Organizational Behavior- CH 8 Groups & Teams

Other Determinants of Effective Teams

Rewards - team based rather than individual to foster collaboration Effective team size - depends on the purpose of the team but usually ten or fewer

Informal Groups

The members' overriding purpose of getting together is friendship or a common interest. Example: Socialclub at the university

Virtual teams

work together over time and distance via electronic media to combine effort and achieve common goals.

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

Formal Groups

•Assigned by organization to accomplish specific goals •Fulfill two basic functions 1.Organizational functions 2.Individual functions Assigned by organizations or their managers to accomplish specific goals. Example:Insurance claims department

Teams can be differentiated by

•Purpose, duration, and level of member commitment

Work Teams

•Well-defined purpose, typically permanent, and usually require full commitment from members

Self-managed teams

are groups of workers granted administrative oversight for their task domains. •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

two or more freely interacting people with shared norms and goals and a common identity.

Effective Visual Teams

-Adapting communications to preferred channels and convenient times. -Sharing the love by keeping distributed workers in the loop and connected. -Developing productive relationships with key people on the team who can make or break the team assignment. -Treating members of virtual teams like true partners and not hired help. -Being available by letting others know when you can be reached, where, and how. -Documenting the work when the project is handed off from one time zone to the next by having senders and receivers clearly specify what they have completed and what they need in each transfer. -Providing regular updates on your progress to the necessary team members. -Selecting the right people who thrive in interdependent work environments and are self-reliant and self-motivated. -Requiring effective communication skills.

The 3 Cs of Effective Teams

-Charters and Strategies -Composition -Capacity

Three Forms of Trust

-Contractual trust, which is trust of character. -Communication trust, which is trust of disclosure. -Competence trust, which is trust of capability.

Building Trust

-communication -support -respect -fairness -predictability -competence

Stage 4: Performing

Activity is focused on solving task problems. There is a climate of open communication, strong cooperation, and lots of helping behavior. Conflicts and job boundary disputes are handled constructively and efficiently.

Team Players

Are: •Committed •Collaborative •Competent They: •Contributes to the work •Constructively interacts with team members •Keep team on track •Expect quality work •Possess relevant knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) for team's responsibilities

Charters and Strategies

Both researchers and practitioners urge groups and teams to plan before tackling their tasks and recommend that teams develop team charters and team performance strategies. Team charters- describe how the team will operate, such as processes for sharing information and decision making (teamwork). Team performance- strategies deliberate plans that outline what exactly the team is to do, such as goal-setting and defining particular memberroles, tasks, and responsibilities.

Maintenance Roles- Keeping the group together

Encourager- Fosters group solidarity by accepting and praising various points of view. Harmonizer- meditates conflict reconciliation/humor Compromiser- Helps resolve conflict by meeting other halfway Gate Keeper- Encouragesgroup members to participate Standard setter- Evaluates the quality of the group process Commentator- records and comments on process/dyamics Follower- serves as a passive audience

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. Task Roles- Keeping the group on track Maintenance Roles- Keeping the group together

punctuated equilibrium

Groups establish periods of stable functioning until an event causes a dramatic change in the norms, roles, and/or objectives. The group the establishes and maintains new norms of functioning, returning to equilibrium.

Stage 3: Norming

Groups making it this far usually do so thanks to a respected member, other than the leader, challenging the group to resolve its power struggles so something can be accomplished. A feeling of team spirit is sometimes experienced during this stage because members believe they have found their proper roles. By-product of this stage is group cohesiveness: a "we feeling" binding group members together.

Group Characteristics- Question

How can knowledge of groups and their key characteristics make me more successful?

The Group Development Process- Question

How can understanding the group development process make me more effective at school and work?

Stage 1: Forming

In this ice-breaking stage, group members tend to be uncertain and anxious about such things as their roles, who is in charge, and the group's goals. Mutual trust is low, and there is a good deal of holding back to see who takes charge and how.

Stage 2: Storming

Individuals test the leader's policies and assumptions as they try to determine how they fit into the power structure. Subgroups take shape, and subtle forms of resistance occur. Many groups stall in Stage 2 because power and politics erupt into open rebellion.

The four basic types of task interdependence

Ranked by how much team member interaction and coordination are required, -pooled -sequential -reciprocal -comprehensive

Group Norms

Norms are reinforced for many purposes •Group or organization survival •Clarification of behavioral expectations •Avoidance of embarrassment •Clarification of central values or unique identity Creation of norms •Can emerge on their own •Can be purposefully created

Team Interdependence

One of the most important aspects of teams is interdependence, or the extent to which members are dependent on each other to accomplish their work.

Pros and Cons of Virtual Teams

PROS •Reduced real estate costs •Ability to leverage diverse KSAs over geography and time •Ability to share knowledge of diverse markets •Reduced commuting and travel expenses •Reduced work-life conflicts •Ability to attract and retain talent CONS •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 •Lack of collegiality

Characteristics of High-Performing Teams

Shared leadership- interdependency by empowering, freeing up, and serving others. Strong sense of accountability-in which all team members feel as responsible as the manager for the performance of the work unit. Aligned on purpose-about why the team exists and the function it serves. Open communication- based on a climate of open and honest communication. High trust-belief that member actions and intentions focus on what's best for the team and its members. Clear role and operational expectations-with defined individual member responsibilities and team processes. Early conflict resolution-as conflicts arise, rather than avoidance or delay. Collaboration-with cooperative effort to achieve team goals.

