Team Dynamics Flashcards
What is a team?
Teams are groups of two or more people who interact and influence one another, are mutually accountable for achieving common goals associated with organisational objectives and perceive themselves as a social entity within an organisation.
What is the criteria that needs to be met for a group to be a team?
- It exists to complete a purpose (objective).
- The people are interdependent.
- The members of the team influence each other.
- The members of the team perceive themselves as a team.
What are the three characteristics (things that make some teams different from others) of a team?
- Team permanence.
- Skill differentiation.
- Authority differentiation.
What is team permanence?
Team permanence refers to how long a team exists.
What is skill differentiation?
Skill differentiation refers to how varied the skills each member of the team brings are.
What is authority differentiation?
Authority differentiation refers to the degree that decision making is distributed throughout the team.
What are the different kinds of teams?
- Departmental teams
- Production/service/leadership teams
- Self directed teams
- Task force (project) teams.
- Action teams
- Advisory teams
- Skunkworks
- Virtual teams
- Communities of practice.
What are informal groups?
Groups include people assembled together, whether or not they have any interdependence or organizationally focused objective. They primarily exist for the benefit of their members.
Are informal groups teams?
Usually no.
What are the benefits of informal groups?
- They minimize employee stress.
2. Encourage trust, info sharing, power, influence and wellbeing.
What are 7 advantages of working in a team?
- Better decisions.
- Better product and service output.
- More engaged employees.
- Sharing of information.
- Coordination.
- Increased motivation/bonding.
- Accountability/benchmarking.
Do people in teams work more effectively than individuals?
Under the right conditions - yes.
What are some challenges of working in teams?
- Process losses.
2. Social Loafing.
What are process losses?
Process losses refer to the time and effort that is spent on team maintaining/developing the team that could have been spent doing the core task.
How does complexity fit into the decision of whether a team is needed to complete some work?
If the work is highly complex = needs a team.
If the work is not complex = can be done individually.
What increases the intensity of process losses?
When people are added/replaced in a team.
What is social loafing?
Social loafing (also known as motivational process loss) is when team members exert less effort in a team vs working alone.
What factors influence social loafing?
- Peoples effort is hidden = more loafing.
- task is interesting = less loafing.
- people value team effort = less loafing.
What makes a team effective?
A team is effective when it benefits the organization and its members and when it survives long enough to accomplish its mandate. Also a team should satisfy its member’s needs.
What are the 5 elements of the team effectiveness model?
- Org and team environment
- Team design
- Team states
- Team processes
- Team effectiveness
What is the org/team environment?
Refers to all the things outside the team that might influence its performance. Environment is external.
Are team rewards good or bad?
Good. Teams tend to work better together when there are team rewards.
What org/team environment elements improve performance?
- Support of work structures.
- Rewards.
- When the org structure provides a team with their own ‘cluster’ of work.
- When IT supports collab.
- Physical layout supports collab.
- When there is external competition.
Define team design elements.
Team design elements are the size, task features and makeup of a team.
What are task characteristics?
Task characteristics are different kinds of features of tasks that need to be done by a team.
What are the different kinds of task characteristics?
- Task complexity.
- Task structure.
- Task interdependence (pooled, sequential and reciprocal).
If task interdependence is high, should the work be done as a team or alone?
As a team - but only if the team has the same goal.
What is the ideal team size?
Big enough to have the required competencies, but small enough that it is effectively able to communicate/coordinate (minimize process loss).
What is the model of team composition?
The 5 C’s model.
What are the 5 C’s?
- Cooperating.
- Coordinating.
- Communicating.
- Comforting.
- Conflict Resolving.
What personality traits are positively associated with the 5 C’s (Hint: think the big 5).
Conscientiousness and Extraversion.
Bonus for emotional intelligence but this isn’t on a personality model.
Does one person who lacks in the 5 Cs really matter?
Yes. They can spoil the team dynamic and effect others dynamics.
Is it good to have females in board level positions?
Yes - Women in top level positions tend to enhance org performance.
What sub-aspect of the team effectiveness model does team diversity fit into?
Team composition (which is part of team design).
What are good things about diverse teams?
