Chapter 11: Teams Characteristics and Diversity

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Team Characteristics and Diversity

A team consists of two or more people who work interdependently over some time period to accomplish common goals related to some task-oriented purpose

Why do teams become widespread?

Interactions allow the team to pool complementary knowledge and skills.

Team Types

Five categories of teams are distinguished by purpose, length of existence, and time involvement required of individual members. • Work teams • Management teams • Parallel teams • Project teams • Action teams

Five-Stage Theory of Group Development

Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing

storming

The emergence of individual personalities and roles and conflicts within the group.

Norming

Members realize they need to work together and begin to cooperate.

Two Models of Team Development

some teams develop in a predictable sequence

Team Interdependence

Teams are characterized by three main types of interdependence that govern the team members’ interactions. • Task interdependence • Goal interdependence • Outcome interdependence

Task Interdependence

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 interdependence, sequential interdependence, reciprocal interdependence, comprehensive interdependence

Goal Interdependence

The degree to which 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

The degree to which team members share equally in the feedback and rewards that result from the team achieving its goals • High degree exists when team members share the rewards that the team earns, including pay, bonuses, and other forms of recognition.

Team Composition

The mix of people who make up the team

Member Roles

Role: the pattern of behavior a person is expected to display in a given context. • based on task, decision-making, and leadership activities. • Task roles – getting the team’s tasks done; – initiator, information seeker, opinion giver, elaborator, coordinator, evaluator, recorder. • Team-Building (Maintenance) roles – fosters constructive relationships among team members; – encourager, harmonizer, compromiser, standard setter, follower.

Member Personality

Agreeable people cooperative and trusting

Conscientious people dependable and work hard

Extraverted people Perform more effectively in interpersonal contexts

Member Ability

Ability: An individual’s current capacity to perform the various tasks in a job • Intellectual (cognitive) abilities • Physical abilities

Team Diversity

Diversity: The degree to which members are different from one another

Team Size

Smaller groups – faster at completing tasks Larger groups – better at problem solving Social loafing: tendency for individuals to expend less effort when working collectively than alone