MGMT 311 Exam #3

Ch 11 and on

Team

2+ people who work interdependently over some time period to accomplish common goals related to some task-oriented purpose

Interactions among members revolve around a deeper dependence on one another than the interactions within groups → occur with a specific task-related purpose in mind

A team is a special type of ___

“Group”

Why teams have become widespread?

Interactions allow the team to pool complementary knowledge and skills

What characteristics can be used to describe teams?

Task, unit, and team member qualities can be used to describe teams

Combine to make some teams more effective than others

Team characteristics provide a means of ___ and ___ teams, which is important because teams come in so many shapes and sizes.

Categorizing and examining

The 5 Categories of Teams

• Work teams

• Management teams

• Parallel teams

• Project teams

• Action teams

Multiple team membership

Research indicates that when employees are part of several teams they do not identify with each team equally

Variations that can impact a team’s effectiveness

• Degree of autonomy/self-management the team has

• Modes of communication, such as virtual teams, in which the members are geographically dispersed and communicate electronically

• How much experience the team has working together

Stages of Team Development

Teams go through a progression as the members gain experience working together

• Forming

• Storming

• Norming

• Performing

• Adjourning

Stages of Team Development (1): Forming

Members orient themselves to team boundaries

Stages of Team Development (2): Storming

Conflict occurs because members remain committed to the ideas they bring w/ them to the team

Stages of Team Development (3): Norming

Members realize they need to work together and begin to cooperate

Stages of Team Development (4): Performing

Members are comfortable in their roles, and the team makes progress toward goals

Stages of Team Development (5): Adjourning

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

Variations on team development

• Team development sequence may be less applicable in some team situations

• Clearly established rules and standard operating procedures can eliminate the need for some stages

  • Ex: Airline flight crew in which roles are clearly defined and chain of authority understood

Teams with longer lifespans experience greater ___ and stronger ___ during adjournment

Anxiety, Emotions

Punctuated equilirbium

Refers to development in which not much gets done until the midway point of a project, and then the team increases effectiveness to meet its deadline

Teams are characterized by 3 main types of interdependence that govern team members’ interactions

• Task interdependence

• Goal interdependence

• Outcome interdependence

Task Interdependence

Refers to the degree to which team members interact with and rely on other members for the information, materials, and resources needed to accomplish work for the team

• Pooled

• Sequential

• Reciprocal

• Comprehensive

Task Interdependence: Pooled Interdependence

Members work independently and then pool the results

Task Interdependence: Sequential

Members work on specialized tasks in a prescribed order

Task Interdependence: Reciprocal Interdependence

Members perform specialized tasks and then interact with other members to complete work

Task Interdependence: Comprehensive Interdependence

Members interact to a high degree to coordinate and perform tasks

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

Analogy: A boat with everyone paddling in the same direction exemplifies goal interdependence

Mission statement helps clarify actions needed by team

Outcome Interdependence

Degree to which team members share equally in the feedback and rewards that result from the team achieving its goals

High degree of outcome interdependence exists when?

Team members share in the rewards that the team earns, including pay, bonuses, and other forms of recognition

Results of higher levels of outcome interdependence?

Increase the amount of information shared among members, promote learning, and increase team performance

Team Composition

The mix of people who make up the team

Right mix of knowledge, skills, abilities, and personalities is an important factor in team effectiveness

5 Aspects of team composition:

• Member roles

• Member ability

• Member personality

• Team diversity

• Team size

Aspects of Team Composition: Member Roles

A role is the pattern of behavior a person is expected to display in a given context

A variety of roles in team contexts are based on task, decision-making, and leadership activities

Leader-staff teams

Consist of members who make recommendations to the leader, who is ultimately responsible for team decisions

Aspects of Team Composition: Member Ability

Cognitive and physical abilities needed in a team depend on the nature of the team’s task

Ex: A racing pit crew needs individuals with flexibility, cardiovascular endurance, strength, and speed

In general, smarter teams perform better because teamwork tends to be ___.

Complex

Disjunctive tasks

Depend on the member with the highest ability

Conjunctive tasks

Depend on the member with the lowest ability

Additive tasks

Depend on the combined efforts of all members

Aspects of Team Composition: Member Personality

3 traits are especially critical in teams:

• Agreeable

• Conscientious

• Extraverted

Agreeable personality

Agreeable people tend to be more cooperative and trusting, tendencies that promote positive attitudes about the team and smooth interpersonal interactions

Conscientious personality

Conscientious people tend to be dependable and work hard to achieve goals

Extraverted personality

Extraverted people tend to perform more effectively in interpersonal contexts and are more positive and optimistic in general

Aspects of Team Composition: Team Diversity

The degree to which members are different from each other

Value in Diversity Problem-Solving Approach

Proposes that team diversity is beneficial because it provides a larger pool of knowledge and perspectives

Similarity-Attraction Approach

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

Surface-Level Diversity

Refers to diversity of observable attributes such as race, gender, ethnicity, age

Deep-Level Diversity

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

Aspects of Team Composition: Team Size

Having a greater number of members is beneficial for management and project teams, but not for teams engaged in production tasks

Team members tend to be most satisfied with their team when the number of members if 4 or 5

How important are team characteristics?

