BMGT340 Organizational Behavior Chapter 11 PDF

School of Business Department of Management & International Management BMGT340 – Organizational Behavior Chapter 11 From Groups to Teams  Fall 2024-2025 BMGT340 - CHAPTER 11...

School of Business Department of Management & International Management BMGT340 – Organizational Behavior Chapter 11 From Groups to Teams  Fall 2024-2025 BMGT340 - CHAPTER 11 Learning Objectives Objective 11.1: Why have teams become so popular? Objective 11.2: Differences between groups and teams Objective 11.3: Types of teams Objective 11.4: Creating effective teams  Objective 11.5: Turning individuals into team players Objective 11.6: Beware! Teams aren’t always the answer 2 BMGT340 - CHAPTER 11 Objective11.1 Why have Teams Become So Popular? ❖ Teams can sometimes achieve feats an individual could never accomplish. ❖ Teams are more flexible and responsive to changing events. ❖ Teams can quickly assemble, deploy, refocus, and disband.  ❖ Teams can democratize organizations and increase employee involvement. ❖ Teams introduce collaborative mind-set among individuals. 3 BMGT340 - CHAPTER 11 Objective11.2 Differences between Groups and Teams Group: Two or more individuals, interacting and interdependent, who work together to achieve particular objectives. Work Group: A group that interacts primarily to share information and make decisions to help each group member perform within his or her area of responsibility. Work Team: A group whose individual efforts result in performance that is greater than the sum of the individual inputs. 4 BMGT340 - CHAPTER 11 Objective11.2 Differences between Groups and Teams (cont’d)  5 BMGT340 - CHAPTER 11 Objective11.3 Types of Teams Teams can make products, provide services, negotiate deals, coordinate projects, offer advice, and make decisions. Five Types of Teams: ❖ Problem-Solving Teams ❖ Self-Managed Work Teams ❖ Cross-Functional Teams ❖ Virtual Teams ❖ Multiteam Systems (Utilize a “team of teams”) 6 BMGT340 - CHAPTER 11 Objective11.3  Types of Teams (cont’d) 1. Problem-Solving Teams: Groups of 5 to 12 employees from the same department who meet for a few hours each week to discuss ways of improving quality, efficiency, and the work environment. Example: Quality-control teams 2. Self-Managed Work Teams: Groups of 10 to 15 people who take on responsibilities of their former supervisors. i. Some research indicates that self-managed teams may be more or less effective based on the degree to which team promoting behaviors are rewarded. ii. Some research indicated that self-managed teams are not effective when there is conflict. iii. Although individuals on teams report higher levels of job satisfaction than other individuals, studies indicate they sometimes also have higher absenteeism and turnover rates. Example: Facebook - Google 7 BMGT340 - CHAPTER 11  Objective11.3 Types of Teams (cont’d) 3. Cross-Functional Teams: Employees from about the same hierarchical level, but from different work areas, who come together to accomplish a task. Example: Starbucks created a team of individuals from production, global PR, global communications, and U.S. marketing to develop the Via brand of instant coffee. 4. Virtual Teams: Teams that use computer technology to tie together physically dispersed members in order to achieve a common goal. For virtual teams to be effective: i. Trust ii. Monitor Progress iii. Publicize Efforts 8 BMGT340 - CHAPTER 11  Objective11.3 Types of Teams (cont’d) 5. Multiteam Systems: A collection of two or more interdependent teams that share a superordinate goal; a team of teams. Example: Imagine the coordination of response needed after a major car accident. There is the emergency medical services team, which responds first and transports the injured people to the hospital. An emergency room team then takes over, providing medical care, followed by a recovery team. Although the emergency services team, emergency room team, and recovery team are technically independent, their activities are interdependent, and the success of one depends on the success of the others. Why? Because they all share the higher goal of saving lives. 9 BMGT340 - CHAPTER 11 Objective11.4 Creating Effective Teams 10 BMGT340 - CHAPTER 11  Objective11. 