MGT 18 Class 2: Groups and Teams
How to Build Team Performance?
- Establish urgency, standards, and direction - Select members for skill and potential, not personality - Pay attention to first meetings and impressions - Set clear rules of behavior - Spend lots of time together - Set and seize upon immediate goals - Challenge group with fresh facts and info - Exploit power of positive feedback and reward (Katzenbach and Smith)
Why does team familiarity have a high effect in performance?
1) Coordinating activities. Know how to communicate and assemble and go over conflict and confusion. 2) Learning where knowledge lies. Tap into knowledge of individuals. 3) Responding to change. Provide common platform for group to meet new demands when change in project and require flexibility 4) Integrate knowledge in order to innovate. Share information and combine different knowledge for solutions 5) Capturing value. Each member is dependent on another because an individual can't replicate team capabilities. (Huckman)
Common Misperceptions of Team
1) TRUTH. Conflict helps generate solutions. NOT harmony. 2) TRUTH. Longer members stay together, better they do. NOT mix it up and get new members. 3) TRUTH. Smaller teams are easier to run and more efficient. NOT large groups. 4) TRUTH. Teams working remotely are disadvantaged since won't see teammates face to face. NOT virtual. 5) TRUTH. It doesn't just depend on the leader. It depends on how leader fosters collaboration within team, how they launch the team, and if they receive coaching. 6) TRUTH. It's very difficult to make a team and NOT magical. Need specific goals and tasks. (Hackman)
Common Fallacies of Teams
1) Team's don't always work as nicely as non-teams. The mood of the team affects their performance. 2) Smaller team is bigger than a big one because they can easily manage links and relationships. 3) Newness is a liability and it is better to work with people you've been with for a long time. (Hackman)
According to Hackman, how to build a team?
1) Teams must be real 2) Teams need a compelling direction 3) Teams need enabling structures 4) Teams need a supportive organization 5) Teams need expert coaching (Hackman)
Main Reasons Why Teams Don't Work
1) Teams underperform because problems with coordination and motivation hurt collaboration, along with competition with other teams. 2) Teams don't have set team boundaries and don't even know who is on their team. Select people because of political reasons. 3) Teams need a compelling direction and a leader who is willing to take personal responsibility in leading them there and facing resistance. (Hackman)
Katzenbach and Smith's definition of a team
A team is a small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, set of performance goals, and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable. (Katzenbach and Smith)
Patrick Lencioni's Five Dysfunctions of a Team
Absence of Trust, Fear of Conflict, Lack of Commitment, Avoidance of Accountability, Inattention to Results
Teams MUST
Be a reasonable size Hold themselves as a team mutually accountable Agree to a common purpose Have all the skill requirements needed Fit in classification of teams (Katzenbach and Smith)
Dysfunctional Roles
Blocker - Opposes most ideas and efforts. Blocks progress toward goal accomplishment and cohesion Isolate - Withdraws from participation, acts indifferent, remains uninvolved Dominator/Controller - Tries to dominate discussion. Monopolize conversation. Prevent others from contributing Recognition Seeker - Wants spotlight. Pulls group attention and energy to self Clown - Inappropriate humor detract productivity and process Cynic - Focus on negative. Group downer
According to Hackman, Importance for leaders making a team
Embrace own quirkiness and special skill. Each leader brings his own strengths and weaknesses. No right way to make a team. (Hackman)
Essential Maintenance Roles
Encourager - Promotes good spirit by praising and accepting all members Harmonizer - Maintains peace, acts as barometer for group member satisfaction Tension Reliever - Use appropriate humor to break tension and keep focus Gatekeeper - Herds group process to positive relationship building and help avoid danger areas among members Feelings Expresser - Acts as barometer for feelings and emotions within the group. Role Models appropriate expressions
Tuckman's 5 Stages of Group Development
Forming Storming Norming Performing Adjourning
Describe NORMING in Tuckman's Group Development theory
Group grows more comfortable and want to create routines. Trust and faith in group form. Clarity for roles. Norms established. Appreciation for individual skills and contributions. High cohesion building time with less energy on task
Characters of Teams that Run Things
Hard to decide whether or not they need a team or a group to run the organization. Whether the sum of individual bests will improve performance or not. There is greater risk at failing at the team approach since managers need to trust each other. Working groups have a leader that establishes things so they can do respective jobs individually. Need to succeed in identifying specific purpose or goal without confusing it with the org purpose. (Katzenbach and Smith)
Disadvantages of Large Teams
Hard to meet as a team and get to know everyone and then suddenly it gets tedious meeting and you don't get anything done and hard to manage (Katzenbach and Smith)
Working Group in Large Organizations
Individual accountability is most important. Come together to share information/perspectives. Focus is always individual goals. Don't take responsibility for one another. Nor do combined work (Katzenbach and Smith)
Essential Task Roles
Initiator - Offers ideas. Gets things started. Proposes solutions and new directions. Opinion Seeker - Seeks everyone's opinion. Integrator - Integrates discussion by linking ideas, showing relationships, summarizing Facilitator- Keeps group on track. Herding toward group accomplishment Energizer - Monitors energy level and keeps group energized Devil's Advocate - Avoids group think by challenging prevailing point of view Recorder - Keeps group's records
Describe PERFORMING in Tuckman's Group Development theory
Know members and have trust for independent activity and roles. Group identity, loyalty, high morale, equal focus on cohesion and task. High performance stage to dedicate resources.
