Team Dynamics Flashcards
What are teams?
Groups of two or more people that exist to fulfill a purpose.
- interdependent
- mutually accountable for achieving common goals
What are informal groups?
Groups that exist primarily for the benefit of their members.
Why do informal groups exist?
- Innate drive to bond
- Social identity – we define ourselves by group memberships
- Goal accomplishment – goals that can be better met in groups (coalitions)
- Emotional support
What are advantages of teams?
- better decisions, better products/services
- better information sharing and task coordination
- increased employee motivation/engagement
What are disadvantages of teams?
- individuals better/faster on some tasks
- process losses – time and energy expended toward team development and maintenance rather than the task itself
- social loafing
What is social loafing?
- when people exert less effort when working teams than when working alone
Team Effectiveness Model (in order)
- Organizational and Team Environment
- Team Design
- Team States & Team Processes
- Team Effectiveness
What does the organization/team environment consist of?
Reward systems
- teams work better when they are rewarded for team performance
Organizational structure
- organization around work processes
Organizational leadership
- supportive to team efforts
Physical space
- may or may not facilitate team work
Teams are better for tasks that are:
- sufficiently complex (require teamwork)
- can be divide into more specialized roles requiring frequent coordination
- well-structured (easier to coordinate
Levels of Task Interdependence (3)
[Reciprocal] - High interdependence, individuals rely on each other
[Sequential] - Medium interdependence, individuals rely on the person before them
[Pooled] - Low interdependence, individuals rely on a shared resource
Smaller teams are better because:
Less process losses – need less time to coordinate roles and resolve differences
More member involvement, thus higher commitment
… but teams must be large enough to accomplish the task
Team Member Competencies (5 C’s)
Cooperating
- share resources
- accommodate others
Coordinating
- align work with others
- keep team on track
Communicating
- share information freely, efficiently, respectfully
- listen actively
Comforting
- show empathy
- provide psychological comfort
- build confidence
Conflict resolving
- diagnose conflict sources
- use best conflict handling
What are advantages and disadvantages of diversity?
Team members have diverse knowledge, skills, perspectives, values, etc.
Advantages
- view problems/alternatives form different perspectives
- broader knowledge base
- better representation of internal and/or external clients
Disadvantages
- take longer to become a high-performing team
- more susceptible to “fault-lines’
- increased risk of dysfunctional conflict
What are team norms and how do they develop?
Generally agreed-upon informal rules that guide behaviour of group members.
Norms develop through:
- Precedent set over time: Group members usually draw from their previous experiences to guide their behaviours in new situation.
- Critical events in the team’s history.
What is cohesion? What influences it?
The degree of attraction people feel toward the team and their motivation to remain members.
Influences on Team Cohesion
- Member similarity
- Team size
- Member interaction
- Somewhat difficult entry
- Team success
- External challenges
