Ch 17

Team

A group of two or more people with complementary skills who are committed to working together to achieve a specific objective.

Task Complexity

The amount of information that must be processed to understand the task, the degree of uncertainty about possible outcomes, the presence of many sub-tasks that require a range of skills and knowledge, or the absence of standardized procedures to conduct the task.

Task interdependence

The extent to which group members need to work with and rely on each other to produce the collective work of the group.

Task objectives

Issues that orient team members toward their goals and priorities and help them understand how their work fits into the bigger picture.

Manager-led teams

Teams in which the manager acts as the team leader.

Vertical teams

Teams composed of a manager and his or her subordinates in the formal chain of command.

Horizontal teams

Teams composed of employees from about the same hierarchical level but from several different departments in the organization.

Self-directed teams

Teams that determine their own objectives and the methods by which to achieve them.

Collocated teams

Teams that use a significant amount of face-to-face communication to make operating decisions. They operate in close proximity, engage in a lot of social interaction and provide quick feedback on the team's progress to one another.

Geographically distributed teams

Teams that are made up of geographically or organizationally dispersed members who rely heavily on electronic tools such as e-mail, voice mail, telephone, and videoconferencing to interact with one another

Forming stage

The stage that occurs when teams members define the task that is to be done and how that task is to be accomplished, setting the ground rules for the team.

Storming stage

The occurs when team members experience conflicts about interpersonal issues and differences in perspectives.

Norming stage

The stage that occurs when team members uncover ways to create new standards that encourage more collaborative behaviors.

Performing stage

The stage that occurs when team members adopt and play roles that enhance the activities of the group.

Adjourning stage

The stage that occurs when a team has completed its task and the team is disbanded.

team norms

Expected team behaviors

Social loafing

Disengaging from the team process and failing to contribute to the team's recommendations or other deliverables

Common Information effect

Teams that consider commonly held information to be more important and influential than uniquely held information

Participation

The extent to which individuals engage in the process of generating solutions and articulating their opinions and perspectives.

Blocking behavior

Behaviors that inhibit the team and its members from achieving their objectives.

Conformity

The action of people behaving in line with a group's expectations and beliefs.

psychologically safe

An environment which encourages an open expression of ideas and feeling without a fear of being penalized

Boundary manager

A manager who determines how the team will work with clients, upper management, and others who have an interest in the team's product. they buffer the team from organizational infighting persuade top management to support the team's work and coordinate and negotiate with other groups on work deadlines.

Motivation

The desire, stimulus, or incentive to pursue a particular cause of action.

Extrinsic rewards

Rewards used to facilitate or motivate task performance that include pay, promotions, fringe benefits, and job security

Intrinsic rewards

Rewards associated with "doing the job" that include interesting and challenging work, self-direction and responsibility, variety, opportunities to use one's skills and abilities and sufficient feedback regarding one's efforts.

Content theories

The study of the incentives and needs that motivate people to perform in a certain way

Hierarchy of needs theory

The theory that individuals have multiple needs that must be fulfilled in a specific hierarchical order to ensure the greatest level of satisfaction

ERG theory

The theory that individuals are motivated by three primary needs: existence (basic physical needs), relatedness (connection with other), and growth (personal development),T

Two-factor theory

The theory that two conditions, hygiene factors and motivators, simultaneously act as drivers of satisfaction and dissatisfaction. Lower-order needs are hygiene factors and a potential source of dissatisfaction, while motivators are higher-order needs and a potential source of satisfaction.

Motivators

The direct consequences of doing the job and the primary cause of satisfaction on the job.