Chapter 3: Team Behavior and Tools

1. Chapter 3:Team Behavior and Tools Teach your students to work effectively in teams Does projects take too much time? What is team? (A team is a small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, performance goals, and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable. Difference between working in a team and a working group

2. Strong, clearly focused leader The groups purpose is the same as the broader organizational mission Individual work products Runs efficient meeting Measures its effectiveness indirectly by its influence on others Discusses, decides, and deligates Individual and mutual accountability Specific team purpose that the team itself develops Collective work products Encourages open-ended discussions and active problem-solving meetings Measures performance directly by assessing collective work products Discusses, decides, and does real work together Differences between a working group and a team Working group Team

3. What it means to be an effective team member • Take responsibility for the success of the team • Be a person who delivers on commitments • Be a contributor to discussions • Give your full attention to whoever is speaking and demonstrate this by asking helpful questions • Develop techniques for getting your message across to the team (always speak in a load, clear voice) • Learn to give and receive useful feedback

4. Characteristics of an Effective Team • Team goals are as important as individual goals • The team understands the goals and is committed to achieving them • Trust replaces fear and people feel comfortable taking risks • Respect, collaboration, and open-mindedness are prevalent • Team members communicate readily;diversity of opinions is encouraged • Decisions are made by consensus and have acceptance and support of team members • Communication skills, team skills, and problem solving ability are three qualities recruiters are generally look for in job interviews

5. Assume Different Role in A Team • Team sponsor: the manager who has the need for the output of the team • Team Leader: leads meetings, manages day-to-day activities, help team members, communicate with the sponsor, removes barriers, helping resolve conflicts (see the following table) • Team Facilitator: a person who assists leader,assist in data-collection activities. The key role of the facilitator is to keep the group focused on its task • Process observer: observes process and progress of the meetings. One task of the process observer is to look for hidden agendas that prevent an effective team progress.

6. Team RolesTraditional Leader Passive Leader Facilitative Leader

7. Stages of Teams Development • Orientation (forming) • Dissatisfaction (storming) • Resolution (norming) • Production (performing) • Termination (adjourning) (study table 3.3 for suggested guidelines for an effective team)

8. People play various roles during a group activity. It should be helpful in your role as a team leader or team member to recognize some of the behavior listed in this table. It is the task of the team leader to try to change the hindering behavior and to encourage team members in their various helping roles. Helping Roles Hindering RolesTask Roles Maintenance Roles

9. Respects other team members without question Listens carefully to the other team members Participates but does not dominate Self confident but not dogmatic Knowledgeable in his or her discipline Communicate effectively Disagrees but with good reason and in good taste Shows lack of respect for others Tends to intimidate Stimulate confrontation Is a dominant personality type Talks all the time, but does not listen Does not communicate effectively Overly critical Problems with TeamsCharacteristics of a Good Team Member:Characteristics of a disruptive team member:

10. Problem Solving Tools • Problem definition (brain storming, affinity diagram, nominal group techniques) • Cause finding (Gathering data(Interviews, focus groups, surveys) Analyzing data (check sheets, histograms) Solution for root causes (cause-and-effect diagram, why-why diagram, interrelationship diagram)) • Solution finding and implementation (brain storming, how-how diagram, concept selection method (sec. 5.9) force field analysis implementation plan)

11. An Example of Application of Problem Solving StrategyAgroup of engineering honor students was concerned that more engineering seniors were not availing themselves of the opportunity to do a senior research project. All engineering departments listed this as a course option, but only about 5 percent of the students chose this option. To properly define the problem, the team brainstormed around the question “Why do so few senior engineering students choose to do a research project?”

12. Brainstorming • Brainstorming is a group technique for generating ideas in a non-threatening, uninhibiting atmosphere • The objective of brainstorming is to generate the greatest number of alternative ideas • Brainstorming is most effective when it is applied to specific rather than general problems

13. Four Fundamental Brainstorming Principles • Criticism is not allowed • Ideas brought forth should be picked up by the other people present • Participants should divulge all ideas entering their minds without any constraint • A key objective is to provide as many ideas as possible within relatively short time

14. General Helpful Questions for Brainstorming • Combination: What new ideas can arise from combining purposes or functions? • Substitution: What else? Who else? What other place? What other time? • Modification: What to add? What to subtract? Change color, material, motion, shape? • Elimination: Is it necessary? • Reverse: What would happen if we turn it backward? Turn it upside down? Inside out? Oppositely? • Other use: Is there a new way to use it?

15. When the students group brainstormed, they obtained the following results • Problem: Why do so few engineering seniors do a research project? • Students are too busy. • Professors do not talk up research opportunity. • They are thinking about getting a job. • They are thinking about getting married. • They are interviewing for jobs. • They do not know how to select a topic. • I’m not interested in research. I want to work in manufacturing. • I don’t know what research the professors are interested in. • The department does not encourage students to do research. • I am not sure what research entails.

16. It is hard to make contact with professors. • I have to work part-time. • Pay me and I’ll do research. • I think research is boring. • Lab space is hard to find. • Faculty just uses undergraduate as pair of hands. • I don’t know any students doing research. • I haven’t seen any notices about research opportunities. • Will working in research help me get into grad school? • I would do it if it was required. • Brainwriting, is an alternative form of brainstorming and is used when the topic is emotionally charged that people will not speak out freely in a group.

17. Affinity Diagram • Time Constraints: • Students are too busy. • They are interviewing for jobs. • I have to work part-time. • Faculty Issues: • Professors don’t talk up research opportunities. • The department does not encourage students to do research research. • It is hard to make contact with professors. • Faculty just use students as a pair of hands. • I would do it if it was required.

18. Lack of Interest: • They are thinking about getting a job. • They are thinking about getting married. • I am not interested in research. I want to work in manufacturing. • Pay me I’ll do research. • I think research is boring. • I would do it if it was required. • Lack of Information: • They don’t know how to select a topic. • I don’t know what research the professors are interested in. • I’m not sure what research entails. • I don’t know any students doing research. • I haven’t seen any notices about research opportunities. • Will working in research help me get into graduate school? • Other: • Lab space is hard to find • Colored items are removed from active consideration.

19. Nominal Group Technique (NGT) NGT is a method of group idea generation and decision making • Silent Brainstorming • Independent idea generation • Group activity • Independent evaluation

20. Procedure for NGT:List ideas and display them so that everyone can see themFor each idea ask the question “Should this item continued to be considered?”(majority vote keeps the item on the list)Decision making (each member of the team acting independently and anonymously)Say for 5 choices each team member rank choices as A,B,C,D, and E and associate a value of 1-5 for each choice where 5 is best. The ranking of all members of the team would be combined, and the choice with the highest score would be the teams first choice.For number of choices larger than 20 only pick the top 11 choices (20/2 + 1)