Team Vs. Group

V. M. Patel Institute of Management

[1]

BACKGROUND 1.1

Why Have Teams Become So Popular?

When companies like, W.L.Gore, Volvo and General Foods introduced teams in to their production processes, it made news before no one else was doing it. Today it’s just the opposite. It’s the organization that doesn’t use teams that has become newsworthy. Approximately 80 percent of Fortune500 companies now have half or more of their employees on teams. And 68 percent of small U.S. manufacturers are using teams in their production areas. How do we explain the current popularity of teams? The evidence suggests that teams typically outperform individuals when the tasks being done require multiple skills, judgement and experience. As organizations have restructured themselves to compete more effectively and efficiently, they have turned to teams as a better way to use employee talents. Management has found that teams are more flexible and responding to changing events than are traditional departments or other forms of permanent groupings. Teams have the capability to quickly respond, assemble, deploy, refocus, and disband. Teams are increasingly becoming the primary means for organizing work in contemporary business firms. In fact, this trend is so widespread that business students are learning about teams through first-hand experience. However, in its recent resurgence it is cross functional and multidisciplinary team working that is seen as an important ingredient of success. This form of collaboration is vital to solving complex problems fast, gaining commitment to change and tapping the full reservoir of latent energy and ideas possessed by most of the organizations.

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1.2

Teams Work to Save Lives in Tsunami-Stricken Asia

When one of the most popular earth-quakes on history struck deep beneath the Indian Ocean on December 26, 2004, more than 2, 25, 000 people were killed in the flooding. Almost immediately, teams of relief workers around the world were on their ways. In such immediate response situations, a common problem is team coordination – both within and between teams. For example in the Indonesian province of Aceh, 175 tons of supplies waited at the airport for distribution because the proper equipment wasn’t there. In addition, food distribution experts were lacking and, there was even confusion about where food should be sent. Anticipating such problems in India, IBM installed a complex computer system to coordinate aid among relief centers. This system helped set priorities so relief workers could respond quickly to most needy sites. Even world leaders had to learn about to be team players. When the tsunami first hit, many nations obviously wanted to send help. President Bush wanted a “CORE GROUP” of countries –India, the United States, Australia and Japan to coordinate relief work. France said that it would oversee aid to Sri Lanka and British Prime Minister Tony Blair proposed that U.K., since it was chair of the G8 group of industrialized nations, coordinate the relief work. But to be truly effective, these nations and their leaders had to work together as a team. This tragedy illustrates both the necessity of teamwork and the challenges of coordinating within and between teams.

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1.3

Role of effective team in organization

In any organization the team serves to be an essential part depending on the work that is required in that particular organization. Whenever there is the complexity of the work involved and also different perspectives are required team proves to play an important role in the organization. Also when a work creates common purpose or set of goals for the people in the team then it would be more important than the aggregate of individual goals. For e.g. many new car dealer service departments have introduced teams that link customer service personnel, mechanics, part specialists and sales representatives. Such teams can better manage collective responsibility for ensuring that customers needs are properly met.

Also in the teams the members are interdependent. Teams make sense when there is interdependence between tasks, when the success of each one depends on the success of each other. For an e.g. we can see in the game soccer. Success requires a great deal of coordination between interdependent players. Also the teams with the proper creation and the effective nature are going to prove themselves in the organization for the better quality management.

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[2]

INTRODUCTION 2.1

Management

For most of our lives , we members of one organization or another – a college , a sports team ,a musical or theoretical group , religious or civic organization , a branch of the armed forces , or a business. But all organizations , formal or informal , are put together and kept together by a team of people who set that there are benefits available from working toward together toward some common goal. So a very basic element of any organization is a goal or purpose. All the organizations also have some program or method for achieving the goals –a plan. Organizations must also acquire and allocate the resources necessary to achieve their goals. All the organizations depend on their organizations for the resources they need. Management is all about the practice of consciously and continually shaping the organizations. All the organizations have the people who are responsible for continuously helping them to achieve their goals. Thus , managements tells about the process of planning , organizing, leading and controlling the work of organization members and of using all available organizational resources to reach stated organizational goals . 2.2

Teams

A team is defined as two or more people who interact and influences each other toward a common purpose. Traditionally, two types of teams have existed in organizations: Formal and Informal. Today however teams exist that have the characteristics of both. In the formal teams we have various types: A) Command team. B) Project team. Teams can do a variety of things. They can make products, provide services, negotiate deals, coordinate projects, offer advice, and make decisions. In the organizations you are likely to find four common types of teams A) Problem solving teams B) Self managed teams C) Cross functional teams A Management – Creating effective teams for high performance

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D) Virtual teams. 2.3

High Performance Teams

Some groups today have characteristics of both formal and informal teams. Super teams or High –performance teams –group of 3 to 30 workers drawn from different areas of a corporation- are an example .They get to together to solve the problems that workers deal with daily. Super teams are also becoming important to small businesses such as advertising.

