Week 7 Chapter 8 Team Dynamics Flashcards
In theory _____ employees will contribute to a high-performance work culture. To support this theory team members, at At RPG Group, are trained to work together identifying and solving work-related problems with minimal supervision
empowered
Name some features of groups
Groups of two or more people
Exist to fulfil a purpose
Interdependent—interact and influence each other
Mutually accountable for achieving common goals
Perceive themselves as a social entity
Examples of teams
Task force (project) teams Skunkworks Virtual teams Communities of practice Departmental teams Production/service/ leadership teams Self-directed teams Advisory teams
Groups that exist primarily for the benefit of their members
Informal groups
Reasons why informal groups exist:
Innate drive to bond
Social identity—we define ourselves by group memberships
Goal accomplishment
Emotional support
Disadvantages of Teams
Individuals better/faster on some tasks
Process losses—cost of developing and maintaining teams
Social loafing
Advantages of Teams
Under the right conditions, teams make better decisions, develop better products and services and create a more engage workforce, Information sharing is quicker,
Increased motivation due to accountability to co-workers,
Improved performance as co-workers become benchmarks for comparison.
Increase employee motivation and engagement
Fulfils drive to bond
Closer scrutiny by team members
Team members are benchmarks of comparison
A problem that occurs when people exert less effort (and usually perform at a lower level) when working in teams than when working alone.
Social Loafing
How can social loafing be reduced
by reducing team size, or measuring each member’s performance
Informal groups tend to increase an employee’s _____ _____ – the knowledge and other resources available to people or social units (teams, organisations) from a durable network that connects them to others.
social capital
All teams are groups, but not all groups are teams. Humans are _____ animals, hardwired to bond which creates the need to belong, so they join groups to shape and reinforce self-concept. Groups can accomplish tasks that individuals cannot. In stressful situations, the presence of others provides comfort.
social
Social loafing is less prevalent when task is _____, or when objective is _____, and is also lower among members who value team
interesting, important
Features of Organisation/Team Environment
Reward systems Communication systems Organisational structure Organisational leadership Physical space
Features of Team Design
Task characteristics
Team size
Team composition
Task characteristics state that Teams are _____ when _____ work can be divided into _____ roles that require frequent coordination
useful, complex, specialised
One task characteristic that is extremely important for teams is
Task interdependence
the extent to which team members must share materials, information or expertise in order to perform their jobs
Task interdependence:
The principle that adding more people to a late software project only makes it later
Brook’s law (aka mythical man-month):
A team is effective when it benefits the _____
Organisation
Features of Team effectiveness
Accomplish tasks
Satisfy Member needs
Maintain team survival
Features of team processes
Team development
Team norms
Team cohesion
Team Trust
The main problems with teams is that they have additional costs or
process losses (team development and maintenance etc)
Process losses:
resources (including time and energy) expended towards team development and maintenance rather than the task
In new work teams, trust tends to decrease rather than increase over time T or F?
True
Calculus-based trust refers to the logical calculation that team members will always act in the interests of the group. T or F
False
Calculus-based trust represents a _____ calculation that other team members will act appropriately because they face sanctions if their actions violate reasonable _____. It offers the lowest potential trust and is easily broken by a violation of expectations. Generally, calculus-based trust alone cannot sustain a team’s relationship, because it relies on deterrence.
logical, expectations
According to the integrated team effectiveness model, team effectiveness is a product of team context, design and team processes but does not influence these. T or F?
True
Other than psychological drives, individuals may also join informal groups to serve their own interests. T or F?
True
Team members communicate mainly using information technology are known as a
virtual team
What is the reason why people initiate and join informal groups, but is not an important aspect of work teams?
To satisfy the human drive to bond.
Achieving its objectives and satisfying the needs of its members are two elements of team effectiveness. What is the third?
Ability to survive over time
Teams in which all members possess the same specialised skill are likely to be _____ effective than teams where there is diversity and therefore a broader pool of technical competencies
less
What are team norms?
Expected behaviours which are seen as acceptable by the team
What are the two main groups of team roles?
