chapter 9 teamwork and team performance teams are worth the work

Chapter 9

Teamwork and Team Performance

Teams are worth the work

Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 9-2

Chapter 9 Study Questions

• What is a the nature of teams and teamwork?

• What is team building?

• How does team building improve performance?

• How do teams contribute to the high-performance workplace?


What is the nature of team and teamwork?

• Team – small group of people with complementary

skills, who work actively together to achieve a common purpose for which they hold themselves collectively accountable



• Types of teams– Teams that recommend things

• Established to study specific problems and recommend solutions to them

– Teams that run things• Have formal responsibility for leading other groups

– Teams that make or do things• Functional groups that perform ongoing tasks



• Teamwork – occurs when group members actively work

together in such a way that all their respective skills are well utilized to achieve a common purpose



• How to Create a High-Performing Team– Communicate high-performance standards– Set the tone in the first team meeting– Create a sense of urgency– Make sure members have the right skills– Establish clear rules for team behavior



• How to Create a High-Performing Team– As a leader, model expected behaviors– Find ways to create early “successes”– Continually introduce new information– Have members spend time together– Give positive feedback



• Homogeneous teams – Members are similar with respect to such

variables as age, gender, race, experience, ethnicity, and culture



• Heterogeneous teams– Members are diverse in demography,

experiences, life styles, and cultures


Figure 9.1


What is team building?

• Team building – sequence of planned activities designed to

gather and analyze data on the functioning of a group and to initiate changes designed to improve teamwork and increase group effectiveness


Figure 9.2


What is team building?

• Formal retreat approach– Team building occurs during an offsite “retreat”

• Continuous improvement approach– The manager, team leader, or group members

take responsibility for ongoing team building

• Outdoor experience approach– Members engage in physically challenging

situations that require teamwork


How does team building improve performance?

New members may worry about:

• Participation

• Goals

• Control

• Relationships


How does team building improve performance?• Tough battler

– frustrated by a lack of identity and may reject authority

• Friendly helper – insecure, suffering uncertainties of intimacy and

control

• Objective thinker – anxious about how personal needs will be met

in the group



• Distributed leadership – sharing of responsibilities for contributions that

move a group forward

• Task activities – various things members do that directly

contribute to the performance of important group tasks


Figure 9.3



• Maintenance activities – support the social and interpersonal

relationships among group members


How does team building improve performance?• Groups members should avoid the following

disruptive behaviors:– Being overly aggressive toward other members– Withdrawing and refusing to cooperate with

others– Horsing around when there is work to be done– Using the group as a forum for self-confession– Talking too much about irrelevant matters– Trying to compete for attention and recognition



• Role– set of expectations associated with a job or

position on a team

• Role ambiguity – occurs when a person is uncertain about his or

her role



• Role overload – occurs when too much is expected and the

person feels overwhelmed with work

• Role underload – occurs when too little is expected and the

person feels underutilized



• Role conflict – occurs when a person is unable to meet the

expectations of others– Forms of role conflict

• Intrasender role conflict• Intersender role conflict• Person-role conflict• Interrole conflict



• Norms – represent beliefs about how group or team

members are expected to behave– rules or standards of conduct



Key norms that can have positive or negative implications

• Performance norms

• Ethics norms

• Organizational and personal pride norms

• High-achievement norms

• Support and helpfulness norms

• Improvement and change norms



• Cohesiveness – the degree to which members are attracted to

and motivated to remain a part of the team


How does team building improve performance?• High team cohesiveness occurs when:

– Members are similar in age, attitudes, needs, and backgrounds

– Group size is small– Members respect each others’ competencies– Members agree on common goals– Members work on interdependent tasks– Groups are physically isolated from others – Groups experience performance success or

crisis


Figure 9.4


Figure 9.5


How do teams contribute to the high-performance workplace?

• Employee involvement team – applies to a wide variety of teams whose

members meet regularly to collectively examine important workplace issues

• Quality circle– small group of persons who meet periodically to

discuss and develop solutions for problems relating to quality and productivity



• Cross-functional teams– Consist of members representing different

functional departments or work units



• Functional silos problem – occurs when members of functional units stay

focused on matters internal to their function and minimize their interactions with members dealing with other functions

– also called functional chimneys problem



• Advantages of virtual teams– Cost-effectiveness and speed where members

are unable to meet easily face-to-face– Computer power fulfills typical team needs for

information processing and decision making



• Disadvantages of virtual teams– The lack of personal contact between team

members– Group decisions are made in a limited social

context



• Self-managing teams – small groups empowered to make the decisions

needed to manage themselves on a day-to-day basis

– also called self-directed work teams


Figure 9.6



• Multiskilling – team members are trained in performing more

than one job on the team



• Advantages of self-managing teams– Productivity and quality improvements– Production flexibility and faster response to

technological change– Reduced absenteeism and turnover– Improved work attitudes and quality of work life



• Disadvantages of self-managing teams– Structural changes in job classifications and

management levels eliminate the need for first-line supervisors

– Managers must learn to deal with teams rather than individuals

– Supervisors who are displaced by self-managing teams may feel threatened

chapter 9 teamwork and team performance teams are worth the work

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