2.4

Effective Teams

The teams that have the capacity to determine the appropriate objectives”doing the right thing”. They choose the right goals.

2.5

Need of Creating an Effective Team

As mentioned in the background with the example of tsunami. There are many other examples which can justify the needs of formation of the effective teams. So there is certainly a need of creating an effective team in today’s world.

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MANAGEMENT

Definition: - It is the process of planning, organizing, leading, and controlling the work of organization members and of using all available organizational resources to achieve stated organizational goals. The need for management can be justified by following points: Organization: - A group of people with formally assigned roles who work together to achieve the stated goals of the group. Goal: - The purpose that an organization strives to achieve and goals are fundamental elements of organizations. Manager: - People responsible for directing the efforts aimed at helping organizations achieve their goals. Organization must also acquire and allocate the resources necessary to achieve their goals. All organizations depend on other organizations for the resources they need. A team cannot play without the required equipment. All organizations have some program or method for achieving goals are called plan. 3.1

Why do we study management?

In the world organizations are everywhere, there are three compelling reasons for studying and the practice of management. It involves the past, present, and future. Living in the present - organizations contribute to the present standards of living of people worldwide. We all rely on organizations daily for food, shelter, clothing, medical care, communications, amusement, and employment.

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Building the future- organizations build toward a desirable future and help individuals do the same. New products and practices are developed as a result of the creative power that can emerge when people work together in organizations. Organizations have an impact (positive or negative) on the future status of organizations that are addressing concerns about the future in their products and practices. Remembering the past-organizations help connect people to their pasts. Organizations can be thought of as patterns of human relationships. Every day that we work with others adds to the history of the organization and our own history. Organizations also maintain records and value their own history, keeping traditions alive in our minds. 3.2

Process of the management: -

Process is a systemic method of handling activities. There are four main management activities such as planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. Planning: - It is the process of establishing goals and a suitable course of action for achieving those goals. Planning implies that managers think through their goals and actions in advance and that their actions are based on some method, plan, or logic. Plan gives the organization its objectives and set up the best procedures for reaching them. Plans are the guides by which the organization obtains and commits the resources required to reach its objectives, members of the organization carry on activities consistent with the chosen objectives and procedures, and progress toward the objectives is monitored and measured so that correct action can be taken if progress is unsatisfactory. Organizing: - It is the process of arranging and allocating work, authority, and resources among an organization’s members who are working together to achieve a specific goal or set of goals. Relationship and time are central to organizing activities. Organizing produces a structure for the relationship in an organization. Leading: - It is the process of directing and influencing the task related activities of group members or an entire organization. Controlling: - It is the process of ensuring that actual activities conform to planned activities. Controlling involves that, establishing standards of performance, measuring current performance, comparing this performance to the established standards, and taking corrective action if deviations are detected. By this function manager keeps the organization on track. A Management – Creating effective teams for high performance

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Teams Definition: - It is defined as two or more people who interact and influence each

other toward a common purpose. 4.1

Differences between groups and teams: -

A work group is a group that interacts primarily to share information and to make decision to help each member perform within his or her area of responsibility. A work team is a group whose individual efforts results in a performance that is greater than the sum of the individual inputs. Comparing Work Groups and Work Teams Work Groups

Work Teams

Share information

Goals

Neutral

Synergy

Individual

Accountability

Random and varied

4.2

Collective performance Positive Individual and mutual

Skills

Complementary

Types of teams: -

Traditionally in organizations there are four types of teams like formal, informal, high performance, and self managed teams. (1)

Formal Teams: - Formal teams are created by managers and charged with

carrying out specific tasks to help the organization achieve its goals. It is again divided in to three types like command team, committee, and task force or project teams.

