Managing Work Groups and Teams

• Managing work groups and work teams are essential to organizational success.
• Chih-Ying is the author.

Learning Objectives

• Defining what constitutes a group.
• Understanding the stages of group development.
• Describing the key concepts related to group behavior.
• Explaining how groups can evolve into effective teams.
• Addressing the contemporary issues in managing teams.

What is a Group?

• A group is defined as two or more individuals interacting and interdependent.
• They come together to achieve specific shared goals.
• Groups can be formal, with structures defined by the organization, or informal, arising from social interactions.

Formal Work Groups

• Command groups are determined by the organizational chart and composed of individuals who report directly to a given manager.
• Task groups are composed of individuals brought together to complete a specific job task; their existence is temporary, disbanding once the task is completed.
• Cross-functional teams bring together the knowledge and skills of individuals from various departments or work areas.
• Self-managed teams are essentially independent and take on traditional managerial responsibilities such as hiring, planning, scheduling, and evaluating performance, in addition to their own tasks.

Stages of Group Development

• Forming is the initial stage where members come together.
• Storming involves conflict and the assertion of individual opinions.
• Norming is when the group establishes norms and expectations.
• Performing is when the group works cohesively towards its goals.
• Adjourning occurs when the group disbands after completing its task.

Group Effectiveness

• A group becomes more effective as it progresses through the forming, storming, norming and performing stages.
• This progression towards effectiveness is not always guaranteed.

Group Behavior

• Roles: Behavior patterns expected of someone who occupies a given position in a social unit.
• Norms: Acceptable standards shared by a group's members.
• Conformity: Adjusting behavior to align with a group's norms.
• Status system: A prestige grading, position, or rank within a group and an important factor in understanding behavior.
• Group size affects a group's behavior, but the effect depends on the status.
• Group cohesiveness: The degree to which members are attracted to one another and share the group's goals.

Drawbacks of Large Groups

• Social loafing describes the tendency for individuals to expend less effort when working collectively than when working individually.
• When using large work groups, managers should find a way to identify individual efforts.

Groups vs Teams

• Work teams are groups whose members work intensely on specific, common goals using positive synergy, individual and mutual accountability, and complementary skills.
• Work teams have:
  • Collective performance goals
  • Positive synergy
  • Individual and mutual accountability
  • Complementary skills
• Work groups have:
  • Information sharing goals
  • Neutral or sometimes negative synergy
  • Individual accountability
  • Random and varied skills

Types of Work Teams

• Problem-solving teams come from the same department or functional area involved in efforts to improve work activities or solve specific problems.
• Self-managed work teams operate without a manager and are responsible for a complete work process or segment.
• Cross-functional teams are made up of individuals from various departments that cross traditional departmental lines.
• Virtual teams use technology to link physically dispersed members to achieve a common goal.

Effective Teams require:

• Adequate resources
• Leadership and structure
• A climate of trust
• Performance evaluation and reward systems
• Members with the appropriate abilities and personalities
• Proper allocation of roles
• Diversity
• Manageable size
• Member flexibility and preferences

Team Effectiveness requires:

• Autonomy
• Skill variety
• Task identity
• Task significance
• Common purpose
• Specific goals
• Team efficacy
• Manageable conflict levels
• Minimal social loafing

Team Member Roles

• Creator-innovator: Initiates creative ideas.
• Explorer-promoter: Champions ideas after they have been initiated.
• Assessor-developer: Offers insightful analysis of options.
• Thruster-organizer: Provides structure, direction and follow-through.
• Concluder-producer: Ensures tasks are completed.
• Controller-inspector: Examines details and enforces rules.
• Upholder-maintainer: Fights external battles.
• Reporter-adviser: Encourages the search for more information.
• Linker: Coordinates and integrates.

Shaping Team Behavior

• Member selection is key.
• Teamwork training is essential.

Rewards

• External rewards: Promotions, pay raises, and other forms of recognition.
• Inherent rewards: Camaraderie, personal development, and helping teammates.

Contemporary Issues

• Global teams: Diversity in ideas, limited groupthink, increased attention on understanding others' ideas, perspectives, etc.
• Global teams face challenges in team structure like conformity, status, social loafing, and cohesiveness.
• Global teams face challenges in team processes like communication issues, managing conflict, and virtual teams.

When Teams are Not the Answer: Consider these three tests:

• Can the work be done better by more than one person?
• Does the work create a common purpose that's more than the sum of individual goals?
• Is there interdependence between tasks?