Team development interventions aim to improve team effectiveness. Teams are becoming more common in organizations. Effective teams have open communication, trust, cooperation and consensus-based decision making. Team building techniques examine goals, structure, culture and relationships to improve work. Team development meetings analyze both tasks and team processes. The goal is to improve communication, problem solving and cooperation. Activities include data collection, planning, conducting meetings, and evaluation. Role analysis and negotiation help clarify expectations to reduce ambiguity and conflict. Outdoor training can also build team skills through experiential learning activities.
2. Organizing Around Teams
Teams are becoming a way of life in organizations.
- A group of individuals with complementary
skills who depend upon one another to
accomplish a common purpose or set of
performance goals for which they hold
themselves mutually accountable.
- Work done when the members subordinate
their personal prominence for the good of the
team.
3. Effective teams has the ff:
Open and honest members
Support and trust
High degree of cooperation and collaboration
Decisions are reached by consensus
Communication channels are opened and well developed
Strong commitment to the team’s goals
4. The Team Approach
Interdependence
- Refers to situations where one person’s performance is
contingent upon how someone else performs.
5. Team Building / Team Development
One major OD technique
Used for increasing the communication, cooperation and cohesiveness
of units to make them more productive and effective.
An intervention where the members of a work group examine such
things as their goals, structure, procedures, cultures, norms and
interpersonal relationships to improve their ability to work together
effectively and efficiently.
Reasons for using team development to improve
organizational effectiveness
1. Work group is the basic unit of organization and thus
provides a supportive change factor.
2. Operating problems of work groups are often sources of
inefficiency.
6. The Need for Team Development
- People come together because they
Natural Work do related jobs or because of the
Team structure of the organization’s
Work Teams design.
- Groups meet for limited periods to
Temporary Task work on a specific project or
Team problem and disband after they
solve it.
= Collaboration and coordination of resources
8. Categories of Team Interaction, cont...
Simple Situations
Complex Situations
Problem Situations
9. Categories of Team Interaction, cont...
Simple Situations One that can be solved by a
single individual. There is no need to
involve others except to pass along or
obtain information.
Complex Situations
Good social skills are
important, but team development is
not needed for work groups involved
Problem Situations with simple situations.
10. Categories of Team Interaction, cont...
Simple Situations
Teamwork and employee participation are not needed under the following
conditions (1/2):
Complex Situations
•The work is structured so that the tasks that make it up are highly independent
of other tasks
•There is one person who is obviously more of an expert on the subject than
anyone else, Situations
Problem and those affected by the decision acknowledge and accept that
expertise.
•There is an obvious correct answer.
•The task or problem is part of someone’s regular job assignment, and it was not
his or her idea to form the team.
11. Categories of Team Interaction, cont...
Simple Situations
Teamwork and employee participation are not needed under the following
conditions 2/2:
Complex Situations
•There is little or no interest in the issue.
•The involvement of others will not contribute to the issue, nor would their
knowledge and expertise be increased by the tam experience.
Problem Situations
•The reward or pay is based on individual performance and not on the collective
performance of the team.
•There is no time.
•Employees work more happily and productively alone.
12. Categories of Team Interaction, cont...
Simple Situations
Complex Situations
Problem Situations
13. Categories of Team Interaction, cont...
Simple Situations
Complex Situations
Problem Situations
14. Categories of Team Interaction, cont...
Encompass most of group’s
Simple Situations work. There is a need to share
information at a level that allows work
to be accomplished, because the
members cannot do the task on their
Complex Situations own.
However, input is not required
from all of the group’s members, and
Problem Situations the level of inputs is not deeply
personal.
15. Categories of Team Interaction, cont...
Simple Situations
Complex Situations
Problem Situations
16. Categories of Team Interaction, cont...
Simple Situations
Complex Situations
Problem Situations
17. Categories of Team Interaction, cont...
Simple Situations
Problem situations are
Complex Situations atypical, consequential, unprecedented,
and have an impact outside n
individual’s scope of influence.