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(a)

Command teams- a team composed of a manager and the employees that

report to that manager. (b)

Committee- a formal organizational team which usually relatively long

lived and created to carry out specific organizational tasks. (c)

Task force or project teams- these teams are created to deal with a specific

problem and are usually disbanded when the task is completed or the problem is solved. (2)

Informal teams: - It emerges whenever people come together and interact

regularly. These groups develop within the formal organizational structure. Members of the teams tend to subordinate some of their individual needs to those the team supports and protects them. Functions: 1.

They maintain and strengthen the norms and values their members hold in

common. 2.

They give members feelings of social satisfaction, status, and security.

3.

Informal group’s help their members communicate. Member of this groups

learn about matters that affect them by developing their own informal channels of communication to supplement more formal channels. 4.

Informal groups help solve problems. They might aid a sick or tired

employee or devise activities to deal with boredom. But these groups can also reduce an organization’s effectiveness. (3)

High performance teams or super teams: - groups of 3 to 30 workers

drawn from different areas of a corporation who get together to solve the problems that workers deal with daily. These types of teams are also important to small businesses such as advertising agencies. Super teams are not all roses and rainbows. Super teams are helpful when there is a complex problem to solve or layers of progress delaying management to cut through. And it is not right choice for every company culture. (4)

Self managed teams- super teams that manage themselves without any

formal supervision are called self managed teams. These teams usually have the following characteristics •

The team has responsibility for a “relatively whole task.”

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•

Team members each possess a variety of task related skills.

•

The team has the power to determine such things as work methods,

scheduling, and assignment of members to different tasks. •

The performance of the group as whole is the basis for compensation and

feedback.

4.3

Types mainly existing in an organization: -

Teams can make products, provide services, negotiate deals, coordinate projects, offer advice, and make decisions. The four most common types that are likely to find in the organizations are problem-solving teams, self-managed work teams, cross-functional teams, and virtual teams. (1)

Problem-solving teams: - The groups of 5 to 12 employees from the same

department who meet for a few hours each week to discuss ways of improving quality, efficiency, and the work environment. In problem-solving teams, members share ideas or offer suggestion on how work processes and methods can be improved. They have the authority to unilaterally implement any of their suggested actions. (2)

Self-managed work teams: - The groups of 10 to 15 people who perform

highly related or interdependent jobs and take on many of the responsibilities of their former supervisors. This includes planning and scheduling of work, assigning task to members, collective control over the pace of the work, making operating decisions, taking action on problem, and working with suppliers and customers. Fully self-managed work teams select their own members and have the members evaluate each other’s performance. (3)

Cross-functional teams: - This means employees from about the same

hierarchical level, but put from different work areas, who come together to accomplish a task. Cross-functional teams are an effective means for allowing people from diverse areas within an organization or between organizations to exchange information, develop new ideas and solve problems, and coordinate complex projects. Their early stages of A Management – Creating effective teams for high performance

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development are often very time consuming as members learn to work with diversity and complexity. It takes time to build trust and teamwork. (4)

Virtual teams: - Virtual teams use computer technology to tie together

physically dispersed members in order to achieve a common goal. They allow people to collaborate online by using communication links like wide area networks, video conferencing, or e-mail. Virtual teams can also do the share information, make decisions, complete tasks and they can include members from the same organization or between organization’s members with employees from other organizations. The three factors that differentiate virtual teams from face-to-face teams are as follows: (1)

The absence of paraverbal and nonverbal cues.

(2)

Limited social context.

(3)

The ability to overcome time and space constraints. In face-to-face

conversation people use paraverbal (it includes tone of voice, inflection, and voice volume) and nonverbal (it includes eye movement, facial expression, hand gestures, and other body language) cues. These help to clarify communication by providing increased meaning but do not available in online interactions. Virtual teams also suffer from less social rapport and less direct interaction among members and does not able to duplicate the normal give and take of face-to-face discussion. Virtual teams tend to be more task oriented and exchange less social-emotional information when the members haven’t met. Virtual team members are less satisfaction with the group interaction process than do face-to-face teams. They are able to do their work even if members are thousands of miles apart and separated into more zones.

