Team Dynamics PDF

TEAM DYNAMICS CHAPTER 8 GROUP MEMBERS: Almazan, Josh Grant Evangelista, Ella Mae Calapit, Ara Mitch Gregorio, Brigette De Leon, Allen Jerhsey Rubio, Kurt Dainiel De Ocampo, Jamel Salayong, Trisha Antonette Enriquez, Elvie...

TEAM DYNAMICS CHAPTER 8 GROUP MEMBERS: Almazan, Josh Grant Evangelista, Ella Mae Calapit, Ara Mitch Gregorio, Brigette De Leon, Allen Jerhsey Rubio, Kurt Dainiel De Ocampo, Jamel Salayong, Trisha Antonette Enriquez, Elvie Tamviola, Nicole  L01: Teams and Informal Groups Teams are groups of two or more people who interact and influence each other, are mutually accountable for achieving common goals associated with organizational objectives, and perceive themselves as a social entity within an organizations. Some teams are: o Permanent, while others are temporary; i) Permanent Teams: These teams have ongoing roles and responsibilities essential to the organization’s operations. They are usually established to manage core functions, like finance, HR, or customer service and are expected to work together continuously. ii) Temporary Teams: These teams are created for a specific purpose or project and dissolve once their objective is achieved. For instance, a product development team might be formed to launch a new product and disband after the project ends. o Responsible for making products or providing services, while others exist to make decisions or share knowledge. o Not initially sanctioned by management, yet they are called "teams" because members work toward an organization objective. Types of Teams in Organization 1) Departmental Team Teams that consist of employees who have similar or complementary skills and are located in the same unit of a functional structure. Example: Human Resources (HR) Team Sales Team Finance Team Marketing Team 2) Production/service/leadership teams Typically multiskilled, team members collectively produce a common product/service or make ongoing decisions; production/service teams typically have an assembly-line type of interdependence, whereas leadership teams tend to have tight interactive (reciprocal) interdependence. Example: Top-Level Management Production Team People-Based Services 3) Self-directed teams They are organized around work processes that complete an entire piece of work requiring several interdependent tasks. They have substantial autonomy over the execution of those tasks. Example: Marketing and Advertising Team Insurance Company Policy Holder Team 4) Advisory teams Teams that provide recommendations to decision makers; include committees, advisory councils, work councils, and review panels; may be temporary, but often permanent, some with frequent rotation of members. Example: Strategic Advisory Board Product Advisory Council Financial Advisory Committee. Legal and Regulatory Advisory Group 5) Task force (project) teams Usually multiskilled, temporary teams whose assignment is to solve a problem, realize an opportunity, or design a product or service. Example: In a large company looking to improve its culture, leadership might for a “Diversity and Inclusion Task Force” to address issues related to inclusivity, equality, and respect among employees. 6) Skunkworks Multiskilled teams that are usually located away from the organization and are relatively free of its hierarchy, often initiated by an entrepreneurial team leader who borrows people and resources (bootlegging) to design a product or service. Example: Oracle’s Startup Google X Lab Steve Job’s Macintosh Team 7) Virtual teams Teams whose members operate across space, time, and organizational boundaries and are linked through information technologies to achieve organizational tasks; may be a temporary task force or permanent service team. 8) Communities of practice Teams (but often informal groups) bound together by shared expertise and passion for a particular activity or interest, main purpose is to share information; often rely on information technologies as the main source of interaction. INFORMAL GROUPS All teams are groups, but many groups do not satisfy our definition of teams. Groups include people assembled together, whether or not they have any interdependence or organizationally focused objective. Although the terms “teams” and “groups” are used interchangeably, teams has largely replaced groups in the language of business when referring to employees who work together to complete organizational tasks. Why Do Informal Groups Exist? Human beings are social animals. Social identity theory. Groups accomplish tasks that cannot be achieved by individuals working alone. Comforted by the mere presence of other people. Informal Groups and Organizational Outcomes Informal groups potentially minimize employee stress. Improves employee well-being, thereby improving organizational effectiveness. Informal groups are the backbone of social networks. Employees with strong informal networks tend to have more power and influence because