3. What are teams and groups?
Does everyone use teams?
Do groups and teams go through stages while they work?
How do we create effective teams?
How do virtual teams works?
Are teams always the answer?
Objectives
4. Teams
• A small number of
people who work
closely together toward
a common objective
and are accountable to
one another.
Groups
• Two or more
people with a
common
relationship.
Teams vs. Groups: What’s the Difference?
5. Why Have Teams Become So Popular?
typically outperform
individuals when the
tasks being done
require multiple skills,
judgment, and
experience
better utilize employee
talents
can quickly assemble,
deploy, refocus, and
disband
effective means for
management to
democratize their
organizations and
increase employee
motivation
6. Exhibit 2-1 Stages of Group Development and Accompanying
Issues (The Five-Stage Model)
7. Putting the Five-Stage Model Into Perspective
Groups do not
necessarily
progress clearly
through the
stages one at a
time.
Groups can
sometimes go
back to an earlier
stage.
Conflict can
sometimes be
helpful to the
group.
Context can
matter: airline
pilots can
immediately
reach performing
stage.
8. Exhibit 2-2 The Punctuated-Equilibrium Model
Completion
Transition
First
Meeting
Phase 1
Phase 2
(High)
(Low)
A (A+B)/2
Time
B
Performance
temporary groups with deadlines have their own unique sequence of action (or inaction)
14. Personality 3 key traits
(also see Exhibit 2-5 on page 50)
Conscientious - good
at helping others and
sensing when
support is needed
Openness to
experience - better
communication and
better ideas
Team member
agreeableness - more
creative and
innovative
Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/teducation/
15. Roles – expected behaviour patterns of a person in a given position
in a social unit
Task-oriented roles
Roles performed by group members
to ensure that the tasks of the
group are accomplished.
Maintenance roles
Roles performed by group members
to maintain good relations within
the group.
Individual roles
Roles performed by group members
that are not productive for keeping
the group on task.
17. Exhibit 2-6 Roles That Build and Maintain a Team
Source: “Team Processes,” in Managing for the Future, ed. D. Ancona, T. Kochan, M. Scully, J. Van Maanen, and D. E. Westney (Cincinnati, OH: South-Western CollegePublishing, 1996), p. 9.
• Mediating conflict among other members,
reconciling disagreements, relieving tensions.Harmonizing
• Admitting error at times of group conflict.Compromising
• Making sure all members have a chance to
express their ideas and feelings and
preventing members from being interrupted.
Gatekeeping
• Helping a group member make his/her point.
Establishing a climate of acceptance in the
group.
Encouraging
19. Group Diversity
Individuals within a group can be different in
functional characteristics (jobs, positions, expertise, or
work experience) but also in demographic or cultural
characteristics (age, race, sex, and citizenship)
20. Is building a team just from people who are friends a good idea?
best for problem-solving and
decision-making tasks
diversity can bring added benefits to
a team
team member must have some
common values
need to be willing to share
information about themselves early
on
10 min sharing personal information
lowers group conflict and improves
creative performance
if not shared initially, less likely to do
so later on
22. Group Size and Social Loafing
4-5 members to have diversity of views
< 10 members is ideal
Social loafing: less effort when
working in a group than when
working individually
Belief that others are not
carrying their fair share –
reduce your own effort
No one person is responsible
so relationship between input
and output is not clear
23. Team Member Attributes
Member Flexibility
The ability of team
members to complete
each others’ tasks.
Members’
Preference for
Teamwork
Team members who
would prefer to work on
their own threaten the
team’s morale.
24. Work Design
Effective teams need to work together and take
collective responsibility to complete significant
tasks. They must be more than a “team-in-name-
only.”
26. Exhibit 2-8 Relationship Between Team Cohesiveness, Performance
Norms, and Productivity
Cohesiveness
Low
High
High
productivity
Moderate
productivity
Low
productivity
Moderate to
low productivity
PerformanceNorms
High Low
Performance norms: high output, quality work, cooperation
with individuals outside of the group
27. 21st Century Teamwork: Virtual Teams
limited social contact
can led to bonding
problems
absence of paraverbal
and nonverbal cues –
less social rapport and
are more at risk of
misunderstanding one
another
28. Exhibit 2-9 An Illustration of a Virtual Workspace
Source: Reprinted by permission of Shell Chemical LP.
29. Beware! Teams Aren’t Always the Answer
Teams work best when the
answer is yes:
Can the work be done
better by more than one
person?
Does work create a
common purpose or set
of goals for the people in
the group that is more
than the aggregate of
individual goals?
Are members of the
group interdependent?
31. Breakout Group Exercise
One of the members of your team continually
arrives late for meetings and does not turn drafts of
assignments in on time. In general this group
member is engaging in social loafing. What can the
members of your group do to reduce social loafing?
