Chapter 6

1. Chapter 6 Developing Teamwork

2. Chapter Outline • Teams versus Groups: What’s the Difference? • Why Have Teams Become So Popular? • Types of Teams • Beware! Teams Aren’t Always the Answer • Creating Effective Teams • Developing Trust • Teams and Workforce Diversity

3. Developing Team Work • What’s the difference between a group and a team? • Are teams always the right answer? • How can we ensure that teams work effectively? Questions for Consideration

4. Teams versus Groups • Work Group • A group that interacts primarily to share information and to make decisions to help each other perform within his or her area of responsibility • Work Team • A group whose individual efforts result in a performance that is greater than the sum of those individual inputs

5. Exhibit 6-1 Teams and Work Groups

6. Point:Teams: The Way to Go • The value of teams is now well known. The following are benefits that can result from the introduction of work teams. • Increased employee motivation. • Higher levels of productivity. • Increased employee satisfaction. • Common commitment to goals. • Improved communication. • Expanded job skills. • Organizational flexibility.

7. CounterPoint:Teams Are Not Always the Answer • A critical look at four of the assumptions which seem to underlay this team ideology. • Mature teams are task oriented and have successfully minimized the negative influences of other group forces. • Individual, group, and organizational goals can all be integrated into common team goals. • Participative or shared leadership is always effective. • The team environment drives out the subversive forces of politics, power, and conflict that divert groups from efficiently doing their work.

8. Types of Work Teams • Problem-Solving • Groups of 5 to 12 employees from the same department who meet for a few hours each week to discuss ways of improving quality, efficiency, and the work environment • Self-Managed • Groups of 10 to 15 people who take on responsibilities of their former supervisors • Cross-Functional Teams • Employees from about the same hierarchical level, but from different work areas, who come together to accomplish a task • Virtual Teams • Use computer technoloogy to tie together physically dispersed members in order to achieve a common goal

9. Exhibit 6-2Four Types of Teams

10. Problem Identification Problem Selection Decision Solutions Reviewed Problem Review Solutions Recommended Exhibit 6-3How a Typical Quality Circle Operates

11. Beware! Teams Aren’t Always the Answer • Questions to determine whether a team fits the situation: • Can the work be done better by more than one person? • Does work create a common purpose or set of goals for the people in the group that is more than the aggregate of individual goals? • Are members of the group interdependent?

12. Exhibit 6-4 A Model of Team Effectiveness

13. Creating Effective Teams • Work Design • Composition Considerations • Team Size and Composition • Context • Resources • Leadership and Structure • Appropriate Performance Evaluation • Reward Systems That Acknowledge Team Effort • Internal Team Needs: Process • A Common Purpose • Specific Goals • Team Efficacy • Conflict Levels • Accountability

14. Composition Considerations • Teams need the following skills to perform effectively • technical expertise • problem-solving and decision-making skills • interpersonal skills

15. Building Trust • Demonstrate that you’re working for others’ interests as well as your own. • Be a team player. • Practice openness. • Be fair. • Speak your feelings. • Show consistency in the basic values that guide your decision making. • Maintain confidence. • Demonstrate competence.

16. Exhibit 6-5 Key Roles on Teams

17. Exhibit 6-6 Team Behaviour at Imperial Oil

18. Exhibit 6-7Dimensions of Trust

19. Dimensions of Trust • Integrity • Honesty and truthfulness • Competence • Technical and interpersonal knowledge and skills • Consistency • Reliability, predictability, and good judgment in handling situations • Loyalty • Willingness to protect and save face for a person • Openness • Willingness to share ideas and information freely

20. Multiple perspectives Greater openness to new ideas Multiple interpretations Increased creativity Increased flexibility Increased problem-solving skills Ambiguity Complexity Confusion Miscommunication Difficulty in reaching a single agreement Difficulty in agreeing on specific actions Advantages Disadvantages Exhibit 6-8Advantages and Disadvantages of Diversity

21. Shaping Team Players • Selection • Care should be taken to ensure that candidates can fulfill their team roles as well as technical requirements. • Training • A large proportion of people raised on the importance of individual accomplishment can be trained to become team players. • Performance Evaluation • Performance as a team member has to be evaluated alongside “individual” performance • Rewards • Reward systems needs to be reworked to encourage cooperative efforts rather than competitive ones.

22. Summary and Implications • The introduction of teams into the workplace has greatly influenced employee jobs • High-performing teams have common characteristics: • they contain people with special skills • they commit to a common purpose, establish specific goals • they have the leadership and structure to provide focus and direction • they hold themselves accountable at both the individual and team levels • there is high mutual trust among members • It is difficult to create team players. To do so, managers should: • select individuals with interpersonal skills • provide training to develop teamwork skills • reward individuals for cooperative efforts