Textbook Chapter 6: Groups and Teamwork
What are the three things management should ensure in order for virtual teams to be effective?
1) Management should ensure that trust is established amongst team members 2) Management should ensure that team progress is monitored closely (so sight of goals isn't lost and nobody disappears) 3) Management should ensure that the efforts and products of the virtual team are publicized throughout the organization (so that the team doesn't become invisible)
What are the four different types of teams?
1) Problem-solving (or process improvement) teams 2) Self-managed (or self-directed) teams 3) Cross-functional (or project) teams 4) Virtual teams
What negative (bad) rates are increased with teams in comparison to individuals?
Rates of absenteeism and turnover rates
What positive (good) rates are increased with teams in comparison to individuals?
Rates of job satisfaction
What is a key characteristic of a group with member commitment to a common purpose?
Reflexivity
What does research show in regards to how diversity affects affects team performance?
Research shows that diversity is either (1) esentially unrelated to team performance overall, and (2) race and gender diversity are negatively related to team performance
What are task-oriented roles?
Roles performed by group members to ensure that the tasks of the group are accomplished
What are maintenance roles?
Roles performed by group members to maintain good relations within the group
What is the extreme end of role conflict?
Situations in which two or more role expectations are mutually contradictory
What is the second stage of the five-stage model of group development?
Storming
What can role ambiguity lead to in teams?
Stress, confusion, and even bad feelings
Within any almost any group, what two sets of role relationships need to be considered?
Task-oriented roles and maintenance roles
What are mental models?
Team members' knowledge and beliefs about how the work gets done by the team
Which types of tasks do teams typically outperform individuals?
Teams typically outperform individuals when the tasks being done require multiple skills, judgement, and experience
What is the punctuated-equilibrium model meant for?
Temporary groups with deadlines
What trait of teams are groups lacking?
That groups do not necessarily engage in collective work that require independent effort
What can role underload lead someone to feel?
That he or she is not contributing to the group
What does a great deal of research in regards to role conflict demonstrate?
That role conflict between work and family roles is one of the most significant source of stress for most employees
What capabilities to teams have?
The capability to quickly assemble, deploy, refocus, and disband
What is an example of a multiteam system?
The coordination of response needed after a major car accident; there is the emergency medical services team, an emergency room team, and a recovery team. All of these teams are technically independent, but the success of one team depends on the success of the other because they all share the common/higher goal of saving lives
What is organizational demography?
The degree to which members of a work unit share a common demographic attribute, such as age, gender, race, educational level, or length of service in an organization, and the impact of this attribute on turnover
What is cohesiveness?
The degree to which team members are attracted to one another and are motivated to stay on the team
What stages of development are the most time-consuming for cross-functional teams?
The early stages of development
What is forming?
The first stage in group development which is characterized by much uncertainty (e.g. testing the waters)
What is performing?
The fourth stage in the group development process in which the group is fully functional and significant task progress is being made
What is the importance of a supervisory position in a self-managed team?
The importance of supervisory positions take on decreased importance and may even be eliminated in a self-managed team
What is the one major difference between the processes that groups and teams go through within the workplace?
The one major difference between teams and groups and their respective processes in the workplace are that teams within the workplace are often set up on a nonpermanent basis in order to accomplish projects
What is the second phase of the punctuated-equilibrium model?
The phase that is sparked through a "transition" halfway between the first meeting and the official deadline
What is group diversity?
The presence of a heterogeneous mix of individuals within a group
For some teams, what may the adjourning stage lead to?
The renewal of the team to get a new project started
What is storming?
The second stage in group development, characterized by intragroup conflict caused by the constraints that the team imposes on individuality and hierarchical development
What is adjourning?
The sixth, and final, stage in the group development process for temporary groups, where attention is directed towards wrapping up activities rather than task performance
What may happen if a team stays forever planted in the storming phase?
The team may have less ability to complete the task because of all the interpersonal problems
What is social loafing?
The tendency for individuals to expend less effort when working collectively than when working individually
What is norming?
The third stage in group development, characterized by close relationships, cohesiveness, and a strong sense of team identity
What does the transition set a revised direction for?
The transition in the punctuated-equilibrium model sets a revised direction for Phase 2
During mergers and acquisitions, what may employees be torn between?
Their identities as members of their original organization and of the new parent company
How may group members in a diverse group differ from one another?
They may differ through functional characteristics (e.g. jobs, positions, work experience) and demographic or cultural characteristics (age, race, sex, and citizenship)
How is turnover affected by the experiences that co-workers have?
Turnover is greater among those with dissimilar experiences
What is a group?
Two or more people with a common relationship
What types of information are virtual team members better at sharing?
Unique information (information held by individual members but not the entire group)
Are most norms unspoken or written up in organizational manuals?
