CH-7 Groups and Teams – Organizational Behavior: Managing People and Organizations : Book Guide

Chapter Seven – Groups and Teams Chapter Overview In Chapter 1 we noted the pervasiveness of human behavior in organizations and the importance of interactions among people as critical to achieving important outcomes for organizations. Indeed, a great deal of all managerial work involves interacting with other people, both directly and indirectly and both inside and outside the organization. Moreover, much of the work in organizations is accomplished by people working together in groups and teams. This chapter is the first of four that deal primarily with interpersonal processes in organizations. The opening pages to this part again present the organizing framework for this book we developed back in Chapter 1. This will enable you to better understand where we are in our discussion and what lies ahead. We begin in this chapter by discussing groups and teams in organizations. In the next three chapters in this part we focus on decision making and problem solving (Chapter 8), interpersonal communication (Chapter 9), and conflict and negotiation (Chapter 10). Learning Outcomes After studying this chapter, students should be able to: 1. Define groups and teams and identify and describe several types of each. 2. Identify the five core group performance factors and relate them to groups and teams in organizations. 3. Discuss the stages of group and team development, other team performance factors, and the implementation process in the context of creating new teams. 4. Identify the primary benefits and costs of teams, how managers can promote effective team performance, and important team competencies. 5. Describe emerging team opportunities and challenges related to virtual teams and diversity and multicultural teams. Real World Challenge: Teamwork at Starbucks Summary: Coffee giant Starbucks believes that teamwork is essential to its strategic execution and ultimate success. Reinforcing this belief, Starbucks’ core values include teamwork, diversity and equal participation. Real World Challenge: How should Starbucks handle its expansion into South Korea considering the country’s different national and organizational culture? Real World Response: Starbucks decided to stay true to its culture and values but to be sensitive to the cultural needs and expectation of its South Korean employees. Chapter Outline I. TYPES OF GROUPS AND TEAMS There are literally hundreds of definitions of the term group. We will simply define a group as two or more persons who interact with one another such that each person influences and is influenced by each other person. Coworkers may work side by side on related tasks—but if they do not interact, they are not a group. We should also note that groups and teams are not necessarily the same thing. All teams are groups, but not all groups are teams. We will define teams as an interdependent collection of at least two individuals who share a common goal and share accountability for the team’s as well as their own outcomes. A key part of this definition is that team members are interdependent with respect to information, resources, and skills. As tasks become more complex, they require greater coordination among team members. Communication and collaboration demands also increase dramatically. So, all teams are groups, but groups are not necessarily teams. A. Workgroups Workgroups are formal groups established by the organization to do its work. Workgroups include command (or functional) groups and affinity groups (as well as teams). A command group is relatively permanent and is characterized by functional reporting relationships such as having both a group manager and those who report to the manager. Command groups are usually included in the organization chart. Affinity groups are relatively permanent collections of employees from the same level in the organization who meet on a regular basis to share information, capture emerging opportunities, and solve problems. In business organizations, most employees work in command groups, with the size, shape, and organization of the group can vary considerably. The customer service department is an example. Affinity groups are a special type of formal group: They are set up by the organization, yet they are not really part of the formal organization structure. They are not really command groups because they are not part of the organizational hierarchy, yet they are not task groups because they stay in existence longer than any one task. The members of affinity groups usually have very similar job titles and similar duties but are in different divisions or departments within the organization. The greatest benefits of affinity groups are that they cross existing boundaries of the organization and facilitate better communication among diverse departments and divisions throughout the organization. Groups focusing on Chinese culture, or gender issues are examples, or even a book club. B. Teams Organizations also use a wide variety of different types of teams. The most common types of teams are summarized in Table 7.1. Each type of team is composed of different members and responsible for different types of tasks. The members of functional teams come from the same department or functional area. A team of marketing employees and a team of finance employees are examples of functional teams. Cross-functional teams have members from different departments or functional areas. This is one of the most common types of work teams. An example of a cross-functional team is a top management team with members representing different functions or units of the organization. Cross-functional teams have several strengths. In addition to getting things done faster, they can increase creativity, improve a firm’s ability to solve complex problems, and increase employees’ knowledge about other areas of the organization. Team diversity must be managed in a cross-functional team. Problem-solving teams are teams established to solve problems and make improvements at work. The core strength of problem-solving teams is that because employees are the ones actually doing the work, they usually know the job best. Problem-solving teams can also increase employees’ commitment to decisions because they were involved in making them. Self-directed teams set their own goals and pursue them in ways decided by the team. Self-directed teams can improve commitment, quality, and efficiency. Cross-trained team members also help to increase the flexibility of the team during staffing shortages. Self-directed teams are difficult to implement, however, as they require specific self-management and team skills that many employees lack. Venture teams are teams that operate semi-autonomously to create and develop new products (product development teams), processes (process design teams), or businesses (venture teams). Separating a team