3.3 Explaining The Importance Of Teams In A Quality Environment

Question 1

Is a group of people who work together and cooperate to share work and responsibility.

Answer 1

Team

Question 2

A number of persons who communicate with one another often over a span of time, and who are few enough in number that each person may communicate with all the others.

Answer 2

Group

Question 3

Importance of Teams

Answer 3

✨ Promote equality among individuals, encouraging positive attitude and trust.

✨ Provide unique perspectives on work, spontaneous thought, and creativity.

✨Provide collaboration among members of the organization to work together in meeting customer needs that can seldom be fulfilled by employees limited to one specialty.

✨Develop greater sense of responsibility for achieving goals and performing tasks.

✨Provide the capacity for rapid response.

Question 4

Types of Teams

Answer 4

✨ Leadership teams
✨Problem Solving teams
✨Natural Work Teams
✨Self-managed teams
✨Project Teams
✨Virtual teams

Question 5

Often termed as steering committees or quality councils)- that lead quality initiatives in an organization and provide direction and focus.

Answer 5

Leadership teams

Question 6

Teams of workers and supervisors that meet to address workplace problems involving quality and productivity or ad-hoc teams with a specific mission such as organizational design teams that act as architects of change.

Answer 6

Problem Solving teams

Question 7

Types of Problem Solving Teams

Answer 7

✨Departmental Teams
✨Cross-functional teams

Question 8

Are teams that are limited in scope to problems with that department

Answer 8

Departmental Teams

Question 9

Are group of people with different functional expertise working toward a common goal.

Answer 9

Cross-functional teams

Question 10

People who work together every day to perform a complete unit of work. Team members share responsibility for completing the job and are usually cross-trained to perform all work tasks and often rotate among them.

Answer 10

Natural Work Teams

Question 11

Work teams that are empowered to make and control their own decisions.

Answer 11

Self-managed teams

Question 12

Teams whose members communicate electronically, take turns as leaders, and jump in and out as necessary.

Answer 12

Virtual teams

Question 13

Teams with a specific mission to develop something new or to accomplish a task. They gained new measure of importance and respect in the context of Six Sigma.

Answer 13

Project Teams

Question 14

Types of Individuals in Six Sigma:

Answer 14

(1) Champions
(2) Master Black Belts
(3) Black Belts
(4) Green Belts
(5) Team Members

Question 15

Senior level managers who promote and lead the deployment of the Six Sigma, select projects, set objectives, allocate resources, and mentor teams.

Answer 15

Champions

Question 16

Responsible for Six Sigma Strategy, training, mentoring, deployment, and results. They work across the organization to develop and coach teams, conduct training, and lead change, but are typically not members of Six Sigma project teams.

Answer 16

Master Black Belts

Question 17

Are functional employees who are trained in introductory Six Sigma tools and methodology and work on projects on a part time basis, assisting Black Belts while developing their own knowledge and expertise.

Answer 17

Green Belts

Question 18

Individuals from various functional areas who support specific projects.

Answer 18

Team Members

Question 19

Bringing people together with different perspectives can improve problem solving and lead to smarter, more sustainable decision making.

Answer 19

Cross Functional Teamwork

Question 20

Criteria for Team Effectiveness

Answer 20

✨Team must achieve its goals of quality improvement

✨Teams that improve quality performance quickly are more effective than those that take a long period of time to do so

✨Team must maintain or increase its strength as a unit

✨Teams must preserve or strengthen its relationship with the rest of the organization

Question 21

Ten Ingredients for a Successful Team

Answer 21

(1) Clarity in Team Goals
(2) An improvement plan
(3) Clearly defined roles
(4) Clear Communication
(5) Beneficial team behaviors
(6) Well-defined decision procedures
(7) Awareness of group process
(8) Use of the scientific approach

Question 22

Reasons among individuals to participate on teams:

Answer 22

✨They want to be progressive in making decisions that affect their work.

✨They believe that being involved in teams will enhance their potential for promotion or other job opportunities.

✨They believe that teams will be privy to information that typically is not available to individuals.

✨They enjoy the feeling of accomplishment and believe that teams provide greater possibilities.

✨They want to use team meetings to address personal agenda.

✨They are genuinely concerned about the future of the organization and feel a sense of obligation to improve it.

✨They enjoy the recognition and rewards associated with team activity.

✨They find teams to be a comfortable social environment.

Question 23

7 Team Processes

Answer 23

(1) Problem Selection
(2) Problem Diagnosis
(3) Work Allocation
(4) Communication
(5) Coordination
(6) Organizational Support
(7) Team charter

Question 24

One of the processes undertaken at least occasionally by most teams and frequently by problem-solving teams is the choice of problems or issues on which to work.

Answer 24

Problem Selection

Question 25

It is the process by which the team investigates potential causes of problems to identify potential solutions which consists of three parts: (1) understanding the symptoms (2) theorizing as to causes (3) testing the theories

Answer 25

Problem Diagnosis

Question 26

Teams needs to assign people tasks that will utilize their skills to the greatest extent possible.

Answer 26

Work Allocation

Question 27

Steering committees communicate priorities to employees.

Answer 27

Communication

Question 28

Teams cannot work in isolation, and maintaining good relationship outside the team is one criterion of team effectiveness.

Answer 28

Coordination

Question 29

Management must issue a clear charge to the group; that is, a description of what the group is and is not expected to do.

Answer 29

Organizational Support

Question 30

Is an explicit, written document that offers guidelines, rules and policies to team members. It often includes mission statement; values that guide behaviour, decision making, etc.

Answer 30

Team charter

Question 31

3 Comparison to Organizational Behavioral Theories

Answer 31

✨ Organizational Behavior theories
✨ Sociotechnical systems approach
✨ Organizational development

Question 32

Anchor on the conventional or unconventional management theory which emphasize on the relative advantage and disadvantage of homogeneous and heterogeneous groups.

Answer 32

Organizational Behavior theories

Question 33

Is devoted to the effective blending of both technical (job requirements) and social aspects of the work environment because work designs that optimize one factor may not be optimal for the other.

Answer 33

Sociotechnical systems approach

Question 34

Emphasizes on the changing and improving organizations.

Answer 34

Organizational development

Question 35

Are everywhere in high performing organizations. Therefore, organizations should become more responsive to collaboration and teamwork to achieve organizational effectiveness.

Answer 35

Teams