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[5]

STAGES OF TEAM DEVELOPMENT

As suggested by B.W.Tuckman more than two decades ago that small groups move through five stages as they develop. These stages of development can be listed as follows: - Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing and Adjourning. Forming: - During the initial stage, the group forms and learns what sort of behavior is acceptable to the group. By exploring what does and does not work, the group sets implicit and explicit ground rules that cover the completion of specific tasks as well as general group dynamics. By and large, during this stage of development the group members have a chance to get familiar with the group members and to adjust with the new climate. Storming: - As group members become more comfortable with one another, they may oppose the formation of a group structure as they begin to assert their individual personalities. In certain cases friends become foes and even fight ground rules set during the forming stage. Norming: - At this time, the conflicts that aroused in the previous stage are addressed and hopefully resolved. Group unity emerges as members establish common goals, norms and ground rules. The group as a whole participates, not merely a few vocal members. Members begin to voice personal opinions and develop close relationships. Performing: - Now that structural issues have been resolved, the group begins to operate as a unit. The structure of the group now supports and eases group dynamics and performance. The structure becomes a tool for the group’s use instead of an issue to be fought over. Members can now redirect their efforts from the development of the group to using the group’s structure to complete the tasks as hand. A Management – Creating effective teams for high performance

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Adjourning: - Finally, for temporary groups such as task forces, this is the time when the group wraps up activities. With disbandment in mind, the groups focus shifts form high task performance to closure. The attitude of the members varies from excitement to depression. Tuckman does not suggest that all groups adhere strictly to such a framework, but that in many cases, the framework can explain why groups experience difficulty. For example the groups those try to perform without storming and norming will often find only short-lived success.

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[6]

CREATING EFFECTIVE TEAMS Creating “effective” teams in situations in which individuals can do the job better

is equivalent to solving the wrong problem perfectly. What does team effectiveness mean? It includes objective measures of the team’s productivity, manager’s ratings of the team performance and aggregate measure of member’s satisfaction. The key components making up effective teams can be subsumed into four general categories. (1) The resources and the contextual influences. (2) It relates to the team composition. (3) It is related to the work design. (4) It includes process variables which reflect those things that go on in the team that

influences effectiveness. 6.1

Context: The four contextual factors that appear to be most significantly related to team

performance are the presence of adequate resources, effective leadership, a climate of trust, and a performance evaluation that reflects team contributions. 6.1.1

Adequate Resources: - Teams are a part of organization system. As such,

all work teams rely on resources outside the group to sustain it. And a scarcity of resources directly reduces the ability of the team to perform its job effectively. As one set of researchers concluded, after looking at 13 factors potentially related to group performance, “perhaps one of the most important characteristic of an effective work group is the support the group receives from the organization.” This support includes timely

information,

proper

equipment

adequate

staffing,

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encouragement

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administrative assistance. Teams must receive the necessary support from management and the larger organization if they are going to succeed in achieving their goals.

6.1.2

Leadership and Structure: - Team members must agree on who is to do

what and ensure that all members contribute equally in sharing the work load. In addition, the team needs to determine how schedules will be set, what skills need to be developed, how the group will resolve conflicts, and how the group will make and modify decisions. Agreeing n the specifics of work and how they fit together to integrate individual’s skills requires team leadership and structure. This can be directly provided by management or by team members themselves. Leadership, of course, isn’t always needed. For instance the evidence indicates that self managed work teams often perform better than teams with formally appointed leaders. And, leaders can obstruct high performance when they interfere with self managed teams. On self-managed teams, members absorb many of the duties typically assumed by managers. On traditionally managed teams, we find that two factors seem to be important in influencing team performance – the leader’s expectation and his/her mood. Leader’s who expect good things from their team are more likely to get them. In addition, studies have found that leaders who exhibit a positive mood get better performance and lower turnover. 6.1.3

Climate of Trust: - Members of effective teams trust each other. And they

also exhibit trust in their leaders. Interpersonal trust among team members facilitates, cooperation, reduces the need to monitor each other’s behaviors and bonds team members around the belief that others on the team won’t take advantage of them. Trust in leadership is important in that it allows the team to be willing to accept and commit to their leaders goals and decisions. 6.1.4

Performance Evaluation and Reward Systems: - The traditional,

individually oriented evaluation and reward system must be modified to reflect team performance. Individual performance evaluations, fixed hourly wages, individual incentives, and the like are not consistent with the development of high-performance teams. So in addition to evaluating and rewarding employees for their individual contributions, management should consider group-based appraisals, profit sharing, gain

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sharing, small group incentives, and other system modifications that will reinforce team effort and commitment.