Task and relationship
An important part of team development process is forming and reinforcing team _____.
roles
A role is a set of _____ that people are expected to perform because they hold certain positions in a team and organisation. In team settings some roles help the team to achieve its goals, other roles maintain relationships within the team. Many roles exist informally and are shared among team members. Norming and performing are two of the stages in the team development process.
behaviours
A popular (but untested) rule is that optimal _____ _____ is between 5 – 7 people. Teams should be large enough to provide necessary _____ and perspectives to perform the work, but small enough to maintain efficient _____ (coordination and involvement).
team size, competencies, communication
Team composition
The move frequently mentioned characteristics of effective teams are the five C’s of team-member competency
Cooperating Coordinating Communicating Comforting Conflict Resolving
Team diversity is also an important aspect of team composition. Diverse teams make better decisions under some circumstances because:
- People from different backgrounds see problem/opportunity from different angles (mental models).
- Diverse teams have a broader pool of technical competencies
- Diverse teams provide better representation of the team’s constituents (other departments/clients)
Diversity also has a potentially _____ influence on internal functioning of the team because they take _____ to become high-performing teams because they take longer to bond, and are susceptible to ‘fault lines’ – divisions based on gender, ethnicity, etc.).
opposing, longer
_____ teams tend to be more effective on tasks requiring a high level of cooperation and coordination.
Homogenous
Advantages of Diversity within teams
View problems and possible solutions from different perspectives
Broader knowledge base
Better representation of team’s constituents
Team development
Performing
Norming
Storming
Forming
Discover expectations Evaluate value of membership Defer to existing authority test boundaries of behaviourForming Are all processes of \_\_\_\_\_
Forming
Experience interpersonal conflict Compete for team roles Influence goals and means Establish norms Are all processes of \_\_\_\_\_
Stormin
Establish roles Agree on team objectives Form team mental models Develop Cohesion Are all processes of \_\_\_\_\_
Norming
Become task-orientated, and committed Coordinate efficiently Build high levels of cooperation and trust Resolve conflicts quickly Are all processes of \_\_\_\_\_
Performing
The model masks two other processes during team development:
- Developing team identity:
2. Developing team competence:
The transition individuals make from viewing team as something ‘out there’ to something that is a part of them, is known as
Developing team identity
Developing habitual routines with teammates and forming shared/complementary mental models is
Developing team competence
An important part of the team development process is forming and reinforcing team _____
roles
Sets of behaviours that people are expected to perform because of the positions they hold in a team and organisation
Roles
Many companies try and speed up the team development process through
team building
team building a process that consists of
formal activities intended to improve the development and functioning of a work team.
- general solution to a general problem
- ‘one-shot’ instead of ongoing process
- Team building occurs on the job, not only in artificial environments.
Reasons why the success of team building is uncertain because
What are the key features of a self-directed team?
Autonomy in undertaking a major operation/project
Self-_____ teams work on a complete task with all its interdependent features and have substantial autonomy over the execution of their tasks.
directed
Team cohesiveness increases as a result of _____ _____
team success
Group _____ is an aspect of groupthink and a bad idea for ill-defined situations. The team could take decision-making processes as far as possible before acknowledging any uncertainty, which may need to be resolved by the person carrying the responsibility.
harmony
Groupthink is the tendency of highly _____ groups to value consensus at the price of decision _____.
cohesive, quality
When executives are facing ill-defined problem the most important thing to do is make
sure the group is harmonious
When participants are asked to (1) silently and independently document their ideas, (2) describe these ideas to the other team members without critique, and (3) silently and independently evaluate the ideas presented, this is called?
Nominal group technique
Team cohesion can lead to pressure to conform which has which of the following effects:
Keeps focus on group goals
_____ ____ _____ is a variation of traditional brainstorming that tries to combine the benefits of team decision making without the associated problems. The method is called ‘nominal’ because participants form a group in name only during two of its three stages.
Nominal group technique
Team _____ is a characteristic of a team. It includes the extent to which its members are attracted to the team and are committed to the team’s goals. Members of high-cohesion teams are generally more _____ to each other’s needs and develop better interpersonal relationships, thereby reducing dysfunctional conflict. When conflict does arise members tend to resolve their differences swiftly and effectively. With _____ cooperation and more conformity to norms, high cohesion teams usually perform better than low cohesion teams.
cohesion, sensitive, better
the informal rules and shared expectations that groups establish to regulate the behaviour of their members
Norms:
Team cohesion also depends on instrumentality, a factor which refers to:
The teams level of success
Cohesion is both _____ and _____, with the latter referring to the notion that people feel more cohesion to teams that fulfil their needs and goals. Consequently, cohesion increases with the team’s level of success. Furthermore, individuals are more likely to attach their social identity to successful teams than to those with a string of failures.
instrumental, emotional
Role definition team building also helps the team develop shared mental models which may be defined as including:
Common internal representations of the external world
What type of team is usually multi-skilled and has the specific purpose to solve a problem, realise an opportunity, or design a product or service?
