GROUP & TEAM CONCEPT:Groups versus Teams, Deciding When to Use a Team

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Leadership & Team Management MGMT 623

Lesson 25

GROUP & TEAM CONCEPT

Groups Dynamics:

Work groups are the basic building blocks of an organization. Work groups use roles, rules, and norms

to control their members' behavior, and they use several socialization tactics to turn newcomers into

effective group members. Groups contribute to organizational effectiveness when group goals are

aligned with organizational goals.

Groups and Teams: A group is defined as two or more individuals, interacting and interdependent,

who have come together to achieve particular objectives.

A group is a set of two or more people who interact with each other to achieve certain goals or meet

certain needs.

A team is a formal work group in which there is a high level of interaction among group members who

work intensely together to achieve a common goal. A group whose members work intensely with each

other to achieve a specific, common goal or objective is known as Team. All teams are groups but not

all groups are teams.

Teams often are difficult to form.

It takes time for members to learn how to work together.

A group/team is effective when it satisfies three criteria:

Production output: the product of the group's work must meet or exceed standards of quality

and quantity

Member satisfaction: membership in the group must provide people with short-term

satisfaction and facilitate their long-term growth and development

Capacity for continued cooperation: how the group completes a task should maintain or

enhance the group's ability to work together; groups that don't cooperate cannot survive

Groups versus Teams:

All teams are groups

Some groups are just people assembled together

Teams have task interdependence whereas some groups do not..

Why Do People Join Groups?

· Security

Status

Social needs

Power

Goal Achievement

Types of Groups: There are many types of groups in organizations, and each type plays an important

role in determining organizational effectiveness.

a. Managers establish formal work groups to help the organization achieve its goals. The goals of a

formal work group are determined by the needs of the organization.

b. Informal work groups emerge naturally in organizations because organizational members

perceive that membership in a group will help them achieve their goals or meet their needs.

Types of Formal Work Groups. Types include;

Command group: a collection of subordinates who report to the same supervisor.

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1. Command groups are based on the basic reporting relationships in organizations and are frequently

represented on organizational charts as departments.

2. These groups have a profound effect on the extent to which an organization is able to achieve its

goals.

A task force is a collection of people who come together to accomplish a specific goal. Once the goal

has been accomplished, the task force is usually disbanded.

1. A standing committee or task groups are task forces that may be enduring (though members may

change) or permanent in nature.

A team is a formal work group in which there is a high level of interaction among group members who

work intensely together to achieve a common group goal.

1. A cross-functional team consists of groups of people from different departments such as

engineering, marketing, and finance.

Types of Informal Work Groups.

A friendship group is a collection of organizational members who enjoy each other's company and

socialize with each other (often both on and off the job).

Members of an organization form interest groups when they have a common goal or objective (related

to their organizational membership) that they are trying to achieve by uniting their efforts.

Group Productivity:

Synergy is a biological term referring to an action of two or more substances that result in an effect

that is more than the mere summation of the individual substances; the whole is more than the sum

of its parts (2 + 2 = 5).

Process loss is the difference between what is actually produced by a group and what could have

been produced by the group when you consider its inputs (2 + 2 = 3).

Characteristics of a Well-Functioning, Effective Group:

o Relaxed, comfortable, informal atmosphere

o Task well understood & accepted

o Members listen well & participate

o People express feelings & ideas

o Conflict & disagreement center around ideas or methods

o Group aware of its operation & function

o Consensus decision making

o Clear assignments made & accepted

Groups' and Teams' Contributions to Organizational Effectiveness:

Teams:

Teams are groups with greater interdependence--shared purpose and destiny. Can be higher performing

than groups, but may not be...

Why Have Teams Become So Popular?

· Teams typically outperform individuals.

· Teams use employee talents better.

· Teams are more flexible and responsive to changes in the environment.

· Teams facilitate employee involvement.

· Teams are an effective way to increase motivation.

Twenty years ago, it made news because no one else was doing it. Today, it is the organization

that does not use teams that has become newsworthy.

