Team Effectiveness

Approaches to Team Building

- Single event/discussion (staff meeting) - Recreational activity (bowling, sporting event) - Low-key offsite (combine recreation and focused discussion) - Intensive offsite experiences (surveys, intense discussion) - Outdoor experience (high ropes course)

Groupthink

Occurs within a group of people in which the desire for harmony or conformity in the group results in an irrational or dysfunctional decision-making outcome.

Punctuated Equilibrium

-First meeting -Inertia (doing very little) -Increased level of activity at half-way point -More inertia until close to deadline -Frenzied activity to complete

Benefits of Groups

-For the individual: greater availability to resources, affiliation, security and protection, self-esteem and sense of identity, problem solving -For the organization: task accomplishment (that couldn't be done by one person), creativity and innovation, collaboration, decision making, socialization

Different Types of Teams

-Production Teams -Problem Solving Teams (task forces) -Management/Leadership Teams (Board of Directors) -Cross-Functional Teams (Teams created with members from different disciplines within an organization, such as finance, operations, and R&D) -Self-Managed Teams (Teams with collective autonomy and responsibility to plan, manage, and execute tasks interdependently to achieve their goals) -Virtual Teams (Teams that work across time, space, and organizational boundaries to achieve common goals)

Advantages of Group Decision Making

-more information -diverse perspectives -sharing resources -more chance for high quality decisions -increased acceptance of solution by members -higher perceived legitimacy and objectivity

Disadvantages of Group Decision Making

-more time -decisions may not be reached -potential for interpersonal conflict -potential pressure to conform -diffusion of responsibility -potential for groupthink

High Performance Teams

-relatively small (10-12 ppl) -members have specific skills -roles are allocated across team members -commitment to a common purpose and set of goals -reward systems reinforce team vs. individual behavior -high levels of trust within the team -shared pride and "esprit de corps" (pride among team)

Tuckman's Model of Group Development

1. Forming (ice-breaker phase, leader emerges) 2. Storming (testing stage for leader and deciding where they fit) 3. Norming (members find their proper roles, team spirit) 4. Performing (doing the work) 5. Adjourning (group work is done)

Team Charter

A document detailing members' mutual expectations about how the team will operate, allocate resources, resolve conflict, and meet its commitments.

Formal Group

A group assigned by an organization or its managers to accomplish specific goals.

Informal Group

A group whose overriding purpose in getting together is friendship or a common interest.

Team Building

A process designed to improve teamwork and increase group cohesiveness (can be used within and/or across groups).

Role

A set of expected behaviors for a particular position.

Group Role

A set of shared expected behaviors for members of the group as a whole.

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.

Brainstorming

A technique to increase group creativity and productivity by encouraging group members to express their ideas in a non-critical and "safe" environment. (Four Basic Rules: (1) Avoid criticizing others' ideas, (2) share ALL suggestions, (3) offer as many comments as possible, and (4) build on others' ideas to create your own).

Conformity

Adjusting our behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard (norms).

Team Performance Strategies

Deliberate plans that outline what exactly the team is to do, such as goal setting and defining particular member roles, tasks, and responsibilities.

Task-Oriented Roles

Enable the work group to define, clarify, and pursue a common purpose (ex: Initiator, Energizer, Information Seeker, Opinion Giver, Elaborator, Evaluator, Recorder).

Individual Roles

Roles that focus more on individuals' own interests and needs than on those of the group (ex: Blocker, Recognition Seeker, Dominator, Evader).

Maintenance Roles

Roles that foster supportive and constructive interpersonal relationships (ex: Harmonizer, Compromiser, Encourager, Gatekeeper, Commentator).

Norms

Shared attitudes, opinions, feelings, or behaviors that guide individual and group behavior.

Teams vs. Groups

Teams have shared leadership, collective accountability, defined mission and objectives, problem solving is emphasized, effectiveness is measured by the groups outputs.

Deindividualization

Loss of self-awareness in groups.

Team Adaptive Capacity (Adaptibility)

The ability to make needed changes in response to demands put on the team.

Collaboration

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

Team Composition

The collection of jobs, personalities, knowledge, skills, abilities, and experience levels of team members.

Group Cohesiveness

The degree to which group members are attracted to one another and share the group's goals.

Task Interdependence

The degree to which team members depend on each other for information, materials, and other resources to complete their job tasks.

Outcome Interdependence

The degree to which the outcomes of task work are measured, rewarded, and communicated at the group level so as to emphasize collective outputs rather than individual contributions.

Social Facilitation

Improved performance on simple or well-learned tasks in the presence of others or worse performance on harder tasks in the presence of others.

Social Loafing

The tendency for individual effort to decline as group size increases.

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.

Group

Two or more freely interacting individuals who share norms and goals and have a common identity.

Milgram Obedience Experiment

Under authority, individuals tend to follow orders even if it requires you to do something horrible.