UGBA105: Organizational Behavior

Week 3:

Managing Teams

2

Class agenda: Teams and Teamwork in Organizations

– Defining and describing teams in organizations– The goods and bads of teams and the problem of “fit”– Steps in team design– Excerpts from “12 Angry Men”– Leadership in teams

3

What is a team?

“A team is a small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, set of performance goals, and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable.”

Katzenbach and Smith: “The Discipline of Teams”

4

Top Management

TeamTeamProcessCoordinators

TeamTeamProcessCoordinators

TeamTeamProcessCoordinators

New product development process

Order fulfillment process

Procurement, logistics process

The team concept is central to the design of the modern horizontal organization

5

Read your way to a better team!

6

What kinds of teams exist in organizations?

• Executive and entrepreneurial teams• Off-line problem-solving teams

– Task forces– Quality circles; safety; productivity

• On-line production teams– E.g., NUMMI, Saturn

• Cross-functional (and cross-product) process teams– Product development

• Boundary-spanning (Chrysler)

– Strategic planning– Customer service (e.g., Xerox)

7

The myth of the executive team

8

An entrepreneurial team

9

A product development team in a mature corporation

10

What is good about teams?

• Greater flexibility• Greater motivation • Less resistance to change • Empowered people• Improved coordination & cooperation • Improved accountability & responsibility• Superior decision-making

11

Are teams or individuals better at decision-making?

• Teams make more accurate decisions

• Teams bring together greater diversity of skills, knowledge, points of view

• Teams (diverse ones) are more creative

• Greater acceptance of decisions by team members

12

What are the downsides to teamwork?

• Slowness, inefficiency• Coordination costs • Increased uncertainty and risk • Accountability problems • Politics, conflict, stalemate• Groupthink

13

The problem of groupthinkDefinition: When members fail to disagree, to bring up doubts and fears, or to bring

up information that contradicts the team’s decision. Suddenly, they are going in a direction that makes no one happy simply because no one wants to cause conflict.

Components:– Illusion of invulnerability– Rationalizations collectively devised to discount negative feedback– Unquestioning belief by members in team’s inherent morality and stereotyped negative

views of external detractors– Direct pressure on any individual who expresses doubts about the team’s shared

illusions or questions validity of the majority view– Reluctance to deviate from what appears to be team consensus despite misgivings, and

tendency to minimize personal doubts– Escalation of commitment

14

15

A Contemporary ExampleOn February 7, 1999, the audit committee of Enron

Corporation’s board of directors gathered in London to hear rather startling news. The company’s auditors described Enron’s accounting practices as “high risks.” David B. Duncan, who headed up the Arthur Anderson L.L.P. team at the company, informed the committee that Enron’s accounting was “pushing the limits” and was “’at the edge’ of acceptable practice”. However, none of the directors “objected to the procedures described by the auditors, requested a second opinion, or demanded a more prudent approach.”

--John A. Byrne (Feb 2002) Business Week

16

The value of diversity and dissent (Based on Charlan Nemeth’s jury research)

• Exposure to minority viewpoints, even when they’re wrong, stimulates divergent thought and a search for information  – Leads to better performance and decision-making, more creativity. – Downsides are: conflict, low morale, persecution of minorities

• How about role playing at dissent: The devil’s advocate? – Doesn’t work. Need an authentic minority. Devil’s advocates can reinforce

the convictions of the group.

 We profit from people with whom we disagree. But we don’t give them credit – we get angry.   

17

Are teams always better?

Achieving “fit” to:

– People– Culture– Management– Tasks and technology– Formal structure– Formal systems

18

Teams were a bad fit for Levi’s

19

But teams are key to Southwest Air’s fast turnarounds

20

Designing effective teams

The set-up• Size • GoalsThe resources• Authority/empowerment• Material resources• InformationThe structure• Roles and skills• Demographics • IncentivesThe culture• Values and norms • Training

21

Market-ing

Market-ing

Engineering

Engineering

Manu-facturing

Manu-facturing

Human Resources

Human Resources

Manage-ment

Manage-ment

How are teams structured? Like this?

Account-ing

Account-ing

22

Or like this?

Market-ing

Market-ing

Human resources

Human resources

Engin-eering

Engin-eering

Account-ing

Account-ing

Manu-facturing

Manu-facturing

23

Roles that every team should have: Facilitator: Moderator of group process. Makes sure the group stays

on target and points out issues that may derail the group. Not the decision maker (the group is), so does not have final say on any decision.

