Module 6 Flashcards
(22 cards)
What is a team?
Teams are social systems consisting of three or more persons:
- That are embedded in an organizational context
- Whose members perceive themselves to be such and are perceived by others as such (identity)
- And that work together on a common task (teamwork)
- Special case: Dyads (2 persons)
Team vs identity groups
football fans don’t work towards a common task in an organization but share the identity
Team vs nominal groups
sales departments, grouped but individual work (e.g. different towns)
Different types of teams
- Problem-solving (consulting)
- Self-managed (autonomous)
- Cross-functional (different expertise work in a team)
- Virtual
Hormans’ theory
- Sentiments
- Interactions
- Activities
- Norms
Tuckmans’ team development model
- Forming
- Storming
- Norming
- Performing
Forming
members learn about each other and the task at hand
Storming
Members will engage each other in arguments which often are significantly emotional and illustrate a struggle for states in the group
Norming
Members establish implicit or explicit rules about how they will achieve their goal
Peforming
members reach a conclusion and implement the solution on their issue
Benefits of organizing work in teams
- Handle complexity
- Cognitive resources (expertise)
- Stimulation (everybody stimulates each other)
- Knowledge sharing (implicit knowledge sharing also: how to deal with conflicts)
- Socio-emotional benefits (people like to work in teams)
Downsides of organizing work in teams
- Groupthink
- Production blocking
- Downward norm setting
- Coordinations losses
- Social loafing
I-P-O model
- Inputs
- Processes/mediators
- Outputs
Hackman’s model of team effectiveness
- Real teams
- Compelling direction
- Enabling structure
Real teams characteristics
- Clear boundaries
- Stability
- Interdependence
Not necessarily harmonious. Success may breed harmony, but harmony not necessarily success.
Compelling direction
- Clear goals, but autonomy on means
- Challenge (challenge high enough productivity but not too high demotivation)
- Consequentiality (team has to feel they have impact on the goal)
Enabling structure
- Right position (size, diversity, skills)
- Suitable task (whole task, autonomy, feedback)
- Clear norms (what is acceptable and what is not)
Burstiness
when everybody is speaking and responding to each other in a short amount of time instead of having it drawn out over a long period of time.
Bursty teams
characterized by a high level of responsiveness and temporal coordination.
Reducing groupthink
Set strict rules about not commenting or criticizing others’ ideas in the generation process.
Reducing production blocking
Start brainstorming individually, continue then in the team, building on the initial diversity of ideas generated individually.
Six key indicators – high quality teamwork
- Communication
- Coordination
- Balance of member contributions
- Mutual support
- Effort
- Cohesion