Free Riders

Social loafing leads to: •Lower quality 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- the ability to make needed changes in response to demands put on the team. Adaptive capacity is fostered by team members who are both willing and able to adapt to achieve the team's objectives.

Composition

Team composition- the collection of jobs, personalities, knowledge, skills, abilities, and experience of team members. It is important that team member characteristics fit the responsibilities of the team for the team to be effective. It is important to create teams with the composition to match the desired objectives.

Rebuilding Trust

To build and maintain trust, you should communicate candidly, provide support by being available and approachable, show respect by delegating meaningful responsibilities, be fair, be consistent and predictable, and enhance your competence. • Just as trust can be built, it can be eroded. The violation of trust, or even the perception of it, can diminish trust and lead to distrust. Trust is violated in many different ways, sometimes unknowingly and other times purposefully, but it is important to repair trust when it is damaged regardless of the cause.

Team Types

Types of teams differ with respect to the purpose of the team, the duration of the team's existence, and the level of member commitment. Work teams have a well-defined and common purpose, are more or lesspermanent, and require complete commitment of their members. Project teams are assembled to tackle a particular problem, task, or project, and their duration can vary from one meeting to many years. Members of project teams most often divide their time between the team and their primary jobs and responsibilities.

Teams and The Power of Common Purpose- Question

What are the characteristics of effective team players, team types, and interdependence, and how can these improve my performance in teams?

Keys to Team Effectiveness- Question

What are the keys to effective teams, and how can I apply this knowledge to give me an advantage?

Role

a set of expected behaviors for a particular position.

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 collectively accountable. Teams are a central component of the Organizing Framework and a cornerstone of work life. Practically all employees need to develop their skills related to building effective teams, and leaders need to be able to cultivate the level of trust necessary to foster constructive teamwork.

Group Role

is a set of expected behaviors for members of the group as a whole

Cross-functional teams

teams are created with members from different disciplines within an organization, such as finance, operations, and R&D •Occurs when specialists from different areas are put on the same team Cross-functional teams can be used for any purpose. They can be work or project teams, and they may have a short or indefinite duration. New-product development is an area in which many organizations utilize cross-functional teams.

Social Loafing

tendency for individual effort to decline as group size increases. Social loafers, also referred to as free riders, produce not only low-quality work, which causes others to work harder to compensate, but they also often distract or disrupt the work of other team members. To reduce loafing, managers should limit group size, assure equity of effort, and hold people accountable.

collaboration

the act of sharing information and coordinating efforts to achieve a collective outcome.

Norms

the attitudes, opinions, feelings, or actions shared by two or more people that guide behavior

Task interdependence:

the degree to which team members depend on each other for information, materials, and other resources to complete their job tasks. Task interdependence provides opportunities for interaction, sharing, and coordination, and the form of interdependence should match what the team requires to achieve its goals.

Fostering collaboration

1. Communicate expectation 2. Set Team goals 3. Encourage Creativity 4. Build work flow rhythm 5. Leverage team member strengths

Tuckman's Five-Stage Model of Group Development

1. Forming 2. Storming 3. Norming 4. Performing 5. Adjourning Groups and teams go through a development process. Some groups go through a specific series of stages. Other groups progress in a stable manner for a while, but then respond to an event by radically changing their approach. Two models of group development are Tuckman's five-stage theory of group development and punctuated equilibrium.

Task Roles-Keeping the group on track

Initiator- Suggest new goals/ideas Information seeker,giver- Clarifies key issues Opinion seeker,giver- Clarifies pertinent values Elaborator-Promotes greater understanding through examples or prorations of implications Coordinator- Pulls together ideas and suggestions Orienter- Keeps group headed toward its stated goal(s) Evaluator- Tests group's accomplishments with various criteria such as logic and practicality Energizer- Prods group to movie along of to accomplish more Procedural Technician- Preforms routine duties (handing out materials or rearranging seats) Recorder- Preforms a "group memory" by function by documenting discussion and outcomes.

How Are Teams Different from Groups?

It is a mistake to use the terms "group" and "team" interchangeably; a group becomes a team when the following criteria are met: - 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.

roles vs norms

Roles -At the individual level -Pertain to a specific job or situation Norms -Shared phenomena -Apply to group, team, or organizational level Norms help create order and allow groups to function more efficiently. Norms are typically unwritten and seldom discussed openly, but they have a powerful influence on group and organizational behavior. Another way to think about roles and norms is as peer pressure, which is simply the influence of the group on the individual, and the expectations of associated roles and norms are the means of this influence.

Stage 5: Adjourning

The work is done so it is time to move on to other things. Return to independence can be eased by rituals celebrating "the end" and "new beginnings" through parties, award ceremonies, graduations, etc. Leaders need to emphasize valuable lessons learned during the adjourning stage.

Outcome interdependence:

the degree to which the outcomes of task work are measured, rewarded, and communicated at the group level so as toemphasize collective outputs rather than individual contributions. Outcome interdependence is determined by the extent to which team members' objectives and rewards are aligned.

Trust

the willingness to be vulnerable to another person, and the belief that the other person will consider the impact of how his or her intentions and behaviors will affect you. •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. Trust is the interpersonal lubricant for relationships within and between all organizational levels—individual, group, and organizational—and drives many important team-level outcomes found in the Organizing Framework.