Management Chapter 13: Groups and Teams

Large Teams: 10-16 Members for More Resources & Division of Labor

More resources division of labor, in which the work is divided into particular tasks that are assigned to particular workers. Less interaction, Lower morale, Social loafing

Three Kinds of Conflict

Personality, Intergroup, & Cross-Cultural Three of the principal ones are (1) between personalities, (2) between groups, and (3) between cultures.

The Results of Groupthink: Decision-Making Defects

Reduction in alternative ideas Limiting of other information

suggestions for managing virtual workers

Take Baby Steps & Manage by Results State Expectations Write It Down Communicate, but Be Considerate Be Aware of Cultural Differences Meet Regularly

3. Project Teams

creative problem solving cross-functional team, which is staffed with specialists pursuing a common objective.

Self-managed teams

defined as groups of workers who are given administrative oversight for their task domains.

1. Personality Conflicts

defined as interpersonal opposition based on personal dislike, disagreement, or differing styles. often begin with instances of workplace incivility, or employees' lack of regard for each other

Trust

defined as reciprocal faith in others' intentions and behaviors.Trust is based on credibility—how believable you are based on your past acts of integrity and follow-through on your promises.

Programmed conflict

designed to elicit different opinions without inciting people's personal feelings

Roles

socially determined expectations of how individuals should behave in a specific position

Two types of team roles are task and maintenance.50

task role, or task-oriented role, consists of behavior that concentrates on getting the team's tasks done. maintenance role, or relationship-oriented role, consists of behavior that fosters constructive relationships among team members.

3. Multicultural Conflicts

"Be sensitive to others' needs" and "Be cooperative" are tied for second place. 1. Be a good listener. 2. Be sensitive to others' needs. 3. Be cooperative, not overly competitive. 4. Advocate inclusive (participative) leadership. 5. Compromise rather than dominate. 6. Build rapport through conversations. 7. Be compassionate and understanding. 8. Avoid conflict by emphasizing harmony. 9. Nurture others (develop and mentor).

most essential considerations in building a group into an effective team

(1) cooperation, (2) trust, and (3) cohesiveness (4) performance goals and feedback, (5) motivation through mutual accountability, (6) size, (7) roles, (8) norms, and (9) awareness of groupthink.

HOW TO ENHANCE COHESIVENESS IN TEAMS: TEN FACTORS THAT LEAD TO SUCCESS

1. Keep the team small. 2. Encourage members' interaction and cooperation. 3. Emphasize members' common characteristics. 4. Strive for a favorable public image to enhance the team's prestige. 5. Give each member a stake in the team's success—a "piece of the action." 6. Point out threats from competitors to enhance team togetherness. 7. Ensure performance standards are clear, and regularly update members on team goals. 8. Frequently remind members they need each other to get the job done. 9. Direct each member's special talents toward the common goals. 10. Recognize each member's contributions.

What a Group Is

A Collection of People Performing as Individuals defined as two or more freely interacting individuals who share collective norms, share collective goals, and have a common identity.

What a Team Is

A Collection of People with Common Commitment defined as a small group of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, performance goals, and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable.

Work Teams for Four Purposes

Advice, Production, Project, & Action

Preventing Groupthink: Making Criticism & Other Perspectives Permissible

Allow criticism. Each member of a team or group should be told to be a critical evaluator, able to actively voice objections and doubts. Allow other perspectives. Outside experts should be used to introduce fresh perspectives.

Five Conflict-Handling Styles

Avoiding—"Maybe the Problem Will Go Away" Accommodating—"Let's Do It Your Way" Forcing—"You Have to Do It My Way" Compromising—"Let's Split the Difference" Collaborating—"Let's Cooperate to Reach a Win-Win Solution That Benefits Both of Us"

Small Teams: 2-9 Members for Better Interaction & Morale

Better interaction Better morale. Fewer resources Possibly less innovation Unfair work distribution

HOW TO BUILD & MAINTAIN TRUST WITH TEAM MEMBERS

Communicate truthfully. Offer support Show respect Show fairness Show predictability

Since conflict is a part of life, what should a manager know about it in order to deal successfully with it?