The current popularity of teams seems based on the evidence that teams typically outperform

individuals when the tasks being done require multiple skills, judgment, and experience.

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As organizations have restructured, they have turned to teams to better utilize employee talents.

The motivational properties of teams = significant factor. The role of employee involvement as

a motivator--teams facilitate employee participation in operating decisions.

"It's easy to get players. Gettin'

`em to play together, that's the hard part,."

Casey Stengel

Deciding When to Use a Team:

Always use a team when many perspectives are needed and acceptance of decision is critical and you

need more options to take the decision. Use team when the problem is complex and unstructured and

you need to get advice and suggestions to solve the problem. When individuals judgments are

unreliable and individuals are unwilling to take necessary risks.

Be Cautious About Using a Team When:

The issue is unimportant

Individuals don't want to participate

Individual risk preferences are too high

Time is of the essence

Group norms are unacceptable

Crucial Activities for Team: An employee's success is no longer defined in terms of individual

performance. To perform well as team members, individuals must be able to communicate openly and

honestly, to confront differences and resolve conflicts, and to sublimate personal goals for the good of

the team. The challenge of creating team players will be greatest where:

o The national culture is highly individualistic.

o The teams are being introduced into an established organization that has historically valued

individual achievement.

On the other hand, the challenge for management is less demanding when teams are introduced where

employees have strong collectivist values or in new organizations that use teams initially for organizing

work.

o Get Organized

o Maintain Communications

o Fix Obvious Problems

o Document Progress, Problems, and Rationale

o Have a process in place for major team decisions

Dealing with Problem Behaviors: Unlike written rules, which are formal descriptions of actions and

behaviors required by a group or Organization, group norms are informal rules of conduct for behaviors

that are considered important by most group members; often, they are not put in writing. Groups

enforce their norms by rewarding members who conform to the norm by behaving in the specified

manner and punishing members who deviate from the norm.

o When members share a common idea of acceptable behavior, they can monitor each other's

behavior to make sure they are following the group's norms.

o When norms exist, group members do not have to waste time thinking about what to do in a

particular situation; norms guide their actions and specify how they should behave.

o When people share common norms, they can predict how others will behave in certain situations

and thus anticipate one another's actions.

Choose team members carefully.

Offer training.

Provide clear goals.

Clearly define member responsibilities.

Use peer evaluations.

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o Reward superior performance.

o Don't let social considerations overwhelm concern with the task.

o Remove problem team members as a last resort.

Is it true that

everyone's

responsibility is, in

reality, nobody's

responsibility?

-- Anonymous

Developing Effective Teams: Team always plays a dynamic role in the organizational development. It

is a responsibility of a leader to develop an effective team for achievement of organization goals.

Introduction

o Two caveats:

First, teams differ in form and structure--be careful not to rigidly apply the model's predictions to all

teams. Second, the model assumes that it is already been determined that teamwork is preferable over

individual work. Four key components:

o Contextual influences

o Team's composition

o Work design

o Process variables

Context

1. Adequate Resources

· All work teams rely on resources outside the group to sustain it.

· A scarcity of resources directly reduces the ability of the team to perform its job effectively.

· As one set of researchers concluded, "perhaps one of the most important characteristics of an

effective work group is the support the group receives from the organization.''

2. Leadership and Structure

o Agreeing on the specifics of work and how they fit together to integrate individual skills

requires team leadership and structure.

o Leadership is not always needed. Self-managed work teams often perform better than

teams with formally appointed leaders.

o Influence team performance:

o The leader's expectations and his or her mood.

o Leaders who expect good things from their team are more likely to get them!

3. Performance Evaluation and Reward Systems

o How do you get team members to be both individually and jointly accountable? The

traditional, individually oriented evaluation and reward system must be modified to reflect

team performance.

o Individual performance evaluations, fixed hourly wages, individual incentives are not

consistent with the development of high-performance teams.

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o Management should consider group-based appraisals, profit sharing, gain sharing, small-

group incentives, and other system modifications that will reinforce team effort and

commitment.