Problem Situations
18. Categories of Team Interaction, cont...
Team approach is appropriate under the following conditions:
1. When the work is designed to be done by a team.
2. To permit members to gain new expertise and experience and to develop
and educate members.
3. To allow those who know something about the subject to become involved.
4. To build and enhance employee commitment, because teams offer increased
levels of participation in decisions.
5. To build consensus and commitment on a controversial issue.
6. To work on a problem that does not belong to any one person.
7. When rewards are based on team performance rather than individual
performance.
8. To allow more creative discussions by pulling together people of unusual
and different backgrounds and interests.
9. To avoid the obvious decision and explore a variety of effects.
20. Operating Problems of Work Teams
Individuals often have difficulty in defining and clarifying
their goals, and in work teams the problem is multiplied.
21. Operating Problems of Work Teams
Teams fill several needs of individuals, and frequently the
satisfaction of completing task is overemphasized at the
expense of social and personal needs of team members.
22. Operating Problems of Work Teams
Teams must develop norms about its behavioral patterns.
In some cases the norms lead to behavior that is antisocial
and dysfunctional for the organization.
23. Operating Problems of Work Teams
Groups that are homogeneous tend to produce
homogeneous ideas. Creative ideas and projects tend to
come from groups that have diverse backgrounds and
interests.
24. Operating Problems of Work Teams
Another frequent source of difficulty in teams is the way
decisions are made. Decisions may be made by
authoritarian decree, by majority rule, or by unanimous
rule.
25. Operating Problems of Work Teams
One key issue for teams is the degree of power and control
that the members have over themselves and others.
26. Operating Problems of Work Teams
Can consist of as few as two or as many as 25 or 30, but five
to seven is generally considered the most effective size.
People on a small team behave differently from those on a
large team.
27. Cohesiveness and Groupthink
Cohesiveness
- Refers to the unity that the members of a group
have for one another.
Groupthink
- Is a theoretical framework posited by Irving Janis to describe the problems of
group cohesiveness. It refers to “a mode of thinking that people engage in
when they are deeply involved in a cohesive in-group, when the members
striving for unanimity overrides their motivation to realistically appraise
alternative courses of action.”
28. Cohesiveness and Groupthink, cont...
Irving Janis identifies eight characteristics of groupthink
and the problems tending to result from it.
1. Illusion of invulnerability – leads them to take extraordinary risks, and
causes them to fail to respond to clear warnings of danger.
2. Rationalization – discount warnings or other negative information.
3. Illusion of morality – disregard the ethical or moral consequences of their
actions.
4. Shared stereotypes – views held by opposing group , especially by its
leaders are seen as evil or stupid that such group could not possibly
understand reasonable negotiations with one’s own group.
29. Cohesiveness and Groupthink, cont...
eight characteristics of groupthink and the problems that result, cont...
5. Direct pressure – the group applies direct pressure to any member who
expresses doubts about the group’s positions or validity of the arguments
supporting a position.
6. Self-censorship – members of the group do not express views that differ
from what appears to be a group consensus and minimize to themselves the
importance of their doubts.
7. Illusion of unanimity – illusory belief that all members of the group are
all in agreement. Partly based on false assumption that those who remain
silent agree with the group.
8. Mind guards - self-appointed members protect the leader and other
members from adverse information external to the group that might disrupt
the group’s cohesiveness.
30. The Purpose of Team Development
Intensive examination of team operation focusing upon how members
function as a team, and how they can overcome operating problems and
improve their efficiency.
31. Goals of team development:
Identify objectives and set priorities.
It should not be inferred that conflict within a team leads to
ineffectiveness team’s content or task performance.
Examine the and, therefore, should be avoided.
Analyze the group process; that is, how the group is functioning.
CONFLICT is a natural social interaction.
Improve communications and relationships among group members.
Managers the team’s abilityto solve problems.
Improve should be able to recognize its types and channel such to
appropriate directions. competition and increase cooperation among team
Decrease unhealthy
members.
OD practitioner’s responsibility to find effective methods to deal with conflicts
Work more effectively with other teams in the organization.
and resolve any unhealthy conflicts.
