The Nature of Teams (Teamwork)

team

a group of people holding themselves collectively accountable for using complementary skills to achieve a common purpose

teamwork

occurs when team members live up to their collective accountability for goal accomplishment

formal teams

official and designated to serve a specific purpose

informal groups

unofficial and emerge to serve special interests (e.g. friendship groups or interest groups)

social network analysis

identifies the informal structures and their embedded social relationships that are active in an organizations (learning about how work gest done and who communicates often with whom)

cross-functional team

consists of members from different functions or work units

functional silos problem

when members of one functional team fail to interact with others from other functional teams

problem-solving team

set up to deal with a specific problem or opportunity

employee involvement team

members meet regularly to examine workplace issues (e.g. enhance quality, customer satisfaction, raise productivity, etc.)

quality circle

team meets regularly to address quality issues

self-managed teams

empowered to make decisions to manage themselves in day-to-day work

multiskilling

team members are each capable of performing multiple different jobs

virtual teams

work together through computer mediation (not face to face work)

effective team

team that achieves high levels of task performance, member satisfaction, and team viability

synergy

the creation of a whole greater than the sum of its parts

social facilitation effect

the tendency for one’s behavior to be influences by the presence of others in a group

social loafing

occurs when people work less hard in groups than they would individually

forming stage

focuses around the initial entry of members to a team

storming stage

period of high emotionality and tension among team members

norming stage

reached when members start to work together as a coordinated team

performing stage

marks the emergence of a mature and well-functioning team

adjourning stage

teams disband when their work is finished

team composition

the mix of abilities, skills, personalities, and experiences that the members bring to the team

FIRO-B theory

or fundamental interpersonal relations orientation; examines differences in how people relate to one another based on their needs to express and receive feelings of inclusion, control, and affection

status congruence

involves consistency between a person’s status within and outside a group

homogeneous teams

members share many similar characteristics

heterogeneous teams

members differ in many characteristics

diversity-consensus dilemma

the tendency for diversity to create process difficulties even as it offers improved potential for problem solving

collective intelligence

the ability of a group or team to perform well across a range of tasks

task needs

reflect activities that directly contribute to the performance of the group such as initiating, discussion, sharing information, asking information of others, clarifying something that has been said, and summarizing the status of a deliberation.

maintenance needs

reflect activities that support the social and interpersonal relationships among team members.

roles

sets of expectations associated with a job or position on a team.

role conflict

occurs when people are unable to meet the expectations of others.

role negotiation

involves team members meeting to discuss, clarify, and agree on the role expectations each holds for the other.

role ambiguity

occurs when people are uncertain about their roles or jobs on a team.

role overload

occurs when the demands of a role are so daunting that people in the role feel overwhelmed.

role underload

occurs when too little is expected and the individual feels underutilized. Both can cause stress and performance problems.

norms

beliefs about how members are expected to behave

inter-team dynamics

challenges that happen between teams, not just within them