Unspoken
What is an environmental benefit of virtual teams?
Virtual teams reduce our carbon footprint (e.g. less pollution as a result from less driving)
What is role underload?
WHen too little is expected of someone
What is role ambiguity?
When a person is unclear about the expectations of his or her role
When agreed to and expected by the group, what do norms act as a means of?
When agreed to and expected by the group, norms act as a means of influencing the behaviour of the group members, with a minimum of external controls
When is conflict beneficial and performance boosting in self-managed teams?
When team members feel confident that they can speak up without being embarrassed, rejected, or punished by other team members (e.g. when they feel psychologically safe)
When team members perceive that economic rewards (e.g. pay) are dependent on the input from their teammates, what happens to individual and team performance?
When team members perceive that economic rewards such as pay are dependent on the input from their teammates, individual and team performance is boosted
What is team efficacy?
When teams have confidence in themselves and believe they can be successful
What is managed level of conflict?
When the type of conflict that occurs within a group is managed to be the *proper* type of conflict (e.g. relationship conflict is bad, task conflicts (fights about what the group is to do) can lead to better team decisions)
What is role overload?
When too much is expected of a person
What is an example of role ambiguity?
When two group members think that the other one is responsible for preparing the first draft of the report, and at the next group meeting, neither brings a draft report, and both are annoyed that the other person did not do the work
Can groups be in two stages of the five-stage model at once?
Yes
Can groups regress to previous stages?
Yes
What is conformity?
Adjusting one's behaviour to align with the norms of the group
Why have organizations turned to teams?
As a better way to use employee talents
As organizations have restructured themselves to compete more effectively and efficiently, what have they turned to?
As organizations have restructured themselves to compete more effectively and efficiently, organizations have turned to teams
How does members' preference for teamwork affect team effectiveness?
Basically, high-performing teams consist of members who have a preference for teamwork
Why is turnover greater among those with dissimilar experiences?
Because communication is more difficult and conflict is more likely
Why are multiteam systems employed?
Because increases in team size are accompanied by higher coordination demands, creating a tipping point at which the addition of a team member does more harm than good
Why are the early stages of development the most time-consuming for cross-functional teams?
Because members are required to learn to work with diversity and complexity and because it takes time to build trust and teamwork with people from varying backgrounds with different experiences and perspectives
Why are group members susceptible to conforming to a groups norms?
Because of the importance of a desire to form accurate perceptions of reality based on group consensus, to develop meaningful social relationships with others, and to maintain a favourable self-concept
Why are teams more motivational than groups?
Because teams allow for greater task identity with team members working on tasks together
Why do teams take more effort than individual work?
Because teams have increased communication demands, conflicts to be managed, and meetings to be run
What are some of the reasons why virtual teams suffer?
Because there is less social rapport and less direct interactions amongst members, leaving some feeling isolated
Why is the understanding of role behaviour not as simple as we think it is?
Because we are required to play a number of diverse roles both on and off our jobs
Why is keeping teams small the key to improving group effectiveness?
Because when teams have excess members, cohesiveness and mutual accountability decline, while social loafing and lack of communication increase
How can virtual team leaders alleviate feelings of isolation in their team?
By communicating frequently and consistently with team members so none feel unfairly disfavoured
How do effective teams resolve conflict?
By explicitly discussing the issues
How do ineffective teams resolve conflict?
By focusing more on personalities and the way things were said
How is the performance of members on a self-managed team evaluated?
By the members of the team itself
How are members and leaders of fully self-managed teams selected?
By the team itself
How does accountability contribute to an effective team?
By undermining the tendency to social loaf (due to particular contributions not being able to be identified) by making individuals in the group individually and jointly accountable
What are some examples of groups?
Co-workers, people meeting for lunch, people standing at the bus stop
What is one of the main factors that helps teams build their efficacy?
Cohesiveness
What are cross-functional teams an effective means for?
Cross-functional teams are an effective means for allowing people from diverse areas within an organization (or even between organizations) to exchange information, develop new ideas, solve problems, and coordinate complex projects
What have organizations structured around multi-national operations been shown to lead to?
Dual identification with employees distinguishing between the local division and the international organization
How has team energy shifted in the performing stage?
Energy has shifted from getting to know and understand one another to performing the task at hand
What is the first stage of the five-stage model of group development?
Forming
What levels of information sharing are a result of low virtuality?
High levels of information sharing result from low virtuality
What happens to the performance of those with less sense of purpose and strategy?
High performance is not achieved and performance worsens over time
What happens to the performance of those with a strong sense of purpose and strategy?
High performance is rapidly achieved and they improve over time
What level of productivity does high cohesiveness and high performance norms translate into?
High productivity
What are role expectations?