4 Creating Effective Teams (cont’d) ❖ Member Preferences 3. Team Processes 1. Team Context (What Factors Determine Whether Teams Are Successful?) ❖ Common Plan and Purpose ❖ Adequate Resources ❖ Specific Goals ❖ Leadership and Structure ❖ Team Efficacy ❖ Climate of Trust ❖ Team Identity BMGT340 - CHAPTER 11 ❖ Performance Evaluation and Reward System 2. Team ❖ Team Cohesion Composition ❖ Mental Models ❖ Abilities of Members ❖ Conflict Levels ❖ Personality of Members ❖ Social Loafing ❖ Allocation of Roles ❖ Diversity of Members ❖ Cultural Differences ❖ Size of Teams 11 Objective11.4 Creating Effective Teams (cont’d) 1. Team Context ❖ Adequate Resources: Every work team relies on resources outside the group to sustain it. Important resources include timely information, proper equipment, adequate staffing, encouragement, and administrative assistance. ❖ Leadership and Structure: Teams can’t function if they can’t agree on who is to do what and ensure all members share the workload. ❖ Climate of Trust: Interpersonal trust among team members facilitates cooperation, reduces the need to monitor each other’s behavior, and bonds individuals through the belief that members won’t take advantage of them. ❖ Performance Evaluation and Reward System: Systems that incorporate an individual member component to recognize individual contributions, and a group reward to recognize positive team outcomes. 12 BMGT340 - CHAPTER 11 Objective11 2. Team Composition.4 Creating Effective Teams (cont’d) ❖ Abilities of Members: A team’s performance depends in part on the knowledge, skills, and abilities of individual members. Abilities set limits on what members can do and how effectively they will perform on a team. ❖ Personality of Members: Some dimensions identified in the Big Five personality model are particularly relevant to team effectiveness. o Conscientiousness is especially important to teams. o Teams with a high level of openness to experience tend to perform better. o Task conflict also enhances performance for teams with high levels of emotional stability. o The minimum level of team member agreeableness matters. o High level of extraversion in a team can increase the level of helping behaviors. 13 BMGT340 - CHAPTER 11 Objective11.4  Creating Effective Teams (cont’d) ❖ Allocation of Roles: Teams have different needs, and members should be selected to ensure all the various roles are filled. To increase the likelihood team members will work well together, managers need to understand the individual strengths each person can bring to a team, select members with their strengths in mind, and allocate work assignments that fit with members’ preferred styles. 14 BMGT340 - CHAPTER 11.4 Creating Effective Teams (cont’d) ❖ Diversity of Members: Objective11 Organizational Demography: The degree to which members of a work unit share a common demographic attribute; such as age, gender, race, educational level, or length of service in an organization; and the impact of this attribute on turnover. Gender and ethnic diversity have more negative effects in occupations dominated by white or male employees, but in more demographically balanced occupations, diversity is less of a problem. Diversity in function, education, and expertise are positively related to team performance, but these effects are small and depend on the situation. ❖ Cultural Differences: Cultural diversity seems to be an asset for tasks that call for a variety of viewpoints. But  culturally heterogeneous teams have more difficulty learning to work with each other and solving problems. The good news is that these difficulties seem to dissipate with time. 15 BMGT340 - CHAPTER 11 Objective11.4 Creating Effective Teams (cont’d) ❖ Size of Teams: Most experts agree that keeping teams small is key to improving group effectiveness. Generally speaking, the most effective teams have five to nine members. ❖ Member Preferences: Not every employee is a team player. Given the option, many employees will select themselves out of team participation. When selecting team members, managers should consider individual preferences along with abilities, personalities, and skills.  16 BMGT340 - CHAPTER 11 Objective11.4 Creating Effective Teams (cont’d) 3. Team Processes Why are processes important to team effectiveness? Teams should create outputs greater than the sum of their inputs.  