Chapter 11 Flashcards
Team
Two or more people who work interdependently over some time period to accomplish common goals related to some task-oriented purpose
Interactions within teams…
- The interactions among members within teams revolve around a deeper dependence on one another than the interactions within groups
- The interactions within teams occur with a specific task-related purpose in mind
Interactions allow the team to pool complementary knowledge and skills
% of employees in the US that work in a team as a part of their job
50%
Teams depend on one another for
critical information, materials, and actions needed to accomplish goals
Team Characteristics
the task, unit, and member qualities that can be used to describe teams
Work Team
A relatively permanent team in which members work together to produce goods and/or provide services
- Ex: how cars and trucks are manufactured at Toyota
Management teams
A relatively permanent team that participates in managerial-level tasks that affect the entire organization
- Whereas work teams focus on the accomplishment of core operational-level production and service tasks, management teams participate in managerial-level tasks that affect the entire organization
- Responsible for coordinating the activities of organizational subunits (typically departments or functional areas) to help the organization achieve its long-term goals
- Ex: top management teams (consist of senior-level executives who meet to make decisions about the strategic direction of the organization)
Parallel Teams
A team composed of members from various jobs within the organization that meets to provide recommendations about important issues
- Part-time commitment from members, and they can be permanent or temporary, depending on their aim
- Ex: quality circles-consists of individuals who normally perform core production tasks, but who also meet regularly with individuals from other work groups to identify production-related problems and opportunities for improvement
Project Teams
A team formed to take on one-time tasks, most of which tend to be complex and require input from members from different functional areas
- Project teams exist only as long as it takes to finish a project
- Could be full time or part time
- A planning team comprised of engineers, architects, designers, and builders, charged with designing a suburban town center, might work together full-time for a year
- The engineers and artist who constitute a design team responsible for creating an electric toothbrush might work together for a month on the project while also serving on other project teams
Action Teams
A team of limited duration that performs complex tasks in contexts that tend to be highly visible and challenging
- Tasks can be complex, highly visible to an audience, or highly challenging in nature
- Ex: sports teams remain intact for at least one season
- Ex: musical groups can stick together for decades
- Ex: surgical teams can work together for a single two-hour surgery
- Ex: aircraft flight crews may only work together for a single flight
Multiple Team Membership
Indicates that employees do not identify with each team equally and that these differences have important implications as to how effort and commitment employees bring each of their teams
What is most adventageous for teams where team members have high levels of team-relevant knowledge obtained from outside experts and others in their social networks?
High levels of self-management
Virtual teams
A team in which the members are geographically dispersed, and interdependent activity occurs through e-mail, web conferencing, and instant messaging
o Ex: Logitech’s “follow the sun” electronic handoffs
Steps of Team Development
Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing, Adjourning
Forming
The first stage of team development, during which members try to get a feel for what is expected of them, what types of behaviors are out of bounds, and who’s in charge
Storming
The second stage of team development, during which conflict occurs due to members’ ongoing commitment to ideas they bring with them to the team
Norming
The third stage of team development, during which members realize that they need to work together to accomplish team goals and consequently begin to cooperate
Performing
The fourth stage of team development, during which members are comfortable working within their roles, and the team makes progress toward goals
Adjourning
The final stage of team development, during which members experience anxiety and other emotions as they disengage and ultimately separate from the team
Punctuated Equilibrium
A sequence of team development during which not much gets done until the halfway point of a project, after which teams make necessary changes to complete the project on time
Task Interdependence
The degree to which team members interact and rely on other team members for information, materials, and resources needed to accomplish work for the team
Pooled Interdependence
A form of task independence in which group members complete their work assignments independently and then their work is simply added together to represent the group’s output
o Ex: Fishing Boat
Sequential Interdependence
