Improving Performance Through Empowerment, Teamwork, and Communication

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Chapter 10 Improving Performance Through
Empowerment, Teamwork, and Communication
Learning Goals
Describe the factors that cause conflict in teams
and how to manage conflict. Explain the
importance and process of effective
communication. Compare the different types of
communication. Explain external communication
and how to manage a public crisis.
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Describe why how organizations empower
employees. Distinguish among the five types of
teams in the workplace. Identify the
characteristics of an effective team. Summarize
the stages of team development. Relate
cohesiveness and norms to effective team
performance.
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EMPOWERING EMPLOYEES Empowerment Giving employees
authority and responsibility to make decisions
about their work without traditional managerial
approval and control. Sharing Information and
Decision-Making Authority Ways to empower
employees  Keeping them informed about
companys financial performance.  Giving them
broad authority to make workplace decisions that
implement a firms vision and its competitive
strategy.
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Linking Rewards to Company Performance Employee
Stock Ownership Plans  10 million workers at
11,500 companies participate.  Gives employees
ownership, motivating them to work smarter and
harder.  Studies show profits rise an average 14
percent in companies with ESOPs. Stock Options
 Right to buy a specified amount of company
stock at a given price within a given time
period. Being offered more and more to
employees at all different levels.  Still,
one-third of all options go to the top five
executives at a firm.
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TEAMS Team Group of employees who are committed
to a common purpose, approach, and set of
performance goals. Hold selves mutually
responsible and accountable for accomplishing
objectives. Ability to work on teams often
emphasized during the hiring process. Work team
A group of people with complementary skills who
are committed to a common purpose.  Two-thirds
of U.S. firms currently use them.
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Work team A group of people with complementary
skills who are committed to a common
purpose. Problem-solving team A temporary
combination of workers who gather to solve a
specific problem and then disband. Self-managed
team A work team empowered with the authority to
decide how its members complete their daily
tasks. Cross-functional team A team made up of
members from different functions, such as
production, marketing, and finance. Virtual team
Group of geographically or organizationally
dispersed co-workers who use a combination of
telecommunications and information technologies
to accomplish an organizational task.
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TEAM CHARACTERISTICS Team Size  Can range
widely, but most have fewer than 12 members.
Research says ideal size is often six or seven
members. Team Level and Team Diversity Team
level Average level of ability, experience,
personality, or any other factor on a team. Team
diversity Variances or differences in ability,
experience, personality, or any other factor on a
team.
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Stages of Team Development
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Forming Orientation period during which team
members get to know each other and find out what
behaviors are acceptable to the group.
Storming  Members clarify their roles and
expectations conflicts occur. Norming  Members
resolve differences among them, accept each
other, and reach broad agreement about the roles
of the team leader and other participants.
Performing  Members focus on solving problems
and accomplishing tasks at the performing
stage. Adjourning  Team disbands at the
adjourning stage after members have completed
their assigned task or solved the problem.
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Team Cohesiveness and Norms Team cohesiveness
Extent to which team members feel attracted to
the team and motivated to remain part of it.
Typically increases when members interact
frequently, share common attitudes and goals, and
enjoy being together.  Cohesive teams quickly
achieve high levels of performance and
consistently perform better. Team norm Informal
standard of conduct shared by team members that
guides their behavior. Can be positive or
negative.
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Team Conflict Conflict Antagonistic interaction
in which one party attempts to thwart the
intentions or goals of another. Cognitive
conflict focuses on problem-related differences
of opinion Reconciling these differences
strongly improves team performance. Affective
conflict refers to the emotional reactions that
can occur when disagreements become personal
rather than professional. Strongly decreases
team performance. Team leaders should
facilitate good communication so that teammates
respect each other and work cooperatively.
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THE IMPORTANCE OF EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION Communic
ation Meaningful exchange of information through
messages. Managers spend 80 percent of their
time in direct communication with others.
Company recruiters rate effective communication
as the most important skill theyre looking for
in hiring new college graduates. Find out more
about Effective Communication.
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The Process of Communication
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Sender encodes a message and sends it through a
communication carrier, or channel. Audience
receives and decodes the message, interpreting
its meaning. Audience encodes feedback.
 Sender uses feedback to determine whether the
audience has correctly interpreted the intended
meaning of the message.
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 Noise is any interference that influences the
transmission of messages and feedback.
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 All communication occurs in a situational or
cultural context.  Communication in low-context
cultures tends to rely on explicit written and
verbal messages.  U.S., Switzerland, Germany,
Austria  Communication in high-context cultures
depends not only on the message itself but also
on the conditions that surround it, including
nonverbal cues, past and present experiences,
and personal relationships between the
parties.  Japan, Latin America, India
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Basic Forms of Communication
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Listening Receiving a message and interpreting
its intended meaning by grasping the facts and
feelings it convey. Common listening
behaviors Cynical listening Receiver of a
message feels that the sender is trying to gain
some advantage from the communication.
 Offensive listening Receiver tries to catch
the speaker in a mistake or contradiction.
Polite listening Receiver listens mechanically to
be polite rather than to communicate. Active
listening Requires involvement with the
information and empathy with the speakers
situation the basis for effective
communication. Grapevine Internal information
channel that transmits information from
unofficial source.
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EXTERNAL COMMUNICATION CRISIS MANAGEMENT External
communication Meaningful exchange of information
through messages transmitted between an
organization and its major audiences. Uses
include Keep operations functioning
Maintain position in the marketplace Build
customer relationships by supplying information
about topics such as product modifications and
price changes.
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Steps for dealing with a public crisis
Respond quickly when a crisis occurs and with a
prepared statement. Put top company
management in front of the press as soon as
possible.  Stick to facts when answering
reporters questions  If you dont know the
answer to a question, offer to find out.
Never say no comment, which is perceived as a
statement of guilt. Identify and speak to
your audience. Acknowledge problems and
explain solutions.