17 BMGT340 - CHAPTER 11 Objective11.4 Creating Effective Teams (cont’d) ❖ Common Plan and Purpose: Effective teams begin by analyzing the team’s mission, developing goals to achieve that mission, and creating strategies for achieving the goals. Effective teams show reflexivity, meaning they reflect on and adjust their purpose when necessary. ❖ Specific Goals: Successful teams translate their common purpose into specific, measurable, and realistic  performance goals. ❖ Team Efficacy: A team’s collective belief among team members that they can succeed at their tasks. Effective teams have confidence in themselves; they believe they can succeed. We call this team efficacy. ❖ Team Identity: A team member’s affinity for and sense of belongingness to his or her team. Organizational identity is important, too. Rarely do teams operate in a vacuum— more often teams interact with other teams, requiring inter-team coordination. 18 BMGT340 - CHAPTER 11 Objective11.4 Creating Effective Teams (cont’d) ❖ Team Cohesion: A situation when team members are emotionally attached to one another and motivated toward the team because of their attachment. ❖ Mental Models: Team members’ knowledge and beliefs about how the work gets done by the team. ❖ Conflict Levels: Conflict has a complex relationship with team performance. o Relationship conflicts are those based on interpersonal incompatibility, tension, and animosity toward others, these are almost always dysfunctional. o When teams are performing nonroutine activities, disagreements about task content, called task conflicts, stimulate discussion, promote critical assessment of problems and options, and can lead to better team decisions. 19 BMGT340 - CHAPTER 11 Objective11.4 Creating Effective Teams (cont’d) ❖ Social Loafing: Members should be clear on what they are individually and jointly responsible  for on the team. 20 BMGT340 - CHAPTER 11 Objective11.5 Turning Individuals into Team Players Teams often fit well in countries that score high on collectivism, but what if an organization wants to introduce teams into a work population of individuals born and raised in an individualistic society? ❖ Each phase of organizational team building: 1. Selecting: Hiring Team Players 2. Training: Creating Team Players 3. Rewarding: Providing Incentives to Be a Good Team Player 21 BMGT340 - CHAPTER 11 Objective11.5 Turning Individuals into Team Players (cont’d) 1. Selecting: Hiring Team Players Some people already possess the interpersonal skills to be effective team players. Therefore, managers, when hiring team members, can make certain that candidates can fulfill their team roles as well as technical requirements. Personal traits appear to make some people better candidates for working in diverse teams. 2. Training: Creating Team Players Training specialists conduct exercises that allow employees to experience the satisfaction teamwork can provide. Workshops help employees improve their problem-solving, communication, negotiation, conflict-management, and coaching skills. 22 BMGT340 - CHAPTER 11 Objective11.5 Turning Individuals into Team Players (cont’d) 3. Rewarding: Providing Incentives to Be a Good Team Player  A traditional organization’s reward system must be reworked to encourage cooperative efforts rather than competitive ones. Intrinsic rewards, such as camaraderie, that employees can receive from teamwork. 23 BMGT340 - CHAPTER 11 Objective11.6 Beware! Teams aren’t Always the Answer Teamwork takes more time and often more resources than individual work. Teams have increased communication demands, conflicts to manage, and meetings to run. So, the benefits of using teams have to exceed the costs, and that’s not always possible. How do you know whether the work of your group would be better done in teams? (By applying three tests) 1. Can the work be done better by more than one person? 2. Does the work create a common purpose or set of goals for the people in the group that is more than the aggregate of individual goals? 3. Determine whether the members of the group are interdependent. 24 BMGT340 - CHAPTER 11 Brief Recap Teams are popular for several reasons: ❖ Achievement – Flexibility – Quick Work – Involvement – Collaborative Mind-Set Work Group: A group that interacts primarily to share information and make decisions to help each group member perform within his or her  area of responsibility. Team Group: A group whose individual efforts result in performance that is greater than the sum of the individual inputs. Types of Teams: ❖ Problem-Solving Teams - Self-Managed Work Teams - Cross-Functional Teams - Virtual Teams - Multiteam Systems (Utilize a “team of teams”) Creating effective teams: ❖ Team Context (What Factors Determine Whether Teams Are Successful?) - Team Composition - Team Processes There are three phases to turn individuals into team players: ❖ Selecting – Training – Rewarding There are three tests to know whether to create a team or not. 25 BMGT340 - CHAPTER 11