Groups & Teams

Team Characteristics

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.

• A special type of “group”

• Differ in 2 primary ways

  • The interactions among members within teams revolve around a deeper dependence on one another than the interactions within groups

  • The interactions within teams occur with a specific task-related purpose in mind

Types of Teams *

Two Models of Team Development

1. Predictable Sequence (in linear fashion) - Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing, Adjourning

2. Forming and Pattern Creation →Inertia | Midpoint (punctuated equilibrium) | Process Revision → Inertia

Team Interdependence (3 types)

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

  • Pooled interdependence - group members complete their work assignments independently, and then this work is simply “piled up” to represent the groups output (least coordination required)

  • Sequential interdependence - different tasks are done in a prescribed order, and the group is structured such that the members specialize in these tasks

  • Reciprocal interdependence - members are specialized to perform specific tasks, and members interact with a subset of other members to complete the team’s work

  • Comprehensive interdependence - each member has a great deal of discretion in terms of what they do and with whom they interact in the course of collaborating on the team’s product (most coordination required)

• Goal Interdependence - exists when team members have shared vision of the team’s goal and align their individual goals with that vision as a result

• Team Interdependence - exists when team members share in the rewards that the team earns

5 Aspects of Team Composition

• Member Roles - behaviors a person is expected to display in a given context

• Member Ability - cognitive and physical abilities needed in a team depend on the nature of the teams’s tasks

  • disjunctive tasks - member with highest level of ability relevant to the task will have the most influence on the effectiveness of the team

  • conjunctive tasks - team’s performance depends on the ability of the weakest link

  • additive tasks - contributions from every member of the team add up to determine team performance

• Member Personality - 3 traits especially critical in teams

  • agreeable people - more cooperative and trusting

  • 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

• Team Diversity - degree to which members are different from one another in terms of any attribute that might be used by someone as a basis of categorizing people

  • Types:

    • Surface-level diversity - based on observable attributes (problems fade over time)

    • Deep-level diversity - based on attributes that are inferred with experience (can lead to problems over time)

  • Theories related to diversity:

    • Value in diversity problem-solving approach - diversity is valuable because different people have different approaches to solving problems

    • Similarity-attraction approach - diversity may cause problems because people are more attracted to those who are like them

• Team Size - having a greater number of members is beneficial for management and project teams, but not for teams engaged in production tasks (most satisfied team size is 4 or 5)

Team and Individualistic Roles

• Team Task Roles - behaviors that directly facilitate the accomplishment of team tasks

  • Initiator-contributor

  • Coordinator

  • Orienter

  • Devil’s advocate

  • Energizer

  • Procedural-technician

• Team Building Roles - behaviors that influence the quality of the team’s social climate

  • Encourager

  • Harmonizer

  • Compromiser

  • Gatekeeper-expediter

  • Standard setter

  • Follower

• Individualistic Roles - behaviors that benefit the individual at the expense of the team

  • Agressor

  • Blocker

  • Recognition seeker

  • Self-confessor

  • Slacker

  • Dominator

Team Processes

Team processes reflect the different types of activities and interactions that occur within team and contribute to their ultimate end goals

• Team characteristics, like member diversity, task interdependence, team size, etc. affect team processes

• Team processes, in turn, have a strong impact on team effectiveness

Process Gain - getting more from the team that you would expect according to the capabilities of its individual members - “synergy”

Process Loss - getting less from the team than you would expect based on the capabilities of the individual members (caused by coordination loss or motivational loss)

Coordination Loss - when integrating team activities consumes more time and energy than the activity itself

• driven by production blocking - when team members have to wait on one another before they can do their part of the team task

Motivational Loss - when team members don’t work as hard as they could, due to the reduced accountability of being in the team

• driven by social loafing - where members exert less effort due the presence of others

Taskwork Processes

• Creative Behavior - activities focused on generating novel and useful ideas and solutions

• Decision Making - multiple members gather and consider ideas relevant to their specialization, then make recommendations to a team leader who is responsible for the final decision

  • Decision informity - reflects whether members possess adequate information about their own task responsibilities

  • Staff validity - refers to the degree to which members make good recommendations to the leader

  • Hierarchical sensitivity - reflects the degree to which the leader effectively weighs the recommendations of the members

• Boundary Spanning - activities with individuals and groups who are NOT part of the team

  • Ambassador activities - communications that are intended to protect the team, persuade others to support the team, or obtain important resources for the team

  • Task coordinator activities - communications that are intended to coordinate task-related issues with people or groups in other functional areas.

  • Scout activities - things team members do to obtain information about technology, competitors, or the broader marketplace

Teamwork Processes

Transition Processes - teamwork activities that focus on preparation for future work

• Mission analysis - involve 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 task is being completed

• Monitoring progress towards goals

• Systems monitoring - 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 - synchronizing team members’ activities in a way that makes them mesh effectively and seamlessly

Interpersonal Processes - manner in which team members manage their relationships

• Motivating and confidence building - things team members do or say that affect the degree to which members are motivated to work hard on the task

• Conflict management - activities that the team uses to manage conflicts that arise in the course of its work

Team States

Team States - specific types of thoughts and feelings in the minds of team members and the consequence of working together

Cohesion - Exists when members of team develop strong emotional bonds to other members of their team and to the team itself

• GROUPTHINK happens in highly cohesive teams when members try to maintain harmony by striving toward consensus on issues without offering, seeking, or considering alternative viewpoints and perspectives (problem)

Potency - the degree to which members believe that the team can be effective across a variety of situations and tasks (similar to self-efficacy at individual level - potency is team level)

Mental Model - the level of common understanding among team members with regard to important aspects of the team and its task

Transactive Memory - how specialized knowledge is distributed among members in a manner that results in an effective system of memory for the team