Lecture 9

Lesson 9 Teamwork

Source: Daft, R.L (2008), The New Era of Management, 2nd Edition, Singapore: Thompson South Western.

This lecture notes are additional for the chapter 8 Working in Teams from your textbook : Adler, R & Elmhorst, J (2007) Communicating at Work: Principles and Practices for Business and the Professions. New York: McGraw Hill.

A Team Is? • Made up of 2 or more people • Have regular interaction • Team members share a performance goal

Work Team Effectiveness Model

Team type-Formal A team created by the organization as part of the formal organization structure. Vertical team – manager & subordinates in same area. Horizontal team – employees from same level, different areas of expertise.

Team type-Self-directed -Consist of 5-20 multi-skilled workers who rotate jobs to produce an entire product or service, often supervised by an elected member. -permenant -Elements: several skills & function, access to various resources to complete task, empowered with decision making authority.

Virtual & Global team Virtual – geographically or organizationally dispersed, rarely meet face to face, using ICT. Global – members from different nationalities, virtual or F2F.

Characteristics of Teams  Size- Ideal size is thought to be 7  Small teams (2-4 members) show more agreement, ask more questions  Large teams (12 or more) tend to have more disagreements  Member Roles- Task specialist role spend time and energy helping the team reach its goal  Socio-emotional role support team members’ emotional needs

Members Role • Initiate ideas • Give opinions • Seek information • Summarize • Stimulate the team into action • Encourage • Harmonize • Reduce tension • Follow • Compromise

Stages of Team Development • Forming (facilitates social interchanges) • Storming (encourages participation, surfaces differences) • Norming (help clarify team roles, norms, values) • Performing (facilitate task accomplishment) • Adjourning (brings closure, signifies completion)

Team cohesiveness The extent to which team members are attracted to the team and motivated to remain in it. Highly cohesive team – committed to team activities, attend meetings, happy when team succeeds. Less cohesive team – less concerned about the team’s welfare.

Team Norm A standard of conduct that is shared by team members and guides their behaviors. How team norms develop? •Critical events in the team’s history •First behaviors that occur in the team •Carryover behavior (from outside) •Making explicit statements

Conflict resolution Balancing conflict & cooperation H Team performance

L

Amount of conflict

H

Causes of Team Conflict •Scarce Resources: include money, information, and supplies. •Jurisdictional Ambiguities: conflicts emerge when job boundaries and responsibilities are unclear. •Communication Breakdown: poor communications result in misperceptions and misunderstandings of other people and teams. •Personality Clashes: personality clashes are caused by basic differences in personality, values, and attitudes. •Power and Status Differences: occur when one party has disputable influence over another. •Goal Differences: conflict often occurs simply because people are pursuing conflicting goals.

Guidelines for Keeping Teams Focused on Issues    

Focus on facts Develop multiple alternatives Maintain a balance of power Never force a consensus/agreement

Potential Cost of Teams • When teams do not work well it is usually because: – – – –

Power realignment Free riding Coordination costs System revisions