Timekeeper: In charge of making sure the group stays on track (e.g., you don’t stay up until 4:00am working on a marketing project).

Recorder: In charge of taking notes. Effectively, the “group memory”, charged with ensuring that good ideas are not lost.

Comic relief: Self-appointed position; usually the person with the worst PowerPoint or Excel skills. Helps the group keep a sense of humor about the fact that it is 4:00am & you have just started phase II of the project that is due at 8:20am. (Please note that the timekeeper & facilitator should be shot for this.)

24

Cultural patterns of functional teams • Openness: Members encourage flexibility, experimentation, and

creativity

• Empathy: Members attempt to listen and to understand each other’s views and values

• Equality: Members respect the positions of others and no one is made to feel inferior

• Spontaneity: Members express ideas freely and honestly without hidden motives

• Problem orientation: Members openly discuss mutual problems without rushing to give solutions or insist on agreement

25

Cultural patterns of dysfunctional teams

• Evaluation: Members’ manner of speech, tone of voice, or verbal content is perceived as critical or judgmental of others

• Control: Communication is perceived as an attempt to manipulate or dominate the recipient

• Strategems: Members are seen as operating from hidden motives, playing games, feigning emotion, withholding information, or having private access to sources of data

• Superiority: Members convey an attitude of condescension toward others

• Dogmatism: Members insist that their own points are best and try to foist them on the team

26

Which describes Dilbert’s world

27

Training for teamwork Meeting skills, time management Conflict management Problem-solving Group dynamics, team building Change management Communication Coaching and feedback skills Business knowledge (e.g., customer service)

28

Outward Bound and similar team-building programs may

help• Break down status and

role distinctions• Foster real

interdependence & cooperation

• Cognitive dissonance builds commitment

29

And now, our feature presentation ...

30

Leadership in teams

31

L

L

L

L

L = Leader

Start - up

Transitional

Experienced

Mature

C. Manz & H. SimsBusiness Without BossesJohn Wiley, 1993

(Formal) leaders are most important in the early stages ofteam development

32

Leadership - followership roles rotate in mature teams

L

L

L

L

L

One definition teamwork: continuous rotation of leader and follower roles

33

Leadership behaviors:Instrumental (task-oriented)

• Initiating: Stating the goal or problem,making proposals– “Let’s set up an agenda..”

• Seeking information or opinions: – “What do you think would be the best approach to this, Jack”

• Providing information and opinions: – “I worked on a similar problem last year, and..”

• Clarifying: Helping one another understand ideas and suggestions– “What you mean, Sue, is that we could…”

• Elaborating: “Building on Don’s idea, we could…”• Summarizing: Reviewing points covered & ideas expressed so decisions are

made on full information– Appointing a recorder to take notes

• Consensus testing: Testing if group is near decision or needs to continue discussion– “Is the group ready to decide about this…”

34

Leadership behaviors:Maintenance (socio-emotional)

• Harmonizing: Mediating conflict, reconciling differences, relieving tensions– “Don, I don’t think you and Sue really see the question that differently.”

• Compromising: Admitting error at times of conflict– “Well, I’d be willing to change if you provided some help on…”

• Gate-keeping: Making sure all members have a chance to express ideas and feelings– “Sue, we haven’t heard from you on this issue.”

• Encouraging: Helping a member make his or her point; creating climate of acceptance– “I think what you started to say is important, Jack. Please continue.”

35

How dysfunctional leaders arise• Formal leader abdicates authority

• Criticisms become personal

• Divergent team goals (revenge, bigotry, disinterest, time)

• Low information flow

• No rules of engagement, etc

• Bad time management

• Decision biases

36

More dysfunctional roles

• Blocker

• Recognition seeker

• Bully

• Avoider

37

Leading a dysfunctional team• Adopt a Socratic leadership style

• Attack data and logic, not persons

• Don’t polarize others in group against you

• Remain calm

• Don’t reveal an explicit position that can be attacked – appear neutral

38

Key points to remember

• Just any old group of people is not a team

• Teams are not always the answer

• To ensure success, teams must be carefully designed and supported

• Being a good team member requires effort

• Leading teams is tricky business

39

Tuesday

• Lecture tie-up, business

• Prepare case: “The team that wasn’t”

• Project team discussions