Ch 18 - Teams

Question 1

What is a team? What are the 3 components of teams?

Answer 1

= a unit of two or more people who interact and coordinate their work to accomplish a common goal to which they are committed and hold themselves mutually accountable

1) made up of two or more people
2) interact regularly
3) share a performance goal

Question 2

How are putting together a team and teamwork different?

Answer 2

puttnig together team can just be throwing people together

teamwork involves bringing together right sets of people, defining roles, focusing everyone on the mission

Question 3

What is a crucial aspect of teams

Answer 3

trust!

Question 4

What are teh 5 requirements of teamwork?

Answer 4

1) focus on a shared mission
2) pull together inthe same direction
3) trust one another
4) communicate their objectives and needs
5) are willing to sacrifice fr te team

Question 5

What are the contributions of teams? What do these all combine to give an organization?

Answer 5

1) creativity and innovation = diverse skills leads to more innovatino
2) improved quality = closely cooordinated allows each to give best in their area rather than one persn trying to be best at everything (wuality across broad spectrum!)
3) speed of response = small so can mov eefast
4) high productivity, low costs = SOCIAL FACILITATION means presencce of others enhance ones own performance
5) enhanced motivatino and satisfactino = belongingness and affiliation needs are filfilled!

= give: stronger comp adv and higher overall org perf

Question 6

What are the different types of teams?

Answer 6

a) functinoa
b) cross functinol
c) self managed/agile teams
d) virtual gteams

Question 7

What are functinoal teams?

Answer 7

composed of a manager and subordinates in the formal chain of command
- can include 3-4 levels of hierarchy
- oft just a single dept

aka command team

Question 8

What is a cross functional team? What is a task force? A special-pirpise team?

Answer 8

composed of employees from about the same hierarchical level, but from different areas of expertise

task force = type of cross functional team, employees from diff departments formed to deal with a specific activity and existing only until that task is completed

special purpose = also type of cross func, created OUTSIDE THE FORMAL STRUCTURE to undertake a project of special importance, such as developing a new product (vibe of ambidextrous org kinda, or like skunkworks teams)
–> short term, project based teams like hollywood makup artists etc working on new productions

Question 9

What is a self amnaged team? Who is the boss? What is the benefit of this type of team?

Answer 9

typically consisting of 5 to 20 multiskilled workers who rotate jobs to produce at least one complete aspect or portion of a product or service

entire team becomes the boss –> deal with problems collectively, hire someone collectively, etc

benefit = employees feel challenged, find their work meaningful, develop stronger sense of identity with org

Question 10

What is an agile team?

Answer 10

a team that is small, focused on one aspect of a larger project, and has complete responsibility and all needed member expertise to produce its product or service. team governs itself WITHIN AN ORG COMPOSED OF AGILE TEAMS

Question 11

What are characteristics of agile team?

Answer 11

1) small = 3 to 6 people
2) employees from different functional areas
3) fpcus on solutions for small manageable components of
larger, complex problems = integrated into a comprehensive whole
4) extremely close relationships with their customers
5) empowered to innovate and problem solve on their own
6) a daily 15-minute meeting for problems, progress, make commitments
7) embrace a mindset and culture of agile thinking

Question 12

You and four other department managers have been asked to form a team to examine ways in which the organization can highlight safety and encourage workers to help make their environment safer. This kind of team is a
a) self-managed team
b) vertical team
c) virtual team
d) cross-functional team

Answer 12

d) cross-functional team

Question 13

What is a virtual team? Benefits? Chalenges?

Answer 13

group made up of geographically or organizationally dispersed members who are linked primarily through advanced information and telecommunications technologies
–> can be local, national, or global, with members coming
from one firm or many

benefits:
- ability to assemble the most talented group of people
- diverse mix of people can fuel creativity and innovation
- save employees time and cut travel expenses

challenges:
- building rapport and trust!!

Question 14

What is global team? biggerst challenge?

Answer 14

cross-border team made up of members of different nationalities whose activities span multiple countries

must bridge gaps of time, distance, and culture
–> Different cultural attitudes can affect work
pacing, team communications, decision making, the perception of deadlines, and provide a rich breeding ground for misunderstandings and conflict

Question 15

What are critical areas that managers should address when leading virtual teams or remote workers?