6.2

Composition: This category includes variables that relate to how teams should be staffed. In this

section, we’ll address the ability and personality of team members, allocating roles and diversity, size of the team, member flexibility, and member’s preference for team work. 6.2.1

Abilities of Members: - Part of a team’s performance depends on the

knowledge, skills and abilities of its individual members. As the old saying goes,” the race doesn’t always go to the swiftest nor the battle to the strongest, but that’s the way to bet.” A team’s performance is not merely the summation of its individual member’s abilities. However, these abilities set parameters for what members can do and how effectively they will perform on a team. To perform effectively, a team requires three different types of skills. First it needs people with technical expertise. Second, it needs people with the problem-solving and decision-making skills to be able to identify problems, generate alternatives, evaluate those alternatives, and make competent choices. Finally, teams need people with good listening, feedback, conflict resolution and interpersonal skills. No team can achieve its performance potential without developing all three types of skills. The right mix is crucial. Too much of one at the expense of others will result in low team performance. But teams don’t need to have all the complementary skills in place at their beginning. It’s not uncommon for one or more members to take responsibility to learn the skills in which the group is deficient, thereby allowing the team to reach its full potential. Research on the abilities of team members has revealed some interesting insights into team composition and performance. High-ability teams are more adaptable to A Management – Creating effective teams for high performance

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changing situations in that they can more effectively adapt prior knowledge to suit a set of new problems. Second, although high-ability teams generally have n advantage over lower-ability teams, this is not always the case. For example, when tasks are simple (task that individual team members might be able to salve on their own), high-ability teams do not perform will, perhaps because, in such tasks, high ability teams become bored and turn their attention to other activities that are more stimulating, whereas low ability team stays on task. High-ability teams should be “saved” to tackle the tough problems. So matching team ability to the task is important. Finally, the ability of the team’s leader also matters. Research shows that smart team leaders help less intelligent team when they struggle with a task. But a less intelligent leader can neutralize the effect of a high-ability team. 6.2.2

Personality: - Personality has a significant influence on individual

employee behavior. This can also be extended to team behavior. Specifically, teams that rate higher in mean levels of extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, openness to experience, and emotional stability tend to receive higher managerial ratings for team performance. Interestingly, the evidence indicates that the variance in personality characteristics may be more important than the mean. So, for example, while higher mean level of conscientiousness on a team are desirable, mixing both conscientiousness and not-soconscientious members tend to lower the performance. “This may be because, in such teams, members who are highly conscientious not only must perform their own tasks but also perform or re-do the tasks of conscientious members. It may also be because such diversity leads to feeling of contribution inequity. Another interesting finding related to personality is that “One bad apple can spoil the barrel”. A single team member who lacks a minimal level of, say, agreeableness, can negatively affect the whole team’s performance. So including just one person who is low on agreeableness, conscientiousness, or extroversion can result in strained internal processes and decreased overall performance. These personality traits are important to team’s performance. Extraverts are better at training and motivating teams who are struggling. Emotionally stable team members are critical because they are better at adapting and also help others to adapt. Teams comprised of open people make better use of computer technology in making decisions.

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Open people better communicate with one another and throw out more ideas, which leads teams comprised of open people to be more creative and innovative. Personality composition is important to team success. It’s best to staff teams with people who are extroverted, agreeable, conscientious, emotionally stable and open. Management should also minimize the variability within teams on these traits.

6.2.3

Allocating Roles: - Teams have different needs, and people should be

selected for a team to ensure that all various roles are filled. We can identify nine different team roles. Managers need to understand the individual strengths that each person can bring to a team, select members with their strengths in mind, and allocate work assignments that fit with the members preferred style. By matching individual preferences with team role demands, managers increase the likelihood that the team members will work well together. The nine different roles can be explained as follows: -

LINKER

CREATOR

MAINTAIN ER

ADVISER

TEAM CONTROLLER

PROMOTER

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PRODUCER

ORGANIZER

ASSESSOR

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6.2.4 On Group Roles: - Group or team work involves collective effort, but a team made up entirely of born leaders would probably not be very effective. Each group member has a different contribution to make and can bring different experiences to bear on group problems. This is not just a matter of their individual technical expertise and knowledge, but also of the way they relate to other people. Some people have a strong preference for a particular role, while others are more versatile, capable of filling a number of alternative roles, depending on the situation.

