MGT 300 chapter 7

task interdependence

a task-related influence on team effective is ____ ___________- the extent to which team members must share materials, information, or expertise to perform their jobs.

team diversity

a team has high skill diversity when its members possess unrelated skills and knowledgeable

-external competition -societal

along with being a resource, the environment generates drivers for change within teams. ______ _______ is an environmental condition that affects team members to work together. Another environmental driver would be changing ________expectations such as higher safety standards, which require teams to alter their norms of behavior. These external forces for changes not only motivate teams to redesign themselves, they are also the focus of the team's attention. For instance, teams develop better ways of working together so they provide better customer service.

organize

as a rule the highest level of task interdependence the greater the need to _____ people into teams rather than having them work alone

the main benefit of well structured tasks

easier to coordinate work among several people

teams

groups of two or more people who interact and influence each other, are mutually accountable for achieving common goals associated with organizational objectives, and perceive themselves as a social entity within an organization

What i the ideal size for a team?

-"two pizza team rule": a team should be small enough to be fed comfortably with two large pizzas. -teams should be large enough to provide the necessary abilities and perspectives to perform the work, yet small enough to maintain effective coordination and meaningful involvement of each member. Small teams are less than a dozen people

Teh most frequently mentioned behaviors of effective team members are depicted in the "Five C's Model"

-cooperating:effective team members are willing and able to work together rather than alone -coordinating: effective team members actively manage the team's work so that it is performed efficiently and harmoniously. This typically requires that effective team members know the work to the other team members -communicating: effective team members transmit information freely(rather than hoarding) efficiently ( using he best channel and language) and respectively (minimizing arousal of negative emotions). They also actively listen to coworkers -comfort: effective team members help coworkers maintain a positive and healthy psychological state. They show empathy, provide emotional support and build coworker feeling of confidence and self worth -conflict handling: conflict is inevitable in social settings, so effective team members have the skills and motivation to resolve disagreements among team members

Why are employees more motivated by working in teams then alone?

-employees have a drive to bonf and are motivated to fulfill the goals of the groups which they belong -they are accountable to fellow team members, who moniter performance more closely than a traditional supervisor. -performance improves when employees work near each other because coworkers become benchmarks of comparison

why do informal groups exist?

-human beings are social animals -social identity theory: individuals define themselves by the group they are affiliated with -employees will sometimes congregate to oppose organizational changes because this collective effort has more power than individuals who try to bring about change alone. This is called coalition

challenge of teams

-process losses:resources expended toward team development and maintenance rather than the task -brooks's law: says that adding more people to a late software project only makes it later -social loafing: occurs when people exert less effort in teams than working alone

how to reduce social loafing

-team members contributions are more noticeable, this can be achieved by reducing the size of the team and measuring team member's performance -when the task is interesting -when the team's objective is important -when the team members value tea membership and believe in working towards the team's pbjectives

Why are some teams effective while others fail?

-teams exist to serve dome organizational purpose, so effectiveness is partly measured by the achievement of that objective. -team's effectiveness relies on the satisfaction and well-being of its members -the teams ability to survive long enough to fulfill it's purpose

team members work together more effectively when...?

-they receive some team based rewards, when the organizations leadership is supportive of a team-oriented work structure, when the organizations structure assigns teams distinctive clusters of work activity, when information systems support team coordination, and when the physical layout of the team's work space encourages frequent communication.

three levels of task interdependence

in order: pooled interdependence: occurs when an employee or work unit shares a common resource, such as machinery, administrative support, or a budget, with other employees at work units interdependence is higher under sequential interdependence: in which the output of one's person becomes the direct input for another person or unit. reciprocal interdependence: in which work output is exchanged back and forth among individuals, produces the highest degree of interdependence

social networks

informal groups are the backbone of ______ _____, which are important sources of trust building, information sharing, power, influence, and employee well being in the workplace.

team permenance

refers to how long that type of team usually exists

team authority dispersion

refers to the degree that decision making responsibility is distributed throughout the team

teams environment

represents ll the conditions beyond the team's boundaries that influence its effectiveness. -the resource pool that either supports or inhibits the team's ability to function and achieve its objectives.

each type of team can be distinguished by three characteristics

team permanence, skills diversity, and authority dispersion.

specialized roles

teams are particularly well suited for complex work that can be divided into more ________ _______, and where the people ion those specialized roles are able to coordinate frequently with each other. -task complexity demands teas work better when the work is well structured rather than ambiguous