they receive better information and preferential treatment from others and their talent is more visible to key decision makers. ADVANTAGES OF TEAMS Team members can quickly share information and coordinate tasks. Teams typically provide superior customer service because they provide more breadth of knowledge and expertise to customers than individual "stars" can of DISADVANTAGES OF TEAMS Process Losses Resources (including time and energy) expended toward team development and maintenance rather than the task. Brooks’s Law The principle that adding more people to a late software project only makes it later. It is also called the mythical man-month. SOCIAL LOAFING It occurs when people exert less effort when working in teams than when working alone. There is less social loafing when each team member’s contribution is more noticeable. It depends on the employees’ motivation to perform the work.  L02: Model of Team Effectiveness ORGANIZATIONAL AND TEAM ENVIRONMENT The organizational (structure), another environmental factors, and team environment represents all conditions beyond to the team’s boundaries that influence its effectiveness. Team members tend to work together more effectively when they are at least party reward for team performance. Team members tend to work together more effectively when they are at least party reward for team performance. TEAM DESIGN ORGANIZATIONAL AND TEAM ENVIRONMENT Tasks characteristics Team size Rewards Team composition Communication Organizational structure Organizational Leadership Physical space TEAM PROCESSES TEAM EFFECTIVENESS Team development Accomplish tasks Team norms Satisfy member needs Team cohesion Maintain team survival Team trust TASK CHARACTERISTICS Teams are more effective than individuals when performing complex tasks that require diverse skills and knowledge, such as launching new markets or constructing infrastructure. Teams excel when tasks can be divided into specialized roles that require coordination. They perform best in well-structured tasks, making it easier to manage.  LEVEL OF TASK INDEPENDENCE TEAM SIZE The ideal team size is large enough to provide the necessary skills but small enough to maintain efficient coordination and meaningful involvement. Small teams, typically less than 12 members, are more effective because they experience less process loss, and members are more engaged and responsible. Teams larger than 100 members struggle to function cohesively and are unlikely to operate as true teams. TEAM COMPOSITION Team composition refers to the skills and behaviors needed for employees to work well in a team. Beyond technical skills, companies like Royal Dutch/Shell value teamwork so much that they hold exercises like "Gourami" to test how well candidates work under pressure. The key traits of effective team members are known as the "Five C's": cooperating, coordinating, communicating, comforting, and resolving conflicts.  Five C’s of Team Member Competency COOPERATING CONFLICT COMFORTING COMMUNICATING COORDINATING RESOLVING Share resources Diagnose conflict Show empathy Share information Align work with sources freely, efficiently, others Accomodate others Provide respectfully Use best conflict psychological Keep team on track handling style comfort Listen actively Build confidence 1) COOPERATING Effective team members are willing and able to work together rather than alone. This includes sharing resources and being sufficiently adaptive or flexible to accommodate the needs and preferences of other team members, such as rescheduling the use of machinery so that another team member with a tighter deadline can use it. 2) CONFLICT RESOLVING Conflict is inevitable in social settings, so effective team members have the skills and motivation to resolve disagreements among team members. This requires the effective use of various conflict-handling styles as well as diagnostic skills to identify and resolve the structural sources of conflict. 3) COMFORTING Effective team members help coworkers maintain a positive and healthy psychological state. They show empathy, provide psychological comfort, and build coworker feelings of confidence a e and self-worth. 4) COMMUNICATING Effective team members transmit information freely (rather than hoarding), efficiently (using the best channel and language), and respectfully (minimizing arousal of negative emotions). They also listen actively to coworkers.  