Roles and Descriptions-Team-Role Contribution Plant: PL Creative, Imaginative, Unorthodox, solves difficult problems Resource Investigator: RI Extrovert, enthusiastic, communicative, explores opportunities, develops contacts Coordinator: Mature, confident, a good chairperson, CO clarifies goals, promotes decision making, delegates well Shaper: Challenging, dynamic, thrives on pressure, SH has the drive and courage to overcome obstacles Monitor Evaluator: ME Sober, strategic and discerning, sees all options, judges accurately TW Team Worker: -

Allowable Weaknesses Ignores details, tool pre-occupied to communicate effectively Over-optimistic, loses interest once initial enthusiasm has passed Can be seen as manipulative, delegates personal work Can provoke others, hurts people’s feelings Lacks drive and ability to inspire others. Overly critical Indecisive in crunch situations, can be

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IM

C

SP

Cooperative, mild, perceptive and diplomatic, listens, builds, averts friction, calms the waters Implementer: Disciplined, reliable, conservative and efficient. Turns ideas into practical actions Completer: Painstaking, conscientious, anxious, searches out errors and omissions, delivers on time Specialist: Single-minded, self-starting, dedicated, provides knowledge and skills in rare supply

easily influenced Somewhat inflexible, slow to respond to new possibilities Inclined to worry unduly, reluctant to delegate, can be a nitpicker Contributes on only a narrow front, dwells on technicalities, overlooks the “big picture”

6.2.5 Diversity: - Most team activities require a variety of skills and knowledge. Given this requirement, it would be reasonable to conclude that heterogeneous teams those composed of dissimilar individuals – would be more likely to have abilities and information and should be more effective. When a team is diverse in terms of personality, gender, age, education, functional specialization and experience there is an increased probability that the team will possess the needed characteristics to complete its tasks effectively. The team may be more conflict-laden, but the evidence generally supports the conclusion that the heterogeneous teams perform effectively than do those that are homogeneous. One study found that, on a cognitive task, homogenous groups of white males performed the worst relative to mixed race and gender teams or teams of only females. The authors concluded that this was true because male-only teams were overly aggressive and were therefore prone to decision-making errors. But what about the diversity created by racial or national differences? The evidence indicates that these elements of diversity interfere with team processes, at least in the short term. Cultural diversity seems to be an asset for a task that call for a variety of viewpoints. But culturally heterogeneous teams have more difficulty in learning to work with each other and in solving problems. The good news is that these difficulties seem to dissipate with time. Although newly formed culturally diverse teams underperform newly formed culturally homogenous teams, the difference disappears after about 3 months. The reason is that it takes culturally diverse teams a while to learn how to work through disagreements and different approaches to solving problems. Groups, teams and organizations are composed cohorts, which we define as individuals who hold a common attribute. For instance everyone born in 1986 is of the same age. This means that they have shared common experiences. People born after 1960 have experienced the war with China but have not experienced the freedom struggle of A Management – Creating effective teams for high performance

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India. Similarly, people born after 1980 have experienced the Kargil war but not the war with China nor the war with Pakistan in 1971. People, who enter a group or an organization together, or at approximately the same time, are more likely to associate with one another, have similar perspective on the group or an organization, and thus be more likely to stay. Large differences within single team will lead to turnover. If everyone is moderately dissimilar from everyone else in a team, the feelings of being an outsider are reduced. So, it’s the degree of dispersion on an attribute, rather than the level, that matters most.

6.2.6 Size of Teams: - Generally speaking, the most effective teams have fewer than 10 members. And experts suggest using the smallest number of people who can do the task. Unfortunately, there is a pervasive tendency for the managers to err on the side of making teams too large. While a minimum of 4 or5 may be necessary to develop diversity of views and skills, managers seem to seriously underestimate how coordination problems can geometrically increase as team members are added. When teams have excess members, cohesiveness and mutual accountability declines, social loafing increases and more and more people do less talking relative to others. Moreover, large teams have trouble coordinating with one another, especially when time pressure is present. So in designing effective teams, managers should try to keep them fewer than 10. If a natural working unit is larger and you want a team effort, consider breaking the group into sub teams. 6.2.7 Member Flexibility: - Teams are made up of flexible individuals have members who can compete each other’s tasks. This is an obvious plus to a team because it greatly improves its adaptability and makes it less reliant on any single member. So selecting members who themselves value flexibility, then cross-training them to be able to do each other’s jobs, should lead to higher team performance over time. 6.2.8 Member Preferences: - Not every employee is a team player. Given the option, many employees will select themselves out of team participation. When people who prefer to work alone are required to team up, there is a direct threat to the team’s morale and to individual member satisfaction. This suggests that, when selecting team members, individual preferences should be considered as well as abilities, personalities and skills. High-performing teams are likely to be composed of people who prefer working as a part of a group. 6.3

Work Design: -

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Effective needs to work together and take collective responsibilities to complete significant tasks. The work design category includes variables like freedom & autonomy, the opportunity to use different skills and talents, the ability to complete a whole and identifiable task or product, and working on a task or a project that has a substantial impact on others. These work design characteristics motivate because they increase member’s sense of responsibilities and ownership over work and because they make the work more interesting to perform.