Answer 15

1) Find ways to build trust and relationships = face to face at least once so they can build trust, unstructured video chats and encouraging social networking also good for keeping relatinoships, respect diversity
2) Shape team culture = create psychologically safe virtual environment (leaders set the example), enable team members to share their unique experiences + skills, rotate meetings so one time zone isnt preferential treatment/
3) Monitor progress = Reward people via online ceremonies and recognition, motivate dispersed people with novel treats and experiences

Question 16

What is the personal dilemma of teamwork?

Answer 16

• We have to give up our independence (must depend on how well other people perform, dont get everything you want)
• We have to put up with free riders
  –> Free rider: a team member who attains benefits from team membership but does not actively participate in and contribute to the team’s work
• Teams are sometimes dysfunctional = didnt make it through formation process successfully (“The best groups will be better than their individual members, and the worst groups will be worse than the worst individual”)

Question 17

What are 5 common dysfunctions of teams?

Answer 17

1. Lack of trust: People don’t feel safe to reveal mistakes,
   share concerns, or express ideas. (vs trust = comfortable being vunerable)
2. Fear of conflict: People go along with others for
   the sake of harmony; they don’t express conflicting
   opinions. (vs Healthy conflict: feel comfortable
   disagreeing)
3. Lack of commitment: If people are afraid to express
   their true opinions, it’s difficult to gain their true
   commitment to decisions. (vs Commitment: all ideas put on the tables so can achieve genuine buy-in)
4. Avoidance of accountability: People don’t accept
   responsibility for outcomes; they engage in fingerpointing when things go wrong (vs Accountability: Members hold one another accountable)
5. Inattention to results: Members put their personal
   ambition or the needs of their individual departments
   ahead of the collective results (vs results orientation: Collective results define success)

Question 18

What 3 outcomes is team effectiveness based on?

Answer 18

1) Satisfaction: the team’s ability to meet the personal needs of its members and hence maintain their membership and commitment
2) Productive output: performance and the quality and quantity of task outputs as defined by team goals
3) Capacity to adapt and learn: ability of teams to bring greater knowledge and skills to job tasks and enhance the organization’s ability to respond to new threats or opportunities in the environment

Question 19

What are the organizational context factors that influence team effectiveness? Once moved within the organizatinola context, what other factors are to be considered?

Answer 19

• overall leadership
• vision
• strategy
• environment
• culture
• systems for controlling and rewarding employees

within org context, teams are defined
- by type (formal, agile, functional, etc)
- by team composition

Question 20

What team composition characteristics must be consdiered? What ideal for each?

Answer 20

1) Size = Best performing teams are three to six members (ex: two pizza rule)
2) Diversity = A variety of functional areas and skills, thinking styles, and personal characteristics produces innovative solutions
3) Member roles = Focus on both task performance and social satisfaction

Question 21

What are teh two types of member roles? Behaviours of each?

Answer 21

A) Task specialist role: member who helps the team reach its goal
–> behaviours: Initiate ideas, Give opinions, ask for relevant facts, Summarize, Energize team into action

B) Socioemotional role: member who supports team members’ emotional needs and strengthens the social entity
–> behaviours: Encourage, reconcile conflicts, Reduce tension, agree with team ideas, Compromise

Question 22

What are the stages of team development? WHo cam eup with this?

Answer 22

who= bruce tuckman

stages:
1) forming = orientation and getting acquainted (“What is expected of me?”, “What behavior is acceptable?”, “Will I fit in?”)
2) storming = (healthy) conflict, disagreement (if cant get past this stage, may get bogged down and never achieve high performance) **everyone needs to speak though!
3) norming = establishment of order and cohesion (Consensus on who has power, who leaders are, what members’ roles are)
4) performing = problem solving and accomplishing the assigned task
5) adjoiurning = task completion, wrapping up and gearing down, feedback, disbanding with a ritual or ceremony

Question 23

What is team cohesiveness? What are the structure and context determinants of cohesiveness?

Answer 23

the extent to which members are attracted to the team and motivated to remain in the team = want people to understand the dependency + need to do good for team not just self

structure determinants:
1) Team interaction (time spent developing team dynamic)
2) Shared goals
3) Personal attraction to the team = members have similar attitudes + values

context determinants:
1) competition with other teams
2) team success and the favorable evaluation of the team by outsiders (recognitino = higher team commitment)

Question 24

What are the main outcomes of team cohesiveness?

