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WORKING SMART THROUGH TEAMWORK

All of us know in our hearts that the ideal individual for a given job cannot be found. He cannot be found because he cannot exist.

This is why it is not the individual but the team that is key to the success of any enterprise.

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Definition Of A Team

A ‘team’ is defined as a group of members who must rely on group work to achieve success.

Members in team are organised around a common set of objectives and their work is mutually dependant.

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When To Form A Team

Conditions needed for a successful team : 1. A specified, measurable objective that

can be best achieved by a team effort. 2. Knowledge and use of various

problem-solving techniques. 3. An organisational culture that

supports the team concept. 4. Sufficient time for adequate training,

debating, and discussion

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Key Areas Of Resistance to Teams In Organisations

Organisational Structure

Management and Supervision

Individual Workers

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Reasons why workers resist being in a team:

1. Fear losing individual rewards and recognition

2. Fear losing individuality 3. Fear that teams will create more work

4. Fear assuming responsibility 5. Fear conflict

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Characteristics Of An Effective Team

1. Common commitment and identity2. Specific team purpose and goals3. Size of teams4. Skills mix5. Team roles6. Mutual accountability

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Size of Teams

For a team to be effective, there should be between 2 to 25 members

With the majority of them having less than 10 members.

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Size of Teams

• large group of more than 10 would have trouble interacting and communicating constructively.

• harder it is to manage.

• subgroups will emerge

• dominated by a few talkative and aggressive members.

• group of 4 to 8 allows everyone to say something

• Yet it is big enough for a range of specialized skills

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Skills Mix

1. Technical and functional expertise

2. Problem-solving and decision-making skills

3. Interpersonal skills

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Team Roles + Mutual Accountability

Every member of a successful team does equivalent amount of real work; all members, including the team leader, contribute in concrete ways to the team’s work product.

Team accountability is about the promises members make to themselves and others, promises that underpin two critical aspects of effective teams: commitment and trust.

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ROLES WITHIN A TEAM

A role is a set of expected behaviours associated with a position. Work teams have a set of expectations about how members in the team should behave in the team.

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Bales’ Interaction Process Analysis

▪Task-related roles▪Maintenance-related roles▪Defensive roles▪Dysfunctional roles

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Task-related Roles: Initiator – suggests new ideas, ways

of doing things. Information giver – offers relevant

facts, information Co-ordinator – brings together ideas,

suggestions Evaluator- measures progress, acts

as time

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Maintenance-related roles (Morale)

Maintenance-related Roles: Encourager – praises and supports contributions of

others. Gate keeper – opens channel of communication,

ensuring that quiet members who want to contribute can do so and close-down over-talkative members.

Harmoniser - helps to maintain the relationships between members by working to avoid conflict and reduce tension.

Group Co-ordinator – calls attention to group processes and offers suggestions about problems the group may have in functioning.

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Task or Maintenance?

1. “That’s a good idea, Jenny.” 2. “Tom, I think Marion would like to make a

point.” 3. “Are we agreed on the proposal?” 4. “Let’s move on then.” 5. “Are you saying that storage is a

problem?” 6. “Should we discuss the production issue

first?” 7. “You sound disappointed with the

suggestion.”

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Defensive Roles

Defensive roles are behaviours intended to protect the group from anxiety. Scapegoat - a member who tries to deflect

the group’s feelings of failure or incompetency from the group to himself.

Tension reliever - jokes, fills long silences with chatter or suggests breaks. Such a role helps the team when the tension is increasing and needs to be broken.

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Dysfunctional Roles

Dysfunctional roles are behaviours intended to distract the team from its purpose or to inhibit the team’s progress towards its goals. Examples:

1. Blocker – raises irrelevancies or argues a point for too long.

2. Pessimist – negative about task and/or group; gloomy.3. Aggressor - criticises or blames others in a hostile

manner.4. Rebel - breaks team norms and attacks authority. 5. Show-off -draws attention away from the team’s purpose.6. Lobbyist- puts personal goals ahead of team’s goals7. Recognition seeker - themselves ahead of needs of team.

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Belbin’s Team Role Theory  IMPLEMENTER  Disciplined, reliable, conservative and efficient. Turns ideas

into practical actions. Somewhat inflexible. Slow to respond to new possibilities.

CO-ORDINATOR Mature, confident, a good chairperson. Clarifies goals,

promotes decision-making, delegates well. Can often be seen as manipulative. Off loads personal work.

SPECIALIST Single-minded, self-starting, dedicated. Provides knowledge

and skills in rare supply. Contributes only on a narrow front. Dwells on technicalities.

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Belbin’s Team Role Theory

SHAPER Challenging, dynamic, thrives on pressure. The drive and

courage to overcome obstacles. Prone to provocation. Offends people's feelings.

PLANT Creative, imaginative, unorthodox. Solves difficult problems. Ignores incidentals. Too pre-occupied to communicate

effectively.

RESOURCE INVESTIGATOR Extrovert, enthusiastic, communicative. Explores

opportunities. Develops contacts. Over-optimistic. Loses interest once initial enthusiasm has

passed.

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Belbin’s Team Role Theory

MONITOR EVALUATOR Sober, strategic and discerning. Sees all options. Judges

accurately. Lacks drive and ability to inspire others.  COMPLETER FINISHER Painstaking, conscientious, anxious. Searches out errors

and omissions. Delivers on time. Inclined to worry unduly. Reluctant to delegate.  TEAMWORKER Co-operative, mild, perceptive and diplomatic. Listens,

builds, averts friction. Indecisive in crunch situations.

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COMMUNICATION SKILLS IN TEAMS

Speaking Skills Supportive Communication

An open supportive team encourages people to offer suggestions and solutions and to be part of the team process.

Supportive communication is genuine, spontaneous and non-evaluative.

Supportive communication creates a climate of trust, respect and cohesiveness within the team.

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Group Decision-Making Methods

Majority rule

Compromise

Consensus

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Outcomes:

a. Majority rule:Outcome:Win-lose

  b. Compromise:Outcome:

Lose-lose   c. Consensus: Outcome:

Win-Win

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Activity: Reaching Consensus To be involved in decision-making

processes  Instructions On your own, decide on the criteria you feel

are essential according to the information given below. Put your answers in the first column.

Next, discuss and agree on an acceptable list. Use the consensus reaching method to decide. Put the group’s decisions in the second column.

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Activity: Reaching Consensus

BACKGROUND

An anonymous donor has decided to make two $50,000 Engineer of The Year Awards to your polytechnic, one to a male and one to a female engineer whose professional and social lives best exemplify the phrase ‘an engineer of our times.’ Your group is a committee appointed by the donor to establish seven criteria by which nominees for the awards should be judged.