5) COORDINATING Effective team members actively manage the team's work so that it is performed efficiently and harmoniously. For example, effective team members herp the team on track and help integrate the work performed by different members. This typically requires that effective team members know the work of other team members, not just their own. TEAM DIVERSITY Team Diversity is another important dimension of team composition. Team diversity seems to have both positive and negative effects on team effectiveness. ∆Diverse teams vs Homogeneous teams a) Diverse Teams - It consists of people or members from different backgrounds, of different ages, nationality, ethnicity, gender and variety of interest. b) Homogeneous Teams - It consists of people with different skills, experiences and backgrounds. ∆Benefits of team diversity - Diverse teams tend to make better decisions because they have broader mepool of technical competencies. ∆Advantages of diverse team o Broader Perspective ▪ Diverse characteristic, background, experiences of team members bring different viewpoints, leading to a more comprehensive understanding of issues and innovative problem-solving. o Enhanced Creativity ▪ When people with different ideas, cultural backgrounds, and skill sets collaborate, they often come up with unique solutions. o Better Decision-Making ▪ Diverse group are more likely to assess information from different angles, reducing biases and leading to a more effective, well-rounded decisions.  L03: TEAM PROCESSES TEAM DEVELOPMENT Team members must resolve several issues and pass through several stages of development before emerging as an effective work unit. STAGES OF TEAM DEVELOPMENT FORMING The first stage of team development, is a period of testing and orientation in which members learn about one another and evaluate the benefits and costs of continued membership. STORMING This is marked by inter-personal conflict as members become more proactive and compete for various team roles. NORMING The team develops its first real sense of cohesion as roles are established and a consensus forms around group objectives and a common or complementary team-based mental model. o Mental Model – A mental model is a representation of a situation or domain that helps people understand, reason, and predict. It’s a lens that shapes how people think, understand, and make connections. PERFORMING Team members have learned to coordinate and resolve conflicts efficiently. ADJOURNING The adjourning stage occurs when the tram is about to disband. Team members shift their attention away from task orientation to a relationship focus. PROCESS DURING TEAM DEVELOPMENT 1. Developing Team Identity This process occurs when individuals shift from seeing the team as separate to viewing it as part of themselves, moving from "them" to "us." 2. Developing Team Competence This process involves developing routines with teammates and forming shared or complementary mental models—visual or relational images shared by the team. 3. Team Roles A role is a set of behaviors that people are expected to perform because they hold certain positions in a team and organization. ACCELERATING TEAM DEVELOPMENT THROUGH TEAM BUILDING Team Building: Formal activities to improve team development and functioning. Aims to accelerate the team development process. Applied to: o New teams. o Existing teams that have regressed due to turnover or loss of focus. TYPES OF TEAM BUILDING INTERVENTIONS 1. Task- Focused o Clarifies performance goals. o Increases motivation to achieve goals o Provides systematic feedback on goal performance 2. Problem- Solving o Enhances team’s problem-solving skills 3. Role Definition o Clarifies and adjusts members' roles and expectations of each other. o Develops shared mental models (e.g., client interaction, machinery maintenance, meetings). 4. Improving Team Relations o Help team members learn more about each other, build trust, and manage conflict. TEAM BUILDING ACTIVITY Volunteering Event Scavenger/Treasure Hunt Competitions Sports/Exercise Competition Cooking Competition TEAM NORMS Norms are the informal rules and shared expectations that groups establish to regulate the behavior of their members. Norms apply only to behavior, not to private thoughts or feeling. Norms are also directly reinforced through praise from high-status members, more access to valued resources, or other rewards available to the team. The more closely the person's social identity is connected to the group, the more the individual is motivated to avoid negative sanctions from that group. HOW TEAM NORMS DEVELOP? Norms develop when teams form because people need to anticipate or predict how others will act. 1. Even subtle events during the team's formation o such as how team members initially greet each other and where they sit in the first few meetings, o such as the need to respond quickly to e-mail. 2. A third influence on team norms is the experiences and values that members bring to the team o If members of a new team value work-life balance, norms are likely to develop that discourage long hours and work overload. PREVENTING AND CHANGING DYSFUNCTIONAL TEAM NORMS Team norms often become deeply anchored, so the best way to avoid norms that undermine organizational success or employee well-being is to establish desirable norms when the team is first formed. i. One way to do this is to clearly state desirable norms when the team is created. ii. Another approach is