Answer 24

1) Morale = bc increased communicaiton, loyalty, participation
2) Productivity = research says strong feelings of connectedness and generally positive interactions mean better perf

Question 25

What is a team norm? What are improtant ones to have>

Answer 25

= informal guidelines that establish agreed-upon behaviors about how the team’s work will get done and what members can expect from each other = provide a frame of reference for what is expected and acceptable

Important team norms
1) Psychological safety = mutual trust and respect, team members are comfortable being themselves
– a) emotional expression = comfortable enough to express
their emotions as well as thoughts, can joke & share stories
– b) social sensitivity = people are sensitive to and inquire into one another’s moods and emotions (body language, etc)
2) Equal participation = everyone gets a chance to talk!

Question 26

What are the ways team norms develop?

Answer 26

1) critical event sin team history (stories, memories)
2) primacy: first-behavoiur precedents
3) carryober from other expeirnces
4) explicit statements from leader or members (deciding what expected etc)

Question 27

What are the types of conflict? Should all be avoided or are some beneficial?

Answer 27

Task conflict: disagreements about the goals to be achieved or the tasks to be performed

Relationship conflict: interpersonal incompatibility that creates tension and personal animosity among people

task conflict lead to better decision making + problem solving
relationship conflicct not good and redcues effectiveness

Question 28

What happens with a good balance between conflict and cooperation? What about bad ba;ance?

Answer 28

good balance = reduce groupthink

bad balance:
1 too much conflict, too focusued on personal issues, or not well managed = damage morale and productivity!
2 Low conflict = can mean groupthink or other ineffective team dynamics

Question 29

what are main causes of conflict in a team?

Answer 29

a) Competition over resources
b) Goal differences
c) Communication breakdown
d) Trust issues **especially virtual teams
e) Lack of nonverbal cues
f) Faultlines: hypothetical dividing lines based on one or more demographic characteristics of members, such as age, race, or ethnicity, or on nondemographic characteristics, such as personal values or attitudes

Question 30

What are some techniques for confronting and resolving conglicts?

Answer 30

• superordinate goals, which require the cooperation of all to achieve
• bargaining/ negotiation
• mediation
• providing well‑defined tasks
• facilitating communication

Question 31

What are the conflict styles? When is each best used?

Answer 31

1. Dominating (my way) = uncooperative + assertive
   –> use when quick decisoin needed on important issue
2. Accommodating (your way) = cooperative + unassertive
   –> when realize youre wrong, when issue more improtant to others
3. Avoiding (no way) = uncooperative + unassertive
   –> use when issue is trivial, no chance of winning, need to delay
4. Compromising (half way) = mid cooperative mid assertive
   –> when goals on both sides are equally importnat, when have equal power, want to split the difference
5. Collaborating (our way) = cooperative + assertive
   –> when both sides are too important to be compromised, when need commitment from both sides, when need both parties to win (communicate to split the lemon!)

Question 32

What are the ways of expressing conflict?

Answer 32

High directness–high intensity: a person aggressively expresses conflict (ex: shouting, scowling, or eye rolling)

High directness–low intensity: a person expresses conflict in a low-voltage manner; most constructive approach, using listening, debating, and deliberating (ex: asking questions, listening, debating, deliebrating)

Low directness–high intensity: a person ambiguously uses aggressive tactics (ex: ignoring another’s viewpoint, bullying, back-stabbing, undermining opponent to third parties)

Low directness–low intensity: a person ambiguously uses low-key tactics (ex: withholding information an opponent needs or deliberately missing a deadline)

Question 33

What is negotiation? Types

Answer 33

Negotiation = people engage in give-and-take discussions and consider various alternatives to reach a joint decision that is acceptable to both parties

types:
a) Integrative negotiation: win-win approach assumes that all parties want to come up with a creative solution that can benefit both sides of the conflict = “expand the pie”
b) Distributive negotiation: win-lose approach is competitive and adversarial = pie size is fixed, each want win meaning other loses

Question 34

What are the rules to reach a win win solutuon?

Answer 34

a) Separate the people from the problem - what is problem for both and solutino for both?
b) Focus on underlying interests, not current demands
c) Listen and ask questions - better understand what looking for/underlying needs
d) Insist that results be based on objective standards