1. Teams and Teamwork

2. Teams and Teamwork
People have the need to work in teams. There is a desire to work with others and enjoy the benefits of your work and your successes together; these…satisfactions are as important today as they have ever been. -Andy Grove, Chairman of Intel, Inc.
I learned a long time ago that in team sports or in business, a group working together can always defeat a team of individuals even if the individuals, by themselves, are better than your team…If you’re going to empower people and you don’t have teamwork; you’re dead. -John Chambers, CEO of Cisco Systems

3. Teams in Organizations
“Two heads are better than one”
“Too many cooks spoil the broth”
“A camel is a horse put together by committee.”
Most tasks in an organization are more complicated than a single person can achieve alone.
Teams are more and more common in today’s workplace.
Managers have to figure out the best way to use teams to EVERYONE’S advantage.

4. Teams in ORganizations
For understanding:
A team is a collection of people who regularly interact to achieve a common goal.
Teamwork is the PROCESS of people actively working together to accomplish common goals.
Before we get started today.
When the basketball team picture shows up, say “BUT teams apply all over the place.”

5. Teamwork Pros and Cons
There are 4 roles that managers must perform in order to deal with the challenges of teams.
1. Supervisor – Head of the team.
2. Facilitator – Peer leader and networking hub.
3. Participant – Be a member of the team. Work, do your bit, contribute.
4. Coach – Get the team through problems. Do not always be involved. Show them how.
“Networking hub” is a term for the person who puts team members in touch with the resources they require. Draw these on the whiteboard.

6. Teamwork pros and cons
One problem with teams is “Social loafing.” This is the tendency of some people to avoid responsibility. It is also called “free-loading” or “free-riding.”
To fight this, managers need to give proper responsibilities to everyone, give everyone a meaningful task, and try to allow connections to form between members.
Managers have to know when teams are the best choice for a task. They also have to know how to work with and within a team.
Keeping teams small and tasks simple and clear makes it easier to identify free riders.
If people know their responsibilities, it is harder to get away with nothing.

7. TEAMWORK PROS AND CONS Some other common problems:
Personality conflicts
Differences in personality styles
Tasks not clear
Badly identified problems, unclear schedules
Not everyone is ready to work. -Motivation? -Conflicts with other priorities?
Low enthusiasm for group work -lack of progress? -Meetings without purpose.
Badly identified problems and unclear schedules make teams focus in the wrong spot and use a lot of time.

8. Team Leader sKills
Go to W108

9. Why Meetings Fail SEVEN SINS OF DEADLY MEETING
Meetings are very often pointless. A lot of employees hate hearing “meeting.” They see it as a waste of time.
It is important that if meetings are held, to actually do things that are suggested in them.
They are important: information is shared to everyone at once, in person. Decisions are made at them
SEVEN SINS OF DEADLY MEETING
1. People arrive late, leave early, don’t take it seriously.
2. Meeting is too long: sometimes twice as long.
3. People do not stay on topic: easy distractions.
4. People unwilling to tell the truth.
5. Right information is not available, decisions are postponed.
6. Decisions are not put into action.
7. Things never get better, mistakes keep getting made in future meetings.

10. Synergy and the Usefulness of Teams
Synergy is the creation of a whole greater than the sum of its individual parts.
Happens when a team uses all the resources available to it.
Results in much more action than possible by a bunch of individuals.
Being part of a team can have a very positive effect on each worker. -Attitudes and behaviours.
Behaviours should change because the members do not want to let down the other members of the team.

11. What do teams offer? More resources for problem solving
Improved creativity and innovation
Improved quality of decision making
Greater commitment to tasks
Higher motivation through collective action
Better control and work discipline
More individual need satisfaction

12. Formal and informal groups
Formal groups – officially recognized and supported by the organization.
This could be a department, a unit, or a division.
It would usually have a supervisor, a manager, or a team leader.
Managers are part of the team they run, and also part of a team on the level above them.
Informal groups – unofficial and develop from interests and relationships shared by members.
Not recognized by the organization.
Present in all organizations.
Interest groups, friendship groups, support groups
The informal groups are the ones that meet Maslow’s Third Level on the pyramid: social satisfactions, security, support, sense of belonging.

13. Trends in the use of teams
The trend is towards MORE teams in the workplace. This allows more employee empowerment.
Technologies and new methods allow for different kinds of teams.

14. Committees, Project Teams, and task forces
Committees -work on a special task on a continuing basis -Led by a chairperson (chosen by the organization)
Project Teams/Task Forces -Same as a committee, but broken up after the task is complete. -Very specific tasks.
Organizations use committees to look at certain concerns, diversity, health and safety, compensation, party planning!
Project teams could be used to…create a new schedule, redesign an office/classroom, or design a uniform.

15. Cross Functional Teams
Cross–functional teams have members from different functional units of an organization.
Members would come from sales, marketing, engineering, finance, operations, etc.
Everyone would put input from their department in so the goal would achieve the different departments’ needs.

16. 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.

17. 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.