Chapter 1 Teamwork in Business PDF

Chapter 1 Teamwork in Business (c) Virginia Tech, Department of Management, Pamplin College of Business. CC BY NC SA 4.0. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/10919/105157  INTRODUCTION (Motorola: Razor Edge)...

Chapter 1 Teamwork in Business (c) Virginia Tech, Department of Management, Pamplin College of Business. CC BY NC SA 4.0. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/10919/105157  INTRODUCTION (Motorola: Razor Edge)  The publicly traded company Motorola Mobility was created when Motorola spun off its Mobile Devices division, creating a new entity. The newly-formed company’s executive team was under intense pressure to come out with a smartphone that could grab substantial market share from Apple’s iPhone 4S and Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus. To do this, the team oversaw the design of an Android version of the Motorola RAZR, which was once the best-selling phone in the world. The hope of the executive team was that past customers who loved the RAZR would love the new ultra-thin smartphone—the Droid RAZR. The Droid RAZR was designed by a team, as are other Motorola products.  The RAZR Team achieved its goal by integrating specialized but complementary skills in engineering and design and by making the most of its authority to make its own decisions and manage its own operations. We can see the fundamentals of teamwork not only in RAZR but also current technology powerhouses such as Apple, and many other big business around the world. WHAT IS A TEAM? A team (or a work team) is a group of people with complementary skills who work together to achieve a specific goal. In the case of Motorola’s RAZR team, the specific goal was to develop (and ultimately bring to market) an ultra-thin cell phone that would help restore the company’s reputation. The Razr team achieved its goal by integrating specialized but complementary skills in engineering and design and by making the most of its authority to make its own decisions and manage its own operations. We can see the fundamentals of teamwork not only in Razor but also current technology powerhouses, such as Apple, and many other big businesses around the world. Market Challenge New Product Development Strategy Development M&A Integration And more  TEAMS vs GROUPS “A group is a bunch of people in an elevator. A team is also a bunch of people in an elevator, but the elevator is broken.” Members of a group (a working group)—go about their jobs independently and meet primarily to work towards a shared objective. A group of department-store managers, for example, might meet monthly to discuss their progress in cutting plant costs. However, each manager is focused on the goals of his or her department because each is held accountable for meeting those goals. LET US TALK ABOUT TEAMS Some Key Characteristics of Teams share accountability for achieving specific common goals. function interdependently. require stability. hold authority and decision-making power. operate in a social context.  WHAT MAKES A TEAM COHESIVE? Numerous factors may contribute to team cohesiveness, but in this section, we’ll focus on five of the most important: 1. Size: The bigger the team, the less satisfied members tend to be. When teams get too large, members find it harder to interact closely with other members; a few members tend to dominate team activities, and conflict becomes more likely. 2. Similarity: People usually get along better with people like themselves, and teams are generally more cohesive when members perceive fellow members as people who share their own attitudes and experience. 3. Success: When teams are successful, members are satisfied, and other people are more likely to be attracted to their teams. 4. Exclusiveness: The harder it is to get into a group, the happier the people who are already in it. Team status also increases members’ satisfaction. 5. Competition: Membership is valued more highly when there is motivation to achieve common goals and outperform other teams. WHY DO BUSINESSES USE TEAMS? Research shows that companies build and support teams because of their effect on overall workplace performance. (To improve operations).  TYPES OF TEAMS Manager-led teams: As its name implies, in the manager-led team the manager is the team leader and is in charge of setting team goals, assigning tasks, and monitoring the team’s performance. The individual team members have relatively little autonomy. Self-managed teams: (also known as self-directed teams) have considerable autonomy. A manager or team leader may determine overall goals, but the members of the self-managed team control the activities needed to achieve those goals. Cross-functional teams: This is the kind of team that is formed by member of different expertise (Skills or Professions) drawn from different functional area of a company that include: Accounting, Engineering, Marketing, etc., toward achieving positive result or outcome on a target task efficiently and positively. Virtual teams:  This is the type of team that is form via social network (electronically); it is not necessary to operate or carryout activities physically; the team task or meeting can be conducted via video conferencing (Zoom, Goggle-meet, Microsoft-teams etc.), and the members of the team can be in different parts of the world towards achieving goals or solving problems.  Technology now makes it possible for teams to function not only across organizational boundaries like functional areas, but also across time and space.  Functional vs Cross-Functional Teams Figure 1.5: Cross-functional teams.  OBSTACLES TO TEAM SUCCESS Let’s look at some factors that can erode team performance  Groupthink:  When there’s a basic willingness to conform to the team’s rules. When there’s too much conformity, however, the group can become ineffective.  Tendency to conform to group pressure in making decisions, while failing to think critically or to consider outside influences  Motivation and Frustration:  As members of workplace teams, they need motivation, and when motivation is low, so are effectiveness and productivity. The difficulty of maintaining a high level of motivation is the chief cause of frustration among members of teams.  All team members have personal and professional ‘ups and downs. Members must notice and find ways to avoid. Others  Unwillingness to cooperate: Failure to cooperate can occur when members don’t or won’t commit to a common goal or set of activities.  Lack of managerial support: Every team requires organizational resources to achieve its goals, and if management isn’t willing to commit the needed resources, either funding or key personnel, a team will probably fall short of those goals.  