from the formal structure of the rest of the organization can enhance its innovativeness and speed up cycle time. Virtual teams are teams of geographically and/or organizationally dispersed coworkers who communicate using the Internet and other information technologies. You will learn more about virtual teams later in this chapter. Global teams have members from different countries. Global teams can be virtual or meet face-to-face. C. Informal Groups Whereas formal groups and teams are established by an organization, informal groups are formed by their members and consist of friendship groups, which are relatively permanent, and interest groups, which may be shorter-lived. Friendship groups arise out of cordial relationships among members and the enjoyment they get from being together. Interest groups are organized around a common activity or interest, although friendships may develop among members. Good examples of interest groups are the networks of working women that have developed over the last few decades. Many of these groups began as informal social gatherings but soon developed into interest groups. These groups may be partly responsible for the dramatic increase in the percentage of women in managerial and administrative jobs. II. GROUP PERFORMANCE FACTORS The performance of any group is affected by several factors (in addition to its reasons for forming and the stages of its development, discussed later). The five basic group performance factors are composition, size, norms, cohesiveness, and informal leadership. A. Group Composition The composition of a group plays an important role in determining group productivity. Group composition is most often described in terms of the homogeneity or heterogeneity of the members. A group is homogeneous if the members are similar in one or several ways that are critical to the work of the group, such as in age, work experience, education, technical specialty, or cultural background. In heterogeneous groups, the members differ in one or more ways that are critical to the work of the group. Groups with members of different ages and experiences with the group tend to experience frequent changes in membership. A homogeneous group is likely to be more productive when the group task is simple, cooperation is necessary, the group tasks are sequential, or quick action is required. A heterogeneous group is more likely to be productive when the task is complex, requires a collective effort, demands creativity, and when speed is less important than thorough deliberations. A homogeneous group tends to have less conflict, fewer differences of opinion, smoother communication, and more interactions. With a heterogeneous group, more discussion and more conflict are likely, both of which can enhance the group’s decision making. Group composition becomes especially important as organizations become increasingly more culturally diverse. In general, a manager in charge of a culturally diverse group can expect several things. At first, members will probably distrust one another. Stereotyping will present a problem, and communication problems will almost certainly arise. Managers may therefore need to spend more time helping a culturally diverse group through the rough spots as it matures, and they should allow a longer-than-normal time before expecting it to carry out its assigned task. B. Group Size A group can have as few as two members or as many members as can interact and influence one another. Group size can have an important effect on performance. Interactions and communication are much more likely to be formalized in larger groups. Also, the large size may inhibit participation of some people and increase absenteeism; some people may stop trying to make a meaningful contribution. Large groups present more opportunities for interpersonal attraction, leading to more social interactions and fewer task interactions. Social loafing is the tendency of some members of groups not to put forth as much effort in a group situation as they would be working alone. The most effective size of a group, therefore, is determined by the group members’ ability to interact and influence each other effectively. C. Group Norms A norm is a standard against which the appropriateness of a behavior is judged. Group norms usually are established during the second stage of group development and are carried forward into the maturity stage. Without norms, the activities in a group would be chaotic. Norms result from the combination of members’ personality characteristics, the situation, the task, and the historical traditions of the group. Norms can be positive or negative for individual and organizational outcomes because group members tend to follow them even if the consequences are negative. Group norms are enforced, however, only for actions that are important to group members. Norms serve four purposes in organizations. First, they help the group survive. Second, they simplify and make more predictable the behaviors expected of group members. Third, norms help the group avoid embarrassing situations. And finally, norms express the central values of the group and identify the group to others. D. Group Cohesiveness Group cohesiveness is the extent to which a group is committed to remaining together; it results from forces acting on the members to remain in the group. The forces that create cohesiveness are attraction to the group, resistance to leaving the group, and motivation to remain a member of the group. As shown in Figure 7.1, group cohesiveness is related to many aspects of group dynamics: maturity, homogeneity, manageable size, and frequency of interactions. The figure also shows that group cohesiveness can be increased by competition or by the presence of an external threat. Either factor can focus members’ attention on a clearly defined goal and increase their willingness to work together. Finally, successfully reaching goals often increases the cohesiveness of a group because people are proud to be identified with a winner and to be thought of as competent and successful. Highly cohesive groups appear to be more effective at achieving their goals than groups that are low in cohesiveness, especially in research and development groups in U.S. companies. However, highly cohesive groups will not necessarily be more productive in an organizational sense than groups with low cohesiveness. If a highly cohesive group has the goal of contributing to the good of the organization, it is very likely to be productive in organizational terms. Cohesiveness may also be a primary factor in the development of certain problems for some decision-making groups. An example is groupthink, which occurs when a group’s overriding concern is a unanimous decision rather than critical analysis of alternatives. Finally, there is emerging evidence that the emotional intelligence of group members can promote cohesiveness. In this context emotional