6.4

Process: -

The final category related to team effectiveness is process variables. These include member commitment to a common purpose, establishment of specific team goals, team efficacy, a managed level of conflict and minimizing social loafing. Social loafing, in other words, illustrates a process loss as a result of using teams. But team process should produce positive results. That is, teams should create outputs greater than their sum of inputs. The development of creative alternatives by a diverse group would be one of such instance. Social loafing, for instance, represents negative synergy. The whole is less than the sum of its parts. On the other hand, research teams are often used in research laboratories because they can draw on the diverse skills of various individuals to produce more meaningful research as a team than could be generated by all of the researchers working independently. That is, they produce positive synergy. Their process gains exceed their process losses. 6.4.1 Common Purpose: - Effective teams have a common and meaningful purpose that provides direction, momentum and commitment for members. Members of successful teams put a tremendous amount of time and effort into discussing, shaping and agreeing on a purpose that belongs to them both collectively and individually. This common purpose, when accepted by the team, it provides direction and guidance under any and all conditions. 6.4.2 Specific Goals: - Successful teams translate their common purpose into specific, measurable and realistic performance goals. These specific goals facilitate clear communication. They also help teams maintain their focus of getting results. Also, consistent with the research on individual goals, team goals should be challenging. Difficult goals have been found to raise team performance on those criteria for which

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they’re set. So, for instance, goals for quantity tend to raise quantity, goals for speed tends to raise speed, goals for accuracy raise accuracy, and so on. 6.4.3 Team Efficacy: - Effective teams have confidence in themselves. They believe they can succeed. We call this team efficacy. Teams that have been successful raise their beliefs about future success, which, in turn, motivates them to work harder. What can management do the increase team efficacy? Two possible options are helping the team to achieve small success and providing skill training. Small successes can build team confidence. As a team develops an increasingly stronger performance record, it also increases the collective belief that future efforts will lead to success. In addition, managers should consider providing training to improve member’s technical and interpersonal skills. The greater the abilities of team members, the greater the likelihood that the team will develop confidence and the capability to deliver on that confidence. 6.4.4 Conflict Levels: - Conflict on a team isn’t necessarily bad. Teams that are completely void of conflict are likely to become apathetic and stagnant. So conflict can actually improve team effectiveness. But not all types of conflict. Relationship conflicts those based on interpersonal incompatibilities, tension and animosity towards others – are almost dysfunctional. However, on teams performing non-routine activities, disagreements among members about task contents is not detrimental. In fact, it is often beneficial because it lessens the likelihood of groupthink. Task conflict stimulates discussion, promotes critical assessment of problems and options, can lead to better team decisions. So effective teams will be characterized by an appropriate level of conflict. 6.4.5

Social Loafing: - individuals can engage in social loafing and coast on the

group effort because their individual contributions can’t be identified. Effective teams undermine this tendency by holding themselves accountable at both the individual and team level. Successful teams make members individually and jointly accountable for the team’s purpose, goals and approach. Therefore, members should be clear on what they are individually responsible for.

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[7]

PROJECT INSTRUCTIONS These instructions outline the steps your team should undertake in conducting

your analysis. 7.1

Project Responsibilities: -

The steps are as follows: 1. Discuss and clarify your team’s objectives. Discuss team member’s objectives. Some team members who have done this project before in the past have been surprised to learn how varied team members ideas about the projects can be. Discuss team member’s strength and preferences to decide on different roles and ways of sharing the workload. 2. Identify an organization It is important that you identify an organization immediately. The criteria you should consider in identifying the organization are as follows: •

Choose one individual who will serve as a liaison to each organization and

ultimately to the final organization selected. •

Arrange initial and subsequent meetings with organizational members through the

liaison.

