Class 6: Team Dynamics

Team

A small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, performance goals, and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable.

Key Characteristics of a team

Groups of two or more people, exist to fulfill a purpose, interdependence and need for collaboration, mutual accountability, perceive themselves to be a team.

Advantages of Teams

Teams are adaptive, can achieve the breadth of knowledge, an effective means for management to democratize organizations, facilitate employee participation and involvement, provide emotional support.

Disadvantages/ Challenges of Teams

Teams are not always effective, process losses, social loafing, groupthink, diffuse responsibility, discounting and dismissal of important alternative voices.

Task Interdependence

The extent to which team members must share materials, information, or expertise to perform their jobs.

Pooled Interdependence

Members share common resources but otherwise operate independently from each other.

Sequential Interdependence

Each member's output is forwarded to the next person for further assembly.

Reciprocal Interdependence

Work output is exchanged back and forth among members, highest level of interdependence.