to select people with appropriate values. If organizational leaders want their teams to have strong safety norms, they should hire people who already value safety and who clearly identify the importance of safety when the team is formed. TEAM COHESION The degree of attraction people feel toward the team and their motivation to remain members. A characteristic of the team, including the extent to which it's members are attracted to the team, are committed to the team's goals or tasks and feel a collective sense of team pride. It is an emotional experience not just a calculation of whether to stay or leave the team. INFLUENCES OF TEAM COHESION 1. Member Similarity - Social scientists have long known that people are attracted to others who are similar to them. 2. Team Size - Smaller teams tend to have more cohesion than larger teams because it is easier for a few people to agree on goals and coordinate work activities. 3. Member Interaction - Teams tend to have more cohesion when team members interact fairly regularly. 4. Somewhat Difficult Entry - Teams tend to have more cohesion when entry to the team is restricted. Elite teams confer more prestige on their members, which increases the value of being a team member. 5. Team Success - Cohesion is both emotional and instrumental, with the latter referring to the notion that people feel more cohesion to teams that fulfill their needs and goals. 6. External Competition and Challenges - Team cohesion tends to increase when members face external competition or a valued objective that is challenging. CONSEQUENCES OF TEAM COHESION People who belong to high-cohesion teams are motivated to maintain their membership and to help the team achieve its mutually agreed objectives. Compared with low-cohesion teams, high-cohesion team members spend more time together, share information more frequently, and are more satisfied with one another. Two important matters that need to be discussed regarding the cohesion performance relationship. 1. Team's performance will likely affect its cohesion, whereas a team's cohesion has less effect on its performance. 2. The weaker effect of cohesion on performance might be explained by another matter we need to address.  Effect of Team Cohesion on Task Performance high low TEAM TRUST Any relationship including the relationship among team members-depends on a certain degree of trust. TRUST Trust refers to positive expectations one person has toward another person in situations involving risk. A high level of trust occurs when others affect you in situations where you are at risk but you believe they will not harm you. Trust includes both your beliefs and conscious feelings about the relationship with other team members. TYPES OF TRUST DESCRIPTION Identification Based Trust Based on common mental models and values Increases with person’s social identity with learn Knowledge Based Trust Based on predictability and competence Fairly robust Calculus Based Trust Based on deterrence Fragile and limited potential because dependent on punishment TRUST IS BUILT ON THREE FOUNDATIONS 1. Identification Based Trust is based on mutual understanding and an emotional bond among team members. It occurs when team members think, feel, and act like one another. Identification-based trust is potentially the strongest and most robust of all three types of trust. 2. Knowledge Based Trust is based on the predictability of another team members behavior. also relates to confidence in the other person's ability or competence, such as the confidence that exists when we trust a physician. offers a higher potential level of trust and is more stable because it develops over time. 3. Calculus-Based Trust Represents a logical calculation that other team members will act appropriately because they face sanctions if their actions violate reasonable expectations. DYNAMICS OF TEAM TRUST When joining a team, employees typically have a moderate or high level-not a low level of trust in their new coworkers The main explanation for the initially high trust (called swift trust) in organizational settings is that people usually believe fellow team members are reasonably competent (knowledge-based trust), and they tend to develop some degree of social identity with the team (identification-based trust). Even when working with strangers, most of us display some level of trust, if only because it supports our self-concept of being a good person.  L04: Self-Directed Teams SELF-DIRECTED TEAMS (SDT) Self-directed teams (SDTs) are cross-functional groups organized around work processes, that complete an entire piece of work requiring several interdependent tasks, and that have substantial autonomy over the execution of those tasks. 2 FEATURES OF SDT 1. These teams complete an entire piece of work requiring several interdependent tasks. 