Module 11. Teams

Question 1

What is today´s sustainable competitive advantage?

Answer 1

Knowledge

Question 2

What are the mechanisms that a team contributes with?

Answer 2

Teams create, import and leverage knowledge

Question 3

Name a sustainable organisational capability.

Answer 3

Team effectiveness

Question 4

Another word for group decision making.

Answer 4

Participative management

Question 5

Why do we need collaborative team work?

Answer 5

It is an effective tool for managing complex tasks in a rapidly changing environment

Question 6

Define “group”

Answer 6

A set of three or more individuals that can identify itself and be identified by others in the organization as a group

Question 7

What are the two different types of groups in an organization?

Answer 7

formal (that is, a formal part of the organization, created by management) or informal (created by the members themselves, largely out of day-to-day interaction between individuals).

Question 8

Define “team”

Answer 8

“a small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, set of performance goals, and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable. They distinguish between work groups such as committees and teams as follows: Committee performance is “a function of what its members do as individuals”, whereas team performance includes both individual performance and what they call “collective work products” (1+1 = 3)

Question 9

Name and describe the four other types of teams.

Answer 9

1. Work teams, or continuing work units responsible for producing goods or providing services.
2. Parallel teams, or people who are pulled together from different work units or jobs to perform functions that the regular organization is not equipped to perform well.
3. Project teams, or time-limited teams that have to produce one-time output such as a new product or service to be marketed by the company.
4. Management teams or supervisory teams that are created to provide coordination and direction to the subunits under their jurisdiction, laterally integrating interdependent subunits across key business processes.

Question 10

What is the purpose of a team within an organization?

Answer 10

They function to accomplish tasks that cannot be performed by one individual or to fulfill individual needs not met by the formal organization.

Question 11

Name another term for the group problem-solving process and describe the eight steps.

Answer 11

Follows from the experiential learning cycle and is also called rational problem-solving process model, includes the following steps:
1. Agreement on goals.
2. Shared understanding of what the problem is.
3. Shared understanding of ground rules for the way the group will work.
4. Shared understanding of the basic assumptions and priority issues in solving the
problem.
5. Consideration of alternative solutions.
6. Development of criteria to evaluate alternatives.
7. Choosing the best alternative.
8. Checking the alternative chosen against the problem statement.

Question 12

Describe the consensus process.

Answer 12

It is often important to (a) get input from all, (b) listen to all views, (c) be willing to change your views if someone else’s makes more sense, and (d) assume conflict can be creative in generating ideas.

Question 13

Name a few conditions and useful methods for interpersonal process skills.

Answer 13

careful listening plus supporting and encouraging the contributions of all members.
paraphrasing

Question 14

What can be said about Individual problem vs. Group problem solving?

Answer 14

No generalization can be made that the group problem-solving process is superior to individual effort. Variables such as the type of problem; the talent, ability, education, and experience of the individuals; the time available; organization and national culture; leadership; and group process are all relevant as are many other factors. There is evidence that the capacity of groups to perform better than their best individual member increases with the time that individuals have worked with each other in teams.

Question 15

Describe decision making briefly.

Answer 15

Decision making can be viewed as a reasoning process which can be both rational and irrational.

Question 16

What are the five ways in which decisions can be made according to The Vroom–Yetton–Jago Decision Model? And which are participative, autocratic and consultative?

Answer 16

They first suggest five ways in which decisions can be made:
1. The manager solves the problem by himself or herself, using the information available at the time (AI style).
2. The manager obtains the necessary information from employees and then makes the decision himself or herself (AII style).
3
3. The manager consults with subordinates individually, getting their ideas and suggestions, and then makes a decision (CI style).
4. The manager consults with subordinates as a group, again getting their ideas and suggestions, and then makes a decision (CII style).
5. The manager explains the problem to the employees as a group, and the group makes the decision (GII style).

Question 17

What are the five key attributes to problem situations according to The Vroom–Yetton–Jago Decision Model?

Answer 17

The model suggests five key attributes to problem situations: time, information, quality, employee commitment, and employee development. It lists eight problem attributes that allow these factors to be taken into account in decision making:
1. Quality requirement (QR). How important is the technical quality of the decision?
2. Commitment requirement (CR). How important is employee commitment to the decision?
3. Leader’s information (LI). Does the leader have sufficient information to make a high
quality decision?
4. Problem structure (ST). Is the problem well structured?
5. Commitment probability (CP). If the leader makes the decision alone, will subordinates be
committed to the decision?
6. Goal congruence (GC). Do employees share the organizational goals to be attained in
solving this problem?
7. Subordinate conflict (CO). Is conflict among employees over preferred solutions likely?
8. Subordinate information (SI). Do employees have enough information to make a
highquality decision?

Question 18

Name five other factors that can influence the choice of decision-making style.

