Chapter 1 Understanding Teams5
Chapter 2 Defining Team Success
Chapter 4 Understanding the Basic Team Process
Chapter 5 Cooperation and Competition, pp. 77-94
Chapter 6Group
Dynamics in Teams:Communication
Chapter 7: Managing Conflict
(p.115)
Chapter 8: Power
and Social Influence (p. 133)
Chapter 9: Decision
Making (p. 153)
Chapter 10: Leadership (p. 173)
Chapter 11: Problem Solving
(p. 191)
Chapter 12: Creativity (p. 211)
Chapter 13: Diversity (p.
229)
Chapter 14: Organizational
Culture (p. 251)
Chapter 15: Electronic
Teams (P. 269)
Chapter 16: Work Teams (P.
305)
Chapter 17: Team Building
(p. 323)
Learning Objectives
7.Psychological perspective:There are two processes that define a group:
a.Social identification-refers to the recognition that a group exists, separate from others.
b.Social representation-the shared beliefs, ideas, and value that people have about the world.
ii.Teamwork
1.Teams are a special type of group, however, the distinction between groups and teams is fuzzy.
a.Teams are simply groups in work settings (Parks & Sanna, 1999).
b.They have also been defined as structured groups of people working on defined common goals that require coordinated interactions to accomplish certain tasks (Forsyth, 1999).
c.Teams typically are engaged in sports or work activities.They have applied functions.Roles are related to their functions.
d.They are usually a part of a larger organization, members have specialized knowledge, skills and abilities related to their tasks.
iii.Some differences between teams and groups
1.A group is more inclusive than a team.Groups range in size from two to thousands.Teams have a narrower range of sizes, normally 4-20.
2.Not only do team members have a common purpose, but also there are performance goals connected to this purpose for which everyone in the team is held mutually accountable.They also should be limited to a fairly small number of people with complementary skills who interact directly (Katzenbach & Smith, 1993).
3.Hayes (1997) says a team must actively cooperate to achieve its goals.A team needs to have independence, responsibility, and the power to operate.It must be empowered to have some authority to act on its own.
iv.Language in the book.
1.Group is used when talking about group dynamics, in lab research.
2.Team is used when discussing applications to the work place.
3.Any other time, the term group and team are used interchangeably.
II.Types and Purposes of Teams
i.How Teams Are Used By Organizations
1.Can be used for the day-to-day operations of an organization.
2.Can be formed to provide advice and deal with special problems.
3.To help manage coordination problems by linking different parts of organizations together.
4.Used to change organizations by planning the future or managing the transition.
5.There are six types of work teams
a.Production teams-such as factory teams, repeatedly manufacture or assemble products.
b.Service teams-such as maintenance crews and food service, conduct repeated transactions with customers.
c.Management teams-composed of managers or execs that work together to plan, develop policy, or coordinate the activities of an organization.
d.Project teams-such as research and engineering teams, bring experts together to perform a specific task within a defined period of time.
e.Action or performing teams-such as sports teams, entertainment groups, surgery teams, and airline crews, typically engage in brief performances that are repeated under new conditions and that require specialized skills and extensive training and preparation.
f.Parallel teams-temporary teams that operate outside of normal work such as employee involvement groups and advisory committees that provide suggestions or recommendations for changing an organization.
ii.Classifying Teams
1.There is no agreed upon classification system.
2.One of the most important distinctions among types of teams relates to their amounts of organizational power (Hayes, 1997).
3.Three options for organizing people into work groups:
a.A traditional work group-are part of the organization’s hierarchical system and are led by supervisors and managers who control the decision-making process.Work on independent tasks linked by the managers or work system.
b.A traditional team-given some power and authority, so they are somewhat independent of the organizations hierarchy and their leaders are selected by management and given some managerial power.Either having the teams consult to make a decision and team’s work activities are interdependent and coordinated by the leaders.
c.A self-managing team-given significantly more power and authority, so they are more independent of the organization’s hierarchy.Members typically select their leaders, so the leaders have limited power and must facilitate, rather than control operations.Leaders must rely on democratic or consensus decision making because they do not have the authority to make the teams accept decisions. Work is highly interdependent, and all team members work together to coordinate activities.
III.Why Organizations Are Using Teams- began with scientific management.Traditional approach requires that the task remain the same for some time, and the process be not too complex or easily disrupted.It focuses on productivity and assumes that there are workers who are willing to perform routine activities.
i.Characteristics of People
1.Scientific management works under the Theory X (McGregor, 1960).Managers who use this theory assume that people are basically lazy, do not like to work, want to avoid responsibility and need to be coerced so as to be motivated.
2.Theory Y is based on the belief that work is a natural activity for people, people want responsibility, and there are a variety of ways in which to motivate people.It focuses on gaining commitment and accepting responsibility.It would design a job that people will want to perform.
3.The transition helps to improve the quality of people’s jobs, increase internal motivation, and improve job satisfaction (Orpen, 1979).The amount of autonomy and responsibility in a job is one of the most important factors in evaluating a job (Finegan, 1993).In order to help change an org, make jobs more interesting and shift to teamwork.
ii.Job Characteristics
1.Non-routine jobs vs. routine jobs.
a.Non-routine jobs involve more complexity, interdependence, uncertainty, variety, and change than do routine jobs.They are difficult to manage in traditional work systems, but well suited for teamwork.
b.Complexity creates several issues.Requires multiple forms of expertise to complete.Implies problems that are confusing or difficult to understand and solve.
c.As jobs become more interdependent, it becomes more difficult for managers to control info flow.
d.A reality, work is becoming more varied and teams provide a mechanism for creating jobs that are more responsive to the changing work environment.
iii.Organizational Issues
1.The rate of change is continually increasing.Changing business environment is forcing organizations to change the ways in which they operate.They need to reduce costs, improve quality, reduce the time for creating new products, improve customer service, and increase their ability to change so as to adapt to an increasingly competitive environment.There has been a shift to simpler organizational hierarchies.It’s driven by the desire to save costs and to increase flexibility in organizations by reducing layers of management.
2.Teams replace many traditional management functions.They integrate and coordinate the various parts of an organization.Teams execute tasks better, learn faster, and change more easily than is the case with traditional work structures.
3.Could be viewed as a management fad.They sometimes introduce teams in situations where they might not be appropriate or they implement teams without changing the organizational contexts or supplying sufficient resources or training.Orgs sometimes call groups of employees teams without really changing the nature of work or the organizational reward systems.
IV.History Of Teams And Group Dynamics
i.Foundations of Teamwork
1.There are two traditional ways to organize people for work:
a.Structured hierarchy
b.Small group or family approach
2.Industrial revolution changed this and created the hierarchal approach, mostly due to scientific management by Taylor (1923).
3.The Hawthorne studies inadvertently raised questions about whether one could ignore the social relations aspects of work (Mayo, 1933).This research lead to the human relations movement, which focused on the social aspects of work.
4.More examination into the military-looked like a hierarchical organization, but really troops worked in teams.
5.The development of Sociotechnical systems theory (STS) provided a way in which to analyze what people did at work and then decide what is the best way to organize them.This became part of the quality of worklife movement.
6.To compete with Japan in the 1970s companies throughout the industrial world began to change the ways in which they operated so they could reduce costs and increase quality at the same time.Teamwork in the form of quality circles seemed to be the answer.
7.Next, during the 1980s quality circles seemed to develop into total quality management and the quality movement launched the current emphasis on teams.
8.Currently other facts do aid in sustaining teams, increased used of information technology, the downsizing of layers of management, business process reengineering, and globalization.
ii.Foundations of Group Dynamics
1.Effects of working alone versus in a group showed the effect of social facilitation because the presence of other people facilitated (or increased) performance (Triplett, 1898).
2.Lewin (1951) created the term group dynamics to show that he was interested in the group as a unit of study.He developed an approach called action research, where scientists develop theories about how groups operate and then use these theories in practical applications to improve the operations of groups.He was primarily concerned with social change, because he believed it is easier to change a group than to change an individual.If one changes the behavior of a group of people, then the group will continue to reinforce or stabilize the behavioral change.
3.Group
dynamics expanded rapidly during the 1950s and 1960s and today it is an
accepted academic discipline in a number of fields and it is growing as
an applied field because of organizations desire to use more groups and
teams.
Learning Objectives
1.A successful team performs its task and then is better able to perform the next task assigned to it.This is the social relations, group maintenance, or viability aspect of teamwork.A team must have good internal social relations, in order to help encourage participants to want to work in the team in the future.
2.Team needs social relations:
a.Cohesion comes from the emotional ties that team members have with each other.
b.Good communication depends on understanding and trust.
c.The capabilities of the team were lost at the end of the project because of the exclusive focus on the task.The org got what it wanted, but it did not improve its ability to use teams to successfully design new computers in the future.
iii.Individual Benefit
1.Team should be good for the individual.
