How do teams contribute to organizations?

1
How do teams contribute to organizations?

• Team
• A small group of people with complementary
  skills, who work together to achieve a shared
  purpose and hold themselves mutually accountable
  for performance results.
• Teamwork
• The process of people actively working together
  to accomplish common goals

2

• Team and teamwork roles for managers
• Supervisor serving as the appointed head of a
  formal work unit.
• Network facilitator serving as a peer leader an
  network hub for a special task force.
• Participant serving as a helpful contributing
  member of a project team.
• External coach serving as the external convenor
  or sponsor of a problem-solving team staffed by
  others.

3

• Common problems in teams
• Personality conflicts.
• Individual differences in work styles.
• Ambiguous agendas.
• Ill-defined problems.
• Poor readiness to work.
• Lack of motivation.
• Conflicts with other deadlines or priorities.
• Lack of team organization or progress.
• Meetings that lack purpose or structure.
• Members coming to meetings unprepared.

4

• Synergy
• The creation of a whole that is greater than the
  sum of its parts.
• A team uses its membership resources to the
  fullest and thereby achieves through collective
  action far more than could be achieved otherwise.

5

• Formal groups
• Teams that are officially recognized and
  supported by the organization for specific
  purposes.
• Specifically created to perform essential tasks.
• Managers and leaders serve linking pin roles.

6

• Informal groups
• Not recognized on organization charts.
• Not officially created for an organizational
  purpose.
• Emerge as part of the informal structure and from
  natural or spontaneous relationships among
  people.
• Include interest, friendship, and support groups.
• Can have positive performance impact.
• Can help satisfy social needs.

7
What are the current trends in the use of teams?

• Committees, project teams, and task forces
• Committees.
• People outside their daily job assignments work
  together in a small team for a specific purpose.
• Task agenda is narrow, focused, and ongoing.
• Projects teams or task forces.
• People from various parts of an organization work
  together on common problems, but on a temporary
  basis.
• Official tasks are very specific and time
  defined.
• Disbands after task is completed.

8

• Cross-functional teams
• Members come from different functional units of
  an organization.
• Team works on a specific problem or task with the
  needs of the whole organization in mind.
• Teams are created to knock down walls
  separating departments.

9

• Employee involvement teams
• Groups of workers who meet on a regular basis
  outside of their formal assignments.
• Have the goal of applying their expertise and
  attention to continuous improvement.
• Quality circles represent a common form of
  employee involvement teams.

10
How do teams work?

• Effective teams
• Achieve and maintain high levels of task
  performance.
• Achieve and maintain high levels of member
  satisfaction.
• Retain viability for the future.

11

• Resource input factors that influence group
  process in the pursuit of team effectiveness
• Nature of the task.
• Organizational setting.
• Team size.
• Membership characteristics.

12

• Group process
• The way the members of any team work together as
  they transform inputs into outputs
• Also known as group dynamics.
• Includes communications, decision making, norms,
  cohesion, and conflict, among others.

13

• Stages of team development
• Forming initial orientation and interpersonal
  testing.
• Storming conflict over tasks and ways of
  working as a team.
• Norming consolidation around task and operating
  agendas.
• Performing teamwork and focused task
  performance.
• Adjourning task accomplishment and eventual
  disengagement.

14

• Guidelines for building positive norms
• Act as a positive role model.
• Reinforce the desired behaviors with rewards.
• Control results by performance reviews and
  regular feedback.
• Orient and train new members to adopt desired
  behaviors.
• Recruit and select new members who exhibit
  desired behaviors.
• Hold regular meetings to discuss progress and
  ways of improving.
• Use team decision-making methods to reach
  agreement.

15

• Distributed leadership roles
• Make every member responsible for recognizing
  when task and/or maintenance activities are
  needed and taking actions to provide them.
• Leading through task activities focuses on
  solving problems and achieving performance
  results.
• Leading through maintenance activities helps
  strengthen and perpetuate the team as a social
  system.

16

• Dysfunctional activities that detract from team
  effectiveness
• Being aggressive
• Blocking
• Self-confessing
• Seeking sympathy
• Competing
• Withdrawal
• Horsing around
• Seeking recognition