How others believe a person should act in a given situation (e.g. how a manager should act at work)
What do members of problem-solving teams share during meetings?
Ideas or suggestions on how to improve work processes and methods
In what types of companies does gender and ethnic diversity have *more* negative effects?
In companies dominated by white or male employees
In what types of companies is diversity less of a problem?
In demographically balanced organizations
Where is diversity positively related to group performance?
In function, education, and expertise
In which type of team system is leadership important?
In multiteam systems
In order for teams to be effective, what must mental models between group mates be?
In order for teams to be effective, the mental models between group mates must be similar to one another
What's an example of a situation in which leaders are not always needed?
In self-managed teams
What is one way to think about the differences between the ways individuals act in a team/group?
In terms of the possible pressures that individual group members put on one another through roles, norms, and status expectations
When is the team's direction identified?
In the first meeting
In what sector does teamwork increase turnover?
In the manufacturing industry
In what sector does teamwork lower turnover?
In the service industry
What type of balance must be achieved for the individuals of a group/team in order for the group/team to function?
Individuals must achieve some balance between their own needs and the needs of the group
Similar to the first phase, the second phase of the punctuated-equilibrium model is a new phase of i___________?
Inertia
What type of information are virtual team members worse at sharing?
Information overall
Once the team's direction is set, what happens to it?
It becomes "written in stone"
What levels of information sharing are a result of high-virtuality?
Low levels of information sharing result from high virtuality
What level of productivity does high cohesiveness and low performance norms translate into?
Low productivity
What is the only thing a problem-solving team can do?
Make recommendations
What has management found in regards to teams' flexibility and their responsiveness to changing events?
Management has found that teams are more flexible and responsive to changing events than are traditional departments or other forms of permanent groupings
What level of productivity does low cohesiveness and high performance norms translate into?
Moderate productivity
What level of productivity does low performance norms and low cohesiveness translate into?
Moderate to low productivity
How do groups that begin with a positive social focus appear to achieve the performing stage?
More rapidly
Are cross-functional teams easy to manage?
No
Once a team's direction is written in stone, is it likely to be re-examined throughout the *first half* of the team's life?
No
Is there a requirement of distance for members in a virtual team?
No, members of a virtual team can either be rooms apart or continents a part
What previously discussed topic can push us towards conformity?
Norms
What are norms?
Norms are acceptable standards of behaviour within a group that are shared by the groups members
How do norms *typically* develop?
Norms typically develop gradually as group members learn what behaviours are necessary for the team to function effectively
Not all _________ are __________, but all _________ can be considered __________ ?
Not all groups are teams, but all teams can be considered groups
How do virtual teams communicate?
Online using communication links such as wide-area networks, videoconferencing, instant messaging, and email
What responsibilities of their former managers to self-managed (or self-directed) teams take on?
Planning and scheduling of work, assigning tasks to members, making operating decisions, taking on problems, and working with suppliers and customers
What are some examples of problem-solving teams?
Planning teams, task forces, or committees that are organized to get tasks done
What is executed in the second phase of the punctuated-equilibrium model?
Plans created during the transition period
What are problem-solving teams rarely given the authority to do?
Problem-solving teams are rarely given the authority to unilaterally implement any of their suggested actions
What can proper leadership improve in diverse teams?
Proper leadership can improve performance in diverse teams
What are the process factors/variables that make up team effectiveness?
- Member commitment to a common purpose (e.g. sharing a common goal) - Establishment of specific goals - Team efficacy - Shared mental models - A managed level of conflict - Accountability
What issues do some of the most common norms have to do with?
- Performance (e.g. how hard to work, the level of output, what kind of quality, levels of tardiness) - Appearance (e.g. dress codes, when to look busy, when to "goof off," how to show loyalty) - Social arrangement (e.g. with whom to eat lunch, whether to form friendships on and off the job) - Allocation of resources (e.g. pay, assignments, allocation of tooals and equipment)
What conditions must groups meet to become teams?
- Team members share *leadership* - Both individuals and the team as a whole share *accountability* for the work of the team - The team develops its own *purpose* or *mission* - The team works on *problem solving* continuously, rather than just at scheduled meeting times - The team's measure of *effectiveness* is the team's outcomes and goals, not individual outcomes and goals
When individuals come together to form groups and teams, what do they bring with them?
- Their personalities and all of their previous experiences - Their tendencies to act in different ways at different times, depending on the effects that different situations and different people have on them
What are the reactions that may occur in the adjourning stage?
- Upbeat (basking in the group's accomplishments) - Depressed (due to the loss of camaraderie and friendships gained during the work group's life)
What are the three questions that should be asked when determining if forming a team is necesary for the situation?
