B0H4MCHAPTER 15

15.1 Teams in OrganizationTeam

◦ A small group of people with complementary skills, who work together to achieve a shared purpose and hold themselves mutually accountable for performance results.

Teamwork ◦ The process of people actively

working together to accomplish common goals

Team and teamwork roles for managers:◦ Supervisor — serving as the appointed head of a

formal work unit.

◦ Network facilitator — serving as a peer leader an network hub for a special task force.

◦ Participant — serving as a helpful contributing member of a project team.

◦ External coach — serving as the external convener or sponsor of a problem-solving team staffed by others.

Synergy◦ The creation of a whole that is greater

than the sum of its parts.

◦ A team uses its membership resources to the fullest and thereby achieves through collective action far more than could be achieved otherwise.

Usefulness of teams:◦More resources for problem solving.◦Improved creativity and innovation.◦Improved quality of decision

making.◦Greater commitments to tasks.◦Higher motivation through collective

action.◦Better control and work discipline.◦More individual need satisfaction.

Common problems in teams:◦ Personality conflicts.◦ Individual differences in work styles.◦ Ambiguous agendas.◦ Ill-defined problems.◦ Poor readiness to work.

Lack of motivation. Conflicts with other deadlines or priorities. Lack of team organization or progress. Meetings that lack purpose or structure. Members coming to meetings unprepared.

Formal groups Teams that are officially recognized and

supported by the organization for specific purposes.

Specifically created to perform essential tasks.

Managers and leaders serve “linking pin” roles.

Informal groups Not recognized on organization charts.

Not officially created for an organizational purpose.

Emerge as part of the informal structure and from natural or spontaneous relationships among people.

Include interest, friendship, and support groups.

Can have positive performance impact.

Can help satisfy social needs.

15.2 Trends in the use of teamsCommittees, project teams, and task forces

Cross-functional teams Virtual teams Self-managing work teams Team building

15.3 how teams work

Effective teams

◦achieve and maintain high levels of

task performance.

◦achieve and maintain high levels of

member satisfaction.

◦retain viability for the future.

Resource input factors that influence group process in the pursuit of team effectiveness:

◦Nature of the task.

◦Organizational setting.

◦Team size.

◦Membership characteristics.

Team effectiveness may be summarized as …

Management 2e - Chapter 15 11

Team Effectiveness =

Quality of Inputs + (Process Gains - Process Losses)

Group processTeam diversityStages of team development:

◦ Forming — initial orientation and interpersonal testing.

◦ Storming — conflict over tasks and ways of working as a team.

◦ Norming — consolidation around task and operating agendas.

◦ Performing — teamwork and focused task performance.

◦ Adjourning — task accomplishment and eventual disengagement.

Norms

◦Behaviour expected of team members.

◦Rules or standards that guide behaviour.

◦May result in team sanctions.Performance norms

◦Define the level of work effort and performance that team members are expected to contribute to the team task.

Cohesiveness◦The degree to which members are

attracted to and motivated to remain part of a team.

◦Can be beneficial if paired with positive performance norms.

Effects of team cohesiveness and norms:◦ Positive norms + high cohesiveness high

performance and strong commitments to positive norms.

◦ Positive norms + low cohesiveness moderate performance and weak commitments to positive norms.

◦ Negative norms + low cohesiveness low to moderate performance and weak commitments to negative norms.

◦ Negative norms + high cohesiveness low performance and strong commitments to negative norms.

Task activities◦Actions by team members that

contribute directly to team’s performance purpose.

◦Include: Initiating Information sharing Summarizing Elaborating Opinion giving

Maintenance activities◦Support emotional life of a team as

an ongoing social system.◦Include:

Gatekeeping Encouraging Following Harmonizing Reducing tension

Distributed leadership roles …◦ Make every member responsible for recognizing

when task and/or maintenance activities are needed and taking actions to provide them.

◦ Leading through task activities focuses on solving problems and achieving performance results.

◦ Leading through maintenance activities helps strengthen and perpetuate the team as a social system.