Increase team members’ respect for one another’s individual
differences.
32. The Team Development Process
Team development is an educational process of
continually reviewing and evaluating team functioning in
order to identify and establish new and more effective
ways of operating.
Two distinct types of activities :
1. Family group 2. Family group team
diagnostic meetings building meetings
33. Team development process, cont...
Team development meeting has two objectives:
1. The task or work agenda of the group
2. The processes by which team members work on the task
The main purpose is to get team members involved in solving problems and
in the decision-making process.
34. Team development process, cont...
6 Steps:
STEP 1: INITIATING THE TEAM DEVELOPMENT MEETING
Within an organization, the initiation of a team development meeting may
come from several different sources. This may be initiated by a manager
within or not the team , and in cases a practitioner.
STEP 2: SETTING OBJECTIVES
The objectives might consist of evaluating the working process of the team or
improving its effectiveness. Some pertinent questions: What is the purpose
of the meeting? What do participants want to do? Why this group of people
at this time? How will team development be measured or evaluated?
35. Team development process, cont...
6 Steps:
STEP 3: COLLECTING DATA
Data collection may be in various ways, but as much information as possible
is gathered before the meeting.
STEP 4: PLANNING THE MEETING
Few attendees and will take place once the data has been analyzed. It is at
this point where the goals and objectives are restated as precise as possible.
Includes the logistics, such as arranging for time and place. This stage will
also ensure that all necessary personnel and resources are available.
36. Team development process, cont...
6 Steps:
STEP 5: CONDUCTING THE MEETING
Usually lasts two to three days. It is preferable that the physical setting be on
neutral territory and ways from the work area. Major reason is to put
everyone on a more equal level. Also lessens the opportunities for
interruption. A list of action items should be made, responsible party and
time schedule.
STEP 6: EVALUATING THE TEAM DEVELOPMENT PROCESS
Examine the action items, exploring those that have been or are being carried
out and those that are not working.
37. Outdoor Experiential Laboratory Training
•sometimes called outdoor labs, wilderness labs, adventure learning,
or the corporate boot camp
•become a common technique for team development and leadership
training
•The idea is to take a group of people who normally work with one
another and put them in an outdoor setting where they participate in
experiential learning activities.
•offered by specialized training companies
•assessments should be made before and after
•Safety should be a major concern
38. Role Negotiation
-Is directed at the work relationships among team members
-During negotiations, managers frankly discuss what they want from
each other and explain why.
Steps in role negotiation:
1. Contract setting. Each member prepares a list for each of the other
members with three headings: (a) things to do more, (b) things to do less, and
( c) things to do the same.
39. Role negotiations, cont...
Steps in role negotiation, cont:
2. Issue diagnosis. Each member writes out a master list combining the lists
written about him or her and posts it on the wall. Members are asked to clarify
any items that need explanation.
3. Role negotiation. After the clarification, members decide which items they
want most and form onto pairs to negotiate, usually with a third party to help
in the process.
4. Written role negotiation agreement. The outcome of the role negotiations is
written down and spells out the agreements and concessions that each party
finds satisfactory.
40. Role Analysis
-Another team development intervention called role analysis
technique (RAT), designed to clarify role expectations.
-Used to clarify role discrepancies
Role expectations
- Behaviors expected or prescribed for one member of the team
(the role incumbent) by the other team members
Role conception
- Focal person’s own ideas about appropriate role behavior
41. Role analysis, cont...
Role ambiguity Role conflict
- Refers to the situation - Occurs when there is a
where a role incumbent is discrepancy between the role
unaware of or lacks expectations and role
sufficient knowledge about conception.
the expectations for the role
held by other members.
This intervention is based on the premise that consensual agreement about
team member roles will lead to a more productive and satisfied team.
42. Role analysis, cont...
The steps in the role analysis technique as ff:
1. Role Analysis
2. The role incumbent’s expectations of others
3. Role expectations by others
4. Role profile
5. Repeat process
6. Review