bba102 wk2 ch16 groups & teams

BBA102 Week 2

Chapter 16

Teams and Teamwork

© John Wiley & Sons Australia

09/04/23 1BBA102 Wk2 Ch16 Groups & Teams

Chapter 16Teams and teamwork

EXAM questions

– How do teams contribute to organisations?– What are the current trends in the use of teams?– How do teams work?– How do teams make decisions?– What are the challenges of high-performance

team leadership?



How do teams contribute to organisations?

Team

– A small group of people with complementary skills, who work together to achieve a shared purpose and hold themselves mutually accountable for its accomplishment.

Teamwork

– The process of people actively working together to accomplish common goals – a shared vision




Team and teamwork roles for managers

– Supervisor — serving as the appointed head of a work unit

– Network facilitator — serving as a peer leader

– Helpful participant — serving as a helpful contributing member of the team

– External coach — serving a mentor or sponsor for team members.



Figure 16.2Organisational and management implications of self-

managing work teams




What can go wrong in teams?

– Social loafing• ‘Free riders’ who slack off because responsibility is

diffused and others are present to do the work

– Common problems:• Personality conflicts• Differences in work styles• Task ambiguity• Poor readiness to work.




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.




Usefulness of teams

– More resources for problem solving

– Improved creativity and innovation

– Improved quality of decision making

– Greater commitments to tasks

– Higher motivation through collective action

– Better control and work discipline

– More individual need satisfaction.




Formal groups

– Teams that are officially recognised and supported by the organisation for specific purposes

– May appear on the organisation chart

– A functional team is a formally designated work team with a manager or team leader.


9BBA102 Wk2 Ch16 Groups & Teams


Informal groups

– Not recognised on organisation charts

– Not officially created to serve an organisational purpose

– Emerge as part of the informal structure and from natural or spontaneous relationships among people.



What are the current trends in the use of teams?

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 important workplace matters

• Targeted towards continuous improvement

– Quality circles represent a common form of employee involvement teams.




International teams

– Teams that include members from at least two different countries

– Issues arising from cultural differences can derail international teams.

– The use of skilled facilitators can maximise effectiveness of international teams.




Self-managing work teams – semi-autonomous work teams

– Teams of workers whose jobs have been redesigned to create a high degree of task interdependence and who have been given authority to make many decisions about howto do the required work

– Also known as autonomous work groups.



Figure 16.3An open-systems model of work

team effectiveness



How are teams developed? Stages of team development

1. Forming — initial orientation and interpersonal testing

2. Storming — conflict over tasks and ways of operating as a team

3. Norming — consolidation around task and operating agendas

4. Performing — teamwork and focused task performance

5. Adjourning — task accomplishment and eventual disengagement.



How do teams work?

Cohesiveness

– The degree to which members are attracted to a team and motivated to remain part of a team

– Can be beneficial if paired with positive performance norms.



How do teams work?

Effects of team cohesiveness and norms

– Positive norms + high cohesiveness high performance and strong commitments to supportive norms.

– Positive norms + low cohesiveness moderate performance and weak commitments to supportive norms.



How do teams work?

Effects of team cohesiveness and norms

– Negative norms + low cohesiveness low-to-moderate performance and weak commitments to harmful norms.

– Negative norms + high cohesiveness low performance and strong commitments to harmful norms.



How do teams work? Guidelines for increasing team cohesion

– Induce agreement on team goals.

– Increase membership homogeneity.

– Increase interaction among members.

– Decrease team size.

– Introduce competition with other teams.

– Reward team rather than individual results.

– Provide physical isolation from other teams.



Figure 16.5How cohesiveness and norms influence team

performance



How do teams work?

Distributed leadership roles

– Make every member responsible for recognising when task and/or maintenance activities are needed and stepping in to provide them.

– Leading through task activities focuses on solving problems and accomplishing tasks.

– Leading through maintenance activities helps strengthen and perpetuate the team as a social entity.



Figure 16.6Distributed leadership helps teams meet task and

maintenance needs



How teams not work?

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



How do teams make decisions?

Symptoms of groupthink– Illusions of group invulnerability– Rationalising unpleasant and disconfirming data– Belief in inherent group morality– Negative stereotypes of competitors– Pressure to conform– Self-censorship– Illusions of unanimity– Mind guarding.




Methods for dealing with groupthink– Have each group member be a critical evaluator.– Don’t appear to favour one course of action.– Create sub-teams to work on the same problems.– Have team members discuss issues with outsiders.– Have outside experts observe and provide feedback

on team activities.– Assign a member to the devil’s advocate role.– Hold a second-chance meeting.




Creativity in team decision making

– Guidelines for brainstorming:

• All criticism is ruled out

• Freewheeling is welcomed

• Quantity is important

• Building on one another’s ideas is encouraged.




Creativity in team decision making– Steps in the nominal group technique:

1. Participants work alone, identifying possible solutions.

2. Ideas are shared in a round-robin fashion without any criticism or discussion.

3. Ideas are discussed and clarified in a round-robin sequence.

4. Members individually and silently follow a written voting procedure.

5. The last two steps are repeated as needed.



What are the challenges of high-performance team leadership?

Team building

– A sequence of planned activities used to gather and analyse data on the functioning of a team and to implement constructive changes to increase its operating effectiveness.




Steps in a cyclical team-building process:

1. Problem awareness

2. Data gathering

3. Data analysis and diagnosis

4. Action planning

5. Action implementation

6. Evaluation.




Characteristics of high-performing teams

– A clear and elevating goal– A task-driven, results-oriented structure– Competent and committed members who work

hard– A collaborative climate– High standards of excellence– External support and recognition– Strong and principled shared-leadership.




Effective team leaders act to:

– establish clear vision

– create change

– unleash talent.



MCQ

Which statement regarding teams and teamwork is NOT true?

A Teams are rich in performance potential.B Teams are complex in the way they work.C Teams are challenging to lead for high-

performance results.D Many tasks in organisations are beyond the

capabilities of people working alone.E Most workers receive team training. 09/04/23 BBA102 Wk2 Ch16 Groups & Teams 32

MCQ

Which of the following statements does NOT accurately describe group process?

A Group process includes how well team members communicate, make decisions and handle conflicts.

B When group process fails, team effectiveness can suffer.C Since group process is essential to team effectiveness, it

guarantees team success.D Teams must have the resource inputs needed to deal best

with the task at hand.E The organisational setting, nature of the task, team size

and membership characteristics are key inputs to group process.

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MCQTeam building is a multi-step process. Which of

the following is NOT a recommended team-building step?

A Become aware of potential problemsB Develop individual competitive goalsC Gather and analyse dataD Develop and implement action plansE Evaluate results


MCQ• With respect to teams and teamwork, the key

question for managers and team leaders is:A How do we make sure that teams and teamwork satisfy team

members?B How do we make sure that teams and teamwork benefit the

organisation financially?C How do we make sure that teams and teamwork are utilised

throughout the entire organisation?D How do we make sure that teams and teamwork are utilised to

everyone’s best advantage?E How do we make sure that teams and teamwork do not

consume excessive amounts of time?


Answers

• E• C• B• D


bba102 wk2 ch16 groups & teams

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