12 Teams When the work to be done is difficult, complicated, and important—such as building a bridge, flying a spacecraft to the moon, or performing cardiac surgery—people turn to teams. When a group becomes a true team, it is transformed into a complex, adaptive, dynamic task- performing system. Are teams groups? How does the team’s composition influence effectiveness? What group processes mediate the input-output relationship? How effective are teams, and how can they be improved?
Transcript
12Teams
When the work to be done is difficult, complicated, and important—such as building a bridge, flying a spacecraft to the moon, or performing cardiac surgery—people turn to teams. When a group becomes a true team, it is transformed into a complex, adaptive, dynamic task-performing system. Teams are groups, but not all groups are teams.
Are teams groups?
How does the team’s composition influence effectiveness?
What group processes mediate the input-output relationship?
How effective are teams, and how can they be improved?
Teams
The Nature of
Teams
History of teams
What is a team?
Types of teams
Systems model
Building the Team
The team player
KSAs
Diversity
Men & Women
Working in Teams
Team processes
Cognitive processes
Cohesion
Team Performance
Evaluating teams
Suggestions
Preview
History of teams
The first documented use of the word team to describe groups of humans working collectively did not occur until the 1600s:
Twere like falling into a whole Shire of butter: they
had need be a teeme of Dutchmen, should draw him
out” (Ben Jonson, Bartholomew Fayre)
Team: from the old English and Norse word “for a bridle and thence to a set of draught animals harnessed together” (Annett & Stanton, 2001, p. 1045).
Half of the workers in the United States now belong to at least one team at work.
Nonprofit
Industry
Corporate
0 20 40 60 80 100
Percentage of Organi-zations Relying on
Teams by Type of In-dustry
Data Source: Devine et al., 1999
Teams are “extreme” groups, for each of the qualities of a typical group are exhibited, to an extreme degree, in a team
•concentrated•continuousInteraction
• performance/outcome focused
• collective goals rather than only individualistic ones
Goals
• tightly coupled dependencies
• member’s have interlocking abilities, skills…
Inter-dependenc
e• clearly defined roles and
norms• explicit lines of authority
communication are Structure
• cohesive• collective efficacyUnity
What is a team?
Management
Executive
Command
Project
Negotiation
Commission
Design
Advisory Work
Service
Production
Action
Performance
Medical
Response
Military
Transportation
Sports
Types of teams
Expeditions• Mobile, exploration
focused
Crews• Make use of tools,
equipment
Task Forces• Specific project, time
limited
Hackman identifies four types of teams based on responsibility for setting procedures and goals
• Manager-led
• Self-managing
• Self-designing
• Self-governing
Types of teams
Cross-functional teams (project groups composed of people with differing types of functional expertise) are common in many organizations, but they tend to be unstable and not particularly effective.
Task DemandsPsychological & Interpersonal Demands
How difficult is the task?
How complex is the task?
How important is the task?
How monotonous/dull is the task?
Desire for company (work partners)
Diffusion of responsibility
Social loafing “Romance of
Teams”
When teams?
The I-P-O Model of TeamsSystems model
Example: The 1980 US Hockey Team
Strong composition effects (fit of members)
Presence of “team players”
Individual level of skill and experience
Low diversity and high cohesion
Outstanding leadership
Building the Team
The team player
KSAs
Diversity
Men & Women
The Nature of
Teams
Working in Teams
Team Performance
Building the Team
The team player
.24.12 .25.16.05
Teamwork and Personality
EmotionalStability
Extraversion OpennessAgreeable-
nessConscien-tiousness
Dominance
Affiliation
Social perceptiveness
Expressivity
FlexibilityAdjustment
Self-esteem
Trust
Cooperation
Dependability
Dutifulness
Achievement
Efficacy
LowHig
h0
2
4
6
8
10
Most Groups
Skills, training of individual members
Perf
orm
an
ce
Rare (baf-fling) groups
Additive effects
Synergy effect
Weakest link effect
Bad apple effect
In general, great teams require great group membersKSAs
Diversity
Advantages of Heterogeneou
s TeamsAdvant
ages of Homogenous Teams
Broader range of KSAs Increased creativity, less traditional solutions
and outlooks
Stronger social identity, fewer schisms, subgroups
More cohesive Reduced conflict,
misunderstanding
Dealing with Team Diversity
Surface diversity easy to deal with, deep diversity more difficult
Organizational support Reduce tendency to subgroup
Mixing Men and Women in Teams: bonding effects, sexism, tradition, “civilizing” effects, tokenism, etc.
The Nature of
Teams
Building the Team
Working in Teams
Team processes
Cognitive processes
Cohesion
Team Performance
Team Processes: How well do members combine their knowledge, skills, abilities and resources through a coordinated series of actionsCognitive Processes: Do members share an understanding of the team’s tasks, resources, and procedures?
Cohesion: Is the group unified?
Transition Processes
Mission analysis
Goal specification
Strategy formulation
Action Process
Monitoring progressMonitor int/ext
resources/ demandsMonitor/
tweak “teamwork”
Coordination
Interpersonal Process
Conflict management
Motivation
Affect /cohesion management
Social support
Team processes
Team Processes
Transactive memory: a process by which information to be remembered is distributed to various members of the group who can ten be relied upon to provide that information when it is needed
High performing teams
Capitalize on transactive memory processes: different members are trusted to know specific areas of information
Train as a team, rather than individually
Review their work regularly and identify methods to improve
Team Cognition
Team Learning
Team Cohesion
Social Cohesion
Task Cohesion
Collective Cohesion
Emotional Cohesion
Structural Cohesion
Sources
• A teams’s cohesiveness derives on a number of sources, such as attraction, commitment to a task, and so on.
Team Performance
Evaluating teams
Suggestions
The Nature of
Teams
Building the Team
Working in Teams
Team Performance
Evaluating teams
Suggestions
Is he right?
Empirical evidence is mixed
Hackman maintains that teams should:
1. Meet standards of quantity, quality, and timeliness
2. The team should improve over time.
3. The team should contribute in positive ways to members’ well-being and learning
Case studies and field studies generally support the effectiveness of teams
Experimental studies identify a number of limitations for working in teams
Surveys of workers find widespread dissatisfaction with teams (and leaders)
Suggestions:
Make certain that so-called teams actually are teams
Train individuals to work in teams and to lead teams
Provide organizational (and financial) support to teams (Remember the quality circle!)