2.It should help to improve an individual’s social or interpersonal skills.
3.Should help to broaden an employee’s skills and knowledge and make him or her better aware of the perspectives of other disciplines.
4.Help an employee’s career in the organization.
5.Teamwork should be reflected in the employee’s performance evaluations.
6.Increases the amount of social and emotional support they receive.
7.Great learning experience.
8.Team members share their knowledge and expertise, as they learn how to be good team members, they also develop communication, organizational, and management skills.
9.People in low social needs will be less rewarded by teamwork.
10.The learning benefits from teamwork primarily come from successful teams.
11.If the team is dysfunctional, it may teach members to avoid working on teams in the future.
12.The conflict between individual and team success is one of the major unresolved problems with teamwork in many organizations.
II.Conditions For Team Success
i.Group Composition
1.The qualities that influence performance:
a.The group must contain people with the knowledge, skills and abilities that match the requirements of the task.
b.The group must have members with the authority to represent the relevant parts of the organization and the power to implement the group’s decision.
c.The group’s members must have the necessary group process skills to operate effectively.
ii.Characteristics of The Task
1.McGrath (1984)-system that explains the different types of tasks that teams perform.Based on four group goals—generate, choose, negotiate, and execute—with each goal having two related tasks.The eight tasks vary along two dimensions: cognitive-behavioral and cooperation-conflict.
2.Steiner (1972)-system that explains the different ways in which team members’ efforts can be combined. Task demands along three dimensions divisible/unitary, high rate of production (maximization)/high quality solutions (optimization), combine efforts of group members in different ways.Added together, limited by the last member, averaged, selected, or combined in any way the group desires.There are different combinations of the demands of the group tasks.(See Table 2.2 in the book).
iii.Group Process
1.Team members must be able to combine their efforts successfully.
2.The internal processes can interfere with success.
3.Effective teams must organize themselves to perform their tasks, develop social relations to support their operations, and have leaders who provide direction and facilitate the teams’ operations.
4.Rather than encouraging performance, working in a group might lead to reduced effort by individual members (This problem is called social loafing).
iv.Organizational Context
1.The organizational context has a significant effect on whether teams operate successfully (Guzzo & Dickson, 1996).
2.Teams are more likely to be successful in organizations that have supportive organizational cultures.
3.There are a number of organizational supports that should be provided to teams so as to help make them function more effectively (Hackman, 1990b).
4.Teams perform better when they have clear goals and well-defined tasks.
5.Teams must have adequate resources including financial, staffing, and training support.Reliable information is required to make decisions, to coordinate their efforts with other parts of the organizations, and to plan for future changes.They also need technical and group process assistance.
6.Requires efforts of both team members and their organizations.
7.A team needs feedback on its performance and an incentive to change.
8.An effective teams requires feedback and rewards from the organization for good performance.
III.Characteristics Of Successful Teams
i.Hackman (1987)- five factors as necessary for the successful development and use of teams:
1.Clear direction and goals: Teams need goals to focus their efforts and evaluate their performance.
2.Good leadership: Leaders are needed to help manage the internal and external relations of teams and to orient teams toward their goals.
3.Tasks that are suited for teamwork: Tasks should be complex, important, and challenging so that they require the integrated efforts of team members and are not capable of being performed by individuals.
4.Necessary resources to perform the jobs: The resources that teams need include both material resources and training and personnel resources.
5.Supportive organizational environment: Organizations must give sufficient power and authority to allow team members to make and implement their direction.
ii.Levi and Slem (1995)-five factors:
1.Evaluation and rewards: Teams need fair and objective criteria for evaluation, team members’ performance evaluations should relate to their contributions to their teams, and members should be rewarded when their teams are successful.
2.Social relations: Teams need training social skills so that they can resolve internal conflicts and function smoothly.
3.Organizational support: Management, the organizational system, and the organizational culture must support the use of teams.
4.Task characteristics: Teams need clear direction and goals, tasks that are appropriate for teamwork, and work that is challenging and important.
5.Leadership: Leaders need to facilitate teams’ interactions and provide assistance to teams when problems occur.
iii.Larson and La Fasto (1989) are experts in group communication.Found that the following are important success factors:
1.Clear goals with standards of excellence
2.Principled leadership
3.External support and recognition
4.Results-oriented structure
5.Competent team members
6.Unified commitment
7.Collaborative climate
iv.Katzenbach and Smith (1993) are management experts who studied upper level management teams primarily in large organizations.
v.Cohen and Bailey (1997) conducted a meta-analysis of work teams during the 1990s.They found that factors of success are different for production, professional, and managerial teams.
Matthew Sigafoose
I. Stages of Teamwork – start-up is lengthy – it takes a while to decide on the definitions and goals of a project and to develop social relations
A.Group Development Perspective – Tuckman and Jensen (1971) – theory focuses on the development of internal relations among the team members.
1.Forming – Orientation – Members getting to know each other
2.Storming – Conflict – Disagreement about roles and procedures
3.Norming – Structure – Establishment of rules and social relationships
4.Performing – Work – Focus on completing the task
5.Adjourning – Dissolution – Completion of task and end of the group
B.Project Development Perspective – based on characteristics of project; based on research of work teams
1.McIntyre and Sales (1995) – a team works on role clarification during the early stages, moves on to coordinated skills development, and finally focuses on increasing the variety and flexibility of it’s skills as a team.
2.McGrath (1990) – how projects operate over time:
a.Inception Stage – group plans and collaborates on activities
b.Conflict Resolution Stage – social relationships are strained because group if dealing with conflict
c.Problem Solving & Execution Stages – focuses on coordinating the ideas and actions of group members
-can skip or repeat stages…
3.Ancona and Caldwell – group development for new product teams:
a.Creation Stage – team is developing new ideas and creative solutions while organizing the work team.; externally gathering information from the organization
b.Development Stage – focused internally; mastering the technical details of the project
c.Diffusion Stage – external relations; coordinating transfer of ideas to manufacturing and marketing is focus
C.Alternatives to Stage Theories – group cycles:
1.Bales (1966) – Equilibrium model of group development views groups as balancing the needs for task completion and relationship development
- back-and-forth depending on their members
2.Gersick (1998) – Punctuated Equilibrium – low activity is followed by periods of energy and change; also has a midpoint crisis
D.Implications of Team Development Stages – time needs to be spent developing social relationships and socializing new members, establishing goals and norms, and defining the project
II.Group Socialization- the process by which a person becomes a member of the group
A.Means evaluating the benefits versus the costs of being in the group
B.Commitment equals the desire to maintain a relationship with the group
C.Socialization Process:
1.Investigation Stage – each side searches for information; ends when individual decides to join the group
2.Socialization Stage – determines how the individual will be integrated into the group
-individual must accept group’s culture
3.Maintenance Stage – individual is fully committed to the group; ongoing process of investigating his/her role in the group
4.Resocialization Stage – member has become a marginal contributor; needs to re-evaluate their role; if leaves, goes on to the:
5.Rememberance Stage – former member reminisces on contributions
III.Team Goals – a desirable state of affairs members intend to bring about through combined efforts; a primary task in the first stages of development; most common characteristic of successful teams; only way in which a team can define it’s purpose
A.Value and Characteristics of Goals:
1.Provides direction or vision to the team
2.Provides motivation
3.Need to be clear and specific
B.Functions of Team Goals:
1.Can be used to evaluate performance
2.Guide the team toward certain activities
3.Provide a criterion to evaluate future decisions
4.Inform external group of own purpose
5.Determine when rewards or punishments are appropriate
6.Motivate team members by encouraging their involvement in the task
C.Zander (1994) – 3 important characteristics of goals:
1.Measurability – the ability to quantify whether the team is reaching it’s goals
2.Accessibility – probability of completing the goals
3.Difficulty – goal needs to be atleast moderately difficult to motivate performance
D.Hidden Agendas – unspoken individual goals that conflict with overall group goals; individual might not feel that the team’s activities are important; individual may have their own goals that are not compatible with the team’s goals; can create conflict; should be dealt with indirectly
IV.Group Norms – define what is appropriate and inappropriate behavior in the group; conformity to a group relates to the personality characteristics of individuals; low self-confidence equals an easy conformer; more cohesion equals more conformity
A.How norms are formed:
1.Typically unconsciously and gradually over time
2.Created by mutual influence and development through the interaction of members
3.Can come from groups from which others have belonged
4.Influenced by what happens early in the group’s existence
B.Impact of Group Norms – can allow for more fair communication; help keep people respectful of each other; distributes power to the weaker group members; can negatively influence conformity
V.Jump-Starting Project Teams:
A.Transactive Memory System – shared knowledge base on how to perform tasks (know others KSAOs);
B.Team Warm-Ups – develop socials relationships; helps in socialization
C.Project Definition – helps save time when conflict occurs; comes before performing the task
D.Creating Norms – establish some ground rules for operating meetings, how members will interact, and what types of behaviors are acceptable; should be openly discussed…
I.Motivation
A.Social Loafing – reduction of individual contributions when people are working in groups rather than alone.
