Team characteristics Flashcards
team types
Characterized by the team’s purpose, length of its existence, and the amount of time involvement it requires of its individual members.
work teams
Produce goods and provide services Life span: long Member involvement: High Ex. self managed work team Production team Maintenance team Sales team
management teams
Integrate activities of subunits across business functions Affect the entire organization Life span: Long Member involvement: Moderate Ex. top management team
management teams
- Integrate activities of subunits across business functions
- Affect the entire organization
- Life span: Long
- Member involvement: Moderate
- Ex. top management team
parallel teams
- provide recommendations and resolve issues
- Composed of members from various jobs who provide recommendations to managers about important issues that run “parallel” to the organization’s production process.
- Life span: Varies
- Member involvement: Low
- Ex. Quality circle
- Advisory council
- Committee
project teams
- produce a one time output (product, service, plan, design)
- life span: varies
- member involvement: varies
- Ex. product design team
- Research groups
- Planning team.
Action teams
- perform complex tasks that vary in duration and take place in highly visible or challenging circumstances.
- Life span: Varies
- Member involvement: Varies
- Ex. surgical team
virtual teams
teams in which the members are geographically dispersed, and interdepend activities occurs through email, web conferencing, and instant messaging.
5 stage model of team development: Forming
- members orient themselves by trying to understand their boundaries in the team
- try to get a feel of what is expected of them
- what types of behaviours are out of bounds, and who’s in charge.
5 stag model of team development: Storming
- members remain committed to the ideas they bring with them to the team, and conflict may result
5 stage model of team development: Norming
- resolve issues, start to create new norms
5 stage model of team development: performing
members are comfortable working within their roles, and the teams makes progress towards goal.
5 stage model of team development: Adjourning
- members experience anxiety and other emotions as they disengage and ultimately spread from the team.
punctuated equilibrium model
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:
Degree to which team members interact with and rely on other team members for information materials, and resources needed to accomplish work for the team.
Pooled interdependence:
- Lowest degree of required coordination.
- Work individually and then the work is piled up to represent the group’s output.
- Ex. fishing boat
Sequential interdependence:
- Different tasks are done in a prescribed order, and the group is structured such that the members specialize in these tasks.
- Interaction occurs with members that are only next to each other in the sequence.
- Ex. factory line up
reciprocal interdependence
- Members are specialized to perform specific tasks. However, instead of a strict sequence of activities, members interact with a subset of other members to complete the team’s work.
- Ex. custom house design where the salesperson and the architect may have to meet multiple times in order to get all of the customer’s requests while also figuring out the logistics of it.
comprehensive interdependence
Requires the highest level of interaction and coordination among members as they try to accomplish work.
goal interdependence
The degree to which team members have a shared vision of the team’s goal and align their individual goals with that vision.
mission statement
a set of goals that a team makes clear in order to put everyone on the same page
outcome interdependence
when team members share in the rewards that the team earns, with regards examples including pay, bonuses, formal feedback and recognition
team composition
The mix of various characteristics that describe the individuals who work in the team.
Member roles:
A pattern of behavior a person is generally expected to display in a given context.
team task roles
- behaviors that directly facilitate the accomplishment of team tasks.
initiator contributor
proposes new ideas
initiator contributor
proposes new ideas
coordinator
tries to coordinate activities among team members
orientor
determines the direction of the team’s discussions
devil’s advocate
offers challenges to the team’s status quo
energizer
motivates the team to strive to do better
procedural technician
performs routine tasks to keep progress moving
team building roles:
behaviors that influence the quality of the team’s social climate
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.
individualistic roles
behaviours that benefit the individual at the expense of the team
Aggressor:
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.
disjunctive tasks
in these tasks, the most able member has the most influence on team performance
- ex. finding an error in a computer program.
conjunctive tasks
in these tasks, the least bale member has the most influence on team performance.
- Ex. pit crew stop where all tires need to be assembled properly in order for the racer to return to the race.
additive tasks
contributions resulting from the abilities of every member add up to determine team performance.
- Ex. fighting fire.
Agreeableness:
promotes harmony and cooperation
Extroversion:
associated with effectiveness in interpersonal contexts
Conscientiousness:
about being dependable and hardworking
team diversity
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 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:
- Refers to diversity regarding observable attributes such as race, ethnicity, sex, and age.
- May have a negative impact on teams early in their existence because of similarity attraction approach, those negative effects tend to disappear as members become more knowledgeable about one another.
Fault lines:
Often occurs in diverse groups, whereby informal subgroups develop based on similarity in surface-level attributes such as gender or other characteristics
Deep level diversity:
Refers to diversity with respect to attributes that are less easy to observe initially but that can be inferred after more direct experience.
- Time appears to increase the negative effects of deep-level diversity on team functioning and effectiveness.
team process
the different types of activities and interactions that concur within a team as the team works towards its goals.
taskwork process
The activities of team members that relate directly to the accomplishment of team tasks
creative behavior
Brainstorming: offer as many ideas for a solution or problem. Quantity over quality.
Nominal group technique:
Occurs on an individual level. Members brainstorm individually, then bring forward their ideas, and finally dedicate a set amount of time evaluating those ideas. Then individually, members rank the best ideas privately and tally up the points.
Decision informity:
The degree to which members possess adequate information about their own task responsibilities
Staff validity:
Degree to which members make good recommendations to the leader
Hierarchical sensitivity:
Degree to which the leader effectively weighs the recommendations of members
Boundary spanning:
Activities with individuals who are not part of the team
teamwork process
The interpersonal activities that promote the accomplishment of team tasks but do not involve task accomplishment itself.
Transition processes:
teamwork processes, such as missions analysis and planning that focus on preparation for future work in the team.
Transition processes:
teamwork processes, such as missions analysis and planning that focus on preparation for future work in the team.
Action process:
Teamwork processes, such as helping and coordination, that aid in the accomplishment of teamwork as the work is actually taking place.
Interpersonal processes:
Teamwork processes, such as motivating and confidence-building that focus on the management of relationships among team members.
team states
Specific types of feelings and thoughts that coalesce in the minds of team members as a consequence of their experience working together.
cohesion
A team state that occurs when members of the team develop strong emotional bonds to other members of the team and to the team itself
cohesion
A team state that occurs when members of the team develop strong emotional bonds to other members of the team and to the team itself
Potency:
A team state reflecting the degree of confidence among team members that the team can be effective across situations and tasks (p. 318)
Mental models:
The degree to which team members have a shared understanding of important aspects of the team and its task (p. 318)
Transactive memory:
The degree to which team members’ specialized knowledge is integrated into an effective system of memory for the team (p. 318)
Transportable teamwork competencies:
Team training that involves helping people develop general teamwork competencies that they can transport from one team context to another.
Cross training:
Training team members in the duties and responsibilities of their teammates
Team process training:
The use of team experiences facilitates the team’s ability to function and perform more effectively as an intact unit.
team building:
Fun activities that facilitate team problem solving, trust, relationship building, and clarification of role responsibilities (p. 325)