Can impact team performance and team commitment

Team Viability

Refers to the likelihood that the team can work together effectively in the future

Task performance is ___ in teams in which members work closely together than when members work independently

Moderately higher

Task interdependence does not ___ team commitment

Significantly increase

Outcome interdependence is connected to ___ in many organizations

Compensation practices

• leads to inequity among teammates

• demotivates high performers who see low performers receiving the same compensation

Hybrid Outcome Interdependence

Means team members receive rewards based on both their individual performance and that of the team to which they belong

Many companies that use teams use hybrid outcome interdependence

Team Process

Refers to the different types of activities and interactions that occur within a team as it works toward its goals

Team characteristics (member diversity, task interdependence, team size, etc.) affect team processes and communication

Some are observable, and others are less visible → Ex: “Feeling a cohesion” experienced by a team is not visible

Team processes have a ___ impact on team effectiveness

Strong

Why are some teams more than the sum of their parts?

Process gain

Process Gain

Getting more from the team than you’d expect according to the capabilities of its individual members

AKA Synergy

Results in resources and capabilities that didn’t exist before the team created them

Process Loss

Getting less from the team than you’d expect based on the capabilities of its individual members

Causes of process loss

• Coordination loss

• Motivational loss

Causes of process loss: Coordination Loss

Process loss due to the time it takes to coordinate work activities with other team members

Production Blocking

Results from team members waiting on each other before completing their own team tasks

Causes of process loss: Motivational Loss

Process loss due to team members’ tendency to put forth less effort on team tasks than they could

Social Loafing

Results from members feeling less accountable for team outcomes compared with their independent work outside the team

Taskwork Processes

The activities of team members that relate directly to the accomplishment of team tasks

Occurs any time that team members interact with the tools/technologies used to complete their work —> Relates to task performance aspect of job performance

These are:

• Creative behavior

• Decision making

• Boundary spanning

Creative Behavior

Generating novel and useful ideas and solutions

Use brainstorming

Brainstorming

1. Express all ideas that come to mind (no matter how strange)

2. Go for quantity of ideas over quality

3. Don’t criticize or evaluate the ideas of others

4. Build on the ideas of others

Creative Behavior Drawbacks

Social loafing, hesitancy to express ideas in a group setting, production blocking as members wait their turn to express ideas

Creative Behavior Benefits

Morale boosting and idea sharing

Normal Group Technique

Team members individually write ideas and then take turns sharing them with the group

Decision Making

Different processes are used by teams to make accurate and effective decisions

Consensus

General agreement among members in regards to a solution

Ex: Jury

Factors that affect team decision making

• Decision informity

• Staff validity

• Hierarchical sensitivity

Factors that affect team decision making: Decision informity

Reflects whether members possess adequate info about their own task responsibilities

Factors that affect team decision making: Staff Validity

Refers to the degree which members make good recs to the leader

Factors that affect team decision making: Hierarchical Sensitivity

Reflects the degree to which the leader effectively weighs the recs of members

Boundary Spanning

Relates to taskwork processes that involve individuals and groups who aren’t considered part of the team

• ambassador activities

• task coordinator activities

• scout activities

Ambassador Activities

Refer to communications that are intended to protect the team, persuade others to support the team, or obtain important resources for the team

Task Coordinator Activities

Involve communications that are intended to coordinate task-related issues with people or groups in other functional areas

Scout Activities

Refer to things team members do to obtain information about technology, competitors, or the broader marketplace

Teamwork Processes

Interpersonal activities that facilitate the accomplishment of the team’s work but do not directly involve task accomplishment

Create the setting/context in which taskwork takes place

Combo of types of behaviors

• Transition processes

• Action processes

• Interpersonal processes

Transition Processes

Focus on preparation for future work

• mission analysis

• strategy formulation

• goal specification

Mission Analysis

Involves an analysis of the team’s task, the challenges that face the team, and the resources available for completing the team’s work

Strategy Formulation

Refers to the development of courses of action and contingency plans, and then adapting those plans in light of changes that occur in the team’s environment

Goal Specification

Involves the development and prioritization of goals related to the team’s mission and strategy

Action Processes

Important as taskwork is being accomplished

• monitoring progress

• systems monitoring

• helping behavior

• coordination

Monitoring Progress towards goals

Involves recording accomplishments on a progress chart or something similar

Systems Monitoring

Involves keeping track of things that the team needs to accomplish its work

Helping Behavior

Involves members going out of their way to help or back up other team members

Coordination

Refers to synchronizing team members’ activities in a way that makes them mesh effectively and seamlessly

Interpersonal Processes

These are important before, during, or between periods of taskwork, and they relate to the way in which team members manage their relationships

• motivating and confidence building

• affect mgmt

• conflict mgmt

Motivating and Confidence Building

Refers to things team members do or say that affect the degree to which members are motivated to work hard on the task

Affect Management

Involves activities that foster a sense of emotional balance/unity

Conflict Management

Involves activities that the team uses to manage conflicts that arise in the course of its work

Relationship Conflict

Disagreements among team members in terms of interpersonal relationships or incompatibilities with respect to personal values/preferences

Task Conflict

Disagreements among members about the team’s task

Communication

The process by which information and meaning get transferred from a sender to a receiver

Much of the work done in a team is done interdependently and involved communication among members

Effectiveness of communication affects whether there will be process gain/loss

Communicator Competence

Refers to the skills involved in encoding, transmitting, and receiving messages

Emotions and Emotional Intelligence

Affects how team members express themselves and interpret the messages of others

Noise

Interferes w/ message being transmitted

Different forms:

• Distance

• Obstructions

• Physical noise

Requires both parties to put in extra effort

Information Richness

Relates to the amt and depth of the info being conveyed

Includes both language and nonverbal information such as body language, facial expressions, and tone of voice

High Information Richness

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