1.Related to other group phenomena
a.Free Riders – Individuals who perform little in a group because they believe their individual efforts unimportant and they will receive the groups reward regardless of individual effort.
b.Sucker effect – Good performers may slack off in a group so others cannot take advantage of them.
2.Factors that cause social loafing
a.The given task may present no need to work as a group to complete it.
b.Individual performance is hidden in the group’s efforts, so individuals are not concerned with how others perceive their performance.
c.Members might be unaware of how much effort others are putting into the task.
3.Factors to prevent Social Loafing
a.Give challenging tasks
b.Reward as a group, and identify individual performance.
c.Commitment to the team.
B.Increasing Group Motivation
1.Tasks – interesting, involving, and challenging
a.Job characteristics Model (Hackman & Oldham)
1)Meaningfulness – using a variety of skills, completing a whole piece of work from beginning to end, and having job affect others.
2)Responsibility – autonomy – the freedom to design, schedule and carry out the task as desired
3)Knowledge of results – feedback
b.Interdependence – members need to work together to complete the task.(i.e. sports team)
1)Distribution of skills so that every team member feels needed to complete the task, and responsible for some portion of it as well as feeling responsible for the overall group performance.
2)With this distribution of skills, power is shared among members.
2.Evaluation and Rewards
a.Outcome interdependence motivates members to work together by creating a sense of individual and group responsibility.
b.You need to have a balance of individual and team-based rewards to motivate commitment and individual performance.
c.You need a fair measure or performance evaluation of team and individual success to increase motivation
3.Goals
a.Clear goals – lead to increased effort, better planning, better performance monitoring, and increased commitment to group.
b.Challenging but attainable – leads to collective efficacy that success is possible which increases motivation.
4.Commitment and Cohesion
a.Group Cohesion – increased sense of commitment and attraction to group.
b.Highly cohesive groups like working together, have personal involvement with task, take pride in group performance
c.Cohesion leads to more commitment and better task performance.
II.Group Cohesion – interpersonal bonds that hold a group together.Helps form a group identity that is separate from other groups.
A.How Cohesion Affects the Group’s Performance.
1.Group cohesion has a generally positive impact on group performance – especially for smaller groups.
2.The effects of cohesion are stronger when:
a.it is based on commitment to the task
b.Tasks require high levels of interaction, coordination, and interdependence.
3.Cohesive groups are more likely to accept group goals, decisions, and norms.If these norms are productive (support high quality performance) cohesion will aid in performance.If the norms hamper productivity, cohesion will be a further detriment and resist change.
4.Social interactions – Low cohesion may limit the ability to work together.High cohesion may impair decision-making ability – agree with group because they don’t want to upset relationship.
5.Conflict resolution and Problem solving – poor social relations may avoid handling a problem.Good social relations have to communications skills necessary to handle problems as the arise.
B.Building Group Cohesion
1.Cohesive groups have similar attitudes and personal goals (result of spending time together), are isolated to produce sense of being special and different, usually smaller team, strict requirements to join, incentives based on group, not individual performance.
2.To build cohesion – training in social interaction skills (listening and conflict management), training in task skills (goal setting and job skills), success and rewards, and leaders need to promote interactions among member, reduce status differences,group awareness of everyone’s contributions,etc.
III.Team Roles – describe what people are supposed to do and how their parts relate to what others in the group are doing.Roles can be formal or informally assigned by the organization, team, or individual.
A.Role Problems
1.Role ambiguity and Role conflict
a.Roles are not well defined and individuals don’t know what is expected of them.
b.Roles are conflicting
1)Inter-role conflict – person occupies several roles that are incompatible. – Manger and friend to co-workers
2)Intra-role conflict – conflict between doing what is good for team vs what is good of your department.
c.Role problems cause – higher stress, decreased satisfaction and morale, and increased job turnover.
d.Solutions – define roles so members know what is expected of them, and prioritize tasks so a correct decision can be made when conflicts arise.
B.Types of Team Meeting Roles
1.Leader – structures team interaction
a.develop agenda
b.ensure information is shared, understood, and processed by team in supportive and participative environment
c.remove internal problems that hinder team’s operations
2.Recorder – takes notes about final decisions made and writes up minutes for future reference.
3.Scribe – notes comments made during the meeting on board.
4.Timekeeper – keeps members aware of allotted time for each topic.
5.It is a good idea to rotate individuals through all of the roles to see how they perform, use as a learning experience, and in case of absences.
IV.Task and Social Behaviors
1.Task Behaviors – focused on group’s goals and tasks and on members’ support of each other while performing the task.During the performance stage, more task behaviors are seen.
2.Social Behaviors – focus on the social and emotional needs of the group members.During the forming stages social behaviors are important for developing social relations within the group which will develop better working relationships.
3.Types ofGroup behaviors (Table 4.1, pg 70)
a.Task Behaviors – Initiator/contributor, Information giver, information seeker, opinion giver, opinion seeker, coordinator, energizer, evaluator/critic
b.Social behaviors – Encourager, harmonizer, compromiser, expediter, standard setter, follower, group process observer
A.Value of Social Behavior
1.Important for building trust in communication, encouraging the team to operate smoothly, providing social support, and rewarding participation
2.If there is a balance of task and social behaviors, emotions or personality conflicts will be less disruptive to team operations.
3.Increasing the amount of praise/positive support improves social relations and increases team effectiveness.
4.Social support can reduce stress which disrupts a teams’ ability to perform and encourage members to leave the team.
B.Improving Team Interactions
1.Group process Observation – provides support to the group by observing and commenting on how the group is operating.
2.It is more valuable for group members to do this themselves so they can deal with problems as they arise.
3.Observation allows members to see what is lacking in their interaction and encourage individuals to adjust their personal style to a style that will help the team operate more effectively.
4.Observations are used to develop team-building programs.
5.Effective teams need a balance of task and social behaviors, to be able to shift its emphasis depending on its current needs, and people with different interpersonal skills so all behaviors are performed.
Chapter
5: Cooperation and Competition,
pp. 77-94
A mixed-motive situation is where team members find themselves with a conflict between team goals and individual goals.
Outline:Communication
I.Communication
Process
A.Sender
1.Affect amount of influence that a communication will have on the audience.
2.Two primary characteristics of the sender:- credibility and attractiveness
3.Credibility = “relates to the perceived amount of expertise and trustworthiness of the communicator.”
4.Attractiveness = not only physical appearance, but also things such as background, attitudes, and/or lifestyles.
B.Receiver
1.The audience also impacts the communication.
2.The audience may be composed of a variety of different people, with different background, etc. which can make communication difficult.Need to use diversity as a positive influence instead by integrating different ideas into learning and decision making.
3.The way that a sender communicates with a group will depend on whether or not the receivers already agree with the point being discussed.
C.Message
1.“Messages can vary in sophistication, emotionality, and aesthetics.”
2.Message needs to be understood by receivers.
3.Message approach may vary depending on audience composition.
D.Communication w/in Teams
1.Problems with the sender, receiver, or message may occur and decrease the level of communication.
2.Members can monitor communication within the team to help prevent miscommunication.
3.Successful teams use the following actions to maintain good communication:“performance monitoring, feedback, closed-loop communication, and backing-up behaviors (McIntyre & Salas, 1995).
II.Communication
Networks, Climates, and Information Processing
A.Communication Networks
1.Patterns that tell who may communicate with whom.
2.Two basic types:
a.Decentralized- circle and open models
b.Centralized – any communication must go through certain members before going to other members; y model, wheel model, and chain model
3.The networks do not always monitor communication within a team.
B.Communication Climate
1.High-quality work team members often have strong feelings of inclusion, trust, support, comfort, etc.
a.Positive – open, trusting, supportive, welcoming
b.Negative – closed, discouraging, punishing, blaming
2.Climate develops in cycles
C.Processing Information Within the Team
1.Discussing new information versus information that team members already knew.Previous knowledge can be a bias and impact decisions and overall team communication.
2.Previous knowledge can hinder or assist in decision making process…being aware of this is important for the success of the team.
D.Building Trust
1.Trust is needed to help team members feel comfortable sharing their thoughts and ideas with each other.
2.Trust can be formed from emotions, values, perceived attitudes, etc.