Failure of managers to delegate authority. EFFECTIVE TEAMS Factors that contribute to effective teamwork. Teams are most effective when the following factors are met: 1. Members depend on each other. When team members rely on each other to get the job done, team productivity and efficiency tend to be high. 2. Members trust one another. 3. Members work better together rather than individually. When team members perform better as a group than alone, collective performance exceeds individual performance. 4. Members become boosters. When each member is encouraged by other team members to do his or her best, collective results improve. 5. Team members enjoy being on the team. 6. Leadership rotates.  SKILL SETS THAT TEAMS NEED In particular, every team requires some mixture of three sets of skills as follows:  Technical skills: Skills needed to perform specific tasks Teams must perform certain tasks, they need people with the skills to perform them. For example, if your project calls for a lot of math work, it’s good to have someone with the necessary quantitative skills.  Decision-making and problem-solving skills: Skills needed to identify problems, evaluate alternative solutions, and decide on the best options. It’s good to have members who are skilled in identifying problems, evaluating alternative solutions, and deciding on the best options.  Interpersonal skills: Skills in listening, providing feedback, and resolving conflict Teams need direction and motivation and depend on communication, every group benefits from members who know how to listen, provide feedback, and resolve conflict. Learning about each team member’s strengths in the beginning helps to provide a path for the team to have leaders in each of the above  TEAM MEMBER ROLES Task-facilitating roles This role addresses challenge number one—accomplishing the team goals. Task facilitators are especially valuable when assignments aren’t clear or when progress is too slow. Examples: Information seeking -“Does anyone know if this is the latest data we have?” Reality testing -“Can we make this work and stay within budget?” Relationship-Building Roles Challenging unmotivated behavior or help other team members understand their roles and addressing challenge number two—maintaining or improving group cohesiveness. Includes activities that improve team “chemistry,” from empathizing to confronting. Having a ‘feel’ of the room. Examples: Energizing -“It’s been a long time since I’ve had this many laughs at a meeting in this department.” (Fig. 1.8: Team member roles) Consensus building -“Do we agree on the first four points even if number five needs a little work?”  TEAM MEMBER ROLES Blocking Roles Blocking roles consist of behavior that inhibits either team performance or that of individual members. Every member of the team should know how to recognize blocking behavior. If teams don’t confront dysfunctional members, they can destroy morale, hamper consensus building, create conflict, and hinder progress. Examples include: Stalling, deflecting, and presenting opinions as if they were facts. Stall-Frustrate efforts to come to conclusions: decline to agree, sidetrack the discussion, rehash old ideas Resist-Throw up roadblocks to progress; look on the negative  HOW TO SURVIVE/ACHIEVE TEAM PROJECTS In your academic career you’ll participate in a number of team projects. Therefore, how to succeed on team projects in college are as follows:  Draw up a team charter: At the beginning of the project, draw up a team charter that includes: the goals of the group; ways to ensure that each team member’s ideas are considered; timing and frequency of meeting. A more informal way to arrive at a team charter is to simply set some ground rules to which everyone agrees.  Contribute your ideas: Share your ideas with your group. The worst that could happen is that they won’t be used (which is what would happen if you kept quiet).  Never miss a meeting or deadline: Pick a weekly meeting time and write it into your schedule as if it were a class. Never skip it.  Be considerate of each other: Be patient, listen to everyone, involve everyone in decision making, avoid infighting, build trust.  Create a process for resolving conflict: Do so before conflict arises. Set up rules to help the group decide how conflict will be handled.  Use the strengths of each team member: All students bring different strengths. Utilize the unique value of each person.  Don’t do all the work yourself: Work with your team to get the work done. The project output is often less important than the experience.  TEAMS STRUGGLES-WHY? Lack of mutual trust. Team members do not fully trust each other or the team as an entity. Inability to manage conflict. Not dealing with conflict openly and transparently and allowing grudges to build up can destroy team morale. Lack of goal clarity. Team members are unsure about their roles and the ultimate team goals, resulting in a lack of commitment and engagement. Poorly defined roles and responsibilities. Team members are not clear about what they must do (and what they must not do) to demonstrate their commitment to the team and to support team success. Relationship issues. The bonds between the team members are weak, which affects their efficiency and effectiveness. Negative atmosphere. An overall team culture that is not open, transparent, positive and future- focused.  LEADING A TEAM Assuming you were asked to lead a team, there are certain leadership skills and behaviors that would help you influence your team members and build trust. Let’s look briefly at some of them: Demonstrate integrity:  Do what you say you’ll do and act in accordance with your stated values.  Be honest in communicating and follow through on promises. Be clear and consistent:  Let members know that you’re certain about what you want and remember that being clear and consistent reinforces your credibility. Generate positive energy:  Be optimistic and compliment team members. Recognize their progress and success. Acknowledge common points of view:  Even if you’re about to propose some kind of change, recognize the value of the views that members already hold in common. Manage agreement and disagreement:  When members agree with you, confirm your shared point of view. When they disagree, acknowledge both sides of the issue and support your own with strong, clearly presented evidence. Encourage and coach:  Buoy up members when they run into new and uncertain situations and when success depends on their performing at a high level. Share information:  Give members the information they need and let them know that you’re knowledgeable about team tasks and individual talents.  Check with team members regularly to find out what they’re doing and how the job is progressing. Q&A (c) Virginia Tech, Department of Management, Pamplin College of Business. CC BY NC SA 4.0. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/10919/105157