Dysfunctional activities that detract from team effectiveness:◦ Being aggressive◦ Blocking◦ Self-confessing◦ Seeking sympathy◦ Competing◦ Withdrawal◦ Horsing around◦ Seeking recognition

Communication networks◦ Decentralized

All members communicate directly with one another.

◦ Centralized Activities are coordinated and results

pooled by central point of control.◦ Restricted

Polarized subgroups contest one another. Subgroups may engage in antagonistic

relations.

15.4 Decision making in teams Methods of team decision making:

◦ Lack of response

◦ Authority rule

◦ Minority rule

◦ Majority rule

◦ Consensus

◦ Unanimity

Symptoms of groupthink:◦ Illusions of group invulnerability.◦ Rationalizing unpleasant and disconfirming data.◦ Belief in inherent group morality.◦ Negative stereotypes of competitors.◦ Pressure to conform.◦ Self-censorship of members.◦ Illusions of unanimity.◦ Mind guarding.

Methods for dealing with groupthink:◦ Have each group member be a critical evaluator.◦ Don’t appear to favour one course of action.◦ Create subteams to work on the same problems.◦ Have team members discuss issues with

outsiders.◦ Have outside experts observe and provide

feedback on team activities.◦ Assign a member to the devil’s advocate role.◦ Hold a second-chance meeting.

Creativity in team decision-makingBrainstorming

Engages group members in an open, spontaneous discussion of problems and ideas.

Nominal group techniqueStructures interaction among team

members discussing problems and ideas.

15.5 ConflictConflict.

◦ A disagreement between people on: Substantive issues regarding goals and

tasks, allocation of resources, distribution of rewards, policies and procedures, and job assignments.

Emotional issues arising from feelings of anger, distrust, dislike, fear, and resentment, as well as personality clashes.

◦Conflict that is well managed can help promote creativity and high performance.

Functional conflict.◦Moderately intense conflict.◦Constructive and stimulates people

toward greater work efforts, cooperation, and creativity.

Dysfunctional conflict.◦Low-intensity and very high-

intensity conflict.◦Destructive and hurts task

performance.

Causes of conflict:◦Role ambiguities.

◦Resource scarcities.

◦Task interdependencies.

◦Competing objectives.

◦Structural differentiation.

◦Unresolved prior conflicts.RESOLVING CONFLICTS

People’s conflict management styles reflect different combinations of cooperative and assertive behaviour.◦Cooperativeness is the desire to

satisfy the other party’s needs and concerns.

◦Assertiveness is the desire to satisfy one’s own needs and concerns.

Conflict management styles:

◦ Avoidance (withdrawal). Uncooperative and unassertive.

◦ Accommodation (smoothing). Cooperative and assertive.

◦ Competition (authoritative command). Uncooperative and assertive.

◦ Compromise. Moderately cooperative and assertive.

◦ Collaboration (problem solving). Cooperative and assertive.

◦ Lose-lose conflict. Management by avoidance or accommodation.

◦ Win-lose conflict. Management by competition and compromise.

◦ Win-win conflict. Management by collaboration.

15.6 NEGOTIATION

Negotiation

the process of making joint decisions when the

parties involved have different preferences.• All negotiation situations are susceptible to conflict and

require exceptional communication and interpersonal

skills.Negotiation goals and approaches:

◦Substance goals.◦Relationship goals.◦Effective negotiations◦Distributive negotiation◦Principled (or integrative) negotiation

Gaining integrative agreements:◦ Separate the people from the problem.◦ Focus on interests, not on positions.◦ Generate many alternatives before

deciding what to do.◦ Insist that results are based on some

objective standard.

Gaining integrative agreements:◦ Separate the people from the problem.◦ Focus on interests, not on positions.◦ Generate many alternatives before

deciding what to do.◦ Insist that results are based on some

objective standard.

Approaches to avoiding negotiation pitfalls:◦Mediation

Involves a neutral third party who tries to improve communication between negotiating parties and keep them focused on relevant issues.

◦Arbitration Involves a neutral third party who acts

as a judge and issues a binding decision.

Ethical issues in negotiation◦ High ethical standards should be

maintained.

◦ Profit motive and the competitive desire to win sometimes lead to unethical behaviour.

◦ Unethical negotiating behaviour can lead to short-term gains but long-term losses.