3.Johnson and Johnson (1997) stated that building trust in a group requires performing two types of behaviors: being trusting and being trustworthy.
4.Trust can be easily shattered.
III.Facilitating Team Meetings
A.Start-Up
1.Agenda
2.Brief Warm up session
B.Facilitate Meeting
1.Maintain open climate
2.Manage Disruptive Behaviors
3.Manage Differences
4.Summarize Important Decisions
C.Wrap-Up
1.Tie Up Loose Ends
2.Check Results Against Desired Outcomes
3.Group Process Evaluation
D.Five Main Communication Activities of the Facilitator
1.Maintain an open and collaborative climate
=keep discussion flowing and on topic, sharing ideas.
2.Manage disruptive behaviors =
=both the leader and team members should help manage any person who may take over the conversations or be unkind to other team members.
3.Manage differences
=managing differences is important in order to make the differences beneficial instead of harmful.Clear communication can help manage differences.
4.Summarize important decisions
=leader should make sure to stop throughout the meeting to review what has been discussed and check to see if there are any questions.
5.Evaluate the group process
=at the end of the meeting, team should discuss and evaluate the efficiency of the meeting; positive and any negative feedback.
IV.Communication Skills for Team Meetings
A.Asking Questions
= open ended questions, pros and cons; asking questions directed to the whole team instead of pointing out one specific person.
B.Active Listening
=listener paraphrases what the other person is saying and asks if their understanding is correct; shows that listener is really interested in listening and understanding what the other person is talking about.
C.Giving Constructive Feedback
=if negative feedback is necessary, make sure it is constructive: include positive comments too and offer corrective options.
D.Managing Feelings
= Suggested approach:
-Stay neutral
-Understand rather than evaluate feelings – be aware of verbal and nonverbal communication
-Process feelings in the group
I. Conflict Is Normal
1. If team has no conflict it may be sign
of unhealthy agreement
2. Since members may be practicing defensive
avoidance to present problems
A) Unhealthy Conflict
i.
Competition over power, reward, resources
ii. Conflict between group and individual goals
iii Poorly
facilitated meetings
iv. Personal grudges from past
v. Communication
B) Healthy Conflict
i. Focused on task issues
ii. Legitimate differences in opinion about
task
iii. Difference in values and perspectives
iv. Different expectations about impact of
decision
II. Sources of Conflicts
i.Underlying Problem
ii. Dfferences in values and objectives
iii.Different expectations
iv. Hidden agendas
v. Social factors
III. Impact of Conflict
A) Positive/Benefits of Conflict
i. Help members operate by exploring
issues more fully
. ii. Help reduce conformity
iii. Overcome obstacles to group process
iv. Solve Problems
v. Motivate Understanding
vi. Encourage new ideas and creativity
B) Negative/Problems with Conflict
i. Created stress and negative emotions
ii. Interfere with communication and coordination
iii.Divert attention away from task and goals
v. Destroy cohesion and social relations
v. Increase conformity and negative stereotypes
vi Create winners and losers
IV. Conflict Resolution Approaches
A) Two types of conflict resolution approaches
i.
Distribution(concern about one’s own outcome)
ii. Integration
(concern about outcomes of others)
B) Five approaches to conflict resolution
i.
Avoidance
ii. Accommodation
iii. Confrontation
iv. Compromise
v. Collaboration
C) Collaboration is the best approach when there is
time and equal status. Styles must be changed at times depending on
situation. Confrontation is best for quick solutions to emergency situations.
V. Negotiation, Mediation, Arbitration
A) Negotiation
i.
Used for mutual agreement
i. Wine-lose
approach and try to compromising or win-win situation and search
for integrative solution
iii. Win-lose
participants use the stand tough approach or G.R.I.T approach.
iv. Win-Win participants
can use integrative bargaining/compromise
B) Mediation
i.
Mediators must have trust of both parties
ii. Must manage
hostilities
iii. Gain Commitment
iv. Must develop creative
win- win solution
v. Help parties
save face and make concessions
vi. Parties must voluntary
comply
C) Arbitration
i.
Develop integrative agreement where both sides benefit
ii. Integrative
help for when there are ongoing relationships among parties
iii. Integrative agreements
should address committee’s goal
iv. Trust and rapport from
participants are needed to help conflict management
VI. Steps to help structure negotiation of Conflict
I. Separate people from problem
II. Focus on shared interests of all parties involved
III.Develop
many problem solving options
IV. Evaluate
options by using objective criteria
V. try
again if some options don’t work or are not accepted
Chapter
8: Power and Social Influence (p. 133)
I.)Definitions
of Power and Social Influence
Social Influence- refers to the attempts to affect or change other people.
Power- is the capacity or ability to change the beliefs, attitudes, or behaviors of others.
Conformity- occurs through influence from the group in ether two ways:
-providing information about the appropriate way in which to behave
-actual grouppressure.
Why do people change due to social influence?
1.)Normative Influence- is change based on one’s desire to meet the other people’s expectations and to be accepted by others.
2.)Informational Influence- is change that is based on accepting information about the situation from others.
A.) Conformity
·Studies
show that even with merely implied social or group pressure, people are
willing to make bad judgments.
·Other
studies show that people gave into the group even though there was no direct
pressure because of informational influence and normative reasons.
·A
group of five people shows the most conformity effects.
·Conformity
effects are reduced when there is little unanimity.
B.) Obedience
A.) Bases of Power
·Two types of power: (Table 8.1, p. 137)
1.Personal or soft - comes from an individual’s characteristics or personality and this includes expert, referent, and information power.
2.Positional or harsh power -is based on one’s formal position in an organization and this includes legitimate, reward, and coercive power.
·Task interdependence – is the degree to which completing a task requires the interaction of team members.
·High levels of interdependence are more likely to be effective if they have autonomy and authority to control how they operate.
·Low levels of interdependence work independently.
·Interdependence can help a team perform better by changing the amount of power that team members have over each other.
IV.)Empowerment
·Empowerment in workplace refers to the process of giving employees more power and control over their work.Shifting of power and authority from managers to employees.
·A team cannot operate successfully if a manager controls its internal operation.
·Empowerment can increase motivation and job satisfaction, increases confidence in their ability to perform a task.
A.)Degrees of Empowerment Programs
·Variety of approaches include simple changes(e.g. suggestion boxes, employee surveys to receive input from employees), work teams, to fully empowered self-managing teams.
·To feel empowered it needs the power to make and implement decisions
·Most empowerment programs give team members control over job content(the task, & work procedure) but not over job context ( goals, reward systems, and personnel issues)
B.) Successful Empowerment Programs
·Attempt to deal with power issues such as: loss of status, lack of support from upper management, and feeling that they are being by passed.
·If the organizational culture does not support power sharing then empowerment programs should begin with activities that share only information.
·If there is resistance from supervisors and middle managers involve them in design of program or provide additional training in teamwork skills to prepare them for their new roles.
·Pool
their knowledge , which leads to new ideas and insights : process gain
·Incorrect
solutions are more likely to be identified and rejected
·Has
motivational effects:
-encourages
member to try and make good decisions and try to perform them better
-they
are more committed to a decision in which they participated à
therefore they are more likely to support in implementations
·Members
benefit by gaining a better understanding of the issues involved by participating
in discussion
·Team
learns how to make decisions
·Availability
of information from a variety ofexperiences
B.)Problems
·They
are less efficient at quick decision making because suffer from process
loss: discussions that are about coordination and social issues and
this wastes time cause it prevents groups from focusing solely on their
tasks
·Communication
problems:
-emotional
conflicts that waste time and hurt morale
-powerful
or talkative team members can dominate discussion
-discussions
can get side tracked, interrupted, and disorganized
·They
do not pool all the knowledge available and instead focus on knowledge
that is common to all the members.
·Make
reccomendations rather than a decision
II.)Factors
that cause group decisions to be superior to individual decisions
·Group
Composition
-
Heterogeneous members with complementary skills make for superior group
decisions and diversity of opinion
·Good
Communication
-Successful
pools of knowledge and ideas of the group
·Need
for Groups to Make Decisions
-Since
groups areused for tasks that are
too complex for one person
III.)Consultative,
Democratic, and Consensus decision making
A.)Consultative
decision making
·one
person has authority to make the decision, but he or she may ask for advice
and comments from team members before deciding
·used
in a team when a project is divided into parts and one person has the responsibility
to do a part.
·The
person responsible for a specific part may ask for advice and might need
to coordinate with others.
·Uses
some of the resources of the team
·Disadvantages
are:that it does not fully develop
commitment to a decision, does not resolve conflicts among team members,
and may encourage competition among team members.
