Organizational Behavior

Week 4:

Managing Teams

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Class agenda: Teams and Teamwork in Organizations

Defining teams & their role in orgs Advantages and disadvantages of teams Teams: Their elements and roles Leadership in teams Challenges to teams

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1. Defining teams and their role in organizations

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What is a team?

“A team is a small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, set of performance goals, and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable.”

Katzenbach and Smith: “The Discipline of Teams”

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The team concept is central to the design of the modern

horizontal organization

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Top Management

TeamTeamProcessCoordinators

TeamTeamProcessCoordinators

TeamTeamProcessCoordinators

New product development process

Order fulfillment process

Procurement, logistics process

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Read your way to a better team!

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What kinds of teams exist? Executive teams Off-line problem-solving teams

Task forces Quality circles; safety; productivity

On-line production teams E.g., NUMMI, Saturn

Cross-functional process teams Product development

Boundary-spanning (Chrysler) Strategic planning Customer service (e.g., Xerox)

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One type of winning team…

(borrowed from the New York Times; photo by Vincent Laforet)

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… and another:

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2. Advantages and disadvantages of teams

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What is so good about teams?

Complementary skills and experiences Greater flexibility Motivation – fun, energizing, and commitment Lowered resistance to change Empowered people Improved coordination & cooperation Improved accountability & responsibility Superior decision-making

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Teams contributions to organizational effectiveness:• Cost savings (labor, materials) • Productivity • Quality (quality circles)• Customer service• Product development (“skunk works”)• Process development (NUMMI)

• Speed and cycle time• Safety• Decreased absenteeism and turnover

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Teams are key to Southwest Air’s fast turnarounds

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What are the downsides to teamwork?

Inefficiency; slow to produce results Coordination costs (mutual adjustment) Increased uncertainty and risk Accountability & responsibility problems (free

riders) Politics, division, stalemate Groupthink

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The myth of the executive team

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Teams were a bad fit for Levi’s

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Congruence in the design of teams People

Do people have the experience, training, & motivation necessary for teamwork?

Culture Is there a culture of participation & empowerment?

Leadership Is there genuine buy-in from top management? Is management heroic or developmental? Coaches or bosses?

Tasks Are tasks and technology designed for teamwork?

Formal structure Are job designs & reporting hierarchies adapted to teamwork?

Formal systems Are information systems designed for teamwork? Are appraisal and pay systems designed for teamwork?

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3. Elements of teams and roles in teams

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Designing teamsThe set-up Clear goals & well-defined performance objectives Task interdependence (meshing of roles) Appropriate size

The structure Thorough training Right mix of group and individual incentives Diversity, in skills and demographics

The resources Authority/empowerment Sufficient material resources (e.g., space) Access to information

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Roles that enhance team process: Facilitator: Moderator of group process. Makes sure the group stays on

target and points out issues that may derail the group. Not the decision maker (the group is), so does not have final say on any decision.

Timekeeper: In charge of making sure the group stays on track (e.g., you don’t stay up until 4:00am working on a marketing project).

Recorder: In charge of taking notes. Effectively, the “group memory”, charged with ensuring that good ideas are not lost.

Comic relief: Self-appointed position; usually the person with the worst PowerPoint or Excel skills. Helps the group keep a sense of humor about the fact that it is 4:00am & you have just started phase II of the project that is due at 8:20am. (Please note that the timekeeper & facilitator should be shot for this.)

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Roles that impair team process

Blocker: Stubbornly resists all attempts by the team to move ahead, is constantly negative, and frequently returns to rejected issues & ideas

Recognition seeker: Calls attention to him/herself by boasting and acting as if he or she were superior

Bully/dominator: Manipulates the team to pursue his/her agenda; interrupts others; tries to gain attention

Avoider: Isolated; passive resister

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And now, our feature presentation ...

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Instrumental (task-oriented) actions Initiating: Stating the goal or problem,making proposals

“Let’s set up an agenda..” Seeking information or opinions:

“What do you think would be the best approach to this, Jack” Providing information and opinions:

“I worked on a similar problem last year, and..” Clarifying: Helping one another understand ideas and suggestions

“What you mean, Sue, is that we could…” Elaborating: “Building on Don’s idea, we could…” Summarizing: Reviewing points covered & ideas expressed so decisions

are made on full information Appointing a recorder to take notes

Consensus testing: Testing if group is near decision or needs to continue discussion “Is the group ready to decide about this…”

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Maintenance/expressive actions Harmonizing: Mediating conflict, reconciling differences, relieving

tensions “Don, I don’t think you and Sue really see the question that

differently.”

