MGMT 313 Chapter 8
Groups
Two or more freely interacting individuals who share norms and goals and have a common identity
Work Teams
Well-defined purpose, typically permanent, and usually require full commitment from members
How are Teams different from Groups?
A group becomes a team when leadership becomes a shared activity, accountability shifts from strictly individual to both individual and collective, the group develops its own purpose or mission, problem solving becomes a way of life, not a part-time activity, effectiveness is measured by the group's collective outcomes and products
What is trust?
A reciprocal belief that another person will consider how their intentions and behaviors will affect you. When we feel or observe others trust us, we are more likely to trust them
What is a Team?
A small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, performance goals, and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable
Group developing stage 4: Performing
Activity focused on problem solving, work done without hampering others, climate of open communication and cooperation, great deal of helping behavior
Virtual Team management: Best Practices
Adapt comm., share love, develop productive relationships with key people on team, partner, availability, pace, updates, select right people, comm. skills are essential
Formal Groups
Are assigned by organization to fulfill organizational and individual functions
Project Teams
Assembled to address specific problem, task, or project, usually exist for duration to compete purpose, members usually divide time between primary job and various project teams
Creation of norms
Can emerge on their own, can be purposefully created
The 3 C's of Effective Teams
Charters and Strategies, Team Composition, Capacity
Team Players
Committed, collaborative and competent. They contribute to work, constructively interact with team members, keep team on track, expect quality work, possess relevant knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) for team's responsibilities
Michael's manager told him that if he finished his project before Friday he would not have to work on the weekend. Michael finished the project on time and was still required to work on the weekend. Which type of trust did Michael's manager betray?
Contractual trust
Trust comes in three forms:
Contractual trust, communication trust, competence trust
Kierra is trying to quickly establish a team to find the root cause of a quality issue involving defective air bags in her company, which also involves suppliers and dealers. Which of these should she NOT do?
Decide against using a cross-functional team because she assumes the problem can be solved by one department
Effective Team Size
Depends on the purpose of the team but usually ten or fewer
Team Composition
Describes the collection of jobs, personalities, knowledge, skills, abilities, and experience of team members
Team Types
Differentiated by purpose, duration and level of member commitment
Cons of Virtual Teams
Difficult to establish cohesion, work satisfaction, trust, cooperative behavior, and commitment to team goals, cultural differences, differences in local laws and customs, lack of nonverbal cues and collegiality
Franco is part of a group which must resolve a quality control issue at his company. Franco is worried about what the group expects from him, and is not sure who is in charge. What stage of group development is the group likely in at this time?
Forming
Group developing stage 3: Norming
Group more cohesive, less conflict with increasing team member interactions and interdependence of work tasks
Purposes of reinforcing norms
Group or organizational survival, clarification of behavioral expectations, avoiding embarrassment and clarification of central values or unique identity
Group Roles and Norms
Group roles are expected behaviors for members of the group as a whole. While people often play multiple roles, two types of roles are especially noteworthy
Self-managed Teams
Groups of workers who are given administrative oversight for their task domains such as planning, scheduling, monitoring, and staffing, involves a revolutionary change in management philosophy, structure, staffing and training practices as well as reward systems
Group developing stage 1: Forming
Ice breaking stage, group members uncertain about their role, mutual trust is low, good deal of holding back to see who is in charge, conflict is beneficial and leads to increased creativity
Task Roles
Keep the group on track. Are composed of initiator, orient-er, information seaker/giver, evaluator, opinion seeker/giver, energizer, elaborator, procedural technician, coordinator and recorder
Maintenance Roles
Keep the group together. Are composed of encourager, standard setter, harmonizer, commentator, compromiser, follower and gate keeper
Cross-functional Teams
Occur when specialists from different areas are put on the same team
Characteristics of High-Performing Teams
Participative leadership, shared responsibility, aligned on purpose, high communication, future focused, focused on task, creative talents, rapid response
Roles
Pertain to a specific job or situation at the individual level
Informal Groups
Purpose of meeting is friendship or common interest
Pros of Virtual Teams
Reduce real estate costs, leverage diverse KSAs over geography and time, ability to share knowledge of diverse markets, reduce travel expenses and work-life conflicts, can attract and retain talent
Free Riders
Social loafing leads to: lower quality of work, others being forced to work harder, disruption for the team. Counter social loafing by limiting group size, assuring equity of effort, holding people accountable
Capacity
Team adaptive capacity crucial to meet changing demands and to effectively transition members in and out
Rewards
Team based rather than individual to foster collaboration
Charters and Strategies
Team charters: how the team will operate. Team performance strategies: deliberate plans that outline what exactly the team is to do
Norms
The attitudes, opinions, feelings, or actions shared by two or more people that guide behavior. Apply to group, team or organization. Shared phenomena
Group developing stage 2: Storming
Time of testing, testing leader's policies and assumptions and how they fit into the power structure, subgroups take shape, subtle forms of rebellion occur
Group developing stage 5: Adjourning
Work completed, group moves on to other activities, opportunity for leaders to emphasize valuable lessons learned
Virtual teams
Work together over time and distance via electronic media to combine effort and achieve common goals