B.)Democratic
Decision Making
·voting
to make a decision
·Problem:
nearly half the people could disagree and they might be unwilling to support
and implement the decision after it has been made. Prematurely close discussion
on an issue that has not been fully resolved.Creates
resentment.
·Advantage:
a quick way to include the opinions of all team members
C.)Consensus
Approach
·Requires
discussion of an issue until all members agree to accept it à
one is willing to accept and support the decision.
·Distadvantage:
time consuming
·Advantage:
best way to fully use the resources of the team
***Table
9.1, P. 157 Approaches to Group Decision Making
IV.)Factors
Useful for Evaluating a Decision making Approach
A.)Quality
-
Include group discussion and participation
B.)Speed
-prioritize
the decisions that a team needs to make
C.)Acceptance
or Support
-include
input from the team members
Interrelationship
·the
more time to make decision the more information that is gathered and better
decision making.
·The
more time to gain commitment to the decision.
V.)The
Normative
Decision-making Theory Helps Teams to Make Decisions
·The
best type of decision making approach depends on the nature of the problem.
·Two
issues: quality of decision or acceptance of the decisions, which is more
important?
·Questions
for Analyzing a Problems, Table 9.2, P. 161
·After
nature of problem is analyzed a decision tree is used to tell leader whether
to use autocratic, consultative, democratic or consensus approach.
·Theory
says:
-when
decision is important and requires support then the decision making process
should be group oriented.
-When
decision is trivialthen do not need
to discuss it
VI.)Factors
that Disrupt the Ability of Groups to Make Good Decisions
A.)Disagreements
·Premature
closure – avoid disagreement by voting to make a quick decision.
·Politics,
a domineering leader, hidden agendas, poor norms lead to disagreements
·Some
disagreement helps stimulate thinking and leads to better decsions
B.)Time
Pressure to Decide
·Respond
to time pressure by trying to make a quick decision.
·Use
decision making approaches that are simple and inadequate.
·Will
put decision making to leader or one group member, which gets rid of benefits
that comes with group analysis
C.)Outside
Stress
·Outside
forces ( external competition, upper management, other parts of the organization)pressure
group for a decision.
·Decisions
making process interupted and decisions are rushed
D.)Group
Polarization
·Group
Polarization:
The effect of a group discussion is to makethe
final decision more extreme than the average of the members. This can be
either more risky or more caustious, depending on the initial inclination
of the group.
·Risky
Shift-
when groups made more riskier decision than did individuals
·Group
Polarization occurs only when the group has an initial tendency, not when
there are major differences of opinion among the members.
·Normative
Influences–
describes how the existing group norm affects the decision-making process.
-
Group members want to create a favorable impression, so they compare their
answers to the group’s norm and then shift their positions to be more consistent
with it.
-The
group norm shifts as members shift their positions in an attempt to be
more typical of the group’s position.
·Information
influence
– is caused by the amount of exposure to information during a group discussion.
-When
a group discusses an issue, most of the discussion is from the dominant
positionà
which allows more exposure to arguments supporting dominant positionà
which cause them to shift their opinions in that direction.
E.)Groupthink
·Occurs
when group members’ desire to maintain good relations becomes more important
than reaching a good decision.
-Instead
of searching for an answer they are search for a good outcome that will
preserve harmony
·Leads
to bad decisions
·3
main factors that contribute to group think:
1.
Structural
decision making flaws- create bad decision because they impair the
group decision-making process.
Flaws
such as :
-ignoring
of input from outside sources
-a
lack of diversity in viewpoints within the group
-the
acceptance of decisions without critical analysis
-history
of accepting decision made by the leader
2.
Group
Cohesiveness – encourages group-think by creating an environment that
limits internal dissension and criticism.
3.)
External Pressure- experienced by the group leads to a set of symptoms
that show that groupthink is occuring.
-Symptoms
indicate how the group convinces itself that it has made a good decision
and that everyone in the group agrees with it.
·Techniques
to prevent groupthink is to create the role of acritical
evaluatorto comment on the
group’s decisions and processes.
·Table
9.3 Model of Group Think, p. 164
VII.)Benefits
and Problems with Structured Decision-Making Techniques
A.)Nominal
Group Think – allows a group of people to focus on the task of making a
decision without developing any social relations.
·Nominal-
does not require a true group; it can be used by a collection or people
who are brought together to make a decision.
·The
leader states the problem to groupàmembers
write down solutions in privateàthen
each states answer publiclyà
then group members rank the values of the solutions.
·Advantage:
relatively quick, discourage pressure to conform, does not require the
group members to get to know each other.
·Disadvantage:
it requires a trained facilitator and addresses only one narrowly defined
problem at a time.
B.)Delphi
Technique- uses a series of written surveys to make a decision
·Experts
given a survey with open-ended questions about problemà
solutions are summarized into proposed solutions à
they are sent back to participantsà
participants comment on them and reach consensus.
·Advantage:
used when necessary to include a specific set of people in a decision that
are not with face to face reach, and useful when there is a large amount
of disagreement
·Disadvantage:
Takes a lot of timeand requires
skills to develop and analyze surveys.
C.)Ringi
Technique – used to deal with controversial topics not face to face.
·A
written document on problem and solution is anonymously developedà
circulated among group membersàcomment
from members are used to rewrite the documentà
recirculated again until members stop writing comments.
·Disadvantage:
can be slow and no guarantee group will come to an agreement.
·Advantage:
Anonymous comments allow everyone to state their beliefs and avoid confrontation
and embaressment.
VIII.)Ways
Teams can Improve their Ability to Achieve Consensus Decision-making
·Table
9.4, pg. 169
I.) Main Benefits and Problems with using groups to make decisions
A.) Benefits
· Bring more resources to a problem
· Pool their knowledge , which leads to new ideas and insights
: process gain
· Incorrect solutions are more likely to be identified and rejected
· Has motivational effects:
- encourages member to try and make good decisions and try to perform
them better
- they are more committed to a decision in which they participated
à therefore they are more likely to support in implementations
· Members benefit by gaining a better understanding of the issues
involved by participating in discussion
· Team learns how to make decisions
· Availability of information from a variety of experiences
B.) Problems
· They are less efficient at quick decision making because suffer
from process loss: discussions that are about coordination and social issues
and this wastes time cause it prevents groups from focusing solely on their
tasks
· Communication problems:
- emotional conflicts that waste time and hurt morale
- powerful or talkative team members can dominate discussion
- discussions can get side tracked, interrupted, and disorganized
· They do not pool all the knowledge available and instead focus
on knowledge that is common to all the members.
· Make reccomendations rather than a decision
II.) Factors that cause group decisions to be superior to individual decisions
· Group Composition
- Heterogeneous members with complementary skills make for superior
group decisions and diversity of opinion
· Good Communication
- Successful pools of knowledge and ideas of the group
· Need for Groups to Make Decisions
- Since groups are used for tasks that are too complex for one
person
III.) Consultative, Democratic, and Consensus decision making
A.) Consultative decision making
· one person has authority to make the decision, but he or she
may ask for advice and comments from team members before deciding
· used in a team when a project is divided into parts and one
person has the responsibility to do a part.
· The person responsible for a specific part may ask for advice
and might need to coordinate with others.
· Uses some of the resources of the team
· Disadvantages are: that it does not fully develop commitment
to a decision, does not resolve conflicts among team members, and may encourage
competition among team members.
B.) Democratic Decision Making
· voting to make a decision
· Problem: nearly half the people could disagree and they might
be unwilling to support and implement the decision after it has been made.
Prematurely close discussion on an issue that has not been fully resolved.
Creates resentment.
· Advantage: a quick way to include the opinions of all team
members
C.) Consensus Approach
· Requires discussion of an issue until all members agree to
accept it à one is willing to accept and support the decision.
· Distadvantage: time consuming
· Advantage: best way to fully use the resources of the team
***Table 9.1, P. 157 Approaches to Group Decision Making
IV.) Factors Useful for Evaluating a Decision making Approach
A.) Quality - Include group discussion and participation
B.) Speed -prioritize the decisions that a team needs to make
C.) Acceptance or Support
- include input from the team members
Interrelationship
· the more time to make decision the more information that is
gathered and better decision making.
· The more time to gain commitment to the decision.
V.) The Normative Decision-making Theory Helps Teams to Make Decisions
· The best type of decision making approach depends on the nature
of the problem.
· Two issues: quality of decision or acceptance of the decisions,
which is more important?
· Questions for Analyzing a Problems, Table 9.2, P. 161
· After nature of problem is analyzed a decision tree is used
to tell leader whether to use autocratic, consultative, democratic or consensus
approach.
· Theory says:
- when decision is important and requires support then the decision
making process should be group oriented.