2. They have substantial autonomy over execution of their tasks. SDT’S POPULARITY The popularity of SDTs is consistent with research indicating that they potentially increase both productivity and job satisfaction. One study found that car dealership service shops that organize employees into SDTs are significantly more profitable than shops where employees work without a team structure. Another study reported that both short- and long-term measures of customer satisfaction increased after street cleaners in a German city were organized into SDTs. SUCCESS FACTORS FOR SELF-DIRECTED TEAMS The successful implementation of self-directed teams depends on several factors. SDTs should be responsible for an entire work process, such as making an entire product or providing a service. SDTs should also have sufficient autonomy to organize and coordinate their work. SDTs are more successful when the work site and technology support coordination and communication among team members and increase job enrichment. Too often, management calls a group of employees a "team," yet the work layout, assembly-line, structure and other technologies isolate the employees. VIRTUAL TEAMS Teams whose members operate across space, time and organizational boundaries. They are link through information technologies to achieve organizational tasks. Virtual teams differ from traditional teams on two ways: They are not usually co-located. Due to their lack of co-location, members of virtual teams depend primarily on information technologies rather than face-to-face interaction to communicate and coordinate their work effort. Virtual teams have spread throughout most organizations, and this trend will continue. One reason virtual teams have become so widespread is that organizations, information technologies have made it easier than ever before to communicate and coordinate with people at a distance. The shift from production-based to knowledge-based work is a second reason virtual teamwork is feasible. Two reasons they are increasingly necessary: Information technologies and knowledge-based work make virtual teams possible, but organizational learning and globalization are two reasons they are increasingly necessary. SUCCESS FACTORS FOR VIRTUAL TEAMS Along with having team competencies, members if successful virtual teams must have: Good communication technology skills Strong self-leadership skills, and; Higher emotional intelligence Virtual teams should have a toolkit of communication channels (e-mails, virtual whiteboards, video conferencing, etc.), as well as freedom to choose the channels that work best for them. Virtual teams need plenty of structure. TEAM DECISION MAKING Self-directed teams, virtual teams, and practically all other groups are expected to make decisions. Under certain conditions, teams are more effective than individuals at identifying problems, choosing alternatives, and evaluating their decisions. CONSTRAINTS ON TEAM DECISION MAKING 1. Time Constraints - This reflects the fact that teams take longer than individuals to make decisions. - Unlike individuals, teams require extra time to organize, coordinate and maintain relationships. 2. Evaluation Apprehension - A decision-making problem that occurs when individuals are reluctant to mention ideas that seem silly. 3. Pressure to Conform - Team cohesion leads employees to conform to the team’s norms.  - This control keeps the group organized around common goals, but it may also cause team members to suppress their dissenting opinions, particularly when a strong team norm is related to the issue. 4. Groupthink - The tendency of highly cohesive groups to value consensus at the price of decision quality. - It includes the dysfunctional effects of conformity on team decision making. TEAM STRUCTURES TO IMPROVE DECISION MAKING Team members need to be confident in their decision-making but not so confident that they collectively feel invulnerable. This calls for team norms that encourage critical thinking as well as team membership with sufficient diversity. Checks and balances need to be in place to prevent one or two people from dominating the discussion. Constructive Conflict A type of conflict in which people focus their discussion on the issue while maintaining respect for people having other points of view. Brainstorming A freewheeling, face-to-face meeting where team members aren't allowed to criticize but are encouraged to speak freely. generate as many ideas as possible, and build on the ideas of others. Electronic Brainstorming A form of brainstorming that relies on networked computers for submitting and sharing creative ideas. o Speak freely o Don’t criticize others for their ideas o Provide as many ideas as possible o Build on the ideas that others have presented Nominal Group Technique A variation of brainstorming consisting of three stages: 1) participants silently and independently document their ideas 2) collectively describe these ideas to the other team members without critique, and then 3) silently and independently evaluate the ideas presented.