chapter 12: teams, teamwork, and collaboration © john wiley & sons canada, ltd. john r....

CHAPTER 12: TEAMS, TEAMWORK, AND COLLABORATION

© John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd.

Business Leadership: Management FundamentalsJohn R. Schermerhorn, Jr., Barry Wright, and Lorie Guest

o Explain how teams contribute to organizations

o Describe the current trends in the use of teams

o Explain how teams work

o Describe how teams make decisions

o Describe methods of managing conflict

PLANNING AHEAD —

CHAPTER 12 LEARNING

GOALS

• Team:– A small group of people with complementary

skills, who work together to achieve a shared purpose and hold themselves mutually accountable for performance results

• Teamwork: – The process of people actively working together

to accomplish common goals

© John Wiley & Sons Canada Ltd.

TEAMS IN ORGANIZATIONS

Team and teamwork roles for managers:• Supervisor: serving as the appointed head of a

formal work unit• Network facilitator: serving as a peer leader an

network hub for a special task force• Participant: serving as a helpful contributing

member of a project team• External coach: serving as the external convener

or sponsor of a problem-solving team staffed by others


ROLES FOR MANAGERS


FIGURE 12.1 TEAM AND TEAMWORK ROLES FOR MANAGERS

Synergy:– The creation of a whole that is greater than the

sum of its parts– A team uses its membership resources to the

fullest and thereby achieves through collective action far more than could be achieved otherwise


TEAMWORK PROS

Usefulness of teams:– More resources for problem solving– Improved creativity and innovation– Improved quality of decision making– Greater commitments to tasks– Higher motivation through collective action– Better control and work discipline– More individual need satisfaction


BENEFITS OF TEAMS AND TEAMWORK

Common problems in teams:– Social loafing– Personality conflicts– Individual differences in work styles– Ambiguous agendas– Ill-defined problems– Poor readiness to work

• Lack of motivation• Conflicts with other deadlines or priorities• Lack of team organization or progress• Meetings that lack purpose or structure• Members coming to meetings unprepared


CONS OF TEAMWORK

• People arrive late, leave early, and don’t take things seriously

• The meeting is too long• People don’t stay on topic• The discussion lacks candor• The right information isn’t available, so decisions

are postponed• No one puts decisions into action• The same mistakes are made meeting after meeting


SEVEN DEADLY SINS IN MEETINGS

Formal groups:– Teams that are officially recognized and

supported by the organization for specific purposes

– Specifically created to perform essential tasks– Managers and leaders serve “linking pin” roles


FORMAL AND INFORMAL GROUPS

Informal groups:– Not recognized on organization charts– Not officially created for an organizational

purpose– Emerge as part of the informal structure and

from natural or spontaneous relationships among people

– Include interest, friendship, and support groups– Can have positive performance impact– Can help satisfy social needs


FORMAL AND INFORMAL GROUPS (CONT’D)

Committees, project teams, and task forces:– Committees:

• People outside their daily job assignments work together in a small team for a specific purpose

• Task agenda is narrow, focused, and ongoing– Projects teams or task forces:

• People from various parts of an organization work together on common problems, but on a temporary basis

• Official tasks are very specific and time defined• Disbands after task is completed


TRENDS IN THE USE OF TEAMS

• Members come from different functional units of an organization

• Team works on a specific problem or task with the needs of the whole organization in mind

• Teams are created to knock down “walls” separating departments


CROSS-FUNCTIONAL TEAMS

• Teams of people who work together and solve problems through largely computer-mediated rather than face-to-face interactions

• Sometimes called:– Computer-mediated groups– Electronic group networks


VIRTUAL TEAMS

• Potential problems of virtual teams:– Difficulty in establishing good working

relationships– Depersonalization of working relationships

• Potential advantages of virtual teams:– Savings in time and travel expenses– Minimization or elimination of interpersonal

difficulties– Ease of expansion


VIRTUAL TEAMS (CONT’D)

• Guidelines for managing virtual teams:– Virtual teams should begin with social messaging– Team members should be assigned clear roles– Team members must have positive attitudes that

support team goals


VIRTUAL TEAMS (CONT’D)

• Teams of workers whose jobs have been redesigned to create a high degree of task interdependence– have also been given authority to make many

decisions about how to do the required work on their own

• Also known as autonomous work groups


SELF-MANAGING TEAMS

• Typical self-management responsibilities:– Planning and scheduling work– Training members in various tasks– Sharing tasks– Meeting performance goals– Ensuring high quality– Solving day-to-day operating problems– In some cases, hiring and firing team members


SELF-MANAGING TEAMS (CONT’D)

• In self-managing work teams, members:– Are held collectively accountable for

performance results– Have discretion in distributing tasks within the

team– Have discretion in scheduling work within the

team– Are able to perform more than one job on the

team– Evaluate one another’s performance

contributions– Are responsible for the total quality of team

products© John Wiley & Sons Canada Ltd.

