Teams: Characteristics and Diversity

1. Teams: Characteristics and Diversity 11

2. Learning Goals • What are the five general types of teams and their characteristics? • What are the three general types of team interdependence? • What factors are involved in team composition? • How does diversity influence team functioning? • How do team characteristics influence team effectiveness? • How can team compensation be used to manage team effectiveness?

3. Team Characteristics Ateamconsists of two or more people who work interdependentlyover some time period to accomplish common goals related to some task-oriented purpose. • A special type of “group” • Interactions among members revolve around deeper dependence on one another than the interactions within groups • Interactions within teams occur with a specific task-related purpose in mind

4. Team Types • Work teams – relatively permanent • Purpose is to produce goods or provide services • Require a full-time commitment from their members • Management teams – relatively permanent • Coordinate the activities of organizational subunits • Help the organization achieve its long-term goals

5. Team Types, Cont’d • Parallel teams – part-time responsibility for members • Cross-functional; members from various jobs • Provide recommendations on important issues that run “parallel” to the organization’s production process • Project teams – temporary, though can be long-term • Take on “one-time” tasks that are generally complex • Require a lot of input from members with different training and expertise • Action teams – temporary • Tasks are quite complex • Take place in contexts that are highly visible and/or highly challenging in nature

6. Table 11-1 Types of Teams

7. Variations Within Team Types Virtual teams • Members are geographically dispersed • Interdependent activity occurs primarily through electronic communication • E-mail • Instant messaging • Web conferencing

8. Stages of Team Development • Forming- understanding boundaries in the team and getting a feel for what is expected • Storming- remain committed to own ideas; triggers conflict that affects some relationships and harms the team’s progress • Norming- realize they need to work together to accomplish team goals • Performing – members comfortable working within their roles; team makes progress toward goals • Adjourning – members experience anxiety and other emotions as they disengage and separate from the team Forming Storming Norming Time Performing Adjourning

9. Punctuated Equilibrium Initial meeting • Members make assumptions and establish pattern of interaction that lasts for the first part of team’s life Midpoint or crisis point • New pattern of behavior for remainder of team’s life

10. Team Interdependence Task interdependence– degree to which team members interact with and rely on other team members to accomplish the work of the team • Information, materials, resources Pooled interdependence

11. Team Interdependence, cont’d Sequential interdependence • Different tasks done in a prescribed order • Interaction only occurs between members who perform tasks that are next to each other in the sequence

12. Team Interdependence, cont’d Reciprocal interdependence • Members specialized to perform specific tasks • Semi-continuous interaction with a subset of other members to complete the team’s work

13. Team Interdependence, cont’d Comprehensive interdependence • Highest level of interaction and coordination among members • Each member has discretion in what they do and with whom they interact in the collaboration involved in accomplishing the team’s work

14. Goal Interdependence • Team members have a shared vision of the team’s goal • Align individual goals with that vision as a result • May develop a formalized mission statement that members buy into

15. Outcome Interdependence • Team members share in the rewards that the team earns • Pay • Bonuses • Formal feedback and recognition • Pats on the back • Extra time off • Continued team survival

16. Team Composition • The mix of people who make up the team • Role - the behaviors a person is expected to display in a given context • Leader–staff teams • Leader makes decisions for the team • Leader provides direction and control over members who perform assigned tasks • Team task roles - directly facilitate the accomplishment of team tasks • Team building roles - influence the quality of the team’s social climate • Individualistic roles - benefit the individual at the expense of the team

17. Team Roles

18. Individualistic Roles

19. Team Composition, cont’d Member ability and team effectiveness • Disjunctive tasks • Objectively verifiable best solution • Member with the highest level of relevant ability will have the most influence on the effectiveness of the team • Conjunctive tasks • Team’s performance depends on the abilities of the “weakest link” • Additive tasks • Contributions resulting from the abilities of every member “add up” to determine team performance

20. Team Composition, cont’d Member personalities • Agreeable • More cooperative and trusting • Promote positive attitudes about the team and smooth interpersonal interactions • Conscientious • Dependable and work hard to achieve goals • Extraverted • Perform more effectively in interpersonal contexts • More positive and optimistic in general • May have too much influence

21. Team Composition, cont’d Team diversity - differences in terms of any attribute that might be used by someone as a basis of categorizing people • Value in diversity problem-solving approach • Diversity provides a larger pool of knowledge and perspectives for a team to draw on in carrying out its work • Similarity-attraction approach • People tend to be attracted to others who are perceived as similar • Surface-level diversity • Diversity in observable attributes • Race, ethnicity, sex, and age • Deep-level diversity • Diversity in attributes that can be inferred only after more direct experience • Personality, values, attitudes

22. Team Composition, cont’d Team Size • Having more members is beneficial for management and project teams • Not for teams engaged in production tasks • Team members most satisfied when the number of members is 4-5

23. Figure 11-4 Five Aspects of Team Composition

24. Importance of Team Characteristics • Team performance • Quantity and quality of goods or services produced, customer satisfaction, completed reports • Relationship between task interdependence and team performance is moderately positive • Team viability • Likelihood that the team can work together effectively into the future • Weak positive relationship between task interdependence and team commitment

25. Application: Team Compensation • Outcome interdependence has obvious connections to compensation practices in organizations • High outcome interdependence • Promotes higher levels of cooperation • Members understand they share the same fate • Design team reward structures with hybrid outcome interdependence • Members receive rewards that are dependent on both their team’s performance and how well they perform as individuals.