Skunkworks
multiskilled teams that are usually located away from the organisation and are relatively free of its hierarchy; often initiated by an entrepreneurial team leader who borrows people and resources (bootlegging) to design a product or service.
Skunkworks
Team _____ can become deeply anchored so the best ways to avoid creating ______ norms is to clearly state desirable norms when the team is _____ created or to select people with appropriate values.
norms, dysfunctional, first
Why are cultural differences likely to be magnified in multicultural teams?
ach employee brings his or her own country’s cultural values
Several factors influence team cohesion:
- Member similarity
- Team size: smaller teams tend to have more cohesion than larger teams but smaller teams have less cohesion when they lack enough members to perform their required tasks
- Member interaction: frequent interaction encourages cohesion
- Difficult entry: when entry to a team is restricted, there is greater cohesion but severe initiations can weaken cohesion if humiliation is involved
- Team successes
- External competition or challenges
Every team must have some level of minimal _____ to maintain its existence.
cohesion
Team cohesion has an effect on task _____:
performance
Team norm support company goals there fore there is a ___ to _____ high task performance
high, moderately
Team norms conflict with company goals therefore there is a ____ to _____ low task performance
low, moderately
the positive expectations that one person has towards another person or group in situations involving risk.
Trust
There are 3 levels of trust
calculus-based trust
knowledge-based trust
Identification based trust
This type of trust is based on deterrence and has a fragile and limited because dependent on punishment
calculus-based trust
This type of trust is predictable, competent and fairly robust
knowledge-based trust
This type of trust is based on common mental-models and values and increases with the person’s social identity with the team.
Identification trust
a cross-functional work group that is organised around work processes, completes an entire piece of work requiring several interdependent tasks and has substantial autonomy over the execution of those tasks.
Self-directed team (SDT):
Success factors for self-directed teams
Responsible for entire work process High interdependence within the team Low interdependence with other teams Autonomy to organise and coordinate work Work site and technology support team communication/coordination
Managers of multicultural teams can make one of three kinds of interventions:
Encourage adaptation
Implement a structural intervention
Direct manager intervention
The performance of multicultural teams will be affected by the different _____ that influence their work styles. It is also affected by the differences between local _____ of within-country team members and the global perspectives espoused by team members.
norms, perspectives -
- Norms about power, status and authority
- Norms about communicating
- Norms about decision-making
Encourage _____: identify and acknowledge cultural differences in order to develop strategies t manager those differences.
adaptation
Implement a structural _____: change structure of team (e.g. divide team into subgroups to improve communication)
intervention
Direct manager intervention: managers can intervene in the _____ stage
norming
Teams whose members operate across space, time and organisational boundaries, and are linked through information technology to achieve organisational tasks.
Virtual teams:
Virtual Team Member characteristics
Technology savvy
Self-leadership skills
Emotional intelligence
• Constraints on team decision making
o Time constraints: teams take longer than individuals to make decisions
o Production blocking: a time constraint in team decision making due to the procedural requirement that only one person may speak at a time
o Evaluation apprehension: a decision-making problem that occurs when individuals are reluctant to mention ideas that seem silly because they believe (often correctly) that other team members are silently evaluating them
o Pressure to conform
o Groupthink: the tendency of highly cohesive groups to value consensus at the price of decision quality
a type of conflict in which people focus their discussion on the issue while maintaining respect for people having other points of view
o Constructive conflict:
a freewheeling, face-to-face meeting where team members aren’t allowed to criticise but are encouraged to speak freely, to generate as many ideas as possible and to build on the ideas of others
o Brainstorming
a form of brainstorming that relies on networked computers for submitting and sharing creative ideas
o Electronic brainstorming
• Team structures to improve decision making
- Team norms should encourage critical thinking
- Team membership should be sufficiently diverse
- Checks and balances should be in place to prevent 1-2 people from dominating discussion
: a variation of brainstorming consisting of three stages: participants (1) silently and independently document their ideas; (2) collectively describe their ideas to the other team members without critique; and (3) silently and independently evaluate the ideas presented
o Nominal group technique
The four team processes
Team development
Norms
Cohesion
Trust
Three team design elements are
task characteristics, team size and team composition
