BA 350: Chapter 10

Work Group

A group that interacts primarily to share information and make decisions to help each group member perform within their respective area of responsibility.

What is the goal of the work group?

To share information

What is the synergy of a work group?

Neautral/Sometimes negative

What is the accountability of a work group?

Individual

What are the skills of a work group?

Random and varied

Work Team

A group whose individual efforts result in performance that is greater than the sum of the individual inputs.

What is the goal of the work team?

Collective performance

What is the syngergy of a work team?

Positive

What is the accountability of a work team?

Individual and Mutual

What are the skills of a work team?

Complementary

One word to describe a work group

Limited-effort

One word to describe a work team

Symbiotic

Problem-Solving Team

A team of employees from the same department who meet for a few hours each week to discuss ways of improving quality, efficiency, and the work environment.

What is an example of a problem-solver?

For Susan’s makeup business, she creates a small problem-solving team of employees to identify and address quality-control issues with her new lipstick formula.

Problem-solving teams have high levels of authority to implement their suggestions unilaterally: T/F

F (False)

Self-managed work team

A team of employees who autonomously implement solutions and take responsibility for the outcomes of the solutions (responsibilities normally adopted by supervisors).

What are the responsibilities of self-managed work teams?

Planning and scheduling work, assigning tasks to members, making operating decisions, taking action to solve problems, and working with suppliers and customers

What is the downfall of self-managed work teams?

-It can be tempting to take control back

-Lack of authority and accountability

-Teams may spend time agreeing on shared goals.

How has the effectiveness of self-managed teams been more directed as negative than positive?

1.) Contingent on the degree to which team-promoting behaviors are rewarded

2.) Conflicts

3.) Behavior (Higher absenteeism and turnover rates)

Conflict can boost team confidence in self-managed teams: T/F

True

Do self-managed teams perform better than traditional teams with less or more decision-making authority?

More

Cross-functional Teams

A team of employees from about the same hierarchical level but from different work areas who come together to accomplish a task.

What are some of the benefits of cross-functional teams?

people from diverse areas within or even between organizations to exchange information, develop new ideas, solve problems, and coordinate complex projects

What are some of the difficulties of cross-functional teams?

1.) Different expertise is needed

2.) Early stages of development are long

3.) Long-duration building on teamwork and trust

Portfolio Governance Team

team leaders from different functions and who govern different teams work together to accomplish task

What are the five ways cross-functional teams can be more successful ?

1.) Establishing an accountable leader who is responsible from the team’s formation to its dissolution.

2.) Ensuring that each team has established goals, resources, and deadlines.

3.) Establishing a clear mission for the team that acts as its main objective.

4.) Continuously reevaluating the team and its progress toward success.

5.) Reconsidering the usefulness of the team if it is unsuccessful.

Virtual Teams

A team of employees that uses technology to tie together physically dispersed members to achieve a common goal.

What are three ways virtual teams can be more successful?

1) Trust is established among members

2.) Progress is monitored closely

3.) the efforts and products of the team are publicized throughout the organization

Multiteam Systems

A collection of two or more interdependent teams that share a superordinate goal; a team of teams.

Boundary Spanners

a person whose job was to coordinate with all constituents

Boundary spoilers

People who can hinder effective coordination when they communicate inaccurate perspectives or practices to members of other teams

Adequate Resources

The information, equipment, staff, support, and assistance a team needs to perform effectively and reach its goals.

Leadership and Structure

Clear roles, shared responsibilities, and effective leaders who organize, motivate, and treat all team members fairly.

Culture and Climate

Shared team values, beliefs, and practices that encourage collaboration, fairness, creativity, communication, and high-quality performance

Performance evaluation and reward system

A system that evaluates and rewards both individual contributions and overall team performance.

Crises and Extreme Contexts

Difficult or dangerous situations that test a team’s ability to communicate, adapt, make decisions, and work together effectively

Team Scaffold

fluid, underlying structures that establish role types, shared responsibilities, and boundaries in teams

Team Composition

The mix of team members’ skills, personalities, roles, diversity, team size, and preferences for working in teams.

Abilities of Member

The knowledge and skills team members use to communicate, solve problems, set goals, plan, and work effectively together.

Personality of Members

Teamwork is influenced by traits such as conscientiousness, agreeableness, openness, emotional stability, extraversion, and proactivity. These traits help members stay responsible, cooperative, creative, calm, social, and willing to take initiative.

Allocation of Roles

Assigning team members tasks and responsibilities that match their individual strengths and preferences while avoiding negative roles such as dominator, critic, shirker, and detractor

demography

The degree to which members of a work unit share a common demographic attribute, such as age, gender identity, race, educational level, or organizational tenure.

Shirker

Avoids responsibility and seeks empathy

Detractor

Withdraw, complains, and downplays

What is the equation for actual team effectiveness?

Potential team effectiveness + Process gains - Process Losses

Reflexivitvity

A team characteristic of reflecting on and adjusting the master plan when necessary.

Cluster hiring

The selection of an already existing team to work in a new role

Transactive Memory Systems

A shared system in which team members know who has specific knowledge and rely on one another to remember and use information.