Conflict, an enduring feature of the workplace, is a process in which one party perceives that its interests are being opposed or negatively affected by another party. Conflict can be dysfunctional (bad) or functional (good). Indeed, either too much or too little conflict can affect performance. This section identifies three sources of conflict in organizations and also describes four ways to stimulate constructive conflict.

2. Intergroup Conflicts

Inconsistent goals or reward systems—when people pursue different objectives. Ambiguous jurisdictions—when job boundaries are unclear. Status differences—when there are inconsistencies in power and influence

WHY TEAMWORK IS IMPORTANT

Increased productivity Increased speed Reduced costs Improved quality Reduced destructive internal competition Improved workplace cohesiveness

Symptoms of Groupthink

Invulnerability, inherent morality, and stereotyping of opposition. Rationalization and self-censorship. Illusion of unanimity, peer pressure, and mindguards. Groupthink versus "the wisdom of crowds."

How is one collection of workers different from any other?

Teamwork promises to be a cornerstone of future management. A team is different from a group. A group typically is management-directed, a team self-directed. Groups may be formal, created to do productive work, or informal, created for friendship. Work teams, which engage in collective work requiring coordinated effort, may be organized according to four basic purposes: advice, production, project, and action. Two types of teams are continuous improvement and self-managed teams.

How can I as a manager build an effective team?

To build a group into a high-performance team, managers must consider matters of cooperation, trust, and cohesiveness, followed by performance goals and feedback, motivation through mutual accountability, team size, roles, norms, and awareness of groupthink.

Why Norms Are Enforced: Four Reasons

To help the group survive—"Don't do anything that will hurt us." To clarify role expectations—"You have to go along to get along." To help individuals avoid embarrassing situations—"Don't call attention to yourself." To emphasize the group's important values and identity—"We're known for being special."

Groupthink

a cohesive group's blind unwillingness to consider alternatives.

4. Action Teams

accomplish tasks that require people with (1) specialized training and (2) a high degree of coordination

conflict

as a manager you will encounter more subtle, nonviolent forms: opposition, criticism, arguments.

Dysfunctional conflict

bad for organizations. conflict that hinders the organization's performance or threatens its interests. sometimes called negative conflict.

Too much conflict—warfare

can erode organizational performance because of political infighting, dissatisfaction, lack of teamwork, and turnover.

Informal groups

created for friendship group formed by people seeking friendship and has no officially appointed leader, although a leader may emerge from the membership.

1. Advice Teams

created to broaden the information base for managerial decisions.

Formal groups

created to do productive work a group established to do something productive for the organization and is headed by a leader.

Norms

general guidelines or rules of behavior that most group or team members follow.

Functional conflict

good for organizations benefits the main purposes of the organization and serves its interests. also called constructive conflict or cooperative conflict—is considered advantageous.

conflict

is a process in which one party perceives that its interests are being opposed or negatively affected by another party.

The dialectic method

process of having two people or groups play opposing roles in a debate in order to better understand a proposal.

4. Performance Goals & Feedback

purpose needs to be defined in terms of specific, measurable performance goals with continual feedback to tell team members how well they are doing.

2. Production Teams

responsible for performing day-to-day operations.

Too little conflict—indolence

tend to be plagued by apathy, lack of creativity, indecision, and missed deadlines. The result is that organizational performance suffers.

Devil's advocacy

the process of assigning someone to play the role of critic to voice possible objections to a proposal and thereby generate critical thinking and reality testing

Cohesiveness

the tendency of a group or team to stick together.

Social loafing

the tendency of people to exert less effort when working in groups than when working alone.

Cooperation

their efforts are systematically integrated to achieve a collective objective

Personality clashes

when individual differences can't be resolved.

Time pressure

when people believe there aren't enough hours to do the work.

Communication failures

when people misperceive and misunderstand.

Competition for scarce resources

when two parties need the same things.

continuous improvement teams

which consist of small groups of volunteers or workers and supervisors who meet intermittently to discuss workplace- and quality-related problems.