Compromising: Admitting error at times of conflict “Well, I’d be willing to change if you provided some help on…”

Gate-keeping: Making sure all members have a chance to express ideas and feelings “Sue, we haven’t heard from you on this issue.”

Encouraging: Helping a member make his or her point; creating climate of acceptance “I think what you started to say is important, Jack. Please

continue.”

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Functional teams: Process attributes Openness: Members encourage flexibility, experimentation, and creativity

Empathy: Members attempt to listen and to understand each other’s views and values

Equality: Members respect the positions of others and no one is made to feel inferior

Spontaneity: Members express ideas freely and honestly without hidden motives

Problem orientation: Members openly discuss mutual problems without rushing to give solutions or insist on agreement

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Dysfunctional teamsProcess Attributes

Evaluation: Members’ manner of speech, tone of voice, or verbal content is perceived as critical or judgmental of others

Control: Communication is perceived as an attempt to manipulate or dominate the recipient

Strategems: Members are seen as operating from hidden motives, playing games, feigning emotion, withholding information, or having private access to sources of data

Superiority: Members convey an attitude of condescension toward others

Dogmatism: Members insist that their own points are best and try to foist them on the team

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Which describes Dilbert’s world

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4. Leadership in teams

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Leadership roles Ask questions Get the group to solve problems Promote real participation Help resolve conflict Train others Provide positive reinforcement Encourage high performance goals Tell the truth, even when it’s disagreeable Act as liaison with higher management

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L

L

L

L

L = Leader

Start - up

Transitional

Experienced

Mature

C. Manz & H. SimsBusiness Without BossesJohn Wiley, 1993

Leaders are most important in the early stages ofteam development

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How dysfunctional leaders arise Formal leader abdicates

authority

Criticisms become personal

Divergent team goals (revenge, bigotry, disinterest, time)

Low information flow

No rules of engagement, etc

Bad time management

Decision biases

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Leading a dysfunctional team Adopt a Socratic leadership

style

Attack data and logic, not persons

Don’t polarize others in group against you

Remain calm

Don’t reveal an explicit position that can be attacked – appear neutral

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5. Challenges to teams

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The value of diversity and dissent (Based on Charlan Nemeth’s jury research)

Exposure to minority viewpoints, even when they’re wrong, stimulates divergent thought and a search for information on both sides.   Leads to better performance and decision-making, more creativity.  Downsides are: conflict, low morale, persecution of minorities

How about role playing at dissent: The devil’s advocate? Doesn’t work. Need an authentic minority. Devil’s advocates can

reinforce the convictions of the group.

 We profit from people with whom we disagree. But we don’t give them credit – we get angry.   

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The problem of groupthinkDefinition: When members fail to disagree, to bring up doubts and fears, or to

bring up information that contradicts the team’s decision. Suddenly, they are going in a direction that makes no one happy simply because no one wants to cause conflict.

Components: Illusion of invulnerability Rationalizations collectively devised to discount negative feedback Unquestioning belief by members in team’s inherent morality and stereotyped

negative views of external detractors Direct pressure on any individual who expresses doubts about the team’s

shared illusions or questions validity of the majority view Reluctance to deviate from what appears to be team consensus despite

misgivings, and tendency to minimize personal doubts Escalation of commitment

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Are teams or individuals better at decision-making?

Teams make more accurate decisions than their average member greater likelihood of detection of error greater memory of facts greater probability that someone will know the right

answer Teams bring together a greater diversity of skills,

information, knowledge, points of view Teams, especially diverse teams, tend to be more

creative People are more likely to accept a decision when

they are involved in the decision-making process

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Key points to remember

Just any old group of people is not a team Teams are not always the answer To ensure success, teams must be

carefully designed and supported Being a good team member requires effort Leading teams is tricky business

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Training for teamwork Meeting skills, time management Conflict management Problem-solving, TQM Group dynamics, team building Change management Coaching and feedback skills Business knowledge (e.g., customer service)

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Outward Bound and similar team-building programs may help Break down status and role distinctions Foster real interdependence & cooperation Cognitive dissonance builds commitment

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Thursday

Lecture tie-up, business Prepare case: “The team that wasn’t” Project team discussions