1) Can the work be done better by more than one person? 2) Does the work create a common purpose or set of goals for the people in the group that is more than the sum of individual goals? 3) Are the members of the group interdependent? (e.g. does the success of one depend on the success of the other)
What are the 12 characteristics of an effective team?
1) Clear purpose (mission has been accepted; there is an action plan) 2) Informality 3) Participation 4) Listening 5) Civilized disagreement (no signs of avoiding, smoothing over, or suppressing conflict) 6) Consensus decisions (through open discussion of ideas, avoidance of formal voting, or easy compromises) 7) Open communication (no hidden agendas and communication takes place outside of meetings) 8) Clear rules and work assignments 9) Shared leadership 10) External relations (e.g. key outside relationships are established, resources are mobilized, and credibility is built with important players in other parts of the organization) 11) Style diversity (the team has a broad spectrum of team-player types) 12) Self-assessment (the team stops to examine how well it's functioning and what may be interfering with its effectiveness)
What are the four roles of a team leader?
1) Creating a real team rather than a team in name only 2) Setting a clear and meaningful direction for the team's work 3) Making sure that the team structure will support working effectively 4) Ensuring that the team operates within a supportive organizational context 5) Providing expert coaching
What are the stages in the punctuated-equilibrium model?
1) First meeting sets the group's direction 2) The first phase of group activity is one of inertia 3) A transition takes place exactly when the group has used up half its allotted time 4) This transition (step 3) initiates major changes 5) The group's last meeting is characterized by markedly accelerated activity
What 4 types of maintenance roles?
1) Harmonizing (mediating conflict amongst others) 2) Compromising (admitting error at times of group conflict) 3) Gatekeeping (Making sure all members have a chance to express their ideas and feelings and preventing members from being interrupted) 4) Encouraging
What are the four criteria that determine if a norm is important or not?
1) If it facilitates the group's survival 2) If it increases the predictability of group members' behaviours 3) If it reduces embarrassing interpersonal problems for group members 4) If it allows members to express the central values of the group and clarify what is distinctive about the group's identity
What are 7 types of task-oriented roles?
1) Initiating (stating the goal or problem) 2) Seeking information and opinions (from the group) 3) Providing information and opinions 4) Clarifying 5) Elaborating 6) Summarizing 7) Consensus taking (testing whether or not the group is nearing a decision or needs to continue discussion)
What are the four contextual factors that contribute to team effectiveness?
- Adequate resources (including adequate staffing, administrative assistance, encouragement, and timely information) - Leadership and structure - Climate of trust - Performance evaluation and rewards
What is a multiteam system?
A collection of two or more interdependent teams that share a superordinate goal; a team of teams
In the norming stage, what has the team assimilated
A common set of expectations of what defines correct member behaviour
What is the transition that ends phase 1 characterized by?
A concentrated burst of changes, dropping of old patterns, and adoption of new perspectives
What is the teams last meeting characterized by?
A final burst of activity to finish its work
What emerges in the first phase of the punctuated-equilibrium model?
A framework of behavioural patterns and assumptions through which the team will approach its project emerges in the first phase of the punctuated-equilibrium model
What are cross-functional (or project) teams?
A group of employees at about the same hierarchical level, but from different work areas, who come together to accomplish a task
What is the model of team effectiveness?
A model that summarizes the context, the process, and the composition of a team that contribute to its overall effectiveness
What must be in place for self-managing teams to be advantageous?
A number of situational factors
What is the first phase of the punctuated-equilibrium model?
A period of inertia (e.g. it stands still and becomes locked into a fixed course of action)
What is a self-managed (or self-directed) team?
A self-managed (or self-directed) team is a group of 10 to 15 employees who take on many of the responsibilities of their former managers
What is a role?
A set of expected behaviour patterns of a person in a given position in a social unit
What is role conflict?
A situation in which an individual finds that complying with one role requirement may make it more difficult to comply with another
What is a team?
A small number of people who work closely together toward a common objective and are accountable to one another
What is reflexivity?
A team characteristic of reflecting on and adjusting the master plan when necessary
What are virtual teams?
A team that uses computer technology to tie together physically dispersed members in order to achieve a common goal
What is a problem-solving team?
A team typically made up 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
What are the 6 team composition variables that contribute to overall team effectiveness?
1) Skills 2) Personality 3) Roles 4) Diversity 5) Size 6) Members' preference for teamwork
What are the four ways in which norms can develop?
1) Through explicit statements made by a group member 2) Critical events in a group's history 3) Primacy 4) Carry-over behaviours from past situations
What are the two main causes for social loafing?
1) You may view your groupmates as inept and therefore pull back your own personal efforts 2) There is a dispersion of responsibility which means that the relationship between individual efforts and the group's efforts are clouded so there is a reduction in efficiency when individuals believe that their own contribution cannot be measured