- When decision is trivial then do not need to discuss it
VI.) Factors that Disrupt the Ability of Groups to Make Good Decisions
A.) Disagreements
· Premature closure – avoid disagreement by voting to make a
quick decision.
· Politics, a domineering leader, hidden agendas, poor norms
lead to disagreements
· Some disagreement helps stimulate thinking and leads to better
decsions
B.) Time Pressure to Decide
· Respond to time pressure by trying to make a quick decision.
· Use decision making approaches that are simple and inadequate.
· Will put decision making to leader or one group member, which
gets rid of benefits that comes with group analysis
C.) Outside Stress
· Outside forces ( external competition, upper management, other
parts of the organization) pressure group for a decision.
· Decisions making process interupted and decisions are rushed
D.) Group Polarization
· Group Polarization: The effect of a group discussion is to
make the final decision more extreme than the average of the members.
This can be either more risky or more caustious, depending on the initial
inclination of the group.
· Risky Shift- when groups made more riskier decision than did
individuals
· Group Polarization occurs only when the group has an initial
tendency, not when there are major differences of opinion among the members.
· Normative Influences – describes how the existing group norm
affects the decision-making process.
- Group members want to create a favorable impression, so they compare
their answers to the group’s norm and then shift their positions to be
more consistent with it.
- The group norm shifts as members shift their positions in an attempt
to be more typical of the group’s position.
· Information influence – is caused by the amount of exposure to information during a group discussion.
- When a group discusses an issue, most of the discussion is from the dominant positionà which allows more exposure to arguments supporting dominant positionà which cause them to shift their opinions in that direction.
E.) Groupthink
· Occurs when group members’ desire to maintain good relations
becomes more important than reaching a good decision.
- Instead of searching for an answer they are search for a good outcome
that will preserve harmony
· Leads to bad decisions
· 3 main factors that contribute to group think:
1. Structural decision making flaws- create bad decision because they
impair the group decision-making process.
Flaws such as :
- ignoring of input from outside sources
- a lack of diversity in viewpoints within the group
- the acceptance of decisions without critical analysis
- history of accepting decision made by the leader
2. Group Cohesiveness – encourages group-think by creating an environment that limits internal dissension and criticism.
3.) External Pressure- experienced by the group leads to a set of symptoms that show that groupthink is occuring.
- Symptoms indicate how the group convinces itself that it has made a good decision and that everyone in the group agrees with it.
· Techniques to prevent groupthink is to create the role of a critical evaluator to comment on the group’s decisions and processes.
· Table 9.3 Model of Group Think, p. 164
VII.) Benefits and Problems with Structured Decision-Making Techniques
A.) Nominal Group Think – allows a group of people to focus on the task
of making a decision without developing any social relations.
· Nominal- does not require a true group; it can be used by
a collection or people who are brought together to make a decision.
· The leader states the problem to groupàmembers write
down solutions in privateàthen each states answer publiclyà
then group members rank the values of the solutions.
· Advantage: relatively quick, discourage pressure to conform,
does not require the group members to get to know each other.
· Disadvantage: it requires a trained facilitator and addresses
only one narrowly defined problem at a time.
B.) Delphi Technique- uses a series of written surveys to make a decision
· Experts given a survey with open-ended questions about problemà
solutions are summarized into proposed solutions à they are sent
back to participantsà participants comment on them and reach consensus.
· Advantage: used when necessary to include a specific set of
people in a decision that are not with face to face reach, and useful when
there is a large amount of disagreement
· Disadvantage: Takes a lot of time and requires skills
to develop and analyze surveys.
C.) Ringi Technique – used to deal with controversial topics not face to face.
· A written document on problem and solution is anonymously developedà
circulated among group membersàcomment from members are used to
rewrite the documentà recirculated again until members stop writing
comments.
· Disadvantage: can be slow and no guarantee group will come
to an agreement.
· Advantage: Anonymous comments allow everyone to state their
beliefs and avoid confrontation and embaressment.
VIII.) Ways Teams can Improve their Ability to Achieve Consensus Decision-making
· Table 9.4, pg. 169
Characteristics of Team Leadership
1.The leader can be selected by the organization and assigned to the team.
2.The leadership position can be rotated among the group members.
3.A team can start out rotating the leadership functions, until a leader emerges.
B.Leadership roles
1.Many teams use the STAR approach (situation or task, action, result)
2.Leaders also vary in the amount of power or authority they possess.
a.When a leader is assigned by the organization, the leader may have the authority to make the team’s decisions.
b.When the leader is elected or rotated, they have limited power and serve as the facilitator of the group.
C.Leader emergence
1.When no leader is assigned to the group, a leader emerges from the group to coordinate its actions.
D.Leadership Options For Teams
1.Designation of a leader by the organization
2.Self-managing team- In this type of team there is no leader with organizational authority and decisions are made by consensus.
a.Self Managing teams can have two types of leadership:
1.Power-building- the leader is an active person who teaches the group team skills and guides team building efforts.
2.Empowered
Leadership- the leader operates as a facilitator but does not control
the team’s work processes or major decisions.
II.Approaches To Leadership
A.Trait or Personality Theory
1.Based on the belief that good leaders have certain characteristics.
2.Some
issues with the trait theory-
a.Intelligence- Is it true that good leaders tend to be more intelligent than average people.
b.Motivation-
Successful leaders are motivated, but which type of motivation is important?
c.Flexibility-
B.Behavioral Approach
1.Defines leadership as a set of appropriate behaviors.
2.Two
issues of the behavioral approach
a.decision-making style of the leader
b.task
focus versus social focus of the leader
3.leader-member exchange model
a .This approach looks inside a work group to see how the leader and subordinates interact
b.In-group members-These members get more attention from leaders and more resources to perform their jobs.
C.Situational Approach
1.Basis for the situational approach-
a.Are leaders really important to the success of teams?
b.When are leaders important?
D.Contingency Approach
1.if the traits or behaviors cannot be separated from the situation,then they should be combined, which is the basis of the contingency approach.
III.Situational Leadership Theory
-links the leader’s behavior to the characteristics of the group.
-a developmental theory that assumes that one of the goals of leadership is to develop the team.
A.4 Basic styles of leadership-
1.Directing
2.Coaching
3.Supporting
4.Delegating
B.Two important points of the Situational Leadership Theory-
1.the leader needs to adjust their style of acting relative to the readiness of the group.
2.leadership is a developmental process and the leader’s behavior should promote group readiness.
IV.Self-Managing Teams-
-self-managing teams place their entire tasks under the control of team members.
-Reduces the need for managers, allows organizations to reduce the levels in their organizational hierarchies, and allows the remaining managers to focus on other tasks.
-Shifts the responsibility for team success to the team members.
A.Problems-
1.Resistance from middle managers and professionals who fear that the increased use of teams might reduce the need for their jobs.
B.Advantages-
1.In production teams, the team members can be cross trained.
2.When the task is routine, the need for a leader is diminished.The more experience that people have in performing the task and working as a team, the better they are able to become self-managing.
V.The Functional Approach
A.Focuses on what the leader needs to do as to help the team work efficiently.
B.The goal of this approach is to identify the factors on which the leader should focus to improve the team’s performance.
C.In this approach the leader:
1. Monitors the situation
2.Diagnoses the problems facing the team
3.Implements solutions to these problems.
D.Three main roles for team leaders:
1.Set the direction for the team
2.Needs to crate a facilitative group structure
3.The
leader needs to link the team to the organization and make sure it has
the resources and support it needs.
Problem- a dilemma with no apparent way out; an undesirable situation with no solution.
They come from the environment or within the group.
Causations of problems:
Defining and evaluating the problem seen as most
difficult steps
1st step in problem solving involves the discussion and documentation of individual views until everyone agrees on the nature of problem. Teams often are given ill-defined problems and underdeveloped criteria for evaluation. Teams that rush through the definition stage often waste time by returning to the initial stage. With evaluation, teams repeat mistakes because of lack of feedback and unwillingness to be constructive with criticism.
Three approaches to group
problem solving
vii.test alternative solutions
a.First
step-decide the criteria to be used to rate alternatives (ease of use,
time, money, etc.)
b.Use
a rating scale of not acceptable=very acceptable
3.action
plans-implementation stage, practical guide to translate solution into
reality
a.monitoring
and feedback system in place
b.larger
action plans need to be broken down
4.force
field analysis-an approach to understand factors that affect change
a.driving
force-what teams want to achieve
b.restraining
force-what obstacles lye in the way
c.F/F
analysis acts as a method to study and guide problem solving activities
·It is important to consider (1) talent, (2) learned skills, and (3) situational factors in examining creativity.
B.Process and Product (Teamwork perspective)
·The dual nature of creativity involves the search for both novel and useful ideas, as well as balancing divergent (generates ideas) and convergent (analyzes and focuses solutions) thinking.
