ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR &

DEVELOPMENT
`
CHAPTER 9 – UNDERSTANDING
WORK TEAMS
 WHY HAVE TEAMS BECOME SO
POPULAR
• It’s a great way to use employee talents
• Teams are more flexible and responsive to change in
the environment
• Can quickly assemble, deploy, refocus and disband
• Facilitate employee involvement
• Increase employee participation in decision making
• Democratize an organization and increase motivation
• But Teams are not Always effective
 Difference between Work Group &
Work Teams
• Work Group – A group that interacts primarily
to share information and to make decisions to
help each group member perform within his or
her area of responsibility.

• Work Team – Generates positive synergy

through coordinated efforts. The Individual
efforts results in performance that is greater
than the sum of the individual inputs.
 TYPES OF TEAMS

Problem-Solving Team –
Group of 5 to 12
employees from the
same department who
meet for a few hours
each week to discuss
ways of improving
quality, efficiency and
the work environment.
Self-Managed Work
Teams
– Group of 10-15
people who take on
the responsibilities
of their former
supervisors
 Cross-functional Team
–Employees from
about the same
hierarchical level, but
from different work
areas, who come
together to accomplish
a task
– Very Common
– Task forces
– Committees
Virtual Teams –
Teams that use
computers
technology to tie
together physically
dispersed members
in order to achieve a
common goal.
 Primary Factors that differentiate
virtual teams from face to face
teams
• The absence of paraverbal and nonverbal
cues
• Limited social context
• The ability to overcome time and space
constraints
• To be effective, needs
– Trust
– Close monitoring
– To be publicized
Beware! Teams Aren’t Always the
Answer
• Teams take more time and resources than doe’s
individual work.
• Three tests to see if a team fits the situation:
– Is the work complex and is there a need for different
perspectives: will it be better with the insights of more than
one person?
– Does the work create a common purpose or set of goals for
the group that is larger than the aggregate of the goals for
individuals?
– Are members of the group involved in interdependent tasks?
 CREATING EFFECTIVE TEAMS
• Effective Teams – Made up of members who
have the skills necessary to accomplish their
goals
• Effective teams subsumed into 4 general
categories.
 Work Design – Work together and
take collective responsibility to
complete significant tasks.
1.Freedom & Autonomy – ability to work
independently
2.Skill Variety – ability to use different skills and
talents
3.Task Identity – ability to complete a whole and
identifiable task or product
4.Task Significance – working on a task or project
that has a substantial impact on others
  Composition
 Abilities of Members – to perform effectively, a
team requires 3 different types of skills.
1.Technical expertise
2.Problem-solving and decision making skills – to be
able to identify problems, generate alternatives,
evaluate those alternatives and make competent
choices.
3. Interpersonal skills - Teams needs people with
good listening, feedback, conflict resolution.
Personality – Teams that are rate higher in
mean levels of extroversion, agreeableness,
conscientiousness and emotional stability tend
to receive higher managerial ratings for team
performance.
Allocating Roles & Diversity – 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.
 Size of Teams – Ideally, team should have 7-9
people.
 Member Flexibility - It greatly improves
adaptability and makes it less reliant on any
single member.
 Member Preference – Many people will select
themselves out of team participation.
  Context
Factors determine whether Teams are Successful
1.Adequate Resources – Teams are part of a larger organization
system; every work team relies on resources outside the group to
sustain it.
2.Leadership & Structures – Team can’t function if they can’t agree
who is to do what and ensure all members share the workload.
Agreeing to the specifics of work and how the team fits together to
integrate individual skills requires team leadership and structures.
3.Climate of Trust – members must trust each other and the leader
4.Performance Evaluation & Reward System – Cannot just be based
on individual effort.
 Process – members commitment to
a common purpose, establishment
of specific team goals, team
efficacy, a managed level
of conflict and minimizing social
loafing.
1. Common Purpose – create a common purpose that
provides direction
- Have reflexibility ; wiling to adjust plan if necessary
2. Specific Goals – must be specific, measurable, realistic,
and challenging
3. Team Efficacy – team believes in its ability to succeed
4. Conflict Levels – task conflict are helpful; interpersonal
conflict are not
5. Social Loafing – teams holds it self accountable both
individually and as a team
 TURNING INDIVIDUALS INTO
TEAM PLAYERS
The Challenges
– Overcoming individual resistance to team
membership.
– Countering the influence of individualistic
cultures.
– Introducing teams in an organization that has
historically valued individual achievement.
Shaping Team Players
– Selecting employees who can fulfill their team
roles.
– Training employees to become team players.
– Reworking the reward system to encourage
cooperative efforts while continuing to recognize
individual contributions
 Selection
– Make team skills one of the interpersonal skills in the
hiring process.
 Training
– Individualistic people can learn
 Rewards
– Rework the reward system to encourage cooperative
efforts rather than competitive (individual) ones
– Continue to recognize individual contributions while still
emphasizing the importance of teamwork
Contemporary Issues in Managing Teams
Teams & Quality Management
• Team Effectiveness and Quality (TQM)
Management Requires That Teams:
– Are small enough to be efficient and effective.
– Are properly trained in required skills.
– Allocated enough time to work on problems.
– Are given authority to resolve problems and take
corrective action.
– Have a designated “champion” to call on when
needed.
 GLOBAL IMPLICATIONS
• Extent of Teamwork
– Other countries use teams more often than does the U.S.
– Self-Managed Teams
– Do not work well in countries with low tolerances for
ambiguity and uncertainty and a high power distance
– Team Cultural Diversity and Team Performance
– Diversity caused by national differences interferes with
team efficiency, at least in the short run
– After about three months the differences between
diverse and non-diverse team performance disappear
 SUMMARY AND IMPLICATIONS
FOR MANAGERS
• Effective teams have common characteristics:
– Adequate resources
– Effective leadership
– A climate of trust
– Appropriate reward and evaluation systems
– Composed of members with correct skills and roles
– Are smaller
– Do work that provides freedom, autonomy, and the chance to
contribute
– The tasks are whole and significant
– Have members who believe in the team’s capabilities
• Managers should modify the environment and
select team-oriented individuals to increase
the chance of developing effective teams
END