Chapter 11: Team Characteristics

What is the difference between a group and a team?

A team consists of two or more people who work interdependently over time to accomplish common goals related to some task-oriented purpose. A team is a SPECIAL type of group, there’s a deeper dependence on each other than a group.

Work team

Purpose/Activities - Produce goods or provide services. Life Span - Long. Member Involvement - High

Management team

Purpose/Activities - Integrate activities of subunits across business functions. Life Span - Long. Member Involvement - Moderate

Parallel team

Purpose/Activities - Provide recommendations and resolve issues. Life Span - Varies. Member Involvement - Low

Project team

Purpose/Activities - Produce a one-time output (product, service, plan, design, etc). Life Span - Varies. Member Involvement - Varies

Action team

Purpose/Activities - Perform complex tasks that vary in duration and take place in highly visible or challenging circumstances. Life Span - Varies. Member Involvement - Varies

What are virtual teams?

The members are geographically dispersed and communicate electronically.

Forming

Members orient themselves by trying to understand their boundaries in the team. Get a feel of what is expected, boundaries, and who’s in charge.

Storming

Members remain committed to the ideas they bring with them to the team. Less willingness to cooperate with one another.

Norming

 Realize they need to work together to accomplish team goals, and begin to cooperate with one another. Overtime, norms and expectations develop.

Performing

Members are comfortable working within their roles, and the team makes progress towards goals.

Adjourning

Members experience anxiety and emotions as they disengage and ultimately separate from the team.

Punctuated equilibrium

(In certain project teams normally). At the initial meeting, members make assumptions and establish a pattern of behavior that sticks for the first half of the team’s life. Then, members realize they have to change this pattern to complete the work on time. Either they can use this to pivot and make good changes, or become stuck to their previous pattern, and become a “sinken ship”. 

Task Interdependence

Degree to which team members rely on other team members for the information, materials, and resources needed for the team to accomplish work.

Pooled Interdependence

Lowest degree of required coordination. Group members complete their work independently, and then the result is a combination of all their individual pieces (think KINE labs).

Sequential Interdependence

Different tasks are completed in a prescribed order, and the group is structured such that the members specialize in these tasks. Interactions only occur between members that have responsibilities next to each other in sequence. ( Think of a manufacturing line, making and wrapping chocolates ). 

Reciprocal Interdependence

Members are specialized to perform certain tasks, but members interact with a subset of other members to complete their team’s work. ( Think of a custom home builder. Sales, architect, other members of the team such as engineer and construction ). 

Comprehensive Interdependence

Highest level of interaction and coordination among members. Members have a lot of discretion in terms of what they do and who they interact with. ( Think of a surgery. Everyone depends on each other back and forth. The anesthesiologist, surgeon, etc. ).

 What is the difference between task, goal and outcome interdependence?

Goal interdependence exists when team members have a shared vision of the team’s goal and align their individual goals with that vision as a result. A mission statement helps. (Ex. a boat with everyone paddling in the same direction). Outcome interdependence is the degree to which team members share equally in the feedback and rewards that result from the team achieving its goals. High outcome interdependence typically means each member performed well and they get good rewards. Task interdependence relates to doing the actual work. 

What are the three ways to distribute outcomes in a group situation?

Equal outcomes, individual performance, based on percent of salary (such as bonuses of what they are already earning).

Initiator-Contributor

Proposes new ideas

Coordinator

Tries to coordinate activities among team members

Orientor

Determines the direction of the team’s discussion.

Devil’s advocate

Offers challenges to the team’s status quo.

Energizer

Motivates the team to strive to do better.

Procedural technician

Performs routine tasks needed to keep project moving.

Encourager

Praises the contribution of team members. 

Harmoinzer

Mediates differences between members

Compromsier

Tries to find half-way points to end conflict

Gatekeeper-expediter

Encourages participation from teammates

Standard Setter

Expresses goals for the team to achieve

Follower

Accepts the ideas of teammates

Aggressor

Deflates teammates, expresses disapproval with hostility

Blocker

Acts stubbornly resistant and disagrees beyond reason

Recognition Seeker

Brags and calls attention to themselves

Self-confessor

Discloses personal opinions inappropriately

Slacker

Acts cynically, nonchalantly, or goofs off

Dominator

Manipulates team members for personal control

Agreeable People

More cooperative and trusting, tendencies that promote positive attitudes about the team and smooth interpersonal relations.

Conscientious People

Tend to be dependable and work hard to achieve goals

Extraverted People

Tend to perform more effectively in interpersonal contexts and are more positive and optimistic in general.

Member Ability

Need different cognitive and physical abilities depending on task

Disjunctive tasks

Depend on the member with the highest ability, such as in a trivia game.

Conjunctive tasks

Depend on the member with the lowest ability, such as pit crew.

Additive tasks

Depend on the combined efforts of members, such as girl scouts.

Value in diversity

Problem-solving approach says diversity is beneficial because it provides more knowledge and perspectives.

Similarity-attraction

Proposes team diversity can be counterproductive because people tend to avoid interacting with others who are unlike themselves.

Surface-level diversity

Refers to diversity with observable traits such as race, gender, ethnicity, and age.

Deep-level diversity

Refers to diversity of attributes that are difficult to observe initially but can be inferred through direct experience, such as personality or values.

How does team size impact team success? 

Having a large number is good for management and project teams but not for those engaged in production tasks. Tend to be most satisfied with 4 or 5 members.