How can we create high performance teams? How can team processes be improved? How can team communications be improved? How can team decisions be improved? Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Characteristics of High Performance Teams  Set a clear and challenging direction.  Believe in the goals and motivated to work hard to accomplish them.  Turn a general sense of purpose into specific objectives.  Set standards for measuring results and obtain feedback.  Members have the right mix of technical, problem-solving and interpersonal skills. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Team Building  Collaborative way to gather and analyze data about the team’s work. The goal is improved teamwork and increased team effectiveness. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Step 1: Problem or opportunity in team effectiveness Step 2: Data gathering and analysis Step 3: Planning for team improvement Step 4: Actions to improve team functioning Step 5: Evaluation of results Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Teamwork Participation by all members

Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Formal retreat approach  Team building occurs during an offsite “retreat.” Outdoor experience approach  Members engage in a variety of physically challenging situations that require teamwork. Continuous improvement approach  The manager, team leader, or group members take responsibility for ongoing team building.

Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. New members may worry about:  Participation  Goals  Control  Relationships  Processes

Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Tough Battler Acts aggressive Seeks authority Friendly Helper Acts insecure Tries to be helpful Objective Thinker Acts reflective Wants clear goals

Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Distributed leadership  Sharing of responsibility for meeting group task and maintenance needs. Task activities  Various things members and leaders do that directly contribute to the performance of important group tasks. Maintenance activities  Support the social and interpersonal relationships among team members.

Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Offering ideas Clarifying suggestions Giving information Seeking information Summarizing discussion Task Contributions Encouraging others Reconciling differences Expressing standards Offering agreement Inviting participation Maintenance Contributions

Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Disruptive behaviors:  Bullying and being overly aggressive toward other members.  Withdrawing and refusing to cooperate with others.  Using the group as a forum for self-confession.  Talking too much about irrelevant matters.  Trying to compete for attention and recognition.

Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Role  Set of expectations associated with a job or position on a team.. Role ambiguity Occurs when a person is uncertain about his or her role and what is expected.

Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Role overload  Occurs when too much is expected of the individual. Role underload  Occurs when too little is expected of the individual.

Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Role conflict  Occurs when a person is unable to respond to role expectations that conflict with one another.  Forms of role conflict  Intrasender, Intersender, Person- role, Inter-role.

Role negotiation  Process for discussing and agreeing upon what team members expect of one another.  Team members meet to discuss, clarify, and agree on their individual role expectations each holds for the other. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Norms  Represent ideas or beliefs about how members are expected to behave.  Considered rules or standards of conduct that are supposed to guide members.  Help members to guide their own behavior and predict what others will do.

Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Key norms that can have positive or negative implications.  Performance norms.  Ethics norms.  Organizational and personal pride norms.  High-achievement norms.  Support and helpfulness norms.  Improvement and change norms.

Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Positive role model Set aside time to discuss goals and norms Select members who can and will live up to desired norms Reward and positively reinforce desired behaviors Leaders can Influence Norms

Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Cohesiveness  The degree to which members are attracted to a group and motivated to remain a part of it.  There is a strong relationship between cohesiveness, conformity to group norms, and performance.

Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Inter-team dynamics  The relationships between groups cooperating and competing with one another. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Ways to achieve positive inter-team dynamics  Refocusing members on a common enemy or goal.  Negotiating directly.  Engaging members, of different teams, in activities learning how to work cooperatively together.  Refocusing reward systems to emphasize contributions to overall organizational performance and on how much teams help one another. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

To assure high performance, team interaction patterns and communication networks must be aligned with interaction patterns and team tasks.  Centralized  Decentralized  Restrictive Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Decentralized communication network  Members communicate directly, as needed, and share information with one another. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Centralized communication network  Team leader acts as a central control point.  Team leader collects and distributes information among members.  Members work independently. Results are passed to the team leader and pooled to create finished product. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Restricted communication network  Subgroups disagree with one another’s positions.  Poor communication is characteristic of this type of situation. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Proxemics involves use of space as people interact.  Architects and consultants that specialize in office design help executives create spaces conducive to intense communication and teamwork needed in today’s work environment.  Design of office space, and the size and availability of meeting rooms can positively impact the effectiveness of team communication.

Virtual communication networks  Technology provide numerous resources for real time communication.  Empowers team members to be in constant electronic contact with one another or a central database.  Online team building activities are critically important to high quality results. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

What innovations in electronic communication do you predict in your working lifetime? Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Teams make decisions by choosing from alternative actions.  Decision by lack of response  One idea after another is suggested without any discussion-taking place.  Decision by authority rule  The chairperson, manager, or leader makes a decision for the team.  Decision by minority rule  Two or three people are able to dominate or “railroad” the group into making a decision to which they agree. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

 Decision by majority rule  Formal voting usually takes place, or members may be polled, publicly or confidentially, to find the majority viewpoint.  Decision by consensus  Discussion leads to one alternative being favored by most members and the other members agree to support it.  Decision by unanimity  All group members agree totally on the course of action to be taken. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Assets and Liabilities of Consensus and Unanimity  Advantages:  More information, knowledge and expertise is applied to solve problem.  Discussion leads to broader understanding of final decision.  Increases acceptance and strengthens commitment of members to follow through and support decision.  Disadvantages:  Imperfect decisions may result from social pressures to conform to group, or undue influence of team leader.  Team decisions take more time than individual decisions. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Groupthink  The tendency of members in highly cohesive groups to lose their critical evaluative capabilities. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Avoiding groupthink Leader refrains from announcing any position. Every team member acts as critical evaluator. Different sub-groups explore same problems. Bring in outside experts to evaluate information, realism of goals, and plans for action. Assign someone to be a “devil’s” advocate at each team meeting. Rotate an appointed team "devil's advocate" so that no one particular person appears to dissent. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Brainstorming  Used in teams to actively generate as many ideas and alternatives as possible.  All criticism is ruled out  All ideas are welcomed  Emphasis on creativity and imagination  Quantity is wanted  Building on others’ ideas or “piggy- backing” is encouraged Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Think about how team cohesiveness and groupthink might be related. Can cohesiveness ever reduce groupthink?  For example, when there is a cohesive team, and members are familiar with each other, they may be less likely to censor their opinions and more likely to disagree.  Agree or disagree? Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Nominal group technique  Members are asked to respond individually and in writing to a “nominal” question. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Delphi technique  Involves generating decision-making alternatives through a series of survey questionnaires. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.