A form of task interdependence in which group members perform different tasks in a prescribed sequence, and members depend on only the member who comes before them in the sequence
o Assembly Line
Reciprocal Interdependence
A form of task interdependence in which group members interact with only a limited subset of other members to complete the team’s work
o Custom home builders, architects, engineer work together to build a home
Comprehensive Interdependence
A form of task interdependence in which team members have a great deal of discretion in terms of what they do and with whom they interact in the course of the collaboration involved in accomplishing the team’s work
Goal Interdependence
he degree to which team members have a shared goal and align their individual goals with that vision
- You can create a high level of goal interdependence by ensuring that the team has a formalized mission statement for members to buy into
Outcome Interdependence
The degree to which team members share equally in the feedback and rewards that result from the team achieving its goals
- Examples of rewards: pay, formal feedback and recognition, pats on the back, extra time off, and continued team survival
Team Composition
The mix of the various characteristics that describe the individuals who work in the team
ROle
The behavior a person is generally expected to display in a given context
Leader-Staff Teams
A type of team that consists of members who make recommendations to the leader who is ultimately responsible for team decisions
Team Task Roles
Initiator-Contributor Coordinator Orienter Devil's Advocate Energizer Procedural-Techician
Team Building Roles
Encourager Harmonizer Compromiser Gatekeeper-expediter Standard setter Follower
Individualistic Roles
Agressor Blocker Recognition seeker Self-confessor Slacker Dominator
Initiator-contributor
proposes new ideas
Coordinator
Tries to coordinate activities among team members
Orienter
Determines the directio of the team’s discussion
Devil’s advocate
offers challenges to the team’s status quo
Energizer
Motivates the team to strive to do better
Procedural-technition
Performas routine tasks needed to keep progress moving
Encourager
Praises the contributions of other team members
Harmonizer
Mediates differences between group members
Compromiser
Attempts to find the halfway point to end conflict
Gatekeeper-expediter
Encourages participation from teammates
Standard setter
Expresses goals for the team to achieve
Follower
Accepts the ideas of teammates
Agressor
Deflates teammates, expresses disapproval with hostility
Blocker
Acts stubbornly resistant and disagrees beyond reason
Recognition seeker
brags and calls attention to himself or herself
self-confessor
discloses personal opinions inappropriately
slacker
acts cynically, or nonchalantly, or goofs off
dominator
manipulates team members for personal control
team task roles
Behaviors that directly facilitate the accomplishment of team tasks
team-building roles
Behaviors that directly facilitate the accomplishment of team tasks
individualistic roles
Behaviors that benefit the individual at the expense of the team
Disjuntive tasks
Tasks with an objectively verifiable best solution for which the member with the highest level of ability has the most influence on team effectiveness
Conjuntive tasks
Tasks for which the team’s performance depends on the abilities of the team’s weakest link
Additive Tasks
Tasks for which the contributions from every member add up to determine team performance
Member Personality
- Ex: Agreeable people-more cooperative, trusting, promote positive attitudes, work hard, less likely to offer construction criticisms that might help the team improve
- Ex: Conscientiousness people-dependable, work hard (strong negative effect on the team of having even one member who is particular low on conscientiousness)
- Ex: Extraverted people-perform more effectively in interpersonal context and are more positive and optimistic in general, too many extraverted people can be too much (power struggles)
Team Diversity:
The degree to which team members are different from one another
Value in Diversity Problem-Solving Approach:
A theory that supports team diversity because it provides it provides a larger pool of knowledge and perspectives
Similarity-Attraction Approach:
A theory explaining that team diversity can be counterproductive because people tend to avoid interacting with others who are unlike them
Surface-Level Diversity
Diversity of observable attributes such as race, gender, ethnicity, and age
Faultlines
occur in diverse groups whereby informal subgroups based on similarity in surface-level attributes
Deep-Level Diversity
Diversity of attributes that are inferred through observation or experience, such as one’s values or personality
Team Size
- Having a greater number of members is beneficial for management and project teams but not for teams engaged in production tasks
- BETWEEN 4-5 PEOPLE IS IDEAL
- Jeff Bezos’ two pizza rule: “If a team can’t be fed by too pizza’s, it’s too large”
Outcome interdependence
- Organization with compensation that has high outcome interdependence->higher percentage of pay is dependent on how well your team does
o High cooperation
o Reduced motivation (especially among higher performers)