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Ch 10: Managing Teams

Terms in this set (52)

Teams
two or more people with complementary skills who hold themselves mutually accountable for pursuing a common purpose, achieving performance goals, and improving interdependent work processes
Teams improve
- customer satisfaction
- product and service quality
- product development speed and efficiency
- employee job satisfaction (cross training)
- decision making
Negative team behaviors
- initially high turnover
- social loafing
- groupthink
- minority domination
Factors that encourage people to withhold effort in teams
1. the presence of someone with expertise
2. the presentation of a compelling argument
3. lacking confidence in one's ability to contribute
4. an unimportant or meaningless decision
5. a dysfunctional decision-making climate
When to use teams
1. the task is complex, requiring multiple skills
2. available information is incomplete
3. task or purpose is cross-functional and/or requires input from other organizational units
4. the path forward is unclear or creativity is needed
5. rewards can be provided for teamwork and team performance
6. more efficient use of personnel is required
7. sufficient time is available for team training and development and for reaching consensus decisions
8. high commitment is desirable
9. cooperation needed for team implementation is likely
When not to use teams
1. the job can be done by people working independently
2. one person has greater expertise on the subject and has all info required at hand
3. task or purpose is uni-dimensional and/or contained within one organizational unit
4. the task is straight forward or routine
5. rewards are provided for individual effort and performance
6. insufficient space and equipment resources are available for a team
7. time constraints on task completion of not support team training, development, and decision making
8. employee turnover is high
9. lack of support for teams because of organizational culture, management, or management-union relations
autonomy
the degree to which workers have the discretion, freedom, and independence to decide how and when to accomplish their jobs
Stages of group development
1. forming
2. storming
3. norming
4. performing
Forming
-testing each others reactions to see which are acceptable
-seeking cues about what is expected
-individual behavior is driven by a desire to be accepted by the others, and avoid controversy or conflict. Serious issues and feelings are avoided
Storming
- the group tries to agree on its objectives
- conflict may arise as group wrestles with how power and status will be divided and goals and priorities
- can be contentious for those who prefer to avoid conflict
- the group may resist the information of structure or may ignore the desires of leaders
- to deal with the conflict, individuals may feel they are winning or losing battles, and will look for structural clarity and rules to prevent the conflict persisting
Norming
- "rules of engagement" for the group become established
- feelings of cohesion develop
- new standards and values are adopted
- opinions freely voiced
- individuals have had to work hard to attain this stage, and may resist any pressure to change, especially from the outside, for fear that the group will break up, or revert to a storm
Performing
-established a flexible network of relationships-aids task accomplishment
- internal hostility is at low stage or point
- team members are competent and need little supervision
- group directs energies towards successful performance of valued tasks
More about group development model
-often quoted, but frequently misunderstood
- not every group goes through stages in a fixed, but a typical group goes through storming
- really describing small recently formed groups
- ignores the role of leadership in the group
- may not actually be sequential steps but overlapping process
- later added an adjourning stage
norms
informally agreed on standards that regulate team behavior
-regulate the everyday actions that allow teams to function effectively
-teams enforce with rewards and sanctions
- teams with negative norms influence team members to engage in negative team behaviors
cohesiveness
the extent to which team members are attracted to a team and motivated to remain in it
- make sure that all team members are present at team activities
- create additional opportunities for teammates to work together
-engage in non work activities
-make employees feel they are part of a special organization
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