intelligence refers to interpersonal capability that includes the ability to perceive and express emotions, to understand and use them, and to manage emotions in oneself and other people. E. Informal Leadership The final group performance factor is informal leadership. Most functional groups and teams have a formal leader—that is, one appointed by the organization or chosen or elected by the members of the group. Even when a formal leader is designated, the group or team may also look to others for leadership. An informal leader is a person who engages in leadership activities but whose right to do so has not been formally recognized. The formal and the informal leader in any group or team may be the same person, or they may be different people. Is informal leadership desirable? In many cases informal leaders are quite powerful because they draw from referent or expert power. When they are working in the best interests of the organization, they can be a tremendous asset. However, when informal leaders work counter to the goals of the organization, they can cause significant difficulties. III. CREATING NEW GROUPS AND TEAMS Managers frequently have the opportunity to create new groups and teams. In general, if a new group or team is being created, managers should be aware of the stages that groups and teams go through, understand how various performance factors should be considered, and be aware of the formal process experts suggest for implementing teams. A. Stages of Group and Team Development Traditional research on small groups has focused on a four-stage development process: (1) mutual acceptance, (2) communication and decision making, (3) motivation and productivity, and (4) control and organization. The stages and the activities that typify them are shown in Figure 7.3. 1. Mutual Acceptance In the mutual acceptance stage of group development (also called the forming stage), the group forms, and members get to know one another by sharing information about themselves. This stage may be brief, but it is unlikely to be skipped altogether. As the members get to know one another, discussion may turn to more sensitive issues, such as the organization’s politics or recent controversial decisions. From the discussion, members come to understand how similar their beliefs and values are and the extent to which they can trust one another. Eventually, the conversation turns to the business of the group. When this discussion becomes serious, the group is moving to the next stage of development: communication and decision making. 2. Communication and Decision Making The group progresses to the communication and decision-making stage (also called storming stage). In this stage, members discuss their feelings and opinions more openly, which can increase conflict. The membership usually begins to develop norms of behavior during this stage. Members discuss and eventually agree on the group’s goals. Then they are assigned roles and tasks to accomplish the goals. 3. Motivation and Productivity In the next stage, motivation and productivity (also called the norming stage), the emphasis shifts away from personal concerns and viewpoints to activities that will benefit the group. Members perform their assigned tasks, cooperate with each other, and help others accomplish their goals. The members are highly motivated and may carry out their tasks creatively. In this stage, the group is accomplishing its work and moving toward the final stage of development. 4. Control and Organization In the final stage, control and organization (also called the performing stage), the group works effectively toward accomplishing its goals. In a mature group, the members’ activities are relatively spontaneous and flexible rather than subject to rigid structural restraints. Mature groups evaluate their activities and potential outcomes and take corrective actions if necessary. The characteristics of flexibility, spontaneity, and self-correction are very important if the group is to remain productive over an extended period. Not all groups, however, go through all four stages. Some groups disband before reaching the final stage. Others fail to complete a stage before moving on to the next one. Group productivity depends on successful development at each stage. A group that evolves fully through the four stages of development usually becomes a mature, effective group. The process does not take a long time if the group makes a good, solid effort and pays attention to the processes. Finally, as working conditions and relationships change, either through a change in membership or when a task is completed and a new task is begun, groups may need to re-experience one or more of the stages of development to maintain the cohesiveness and productivity characteristic of a well-developed group. Although these stages are not separate and distinct in all groups, many groups make fairly predictable transitions in activities at about the midpoint of the period available to complete a task. The midpoint transition is often accompanied by a burst of concentrated activity, reexamination of assumptions, dropping old patterns of activity, adopting new perspectives on the work, and making dramatic progress. Another transition may occur just before the deadline. At this transition, groups often go into the completion stage, launching a final burst of activity to finish the job. B. Understanding Team Performance Factors People working together in teams have the potential to produce more or higher-quality outputs than would have resulted if the individual efforts of team members were later combined. Process gain refers to the performance improvements that occur because people work together rather than independently. Process loss occurs when a team of people working in a group or team together performs worse than the individual members would have if they had worked alone. Process loss can be reduced by making clear role and task assignments and not tolerating free riders. The likelihood of process gain can be improved by awareness of several team performance factors. Some of these relate closely to the group performance factors noted earlier, while others extend beyond those factors. One useful technique for promoting process gain is to develop and promote team efficacy. Team efficacy is a team’s shared belief that it can organize and execute the behaviors necessary to reach its goals. Team efficacy is strongly related to team performance, particularly when team interdependence is high. Members of a highly cohesive team are motivated to stay in the team, contribute as much as they can, and conform to team norms. Therefore, managers of new groups and teams should strive to promote cohesiveness. Managers should also try to build trust among team members. Trust is our confidence that other people will honor their commitments, especially when it is difficult to monitor or observe the other people’s behavior. