Teamworking Managing Teams Flashcards
What are teams
- ‘a social collective’ - a group of people
- a common purpose
- a shared/mutual accountability
- interdependence (reliance on each other, coordination of work)
- not necessarily defined roles
- stable membership
What is a crew
A crew is a group of expert specialists each of who, have specific role positions, perform brief events closely synchronised with each other and repeat these events across different environmental conditions.
Only some teams are crews
They have regular membership substitutions and may be short lived. Also tend to have redundancy built in
Explain Tuckman’s model
- Forming : uncertain about goals and how to work together
- Storming: conflicts arise as people start to know each other and work out how to work well together (testing and proving mentality)
- Norming: people become more comfortable with each other/ more familiar with group processes (problem solving method)
- Performing: teams work well together, highly productive stage (true interdependence)
Things to help the process: feedback, support the team/develop trust, be a resource for team/ calm the environment/ coach to the next stage, provide guidance
Explain theory X
Theory X managers believe employees/ workers are inheritly lazy, uninspired and lacking imagination etc.
reliance on crude incentives and harsh punishments
Tight control and no attention to workers personal motivation
This leads to negative response from workers, that reinforces the managers beliefs.. viscous cycle / self fulfilling prophecy
Leading to poorer performance
Explain theory Y
Theory Y managers believe: employees are inherently capable of independent thought, motivated, creative etc.
Control and punishment is one approach, but not the best
Non financial rewards also important
Managers behaviour that inspires workers to take responsibility: attention to day, encouragement, listening workers views, delegating tasks etc
This leads to positive response , that reinforces managers beliefs ( positive cycle)
Therefore better performance
Implications of Mc Gregor’s Theory X/Y
Should avoid managing everyone the exact same as it leads to poorer performance , instead match each person needs and preferences in managing them individually
Successful management involves drawing out the employees willing efforts
What is a multiplier and how can managers become multipliers
Managers can be seen as multipliers when they enable employees to use the full range of their intellectual skills to solve problems and create value
When people work for multipliers they over their best thinking and ideas, give more than what their jobs require of them. Employees report a sense of absolute exhilaration from being utilised fully.
How to become a multiplier :
- ask questions rather than only giving out answers to team
- don’t micro- manage, ask for complete work
- instead of telling people what to do, help them see what they can do
- engagement , debate with team before making decisions
- give team/ members ownership and expect accountability
- trust them
- facilitate, teach/coach/supply resources
What is a diminisher
Managers that cause employees to use only a fraction of their capabilities
Managers that are focused on their own capabilities and assume they have all the answers and tend to ‘micromanage’
They can be well intentioned, visionary , a foundation of ideas but…
People working for them report feeling under-utilised and undervalued.
Define project management
Project management is the use of specific knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to deliver something of value to people. For example The development of software for an improved business process, the relief effort after a natural disaster, the expansion of sales into a new geographic market.
All projects are temporary with a beginning and an end. They create value through a unique product, service or result. They have a team, budget, schedule and set of expectations the team needs to meet.
Explain the traditional approach to managing projects (triangle)
Triangle with scope(in middle) , quality(on top) , time and cost:
The scope is fixed and defined at beginning of project.. so is quality in terms of standards and other qualifying factors.
Should be able to define the scope as detailed as possible in the beginning to avoid misinterpretation
It’s the project managers role to to manage these so that the project finishes on time and within the contracted cost
Traditional project management is with the scope fixed and time and cost can vary but agile projects can have the scope vary and time and cost fixed. (Quality in middle)
(Bottom of triangle varies and top is fixed stuff)
Talk more about the agile ‘inverted’ iron triangle
Start with urn a small piece I.e. a tiny scope, and incrementally add it to each iteration until we reach the time/ budget
This method means value is delivered to the customer in increments and scope is built over time
What are some implications of the agile triangle? What are some challenges of it?
Implications
Always seek dialogue and communication
Accept that there are trade offs and prioritise what is essential to the customer
Change is good, learn to adapt to process
Deliver frequently and rapidly leads to evolutionary/ iterative approaches
Challenges:
Customers still expect a full working product at the end of the project: should manage expectations
The delivery of parts of the project are mini projects with a fixed scope and fixed Time and cost
What is the 5 core values of Scrum
- courage: to do the right thing and work through projects
- focus: everyone focuses on the agreed work and the goals of the team
- commitment: individuals in the team are committed to achieve teams goals
- respect: individuals in the team respect each other
- openness- all in team should agree to be open about the work and challenges
Scrum is an agile project management methodology that involves a small team led by the scrum master and they work through these core values
Explain the framework of Kanban
A popular framework derived from lean manufacturing and just-in-time scheduling of operations.
Applicable to any work setting
Values:
- transparency
- balance
- collaboration
- customer focus
- flow
- leadership
- understanding
- agreement
- respect
Main components:
Visualise: use the mechanics such a ps a kanban board to visualise work and the process
Limit work in progress : easy list limits to the amount of work u have in progress and use limit guide to when start new items ( improves frequency, deliver more frequently, reduce lead times)
Manage flow: e.g. indenturing and addressing bottlenecks (which may cause backlog)