SELF-MANAGING TEAMS (CONT’D)


FIGURE 12.2 ORGANIZATIONAL AND MANAGEMENT IMPLICATIONS OF SELF-

MANAGING WORK TEAMS

• A sequence of planned activities used to gather and analyze data on the functioning of a team and to implement constructive changes to increase its operating effectiveness


TEAM BUILDING

Characteristics of high-performing teams:– A clear and elevating goal– A task-driven, results-oriented structure– Competent and committed members who work

hard– A collaborative climate– High standards of excellence– External support and recognition– Strong and principled leadership


TEAM BUILDING (CONT’D)

Effective teams:– achieve and maintain high levels of task

performance– achieve and maintain high levels of member

satisfaction– retain viability for the future


HOW TEAMS WORK

• Team effectiveness may be summarized as:


HOW TEAMS WORK (CONT’D)

Team Effectiveness =

Quality of Inputs + (Process Gains - Process Losses)


FIGURE 12.3 AN OPEN-SYSTEMS MODEL OF WORK TEAM EFFECTIVENESS

Resource input factors that influence group process in the pursuit of team effectiveness:– Resources and setting– Nature of the task– Membership characteristics– Team size


TEAM INPUTS

Group process:– The way the members of any team work together

as they transform inputs into outputs– Also known as group dynamics– Includes communications, decision making,

norms, cohesion, and conflict, among others


STAGES IN DEVELOPMENT

Stages of Team Development:– Forming: initial orientation and interpersonal

testing– Storming: conflict over tasks and ways of

working as a team– Norming: consolidation around task and

operating agendas– Performing: teamwork and focused task

performance– Adjourning: task accomplishment and eventual

disengagement


THE LIFE CYCLE OF A TEAM

FIGURE 12.6 CRITERIA FOR ASSESSING THE MATURITY OF A TEAM

• Norms: – Behaviour expected of team members– Rules or standards that guide behaviour– May result in team sanctions

• Performance norms:– Define the level of work effort and performance

that team members are expected to contribute to the team task


MANAGING TEAM NORMS

• Guidelines for building positive norms:– Act as a positive role model– Reinforce the desired behaviours with rewards– Control results by performance reviews and regular

feedback– Orient and train new members to adopt desired

behaviours– Recruit and select new members who exhibit desired

behaviours– Hold regular meetings to discuss progress and ways of

improving– Use team decision-making methods to reach agreement


MANAGING TEAM NORMS (CONT’D)

• Cohesiveness:– The degree to which members are attracted to

and motivated to remain part of a team– Can be beneficial if paired with positive

performance norms


MANAGING TEAM COHESIVENESS

• Guidelines for increasing team cohesion: – Build agreement on team goals– Increase membership homogeneity– Increase interactions among members– Decrease team size– Introduce competition with other teams– Reward team rather than individual results– Provide physical isolation from other teams


MANAGING TEAM COHESIVENESS (CONT’D)


FIGURE 12.7 HOW COHESIVENESS AND NORMS INFLUENCE TEAM PERFORMANCE

• Positive norms + high cohesiveness high performance and strong commitments to positive norms

• Positive norms + low cohesiveness moderate performance and weak commitments to positive norms


EFFECTS OF TEAM COHESIVENESS AND NORMS

• Negative norms + low cohesiveness low to moderate performance and weak commitments to negative norms

• Negative norms + high cohesiveness low performance and strong commitments to negative norms


EFFECTS OF TEAM COHESIVENESS AND NORMS (CONT’D)

• Task activities:– Actions by team members that contribute

directly to team’s performance purpose– Include:• Initiating• Information sharing• Summarizing• Elaborating• Opinion giving


TASK AND MAINTENANCE ROLES

• Maintenance activities:– Support emotional life of a team as an ongoing

social system– Include:• Gatekeeping• Encouraging• Following• Harmonizing• Reducing tension


TASK AND MAINTENANCE ROLES (CONT’D)

