MODULE 21 TEAMS AND TEAMWORK

MODULE 21TEAMS AND TEAMWORK “Two heads can be better than one” • Why is an understanding of teams so important? • What are the foundations of successful teamwork?

TEAMS AND TEAMWORKImportance Of TeamsMODULE GUIDE 21.1 • Formal and informal groups are building blocks of organizations. • Organizations use a variety of committees, task forces, and cross-functional teams. • Virtual teams are increasingly common in organizations. • Teams offer synergy and other benefits to their members and the organization. • Teams can also suffer from common performance problems.

TEAMS AND TEAMWORKImportance Of Teams • Team • a collection of people who regularly interact to pursue common goals. • Teamwork • the process of people actively working together to accomplish common goals. • Formal Group • a group that is officially recognized and supported by the organization. • Informal Group • a group that is unofficial and emerges from relationships and shared interests among members. • Committee • people brought together outside of their daily job assignments to work in a small team for a specific task

TEAMS AND TEAMWORKImportance Of Teams • Types of Teams • Project Team • is convened for a specific purpose and disbands after completing its task. • Cross-functional Team • operates with members who come from different functional units of an organization. • Employee Involvement Team • meets on a regular basis to help achieve continuous improvement.

TEAMS AND TEAMWORKImportance Of Teams • Types of Teams • Quality Circle Team • employees who meet periodically to discuss ways of improving work quality. • Self-managing Teams • work team having the authority to make decisions about how they share and complete their work. • Virtual Teams • Work together and solve problems through computer based interactions

TEAMS AND TEAMWORKImportance Of Teams • Benefits of Teams • Synergy • The creation of a whole greater than or equal to the sum of its parts • Why Teams Are Good for Organizations • More resources for problem solving • Improved creativity and innovation • Improved quality of decision making • Greater commitments to tasks • Increased motivation of members • Better control and work discipline • More individual need satisfaction

TEAMS AND TEAMWORKImportance Of Teams MANAGEMENT TIPS Characteristics of High Performance Teams • Clear, elevating goals • Results-driven structure • Competent team members • Unified commitments • Collaborative climate • Standards of excellence • External support and recognition • Principled leadership

TEAMS AND TEAMWORKImportance Of Teams • Potential Problems With Teams • Social Loafing • the tendency of some people to avoid responsibility by free-riding in groups. • Meetings (wasted time) Seven sins of deadly meetings: 1. People arrive late, leave early, and don’t take things seriously. 2. The meeting is too long, sometimes twice as long as necessary. 3. People don’t stay on topic; they digress and are easily distracted. 4. The discussion lacks candor; people are unwilling to tell the truth. 5. The right information isn’t available, so decisions are postponed. 6. Nothing happens when the meeting is over; no one puts decisions into action. 7. Things never get better; the same mistakes are made meeting after meeting.

TEAMS AND TEAMWORKImportance Of Teams Assessing the maturity of a team

TEAMS AND TEAMWORKFoundations Of TeamworkMODULE GUIDE 21.2 • Teams need the right members and inputs to be effective. • Teams must use the right processes to be effective. • Teams move through different stages of development. • Team performance is affected by norms and cohesiveness. • Team performance is affected by task and maintenance roles. • Team performance is affected by use of communication networks. • Team performance is affected by use of decision-making methods. • Team performance suffers when groupthink leads to bad decisions.

TEAMS AND TEAMWORKFoundations Of Teamwork • Stages of Development • Forming Stage • team development, one of initial task orientation and interpersonal testing. • Norming Stage • members of the team begin to coordinate their efforts as a working unit and tend to operate with shared rules of conduct. • Performing Stage • members are more mature, organized, and well functioning. • Adjourning Stage • the final stage for temporary committees, task forces, and project teams.

FOUNDATIONS OF TEAMWORKEffective Teams • Effective Teams • make use of alternative communication networks and decision-making methods to best complete tasks. • Group Process • The way members interact and work together to transform inputs into outputs TEAM EFFECTIVENESS EQUATION Team effectiveness = Quality of inputs x (Process gains - Process losses)

FOUNDATIONS OF TEAMWORKEffective Teams

FOUNDATIONS OF TEAMWORKEffective Teams • Group Norms • Behaviors, rules or standards expected of team members • Cohesion • the attractiveness of the team to its members

FOUNDATIONS OF TEAMWORKEffective Teams • Task and Maintenance Roles • Task Activities • contribute directly to the team’s performance purpose • Maintenance Activities • support the emotional life of the team as an ongoing social system. • Distributed Leadership • every member is continually responsible for both recognizing when task or maintenance activities are needed and taking actions to provide them.

FOUNDATIONS OF TEAMWORKEffective Teams • Communication Networks • Decentralized Communication Network • Allows all members to communicate directly with one another. Works well for tasks that require lots of creativity, information processing, and problem solving. • Centralized Communication Network • Requires members to communicate with each other via a central hub or port

FOUNDATIONS OF TEAMWORKEffective Teams • Decision Making • The process of making choices through choosing from alternative courses of action • Groupthink • a tendency of members of highly cohesive teams to lose their critical evaluative capabilities and make poor decisions.

MODULE 21 TEAMS AND TEAMWORK