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•

Emphasize what organization has to gain by participating. When you have successfully identified an organization, you should complete the

form provided at the end of the module, indicating what organization your team has chosen to analyze and then submit to your instructor. 3. Negotiate entry and conditions You should negotiate the conditions of your relationships with the organization. You should draft some form of informal contract – not a legal document, but a definition of what is expected of the team and organization. It should be clear about what you are going to do for the organization and what you will not do. If the organization experiences significance change, such as new managers, downsizing or a major strategy shift, you may need to renegotiate during the project.

4. Choose an initiative around which to focus the analysis You should jointly determine what organizational initiative you will study. Speaking with the individuals within the organization will help you to decide what initiative would me most useful to analyze within the organization. You will be able to select an initiative only after talking with the individuals in the organization and learning what major initiatives and changes are most significant within the company. Negotiate as a team around which initiative you wish to study. 5. Consider focal questions for the project to guide data collection You want to be able about how the organizational initiative is being implemented and determine what works well and what problems are therein conducting your analysis, use the concepts and refer to the readings from the course. Specifically refer to the organizational analysis guide for the questions you need to consider. With this in mind, you will be able to develop a data collection plan. New data may prompt new questions, themes and approaches.

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Consider at this stage how the team will collect data. Discuss who will be responsible for what. 6. Collect a variety of appropriate data There should be reasoned logic to your data collection plan and the research methods you employ. The methods of data collection are as follows: a) Interviews b) Questionnaires c) Direct observation d) Archival data e) Personal experience 7. Analyze the data with respect to the focal questions and the new issues that emerged The goal of your data collection is to better understand the initiative. The next step is to use all of the data your team has collected to piece together an analysis of the initiative. Consider whether the data offer a consistent or inconsistent story. For instance, if you are studying an organizations attempt to develop a more family-friendly environment, senior managers may tour the organization’s new policies offering flexible work arrangements and leave while employees who try to take advantage of these policies encounter resistance from middle managers. Consider whether you see different views across levels or types of roles in the organization when examining your data. In analyzing the data remember to think back to your discussions of team member’s different kinds of expertise and roles. 8. Evaluate the initiative and make the recommendations Given your analysis, evaluate the initiative and its degree of success. Again, refer to the guide for the questions you should answer in your evaluation .You should also develop a set of feasible recommendations about how-to increase the success of the initiative. Outline the step and actions that organization must take to enhance its success. Your recommendation should be as concrete as possible. Frequently we find that organizations are good at developing the content of a new initiative, but fail in the process of implementing it. Your insights and feedback may be extremely helpful if they A Management – Creating effective teams for high performance

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incorporate suggestions on implementation. Don’t shut down the discussions too early, as a discussion reflecting different views may eventually lead to better and more fleshed our recommendations. 9. Select a metaphor Your team should brainstorm a number of possible metaphors. Think about which initiative best describes this initiative. Don’t vote on the best metaphor and select one too soon. Hold a rich brainstorming in the session. 10. Deliver presentations in the class Teams are required to present their organizational analyses near the end of the term. For your presentation start with the basics, as your team spent an entire semester analyzing the organization. Consider and plan as a team who should do what to prepare for the presentation. If you can present nicely, it probably means you understand it well. 11. Prepare the final report, incorporating feedback from the presentation Your final written report will be an executive summary that briefly and succinctly outlines the major findings of your study. Don’t wait until the end to summarize your leanings. 12. Exit the organization and deliver whatever was agreed upon Rather than abruptly leaving the organizatio0n at the end of the term, give some thought as to how to terminate your relationship. Have you given the organization what you have promised? Have you let organization members react to analysis and answered their queries? Have you written thank you letters to the appropriate people? Take time to recognize your achievement, even if the process of working together did not proceed as smoothly as you might have envisioned at the onset of this project.

[8]

Teams and Quality management Teams a play a quality role in the quality management. The essences of QM are

process improvement and the employee involvement is the linchpin of process improvement. As one author puts it, ‘None of the various processes and techniques will catch on and applied except in team work. All such techniques and processes require high level of communication contact, response and adaption, and coordination and sequencing. A Management – Creating effective teams for high performance

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They require in short the environment that can be supplied by only the superior work teams. Teams provide the natural vehicle for employee to share the ideas and to implement the improvements. As stated by Gil Mosard, a QM specialist “When you measurements system tells you your process is out of control, you need team work for structured problem solving. Not everyone needs to know how to do all kinds of fancy control charts for performance tracking, but everybody does need to know where their process stands so that they can judge if it is improving.

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