Understanding Real Teams vs. Working Groups

• A team is a group of people working together, but not all groups are teams.

Real Teams vs. Working Groups

• Real teams have mutual accountability, a small size with complementary skills, and clear purpose, goals, and processes.
• Working groups have individual accountability and may lack complementary skills, shared goals and processes.
• Katzenbach & Smith's "The Wisdom of Teams" (1992) and Hackman’s "Leading Teams" (2002) are key sources on teams.

Hackman’s 4 Features of a Real Team

• Team Task: Requires clear, shared work.
• Clear Boundaries: Defined membership.
• Authority to Manage Work: The team controls its own processes.
• Stable Membership: Consistent group over time.

Modern Reality of Teams

• Organizations often label any group with a shared task a "team," even without real team characteristics.
• Modern teams are frequently cross-functional, virtual/remote, and/or cross-organizational, involving suppliers and customers.

Team Structures & Processes

• Internal processes involve how teams assign tasks, coordinate work, make decisions, build trust and identity, and manage conflict and communication.

Real-World Case Studies

Mann Gulch Disaster (Weick)

• Lessons: A sensemaking failure occurred due to a misunderstood fire behavior.
• There was a leadership breakdown because orders were questioned.
• Improvisation happened when the leader survived using an innovative escape fire, not followed by the team.
• There was a loss of team identity as chaos dissolved the team structure.
• Adaptability, communication, and trust are vital, especially in crises.

Flight Crews (Hackman)

• Lessons: Stable teams lead to better performance.
• Clear roles and shared mental models reduce errors.
• Autonomy improves decision-making.
• Training and feedback loops enhance performance.
• Team success depends on team dynamics (culture, structure, politics) – not just individual skills.

Three Organizational Lenses for Understanding Teams

Strategic Design Lens

• Focuses on the work itself and the way it’s structured.
• Grouping: Decides who works together.
• Linking: Decides how the team coordinates with others.
• Aligning: Decides how the team ensures its work fits the organization’s goals.

Political Lens

• Focuses on power, influence, interests, and conflict.
• Asks: Who has influence on the team and why?
• Asks: Are some voices marginalized?
• Asks: How does the team resolve differing interests?
• Asks: How does the team handle conflict and decision-making?

Cultural Lens

• Focuses on identity, values, norms, and habits.
• Focuses on how the team builds shared identity.
• Focuses on what norms guide behavior.
• Focuses on whether subcultures exist within the team (e.g., functional groups).

Organizational Context

• Teams are shaped by their organization's culture, politics, and processes.
• Culture dictates what is defined as "good teamwork" in the company
• Politics determines who has power inside and outside the team
• Processes include formal processes like budgeting, reporting, and performance evaluation.

Diverse Teams and Faultlines (Gratton, Voigt, Erickson)

• Diverse teams bring broader perspectives but can struggle with communication and cohesion.
• Differences in functional area, demographic, nationality etc. can create faultlines.
• Strategies to bridge faultlines include building shared goals and identity, creating open communication processes, and proactively managing subgroups within the team.

Teams as “X-Teams” (Ancona, Bresman, Kaeufer)

• Effective teams actively manage external relationships by scouting, ambassadorship, and sensegiving.
• Scouting involves finding needed information and expertise.
• Ambassadorship involves managing relationships with key stakeholders.
• Sensegiving involves actively shaping how others perceive the team’s work.

Case Example: Car Project (Big Three Auto Company)

• A cross-functional team started at the beginning of a car development project was successful, delivering the care ahead of shcedule and under budget.
• Despite this, the project was seen as a "failure" internally as the process clashed with the company's culture of avoiding conflict.

Marshmallow Challenge (Tom Wujec)

• The marshmallow challenge involves teams building structures from spaghetti and masking tape, topped with a marshmallow.
• Kindergarteners outperformed MBAs and CEOs because they collaborated openly, didn’t fight for status, and focused on trial-and-error learning.
• Team effectiveness is influenced by good internal processes, good external management, and understanding organizational context.
• Successful teams manage tasks, relationships, and external environments simultaneously.
• The 3 lenses (Strategic, Political, Cultural) gives a full understanding of team dynamics.