Team Effectiveness Criteria

1
Team Effectiveness Criteria

• 1. Does the teams output meet the standards of
  those who have to use that output?
• 2. Does the team experience enhance the
  capability of the members to work together in the
  future?
• 3. Does the team experience contribute to the
  personal well-being and development of the
  members?

2
Potential Advantages of Using Teams for Problem
Solving

• Greater Range and Diversity of Information and
  Ideas
• Better Memory and Error Detection
• Potential for Synergistic Problem Solving (where
  solution is superior to the ideas of any one
  individual)
• Greater Buy-in which May Facilitate Decision
  Implementation

3
Potential Disadvantages of Using Teams

• Process can be time consuming
• Personal or political agendas
• Domination by one or more members
• Diffusion of responsibility
• Conformity pressures and/or Groupthink
• Dysfunctional conflict
• Dysfunctional roles

4
Factors Affecting Team Effectiveness

• External Context
• reward system
• organization structure
• org. culture and politics
• time pressures
• physical resources

Task

• Team Process
• norms
• conflict
• conformity
• development

• Team Outcomes
• Performance
• Satisfaction of Members

• Membership
• personalities
• motivation levels
• skills and knowledge

• Team Structure
• size
• diversity
• Roles
• cohesion

5
A Teams Actual Performance Does Not Always Equal
its Potential Performance
Actual Performance
Potential Performance
Process Gains
Process Losses
-


Potential performance The level of performance
that one would expect given the capabilities of
the individual members Process gains Increases
in performance resulting from effective
coordination and motivation Process losses
Performance difficulties that a group experiences
due to coordination and motivation problems (e.g.
social loafing)
6
Designing Managing a Team

• Setting and communicating the agenda
• Determining the type of teamwork needed
• Choosing the right mix of people
• Shaping the teams culture
• Coaching the team and providing feedback
• Managing the teams boundaries

7
Common Characteristics of Effective Teams

• Agreed-Upon Goals and Clear Group Identity
• Shared Responsibility and Accountability
• Open and Two-Way Communication
• Participative Leadership and Decision Making
• Encouragement and Acceptance of Dissent
• Explicit Attention to and Management of Process
• Flexible Procedures and Use of Resources

8
Essential Group Process Skills

• Interpersonal Skills
• Establish shared goals commitment
• Active listening open communication
• Establish equal power and influence
• Encourage and support participation
• Resolve conflict

• Decision Making Skills
• Identify problem/issue
• Select decision criteria
• Develop alternatives
• Analyze alternatives
• Select alternative
• Implement decision
• Evaluate decision effectiveness over time

9
Common Pitfalls in Managing Teams

• Calling it a team but managing it as a set of
  individuals
• Not finding the right balance between assigning
  and withholding authority
• Providing inadequate structure and/or support
• Assuming team members possess the necessary
  teamwork skills, and hence not providing adequate
  process coaching
• Believing that agreement is good, disagreement
  bad

10
Strategies For Avoiding Groupthink

• Leader should assign role of critical evaluator
  to everyone.
• Leader should not state his/her preference or
  point of view early on in the discussion.
• Have subgroups independently develop solutions,
  then compare.
• Assign one person the role of devils advocate.
• Hold second chance meetings allow people to
  express any doubts they have after having had a
  chance to think about it.
• Ensure the team is diverse with respect to
  backgrounds and perspectives.

11
Keeping a Team Small

• Advantages
• Easier coordination
• More input from members
• High motivation and commitment
• Less diffusion of responsibility and social
  loafing
• More satisfied members

• Disadvantages
• Less resources at the teams disposal (ideas,
  perspectives, labor)
• Less potential for division of labor

12
EFFECTS OF TEAM DIVERSITY

• CONS
• Leads to low cohesion, mistrust, stereotyping
• Can create factions or cliques, and power
  struggles
• Slows down team dynamics
• - Translation problems
• - Disagreement on content
• - Counterproductive behavior
• Conflict leads to inability to
• - Validate ideas
• - Gain consensus
• - Take concerted action
• Teams can become less efficient, effective,
  productive

• PROS
• Increases creativity
• - Wider range of perspectives
• - Less groupthink
• Prompts efforts to understand others values and
  ideas
• Creativity can lead to
• - Better problem definition
• - More alternatives
• - Better solutions
• - Better decisions
• Teams can become more efficient, effective,
  innovative, productive

13
When is Diversity Most Likely to be an Asset?

• When need for creativity and debate is greater
  than need for cohesion or agreement
• For complex tasks that require specialized roles
• During idea generation and problem analysis
  stages
• When despite diversity, members share a common
  goal and some common values
• When the diversity is openly recognized and
  actively managed

14
Managing Diversity Effectively

• Selective training. Recognize similarities
  differences.
• Audit members abilities and assign roles tasks
  accordingly
• Establish and maintain focus on superordinate
  team goals
• Foster mutual respect, equal power, and equal
  participation
• Identify conflict and use appropriate resolution
  tactics
• Encourage open communication build
  relationships between subgroups
• Provide group-based rewards for teams that use
  diversity effectively
• Provide a clear vision for the role of diversity
  back it up with action
• Create diverse teams for high profile jobs. Make
  expectations for behavior clear. Make
  performance evaluations and rewards contingent on
  fulfilling these expectations. Recognize team
  achievements. Publicly sanction actions that
  discourage diverse or dissenting ideas.

15
Cohesiveness and Productivity Norms
MODERATE PRODUCTIVITY Partial agreement on
norms that favor high group productivity
HIGH PRODUCTIVITY Strong agreement on
norms that favor high group productivity
High
Group Productivity Norms
MODERATE PRODUCTIVITY Partial agreement on
norms that favor low group productivity

LOW PRODUCTIVITY Strong agreement on
norms that favor low group productivity
Low
Low
High
Group Cohesiveness
16
Group Cohesiveness
GROUP COHESIVENESS
HIGH
LOW
17
Immature group poor dysfunctional low inflex
ible poor unclear not accepted independent lo
w low
Mature group excellent functional high flexi
ble excellent clear accepted interdependent h
igh high
1. Feedback mechanism 2. Decision-making
methods 3. Group loyalty/cohesion 4. Operating
procedures 5. Use of member resources 6.
Communications 7. Goals 8. Authority
relations 9. Participation in leadership 10.
Acceptance of minority views
18
The Changing Nature of Work

• Little guaranteed job security
• Increasing mobility
• Employees as free agents
• Increasing reliance on contingent, temporary or
  part-time workers
• Portfolio careers based around projects rather
  than positions
• Many employees working outside of traditional
  office arrangements (telecommuting, etc.)

19
Advantages of New Model

• For Employees
• Encourages skill development and career
  self-mgmt.
• Greater flexibility in terms of work arrangements
• Continual new opportunities
• Many companies are offering great jobs with great
  amenities to attract and retain people
• For Organizations
• Greater flexibility
• A workforce that is better trained and
  cutting-edge
• Lower fixed labor rates (although this is
  debatable)
• Increased ability to concentrate on core
  competencies

20
Disadvantages of New Model

• For Employees
• Job insecurity, uncertainty, stress
• Fewer benefits, sometimes lower paying jobs
• Pressure to maintain skills and fear of
  obsolescence
• For Organizations
• Risk of losing most valuable employees
• Less loyal and more self-interested workforce
• Harder to monitor and motivate employees
• Higher turnover may affect customer service,
  organizational learning, long-term thinking, costs