Chapter 6 Flashcards
When does a group become a team?
- share leadership
- individuals and team as a whole share accountability for the work of the team
- develop their own purpose and mission
- works on problem solving continuously
- measure of effectiveness is the team’s outcomes and goals not individuals
Why are teams popular in organizations?
- more flexible and responsive to changing events
- more motivational
- outperform individuals when tasks require multiple skillsets
What are the four types of teams?
- Problem-Solving
- Self-Managed
- Cross-Functional
- Virtual
Problem-Solving Teams
- 5-12 employees from same department
- process improvement teams with weekly meetings
- improve quality, efficiency, work environment
- do not have authority to unilaterally implement ideas
Self-Managed Teams
- 10-15 employees
- take on responsibility of their former managers
- planning, scheduling, assigning tasks
- struggle with conflict, but when confident, very effective
Cross-Functional Teams
- at same hierarchal level, but from different work areas who come together to accomplish a task
Virtual Teams
- uses computer technology to tie together physically dispersed members to achieve a common goal
- have special challenges; social rapport, less interaction, isolation
How to make virtual teams effective?
- establish trust across members
- monitor team progress closely (don’t get distracted or lose sight of goals)
- efforts and products of the virtual team are publicized throughout organization (avoid invisibility0
Multi-Team Systems
a collection of two or more interdependent teams that share a superordinate goal, a team of teams
What is a role?
a set of expected behaviours of a person in a given position in a social unit
What is role expectations?
how others believe a person should act in a given situation
Role Conflict
a situation in which individual finds that complying with one role requirement may make it more difficult to comply with another
Role Ambiguity
a person is unclear about their role
Role Overload
when too much is expected of someone based on what they can achieve realistically/do
Role Underload
too little is expected of someone and that person feels that he or she is not contributing to the group
Norms
acceptable standards of behaviour within a group that are shared by other group members
What are the most common topics/issues of norms?
- Performance
- appearance
- social arrangement
- allocation of resources
How do norms develop?
- Explicit Statements made by a group member
- Critical events in the group’s history
- Primacy
- Carry over from past situations
What makes norms important?
- Facilitate group survival
- Increase predictability of group member behaviour
- Reduces embarrassing interpersonal problems
- Allows members to express the central values of the group and clarify what is distinctive about the group identity
Conformity
adjusting one’s behaviour to align with norms of the group
The Five-Stage Model of Group Development
- Forming
- Storming
- Norming
- Performing
- Adjourning
Forming
- first stage in group development, characterized by much uncertainty
Storming
- second stage, characterized by intragroup conflict
Norming
- 3rd stage, characterized by close relationships and cohesiveness
Performing
-fourth stage, group is fully functional
Adjourning
final stage in group development for temporary groups, attention is directed to wrapping up activities rather than task performance
Critics of Five-Stage Model
- groups go through these stages at different rates
- ignores organizational context
- stages do not always occur in exact order
Punctuated Equilibrium Model
- for temporary groups without deadlines
Phase 1: First Meeting sets the teams direction (becomes period of inertia where team is locked in the direction for the first phase)
Phase 2: Transition period at half-way point (alarm clock, heightened effectiveness) - sets new revised direction
Completion: final burst of energy and work before completion/deadline
What are the characteristics of an effective team?
- Clear Purpose
- Informality
- Participation
- Listening
- Civilized Disagreement
- Consensus Decisions
- Open Communication
- Clear Rules and Work Assignments
- Shared Leadership
- External relations
- Style Diversity
- Self Assessment
Compare components of Equilibrium Model to Five Stages of Group Development
Phase 1: Forming, Norming, Low Performing
Phase 2: storming, High Performing
Completion: Adjourning
Model of Team Effectiveness
3 components
- Context
- Composition
- Process
What are the contextual factors that lead to positive team performance?
- Adequate Resources
- Leadership and Structure
- Climate of Trust
- Performance Evaluation and Rewards
What composition variables are relevant to making an effective team?
- Skills
- Personality of Members
- Allocation of Roles
- Diversity of Members
- Size
- Member’s Preference for Team work
What are the five teamwork skills?
- orients team to problem solving situation
- organizes and manages team performance
- promotes positive team environment
- facilitates and manages task conflicts
- appropriately promotes perspective
What are the roles required for effective team functioning?
Roles That Build Task Accomplishment 1. Initiating 2. Seeking Information and Opinions 3. Providing Information and Opinions 4. Clarifying 5. Elaborating 6. Summarizing 7. Consensus Taking Roles That Build and Maintain a Team 1. Harmonizing 2. Compromising 3. Gatekeeping 4. Encouraging
Task-Oriented Roles
roles performed by group members to ensure that the tasks of the group are accomplished
Maintenance Roles
roles performed by group members to maintain good relations within the group
organizational demography
the degree to which members of a work unit share a common demographic attribute, such as age, gender, race, education and the impact of this attribute on turnover
(i.e turnover will be greater amongst people with dissimilar experiences)
social loafing
the tendency for individuals to expend less effort when working collectively than when working individually
Effects of Group Processes
Potential Group Effectiveness + Process Gains - Process Losses = Actual Group Effectiveness
What are the process variables that make up team effectiveness?
- Common Plan and Purpose
- Specific Goals
- Team Efficacy
- Mental Models
- Managed Level of Conflict
- Accountability
reflexivity
a team characteristic reflecting on adjusting the master plan when necessary
cohesiveness
the degree to which team members are attracted to one another and are motivated to stay on the team
What is the relationship between team cohesiveness, performance norms and productivity?
(see exhibit 6-9)
mental models
team members’ knowledge and beliefs about how work gets done by the team
What tests can you apply to determine if the work should be completed by an individual rather than a team?
- Can the work be done better by more than one person?
- Does the work create a common purpose or set of goals for the people in the group that is more than the sum of individual goals?
- Are the members of the group interdependent?
Global Comparison of Teamwork
US, Asia, Canada
US = 32% have high level CA = 48% Asia = 51%
How does power distance effect self-managed teams?
High power distance means that the teams need structure and leadership
(i.e. Mexico is not effective with self-managed teams)