- They make better decision (in some situations).
- They tend to have unique views.
- They have a broader pool of competencies.
- Better representation of outside of the team.
What are some of the challenges of team diversity?
- The team takes longer to become high performing.
2. Susceptible to fault lines.
Define a role.
A role is a set of behaviors that people are expected to perform because they hold certain positions in a team and organization.
What sub-aspect of the team effectiveness model does team roles fit into?
Team composition (which is part of team design).
What kinds of team roles are there?
Formal roles (which are typically based on job responsibilities) and informal roles (which are typically negotiated).
What sub-aspect of the team effectiveness model does transactive memory fit into?
Team composition (which is part of team design).
What is transactive memory?
A transactive memory system describes how task relevant knowledge is distributed within a team and the collective awareness of who knows what.
What are team states?
Team states represent motivational or cognitive characteristics of the team that continuously evolve.
What model is team states part of?
The team effectiveness model.
What are the different elements of team states?
- Norms
- Cohesion
- Team efficacy
- Team trust
Define norms.
Norms are the informal rules and shared expectations that teams establish to regulate the behaviour of their members. Norms apply only to behaviour, not to private thoughts or feelings. Furthermore, norms exist only for behaviours that are important to the team.
What influences individuals conforming to team norms?
- Rewards.
- Punishment
- Alignment with team identity.
What causes team norms to develop?
- Events during team formation.
- Behaviors that make the team more effective.
- Experience and values of the members.
How do you prevent dysfunctional team norms?
Establish explicit norms during the formation of the team.
How do you change dysfunctional team norms?
Have coaching to change existing norms or offer team rewards for changing.
What is team cohesion?
Team cohesion refers to the degree of attraction people feel towards the team and their motivation to remain members.
What part of the team effectiveness model is team cohesion a part of?
Team states.
What are the six influences on team cohesion?
- Member similarity (positive).
- Team size (negative).
- Member interaction (positive).
- Somewhat difficult entry (positive).
- Team success (positive).
- External competition and challenges (positive).
What are two confounding variables on team cohesion improving performance?
- Low task interdependence.
2. Whether the team norms are for or against org objectives (e.g. is team behavior counterproductive).
What is team efficacy?
This is the perception of the team of the of other members levels of capability.
What is team efficacy positively related to?
Team effort, goal ambition, persistence and resilience to feedback.
What is low efficacy related to?
Apathy, loafing, poor decision making.
What encourages team efficacy?
Participative leaders, knowledge of the team task, self confidence, visible teamwork behavior.
What is team trust?
Trust refers to positive expectations one person
has towards another person in situations involving risk.
What part of the team effectiveness model does team trust fit in?
Team states.
What are the two foundations of trust in teams?
Cognition based trust & affect based trust.
What is cognition based trust?
Logical evidence gathered that assumes that a person possesses the abilities and integrity required to perform in a team.
What is affect based trust?
A feelings based trust that our team members are benevolent (well intentioned) and share our values (value congruent).
What are trust levels like when an employee joins a team.
High, but this trust decreases over time.
What are team processes?
Team processes refers to the interactions and activities that occur within a team as it works towards its goal.
What are the elements that make up team processes?
- Taskwork.
- Teamwork.
- Team boundary spanning.
- Team development.
What is teamwork?
Teamwork behaviour has been described as activities that are devoted to enhancing the quality of the interactions, interdependencies, cooperation and coordination of teams.
What is taskwork?
Taskwork behaviour has been described as team members’ efforts that are devoted to understanding the task requirements.
What is team boundary spanning?
Team boundary spanning refers to team actions that establish or enhance linkages and manage interactions with parties in the external environment.
What are the three kinds of boundary spanning activities?
- Ambassador activities.
- Task coordination.
- Scouting activities.
What is Tuckmans model of team developement?
This is a model that shows a hierarchical version of how teams develop (in terms of team effectiveness) e.g. forming, storming, norming, performing, adjourning.
What is the punctuated equilibrium model?
According to this model, group development can be divided into distinct phases that are ‘punctuated’ by a transition from relatively unfocused and task-unrelated activity to highly focused and goal-directed activity.