Importance of Common Purpose in Teams
Management is responsible for declaring charter and rationale but the team must develop commitment with its own purpose and approach and agree both collectively and individually on an activity. Team goals lead to collective effort and actual real work rather than meeting time and again. (Katzenbach and Smith)
According to Katzenbach and Smith, Leaders Understanding Teams
Management must recognize team's unique potential to deliver results and deploy teams strategically when they are best tool and foster disciple of teams. Creates environment that enables team, individual, and organizational performance. (Katzenbach and Smith)
Virtual Teams
Need to a face-to-face launch meeting if want an online effective team. Otherwise it could work if follow same team procedures such as knowing who is in the team and the main goal. (Hackman)
What are the two dimensions of group development according to Tuckman?
Productivity through task accomplishment Cohesiveness through social development
Teams in Large Organizations
Require both individual and mutual accountability. Rely on group discussion/decision rather than share information. Work products through joint contribution. Sum of all individual team members. (Katzenbach and Smith)
Characteristics of Teams that Do or Make Things
Responsible for manufacturing. No set completion because activity is ongoing. Focus on critical delivery points for teamwork where cost and value of products is determined. Focus and pay attention on team and performance link. (Katzenbach and Smith)
Describe FORMING in Tuckman's Group Development theory
Sorting out who is who. Desire to be accepted. Pleasant, not a lot gets done. Slight anxiety about goals and relationships.
3 Distinct Types of Roles
Task - Address group productivity and goal achievement Maintenance - Relate to group cohesion, intra group behavior and maturity Dysfunctional - Disruptive roles detract from productivity and cohesion. impede development and maturity.
Describe ADJOURNING in Tuckman's Group Development theory
Task complete. Member disengagement. Shared sense of loss. Important to celebrate success.
Characteristics of Teams that Recommend Things
Task forces, project groups, safety groups to solve particular problems. Predetermined due dates. Issues include getting off to a fast and constructive start and dealing with getting implemented later. Must keep reviewing progress and time and attention (Katzenbach and Smith)
Katzenbach and Smith on Teamwork
Teams and good performance are inseparable. Teamwork represents set of values that encourage listening and responding constructively other's views, provide support, and recognize achievements. Help performance and promote individual and organization performance. (Katzenbach and Smith)
Three Classification of Teams
Teams that Recommend Things Teams that Make or Do Things Teams that Run Things (Katzenbach and Smith)
Skill Requirements Needed in Teams
Technical or Functional Expertise Problem-Solving and Decision-Making Skills Interpersonal Skills (Katzenbach and Smith)
Importance of Team Familiarity
There is a learning curve that teams do better if they become more familiar with each other. (Huckman)
Describe STORMING in Tuckman's Group Development theory
Unpleasant because groups face fear of conflict and move through it. High emotions and tension. Need to address issues on task, roles, and leadership
How does a team become complacent after being together for a long time?
Use a deviant to question their purpose and activities. Brings conflict but encourages new ideas and problem solving and innovation. Willing to say things no one else would. Personal cost. (Hackman)
Definition of collective work product
What two or more members work on together. Reflects joint contribution of team members. (Katzenbach and Smith)
Difference between a working group and a team's performance
Working groups performance is a function of what its members do as individuals Teams performance includes both individual results and "collective work products". (Katzenbach and Smith)