Composition

1. Abilities of Members

· Teams require three different types of skills:

Technical expertise

Problem-solving and decision-making skills

Good listening, feedback, conflict resolution, and other interpersonal skills

The right mix is crucial. It is not uncommon for one or more members to take responsibility to

learn the skills in which the group is deficient, thereby allowing the team to reach its full

potential.

2. Personality

Many of the dimensions identified in the Big Five personality model have shown to be relevant to

team effectiveness.

Teams that rate higher in mean levels of extraversion, agreeableness,

conscientiousness, and emotional stability tend to receive higher managerial ratings for

team performance.

The variance in personality characteristics may be more important than the mean. A

single team member who lacks a minimal level of, say, agreeableness can negatively

affect the whole team's performance.

3. Allocating Roles

Teams have different needs, and people should be selected for a team to ensure that there is

diversity and that all various roles are filled.

Managers need to understand the individual strengths that each person can bring to a

team, select members with their strengths in mind, and allocate work assignments

accordingly.

4. Diversity

o Diversity in terms of personality, gender, age, educational, functional specialization, and

experience increase the probability that the team will complete its tasks effectively.

o Racial and national differences interfere with team processes in the short term.

o Over time, however, culturally diverse teams function effectively over time.

o The degree to which members of a group share common characteristics such as age, sex,

race educational level, or length of service, is termed group demography.

o Cohorts are defined as individual who hold a common attribute.

5. Size of Teams

o The most effective teams are neither very small (under four or five) nor very large (over a

dozen). Effective teams--managers should keep them under 10 people.

o Very small teams are likely to lack for diversity of views.

o Large teams have difficulty getting much done.

6. Member Flexibility

o This is an obvious plus because it greatly improves its adaptability and makes it less reliant

on any single member.

7. Member Preferences

o Not every employee is a team player.

o Given the option, many employees will select themselves out of team participation.

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o High performing teams are likely to be composed of people who prefer working as part of a

group.

Work Design

o Includes variables like freedom and autonomy, the opportunity to use different skills and

talents, the ability to complete a whole task.

Process

1. Common Purpose

o Effective teams have a common and meaningful purpose that provides direction,

momentum, and commitment for members.

o This purpose is a vision. It is broader than specific goals.

2. Specific Goals

o Successful teams translate their common purpose into specific, measurable, and realistic

performance goals. They energize the team.

o Specific goals facilitate clear communication and help teams maintain their focus on

results. Team goals should be challenging.

3. Team Efficacy

o Effective teams have confidence in themselves and believe they can succeed--this is team

efficacy. Success breeds success.

o Management can increase team efficacy by helping the team to achieve small successes and

skill training.

Small successes build team confidence.

The greater the abilities of team members, the greater the likelihood that

the team will develop confidence and the capability to deliver that

confidence.

4. Conflict Levels

o Conflict on a team is not necessarily bad. Teams that are completely void of conflict are

likely to become apathetic and stagnant.

o Relationship conflicts--those based on interpersonal incompatibilities, tension, and

animosity toward others--are almost always dysfunctional.

o On teams performing non routine activities, disagreements among members about task

content (called task conflicts) are not detrimental. It is often beneficial because it lessens

the likelihood of groupthink.

5. Social Loafing

o Individuals can hide inside a group. Effective teams undermine this tendency by holding

themselves accountable at both the individual and team level.

For the effectiveness of a team

Training

Empowerment

Communication

Reward

Building Trust: Members of effective teams trust each other and exhibit trust in their leaders. When

members trust each other they are more willing to take risks. When members trust their leadership they

are more willing to commit to their leader's goals and decisions.

Work for others' interests as well as own

Be a team player.

Practice openness.

Be fair.

Speak your feelings.

Show consistency in basic values.

Maintain confidence.

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Demonstrate competence.

Teamwork Do's

o Articulate a goal everyone can identify with

o Provide a plan or job for each member

o Provide a mechanism for communication

o Create an environment conducive to teamwork

o Provide effective feedback

o Provide Motivation

Teamwork Don'ts

Don't Micromanage

Don't withhold information, or work around members

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