WORKING SMART THROUGH TEAMWORK

2. WORKING SMART THROUGH TEAMWORK • All of us know in our hearts that the ideal individual for a given job cannot be found. He cannot be found because he cannot exist. • This is why it is not the individual but the team that is key to the success of any enterprise.

3. Definition Of A Team • A ‘team’ is defined as a group of members who must rely on group work to achieve success. • Members in team are organised around a common set of objectives and their work is mutually dependant.

4. When To Form A Team • Conditions needed for a successful team : • 1. A specified, measurable objective that can be best achieved by a team effort. • 2. Knowledge and use of various problem-solving techniques. • 3. An organisational culture that supports the team concept. • 4. Sufficient time for adequate training, debating, and discussion

5. Key Areas Of Resistance to Teams In Organisations • OrganisationalStructure • Management and Supervision • Individual Workers

6. Reasons why workers resist being in a team: • 1. Fear losing individual rewards and recognition • 2. Fear losing individuality • 3. Fear that teams will create more work • 4. Fear assuming responsibility • 5. Fear conflict

7. Characteristics Of An Effective Team • Common commitment and identity • Specific team purpose and goals • Size of teams • Skills mix • Team roles • Mutual accountability

8. Size of Teams • For a team to be effective, there should be between 2 to 25 members • With the majority of them having less than 10 members.

9. Size of Teams • large group of more than 10 would have trouble interacting and communicating constructively. • harder it is to manage. • subgroups will emerge • dominated by a few talkative and aggressive members. • group of 4to 8 allows everyone to say something • Yet it is big enough for a range of specialized skills

10. Skills Mix • 1. Technical and functional expertise • 2. Problem-solving and decision-making skills • 3. Interpersonal skills

11. Team Roles + Mutual Accountability • Every member of a successful team does equivalent amount of real work; all members, including the team leader, contribute in concrete ways to the team’s work product. • Team accountability is about the promises members make to themselves and others, promises that underpin two critical aspects of effective teams: commitment and trust.

12. ROLES WITHIN A TEAM • A role is a set of expected behaviours associated with a position. Work teams have a set of expectations about how members in the team should behave in the team.

13. Bales’ Interaction Process Analysis • Task-related roles • Maintenance-related roles • Defensive roles • Dysfunctional roles

14. Task-related Roles: • Initiator – suggests new ideas, ways of doing things. • Information giver – offers relevant facts, information • Co-ordinator – brings together ideas, suggestions • Evaluator- measures progress, acts as time

15. Maintenance-related roles (Morale) • Maintenance-related Roles: • Encourager – praises and supports contributions of others. • Gate keeper – opens channel of communication, ensuring that quiet members who want to contribute can do so and close-down over-talkative members. • Harmoniser - helps to maintain the relationships between members by working to avoid conflict and reduce tension. • Group Co-ordinator – calls attention to group processes and offers suggestions about problems the group may have in functioning.

16. Task or Maintenance? • “That’s a good idea, Jenny.” • “Tom, I think Marion would like to make a point.” • “Are we agreed on the proposal?” • “Let’s move on then.” • “Are you saying that storage is a problem?” • “Should we discuss the production issue first?” • “You sound disappointed with the suggestion.”

17. Defensive Roles • Defensive roles are behaviours intended to protect the group from anxiety. • Scapegoat - a member who tries to deflect the group’s feelings of failure or incompetency from the group to himself. • Tension reliever - jokes, fills long silences with chatter or suggests breaks. Such a role helps the team when the tension is increasing and needs to be broken.

18. Dysfunctional Roles • Dysfunctional roles are behaviours intended to distract the team from its purpose or to inhibit the team’s progress towards its goals. Examples: • Blocker – raises irrelevancies or argues a point for too long. • Pessimist – negative about task and/or group; gloomy. • Aggressor - criticises or blames others in a hostile manner. • Rebel - breaks team norms and attacks authority. • Show-off -draws attention away from the team’s purpose. • Lobbyist- puts personal goals ahead of team’s goals • Recognition seeker - themselves ahead of needs of team.

19. Belbin’s Team Role Theory • IMPLEMENTER • Disciplined, reliable, conservative and efficient. Turns ideas into practical actions. • Somewhat inflexible. Slow to respond to new possibilities. • CO-ORDINATOR • Mature, confident, a good chairperson. Clarifies goals, promotes decision-making, delegates well. • Can often be seen as manipulative. Off loads personal work. • SPECIALIST • Single-minded, self-starting, dedicated. Provides knowledge and skills in rare supply. • Contributes only on a narrow front. Dwells on technicalities.

20. Belbin’s Team Role Theory • SHAPER • Challenging, dynamic, thrives on pressure. The drive and courage to overcome obstacles. • Prone to provocation. Offends people's feelings. • PLANT • Creative, imaginative, unorthodox. Solves difficult problems. • Ignores incidentals. Too pre-occupied to communicate effectively. • RESOURCE INVESTIGATOR • Extrovert, enthusiastic, communicative. Explores opportunities. Develops contacts. • Over-optimistic. Loses interest once initial enthusiasm has passed.

21. Belbin’s Team Role Theory • MONITOR EVALUATOR • Sober, strategic and discerning. Sees all options. Judges accurately. • Lacks drive and ability to inspire others. • COMPLETER FINISHER • Painstaking, conscientious, anxious. Searches out errors and omissions. Delivers on time. • Inclined to worry unduly. Reluctant to delegate. • TEAMWORKER • Co-operative, mild, perceptive and diplomatic. Listens, builds, averts friction. • Indecisive in crunch situations.

22. COMMUNICATION SKILLS IN TEAMS • Speaking Skills • Supportive Communication • An open supportive team encourages people to offer suggestions and solutions and to be part of the team process. • Supportive communication is genuine, spontaneous and non-evaluative. • Supportive communication creates a climate of trust, respect and cohesiveness within the team.

23. Group Decision-Making Methods • Majority rule • Compromise • Consensus

24. Outcomes: • a. Majority rule: Outcome: Win-lose • b. Compromise: Outcome: Lose-lose • c. Consensus: Outcome: Win-Win

25. Activity: Reaching Consensus • To be involved in decision-making processes • Instructions • On your own, decide on the criteria you feel are essential according to the information given below. Put your answers in the first column. • Next, discuss and agree on an acceptable list. Use the consensus reaching method to decide. Put the group’s decisions in the second column.

26. Activity: Reaching Consensus • BACKGROUND • An anonymous donor has decided to make two $50,000 Engineer of The Year Awards to your polytechnic, one to a male and one to a female engineer whose professional and social lives best exemplify the phrase ‘an engineer of our times.’ Your group is a committee appointed by the donor to establish seven criteria by which nominees for the awards should be judged.