Virtual teams These are teams that work together and solve problems through computer-based interactions. What are some benefits? Drawbacks? They save time, travel expenses, time efficient without interpersonal difficulties. Information gets out quickly, closer customer relations (time efficiency), full time and part-time employees together working together seamlessly, recruitment of talent anywhere, working from home more often. They can also be expanded easily, information shared can be stored online for easy updates and access. There are negatives: no face-to-face interaction can hurt communication process, no real connection to the team.

Virtual Teams Virtual teams should begin with social messaging that allows members to exchange information about themselves to personalize the process Members should be given clear roles so they can focus while working alone and know what others are doing. Members must join and be a part of the team with positive attitudes that support a willingness to work hard to meet team goals.

Self-Managing work teams Members of a self-managing work team are given the power to decide how they do their jobs and share their work. They plan and schedule their own work, they train members in different tasks, set and attain their own goals. Sometimes, these teams can even hire and fire who they want.

Self-Managing Work Teams Members are held collectively accountable for performance results. Members have discretion in distributing tasks within the team. Members have discretion in scheduling work within the team. Members are able to perform more than one job on the team. Members train one another to develop multiple job skills. Members evaluate one another’s performance contributions. Members are responsible for the total quality of team products. PARTICIPATION IS VERY IMPORTANT

How teams work The way members interact and work together to transform inputs into outputs -Communication -Decision making -Norms -Cohesion -Conflict Organizational Setting - Resources -Technology -Structures -Rewards -Information Nature of task -Clarity -Complexity Team Size -Number of members Membership Characteristics -Abilities -Values -Personalities -Diversity Group Process Accomplishment of desired outcomes -Task performance -Member satisfaction -Team viability Team Effectiveness Inputs Throughputs Outputs Feedback Effective teams achieve high levels of task performance, membership satisfaction, and future viability. They are open systems. Do you remember open systems? Teams are exactly like bigger scale organizations that are open systems. They take inputs…whatever they are. They turn those inputs into outputs through the group processes. The outputs are going to contribute to the processes…the reaction will change how they do things.

Group INputs The nature of the task affects how well a team will be able to complete a job. If a task is clearly defined, it is easier to combine work efforts. If a task is complex, more information needs to be exchanged and there is more intense interaction. Organizational setting also affects how team members relate to each other. -Technology, resources, structures, rewards, and information are going to affect that. Team size will impact relationships. Too big, and relationships struggle. Too small, and you lose out on problem-solving skills. An even-number could result in ties for voting.

Group Process Group process is the way that team members work together to accomplish tasks. This includes communication, decision making, conflict resolution, etc. The Team effectiveness Equation is: Team effectiveness = quality of inputs + (process gains – process losses)

Team diversity This could relate to values, personalities, experiences, demographics, cultures, or anything else. The more similar the membership, the easier it is to manage relationships. The more complex the diversity, the greater mix of ideas, perspectives, and experiences. This helps with problem-solving. DIVERSE TEAMS TEND TO BE MORE CREATIVE THAN HOMOGENOUS ONES.

Stages of team development There are 5 stages in the life cycle of any team 1. FORMING – Orientation and interpersonal testing 2. STORMING – Stage of conflict over tasks and working as a team 3. NORMING – Consolidation around task and operating agendas 4. PERFORMING – Stage of teamwork and focused task performance 5. ADJOURNING – Stage of task completion and disengagement Ok. Pick a partner…one group of three. You must read the paragraph for your stage. You must come up with a scenario and act it out for at least a minute. Be creative.

Very poor Very good 1. Trust among members 1 2 3 4 5 2. Feedback mechanisms 3. Open communications 4. Approach to decisions 5. Leadership sharing 6. Acceptance of goals 7. Valuing diversity 8. Member cohesiveness 9. Support for each other 10. Performance norms Where you DON’T want to be Where you DO want to be

NORMS AND COhesiveness A norm is a behaviour, rule, or standard that members are expected to follow. When they are violated, there should be sanctions, up to and including being kicked out. Teams that have positive performance norms tend to do better. Managers are there to develop norms that achieve objectives. How do they do this?

Norms and Cohesiveness Act as a positive role model Reinforce the desired behaviors with rewards Control results by performance reviews and regular feedback Train and orient new members to adopt desired behaviors Recruit and select new members who exhibit the desired behaviors Hold regular meetings to discuss progress and ways to improve Use team decision-making methods to reach agreement.

Norms and Cohesiveness Cohesiveness is the degree to which members are attracted to and motivated to remain part of a team. People in highly cohesive teams value membership and want to keep relations with other members. Low performance Strong commitments to negative norms High performance Strong commitment to Positive norms Team Cohesiveness So. Interestingly, if members of a team like each other, so, if there is high levels of cohesiveness, then they will be very interested in maintaining negative norms. Ideally, you end up with a team with high performance team…where there is a a strong feeling of togetherness and a commitment to the norms of the groups. So how do we achieve this as a manager? Low to moderate performance Weak commitments to negative norms Low performance Weak commitments to positive norms Performance Norms

Norms and cohesiveness Managers must: 1. Induce agreement on team goals 2. Increase membership homogeneity 3. Increase interactions among members 4. Decrease team size 5. Introduce competition with other teams 6. Reward team rather than individual results 7. Provide physical isolation from other teams. Homogeneity is how similar a group is.