members must learn taskwork, but must also become part of the group Judgments about in-group/out-group status are Often made quickly Made on the basis of several personality traits (e.g., agreeableness, extraversion) Process determines how much social influence the new team member will have

15 Key learning points It takes time to develop effective teams Norms, roles, cohesiveness, efficacy Team design factors can affect development Most teams must be trained on taskwork and teamwork

16 For next class Topic: Decision Making Read chapter 9, pages How do perceptual processes affect decision making? Which (if any) of the decision strategies do you use? Schedule change Oct 24: Communication Oct 29: Team Decision Making