Answer 18

1. Personality of the manager. Managers who feel most comfortable making all the decisions
   and who have difficulty allowing others to be involved should not attempt to use participation. If they do not believe in it, they should assume that employees will detect this and feel they are being manipulated if they are asked to become involved.
2. Skill and ability of the manager. The manager’s abilities in managing group problem solving activities and in conflict resolution affect the results of participative management attempts.
3. Organizational climate. If the organization’s climate and culture are strictly authoritarian, it is difficult for any single manager to follow a participative style.
4. Employee personality. Some employees do not work well in participative situations, but rather prefer to work in highly structured situations where they are told what to do.
5. Group size and diversity. Some employees do not work well in large groups. At the same time, the larger the group, the greater the likelihood that the members of the group will be different. Furthermore, demographic diversity enhances the richness and breadth of input into the decision-making process. As such the larger the group and the more diverse the group, the more challenging the managerial task of facilitating a participative decision making.

Question 19

What are the key issues to address before a team can start to function?

Answer 19

1. Assignment boundary. Tasks given to teams are often complex. Therefore, the manager must clearly define the group’s task, its responsibility and authority, and the requirements and performance criteria that the team is expected to meet.
2. Assessment of assignment resources. Once the assignment boundaries are defined, the manager may need to divide the assignment into manageable tasks and examine the resources available for the assignment. Time, knowledge, skills, and competing system demands are some of the resources that are likely to have an effect on the decision making process. An attempt to address and resolve the resource issues prior to the formation of the group will aid the team’s performance.
3. Team formation. Decision-making groups are often formed to deal with complex tasks that are beyond the ability of any one individual. Identifying the individuals who have the needed knowledge and skills as well as the individuals who are likely to be affected by the decision provides the group with the appropriate resources to deal with the task. Appointing a leader at the start of the group or ensuring that the group selects a leader as a first task is often a good idea.

Question 20

What does it mean when a decision is made with consensus?

Answer 20

That everyone can at least accept it, it seems to enhance creativity, innovation and high-quality decisions since a lot of collaborative work is needed. (time requiring)

Question 21

Define “creativity”

Answer 21

An individual’s ability to take bits and pieces of seemingly unrelated information and synthesize the pieces into a new understanding or a novel, useful idea.

Question 22

Describe som basic rules for brainstorming

Answer 22

a) Everyone spontaneously expresses all ideas, no matter how extreme they may appear.
b) Ideas belong to the group, and all members are encouraged to rework or elaborate upon them.
c) Evaluation of ideas does not occur until the generation process has been completed

SÄMSTA MEDTODEN EVVVAAAAHHH

Question 23

What is Nominal Group Technique and when is it especially useful? Name a few ground rules.

Answer 23

an orderly, efficient, rational process that encourages full participation and meaningful discussion. Research findings suggest that this method seems to have a clear advantage under conditions of high stress and conflict.

Some ground rules:
1. During a period of silence, individuals independently write down their ideas.
2. Each individual in turn shares one of his or her ideas at a time, following a round robin
reporting process. Ideas are written on a chart for all to see. No discussion is allowed
during this phase.
3. After all the ideas have been recorded, members discuss the ideas only for the purpose
of clarification. No criticism is permitted.
4. A preliminary vote takes place to reduce the number of alternatives.
5. An in-depth discussion of the remaining ideas then occurs.
6. An independent silent vote takes place, and the group’s solution is determined by the
votes.

Question 24

What is Self-managed work teams (SMWTs) ?

Answer 24

Important characteristics of self-managed work teams are employees with a variety of skills who (1) perform interrelated tasks, are responsible for making a product or delivering a service, and work together closely (face-to-face interaction) and (2) have discretion over decisions such as work assignments, work scheduling, work methods, and sometimes even team member selection and training. (Think of Volvo production of C70 in Uddevalla)

Question 25

Why do you use cross-functional teams?

Answer 25

A viable way to bring together people with knowledge and skills from various functional areas to work on a specific task. Many organizations use cross-functional teams as an effective means for allowing individuals from diverse areas within the organization to exchange information, identify problems, develop new ideas, solve problems, and coordinate complex projects.

Question 26

Small groups of employees who collectively have the knowledge and skills needed to solve the problem of developing a new product, from conception through manufacturing and distribution “from design to delivery.”
What is the team called?

Answer 26

new-product development team (NPDT)

Question 27

Small group of elite units, separated from the product development team, that can be mobilized quickly to solve an unexpected problem threatening to hold up a project.
What is the team called?

Answer 27

Cheetah team (CT)

Question 28

What are Quality control circles (QCCs)?

Answer 28

Small groups of workers from the same work area who are given training in problem solving, statistical quality control, and group processes.

Question 29

What is groupware? XD

Answer 29

Computer programs that allow for sharing information via computer networks. TRENDY

Question 30

Describe a virtual team.

Answer 30

Groups of people working closely together, even though they may not be working on the same time schedule or at the same physical space.

Question 31

Name four strategies for working through the challenges faced by multicultural teams.

Answer 31

1. Adaptation. Acknowledging cultural gaps openly and working around them.
2. Structural intervention. Changing the shape of the team.
3. Managerial intervention. Setting norms early or bringing in a higher-level manager.
4. Exit. Removing a team member when other options have failed.

Question 32

Name a few problems that emerges in work teams

Answer 32

1. Use of time
2. Team Style
3. Work Habits and skills
4. One-to-One Relationships with the Boss
5. Hidden Agendas