• Distributed leadership roles:– Make every member responsible for recognizing

when task and/or maintenance activities are needed and taking actions to provide them

– Leading through task activities focuses on solving problems and achieving performance results

– Leading through maintenance activities helps strengthen and perpetuate the team as a social system




FIGURE 12.8 DISTRIBUTED LEADERSHIP HELPS TEAMS MEET TASK AND

MAINTENANCE NEEDS

• Disruptive activities that detract from team effectiveness:– Being aggressive– Blocking– Self-confessing– Seeking sympathy– Competing– Withdrawal– Horsing around– Seeking recognition



• Methods of team decision making:– Lack of response– Authority rule– Minority rule– Majority rule– Consensus– Unanimity


DECISION-MAKING IN TEAMS

• Greater amounts of information, knowledge, and expertise

• Expands number of action alternatives considered• Increases understanding and acceptance• Increases commitment to follow through


ASSETS OF TEAM DECISION MAKING

• Social pressure to conform• Individual or minority group domination• Time requirements


POTENTIAL DISADVANTAGES OF TEAM DECISION MAKING

Symptoms of Groupthink:– Illusions of group invulnerability– Rationalizing unpleasant and disconfirming data– Belief in inherent group morality– Negative stereotypes of competitors– Pressure to conform– Self-censorship of members– Illusions of unanimity– Mind guarding


GROUPTHINK

• Have each group member be a critical evaluator• Don’t appear to favour one course of action• Create subteams to work on the same problems• Have team members discuss issues with outsiders• Have outside experts observe and provide feedback

on team activities• Assign a member to the devil’s advocate role• Hold a second-chance meeting


METHODS FOR DEALING WITH GROUPTHINK

• Creativity in team decision-making:– Brainstorming:• Engages group members in an open,

spontaneous discussion of problems and ideas– Nominal group technique:• Structures interaction among team members

discussing problems and ideas


CREATIVITY IN TEAM DECISION-MAKING

• Conflict:– A disagreement between people on:• Substantive issues regarding goals and tasks,

allocation of resources, distribution of rewards, policies and procedures, and job assignments• Emotional issues arising from feelings of

anger, distrust, dislike, fear, and resentment, as well as personality clashes

– Conflict that is well managed can help promote creativity and high performance


CONFLICT

• Functional conflict:– Moderately intense conflict– Constructive and stimulates people toward

greater work efforts, cooperation, and creativity• Dysfunctional conflict:– Low-intensity and very high-intensity conflict– Destructive and hurts task performance


CONFLICT (CONT’D)


FIGURE 12.9 THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CONFLICT AND PERFORMANCE

• Causes of conflict:– Role ambiguities– Resource scarcities– Task interdependencies– Competing objectives– Structural differentiation– Unresolved prior conflicts


CAUSES OF CONFLICT

• Structural approaches for resolving conflicts:– Appealing to superordinate goals– Making more resources available– Changing the people– Altering the physical environment


CONFLICT RESOLUTION

• Integrative devices for resolving conflicts:– Using liaison personnel, special task forces,

cross-functional teams, or a matrix organization– Changing reward systems– Changing policies and procedures– Training in interpersonal skills


CONFLICT RESOLUTION (CONT’D)

• People’s conflict management styles reflect different combinations of co-operative and assertive behaviour:– Co-operativeness is the desire to satisfy the

other party’s needs and concerns– Assertiveness is the desire to satisfy one’s own

needs and concerns



• Conflict management styles:– Avoidance (withdrawal):

• Unco-operative and unassertive– Accommodation (smoothing):

• Co-operative and assertive– Competition (authoritative command):

• Unco-operative and assertive– Compromise:

• Moderately co-operative and assertive– Collaboration (problem solving):

• Co-operative and assertive© John Wiley & Sons Canada Ltd.



FIGURE 12.10 ALTERNATIVE CONFLICT MANAGEMENT STYLES

• Conflict management styles:– Lose-lose conflict:• Management by avoidance or accommodation

– Win-lose conflict:• Management by competition and compromise

– Win-win conflict:• Management by collaboration




Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd. All rights reserved. Reproduction or translation of this work beyond that permitted by Access Copyright (The Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency) is unlawful. Requests for further information should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd. The purchaser may make back-up copies for his or her own use only and not for distribution or resale. The author and the publisher assume no responsibility for errors, omissions, or damages caused by the use of these programs or from the use of the information contained herein.

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chapter 12: teams, teamwork, and collaboration © john wiley & sons canada, ltd. john r....

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