2.Creativity is viewed as an interaction between personal and situational factors.
A.The Model of Creativity has three components (1) domain-relevant
skills, (2) creativity-relevant skills, and (3) task motivation.
II Importance of Creativity for Organizations (pg
214)
1.Organizations need to change creatively in order to survive.In order for them to become more creative, they can (1) hire creative people, (2) use group creativity effectively, and (3) create an organizational climate that promotes creativity.
III Individual vs. Group Creativity (pgs 214-219)
1.Individual
A.Intrinsic motivation encourages creativity, whereas extrinsic motivation is usually a detriment to creativity.
B.Evaluation tends to discourage creativity.
C.People are more creative when they can choose the type of task to work on (choice), and how to work on the task (freedom).
D.Conformity can inhibit creativity.
E.A person’s mental sets and paradigms limit creativity.This is because it is difficult to see a situation from a different perspective.
2.Group
A.Factors that limit creativity
·Negative or critical communication
·Interpersonal conflicts within the group
·Time (groups consume a lot of it)
·Conformity
B.Brainstorming
·The four basic rules are (1) criticism is forbidden, (2) free thinking and wild notions are encouraged, (3) numerous ideas are sought, and (4) combining and building on the ideas of others is good.
·Improves creativity in comparison to unstructured group discussions
·Does not increase the number or quality of creative ideas compared to the sum of individuals working separately.
·Computer based forms are more effective than traditional face to face forms.
C.Strengths of group activity
·Groups can develop more ideas than individuals.
·Social interaction between members can be rewarding.
·Groups can create supportive environments that encourage creativity.
·Groups with diverse backgrounds and viewpoints are more likely to reach creative solutions than a homogenous group.
D.Encouraging group creativity
·Having dissent
·Diversity of backgrounds, training, and perspectives
·Improving the brainstorming process
IV Organizational Environment and Creativity (pgs
219-222)
1.Organizations want both stability and change.This contradiction creates problems.
2.Creativity implies risk.This is because it requires (1) new perspectives, (2) questioning the ways in which the organization operates, and (3) deviating from the norms.
3.Organizations need to develop climates that support creative people and teams.They also need to promote both the task and social aspects of creativity.
4.There are environmental factors that have been shown to affect creativity in the workplace (pg 221).They include:
·Freedom
·Management
·Encouragement
·Recognition
·Cooperation
·Time
·Challenge
·Motivation
V Group Creativity Techniques (pgs 222-226)
1.Creativity flowchart (pg 223)
2.Brainstorming
3.Nominal group technique and brainwriting
A.Involves writing down individual ideas
4.Selecting a solution
A.Group members vote on a solution
5.Multiple stage process
A.Uses time as a buffer between group creativity activities
I.Defining Organizational Culture:the shared values, beliefs, and norms of anorganization.
-culture provides structural stability to the organization because it its influence is pervasive and slow
-culture reflects the shared learning by members of the organization
-team culture is defined by its values and rituals
-values – commitment, accountability, and trust
-culture effects organizational performance, leadership style, role conflicts, cooperation, and styles of decision making
A.Levels of Culture:surface rituals to underlying values
-surface level – symbols, rituals, artifacts, and stories that display the culture to members and outsiders
-strategic culture level – the shared ideas and actions that define the appropriate behavior in a variety of situations
-underlying core level – the ideologies, values, and underlying beliefs of an organization
B.Cultures as Networks:when organizations have networks of groups that develop their own styles of interacting and operating.
-how many subcultures are there?
-strong org culture – few subcultures
-weakorg culture – numerous subcultures
-poor communication when there are numerous subcultures
II.Dimensions of Organizational Culture:3 dimensions:
A.Individualism –vs- Collectivism:
-individualist culture – people with loose ties
-collectivists value the ties between people
-conflict and conformity are influenced on these dimensions
B.Power and Status:
-power – refers to the degree unequal power is accepted or rejected by people in a culture
-high power cultures – large power and status differences are acceptable
-low power cultures – opposite
-high power – problems with conformity
-low power – difficult to manage – more open communication creates more conflict
C.Uncertainty and Avoidance:
-uncertainty – the degree to which people feel threatened by and try to avoid ambiguous circumstances
-risk avoidance cultures – value social harmony more than they do change
-risk taking cultures – value change
D.Comparing the United States and Japan:
-US – individualism, low power, and risk taking
-Japan – collectivism, high power, and risk avoidance
-US management practices – control motivate, and reward individual performance
-Japan management practices – the individual does not have a job but is rather part of an organization
III.Organizational Culture and Teamwork:culture needs to support employee involvement and participation
-org culture is one of the largest predictors of the successful use of teams by companies
-org norms need to be congruent with team norms – otherwise there is conflict – Oh no!!!
-Walton and Hackman (1986) – two types of org cultures:
-control cultures – status and power are the driving forces
-commitment cultures – less hierarchical levels and a commitment to quality
-most fall between these two levels
IV.Cultures of Success and Innovation:encourage the use and development of teams
-Table 14.2 (Principles of Excellent Companies):
-Bias for action
-Close to the customer
-Autonomy and entrepreneurship
-Productivity through people
-Hands on, value driven
-Simple form, lean staff
-Simultaneous loose-tight properties
V.Changing
Organizational Culture to Support Teamwork:
A.Teams and Culture Change:
-done through communication and action because an organization’s culture is hard to change
-subcultures are a bit easier to change
B.Implementing Teams in Difficult Organizational Cultures:
-identify the unsupportive aspects of the org culture first
-can use surveys to determine the accepted changes
-training regarding acceptance and teamwork
-incremental
change – don’t shift from a traditional change to autonomous work groups
all at once – two much for some to handle – especially managers
The
use of communication technologies:
A.During
the past two decades the use of the new communication technologies has
increased.
B.The
largest impacts are often the secondary impacts.
i.Difficult
to predict secondary impacts
ii.May
prevent the development of new social relationships
iii.Might
not build a sense of community
C.Positive
Effects:
i.Improved
speed and dispersal of communication
ii.Increased
access to information
iii.Increased
amount of communication
iv.Easier
connection to others
v.Improved
planning and decision making
D.Negative
Effects:
i.Information
overload
ii.Inconsistent
access
iii.Decreased
face-to-face communication
iv.Disrupted
organizational relations
v. Increased
isolation
II.Communication
Technologies and Teams
A.Communication
and Info. Technologies can be used to support teamwork in four different
ways
i.Technologies
for gathering and presenting information (electronic white boards)
ii.Technologies
help team members to communicate both internally and with outside organizations
iii.Provide
systems to structure brainstorming, problem-solving, and decision making
activities
iv.Can
be used to help structure the group process through meeting agendas, assignment
charts, and project management tools
B.STSP
– Same time, same place meetings
i.Traditional
face to face meetings
ii.Important
to help establish social relations
C.STDP
– Same time, different place
i.Telephone,
video, and/or text
ii.Video
images are not necessarily the most useful technology
D.DTSP
– Different time, same place
i.Meetings
for work teams that work different schedules/shifts
ii.Information
technology serves as a storage team
E.DTDP
– Different time, different place
i.Team
members share the same virtual space on an intranet
ii.Ex:online
bulletin boards, chat rooms, databases
III.Characteristics
used to analyze communication technologies
A.Method
(face-to-face, group meeting, e-mail, web page, videotape)
B.Speed
(slow, moderate, fast)
C.Interactive
(low, moderate, high)
D.Richness
(low, high)
E.Social
Presence (low, moderate, high)
F.Document
Message (yes, no)
IV.Communication
Impacts
A.Status
differences
i.Early
research shows evidence that in computer-based groups the status differences
were reduced
ii.In
computer-based groups the interaction is more democratic
iii.Some
computer-based groups may still be just as aware of status differences
as in a face-to-face group
B.Deindividuation
i.This
is the “loss of self-awareness and evaluation apprehension caused by feeling
anonymous”
ii.People
may be more willing to say things they would not say in a face-to-face
meeting
iii.Size
of group plays a role in level of deindividuation
C.Conformity
i.Conformity
pressure for group members is decreased in computer-based groups
ii.Computer-based
groups have bedn found to have higher levels of conflict
iii.Computer-based
groups are also less able to resolve conflicts
D.Communication
Norms
i.Different
norms for computer-based groups
ii.“netiquette”
– etiquiette for virtual communication
V.Team
Impacts
A.Task
performance in computer groups
i.There
are not too many differences between computer and traditional groups
ii.Some
tasks may be better suited for computer groups (ex: brainstorming)
B.Decision
Making
i.Research
does not show that computer groups are superior to traditional face-to-face
groups
ii.Group
members in computer groups may feel less committed to the decision
iii.Higher
status team members might resent not being able to control the decision-making
process
iv.The
decision making process can get confusing in computer groups
v.E-mail
can be effective for routine decisions
C.Change
and Development
i.Team
members may not feel comfortable in the setting at first
ii.Over
time, they become more used to the technology
iii.Groups
that already have established relationships may be more effective in using
the technology for group work
VI.Organizational
Impacts
A.Involvement
i.Can
create new opportunities for employees
ii.Can
increase the sharing of information (ex: distribution lists)
iii.Can
create social changes in the organization: interaction across different
categories, departments, interest, etc.
