Being a Team Player

1. Being a Team Player • Task-Related Characteristics: • Possess technical expertise or functional competence • Assumes responsibility for problems • Shows a willingness to commit to team goals • Has an ability to see the “Big Picture”

2. Being a Team Player Con’t • People-Related Characteristics: • Trusts other team members • Shares credit for your accomplishments with the team • Recognize the interests and achievements of others • Listens actively both inside and outside of meetings • Offers constructive criticism, able to accept it

3. Types of Team Building • Role Definition – clarifying obligations, norms etc. • Goal Setting – learning how to write proper goals, how to use them to motivate, and learning to give and receive feedback • Problem solving – exercises to improve the team’s decision processes • Interpersonal processes – building trust and open communication (wilderness )

4. Advantages of a Team-Based Organization • More knowledge and skills • Increased communication • Provides support/satisfies member needs • Good at problem solving • Often makes better decisions • Better at gaining acceptance of decisions • Less levels in organization • Good coordinating mechanisms

5. Disadvantages of a Team-Based Organization • Time • Fairness issues • Intergroup conflict • Loss of clear, formal leadership • Dominant individuals • Can change organization’s processes • Social loafing

6. Management must re-think: • How to select members • How to reward teams • How to pay teams • How to design jobs for teams • How much authority will be given up

7. Virtual Teams • Cross-functional teams that operate across space, time and organizational boundaries using information technology • Increasingly possible because of: • Members communicate through technology • Usually temporary task forces or product development groups can work from a distance • Increasingly necessary because of: • Globalization • Knowledge management • Need for team work

8. Organizational and Team Environment Team Design Team Effectiveness • Reward systems • Communication systems • Physical space • Organizational environment • Organizational structure • Organizational leadership • Task characteristics • Team size • Team composition • Achieve organizational goals • Satisfy member needs • Maintain team survival/commitment Team Processes • Team development • Team norms • Team roles • Team cohesiveness Team Effectiveness Model

9. Team Design Elements • Task characteristics • Better when tasks are clear, easy to implement • Task interdependence • Share common inputs, processes, or outcomes • Team size • Smaller teams are better • But large enough to accomplish task • Team composition • Members motivated/competent to perform task in a team environment • Team diversity

10. Performing Norming Storming Existing teams might regress back to an earlier stage of development Adjourning Stages of Team Development Forming

11. Team Norms • Informal rules and expectations team establishes to regulate member behaviors • Norms develop through: • Explicit statements • Critical events in team’s history • Initial team experiences • Beliefs/values members bring to the team

12. Causes of Team Cohesiveness Member Similarity Team Cohesiveness External Challenges Member Interaction Team Success Team Size Somewhat Difficult Entry

13. Team Cohesiveness Outcomes Members of cohesive teams: • Want to remain members • Willing to share information • Strong interpersonal bonds • Want to support each other • Resolve conflict effectively • More satisfied and experience less stress © J. Major, Ottawa Citizen