B.Virtual
teams and computer-based organizations
i.Defined
as teams that rarely or never meet
ii.Can
link teams across different time zones, work hours, etc.
VII.Selecting
the right technology
A.Organizational
communication
i.The
type of technology that should be used depends on:
1.the
task
2.user
attitude
B.Differences
among types of teams
i.Production
teams use information technologies to:
1.coordinate
activities
2.track
work progress
3.communicate
with other parts of the organization
4.monitor
processes
5.analyze
production information
ii.Service
teams use information technologies to:
1.Helps
service team members to coordinate their activities
2.Improve
the coordination through better and more efficient communication
iii.Project
teams:
1.Team
members who normally could not be included can be
2.Can
use the information technologies to help monitor the progress of the team
process on the project
iv.Management
teams:
1.Often
one of the least accepting groups of information technologies
2.Use
video-conferencing more frequently
C.Team
communication
i.The
basic group process for face-to-face and computer based groups appears
to be generally the same
ii.The
group may adapt and modify the communication technologies to fit their
team
iii.Possible
limits:
1.Virtual
teams do not always develop social relations
2.May
not be able to develop a sense of trust
3.Social
development of teams may be hindered
Using Teams in the Workplace
A.Benefits of Teamwork
1.Improve efficiency and quality of organizational performance, provides flexibility in changing business world, improve employee relations.
2.Improves job satisfaction by providing social support, interesting and challenging work, and training for technical and interpersonal skills.
B.Problems of Teamwork
1.Implementing teams without considering if they are applicable
2.Limited power and power struggles with traditional hierarchy
3.Poor performance norms and levels of cohesiveness that are too high or low.
4.Resistance to changing to teamwork
5.Teams need a supportive organizational context to work.
II.Differences Among Work Teams
A.Production Teams
1.Risks – controlled by technology and can’t make changes, resistance from management
2.Opportunities – continuously work together and can improve team process and task performance
3.types of teams
a.integrated – job redesigned to be performed by team
b.parallel structure – workers analyze issues to improve quality or performance
4.Teams vary in level of power and domains of control
5.American Team Production Model
a.teams establish work process and continuously modify and improve it.
b.Teams given control over hiring and training, and may be able to evaluate each other and develop personnel policies.
c.Quality is a central concern for the supportiveness of management.
6.Possible barriers:technical infrastructure, unions, and managerial power structure.
B.Professional Teams
1.Risks – task and team are novel, they quickly develop structures and process
2.Opportunities – clear and specific goals and deadlines, and highly interdependent.
3.Charateristics
a.brought together for specific task – task, group process, products, and team members are unique and unrepeatab.e
b.given limited time frames.
c.Members from multiple functional areas – decision-making important because no one person has expertise
d.Developing norms and procedures more important because of limited time
e.Conflict – autonomous and dependent – responsible to unique team and their departments
4.Research & Development
a..Highly interdependent or leaders can integrate their work
b.most short duration, but some have long lives and go throughproducts life cycle
c.made up of technical professionals and highly specializedknowledge.
d.Advantages
1)Complexity of skills requires multiple skills and interdependence.
2)work is challenging, important and viewed as high status
3)more willing to train and provide resources to skilled professionals.
f.Disadvantages
1)don’t necessarily have social and communication skills
2)Rewards – individuals want to be rewarded for their own contributions.
3)Evaluations – From manager of team and manager of department
C.Top Management Teams
1.Risks – absence of supportive organizational context and have competitive environments
2.Opportunities – Have power to implement ideas, and can set purposes and goals
3.Charateristics
a.Set strategic directions for organization, decisions have important impact on people in organization
b.They have considerable power, authority, and independence.
c.Their goals are the same as the organization
d.Provide advice to leaders and coordination to implement decisions.
e.Do no perform tasks for which they are mutually accountable.
4.Effectiveness positively related to heterogeneity and power
5.Reasons to use top management teams
a.Decisions more likely to represent wide variety of interests in company
b.develop creative solutions
c.more support for implementation
d.develops skills of members
6.Problem – competitive environment
7.Advantages – improve members careers and train for running organizations.
III.Supporting Work Teams
A.Appropriate structure
1. define responsibilities and authority
2.establish scope and boundaries
3.provide resources
4.develop system of accountability
5.Staffing – right mix of KSA
6.Leader
a.coordinate actions with rest of organization
b.provide direction
c.support team through coaching
7.Training for team skills
8.measurement and feedback
9.Rewards
IV.The Problems with Using Work Teams
A.Calling people a team but managing them as individuals
1.treat people in team as individual performers - confusion
2.To avoid this
a.establish boundaries
b.define group and task with collective responsibilities
c.give teams authority to manage tasks
B.Falling off the authority Balance Beam
1.Managers can give teams too much or too little authority and this can make them ineffective
2.Teams can handle more authority as they mature
3.Giving teams clear goals will help with the balance of authority
C.Assembling a group of people, telling them in general terms what needs to be accomplished, and the letting them figure it out.
1.Teams need structures that define task and membership
2.define limits of authority
3.clear boundaries
4.skilled members
5.feedback and results
D.Specifying Challenging team objectives but skimping on organizational supports
1.reward systems to recognize team performance
2.training and technical support
3.Information system that helps make decisions and monitor performance.
4.material resources to complete task
E.Assuming that members already have the skills and knowledge they need to work as a team
1.Mangers need to coach members to develop skills
2.Help
them get off to a good start.
TYPES OF TEAM BUILDING PROGRAMS:
1.GOAL SETTING
2.ROLE DEFINITION
3.INTERPERSONAL PROCESS SKILLS
4.COHESION BUILDING
5.PROBLEM SOLVING
TEAM REWARD SYSTEMS:
1.Individual Rewards- Good at motivating individual performance
and cooperation in team but reduce cooperation and commitment to the team
2.Team Rewards- Encourages cooperation but might not encourage
individual motivation
3.Organizational Rewards- Encourages cooperation among
teams and commitment to the overall goals of the organization
U.S. HAS MORE OF A INDIVIDUAL BASED REWARD SYSTEM
REWARD SYSTEMS THAT COMBINE THE BENEFITS OF THESE THREE TYPES CAN BE CREATED
EVAULATION AND FEEDBACK
1.PERFORMANCE EVALUATION CAN BE USED TO MEASURE THE TEAM’S
SUCCESS AND PROVIDE IMPUT TO THE
ORGANIZATION’S REWARD SYSTEM.
2.FEEDBACK FROM PERFORMANC EVALUATIONS ALLOWS THE TEAM
TO LEARN HOW TO PERFORM BETTER. REGULAR
ASSESSMENT OF THE TEAM’S GROUP PROCESS IS
HELPFUL, ALTHOUGH THE TEAM NEEDS TO LEARN HOW TOHANDLE
NEGATIVE INFORMATION CONSTRUCTIVELY.
3.FEEDBACK CAN BE USED BY TEAM TO IDENTIFY AND CORRECT PROBLEMS IN ITS OPERATIONS.
4.TEAM PERFOMANCE MEASURES SHOULD FOCUS ON RESULT OF THE
TEAM’S PERFORMANCE AND IT’S CONTRIBUTION TO THE
ORGANIZATION, NOT INTERNAL ACTIVITIES OF THE
TEAM BECAUSE THE TEAM SHOULD BE FREE TO ACCOMPLISH IT’S GOALS
IN THE WAY IT WANTS
5.DEVELOPMENT OF TEAM PERFORMANCE SHOULD BE A PARTICIPATIVE
PROCESS THAT INCLUDES TEAM MEMBERS,
MANAGEMENT, AND POSSIBLE CUSTOMERS.
6.SPORTS AND ACTION TEAMS’ MEASUREMENTS MAY INVOLVE BOTH INDIVIDUAL AND TEAM PERFORMANCE
7.PRODUCTION AND PROJECT TEAMS’ MEASUREMENTS MAY ONLY INCLUDE
TEAM PERFOMANCE SINCE IT IS DIFFICULT TO
MEASURE INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCE SEPARATE FROM
THE TEAM’S PERFORMANCE.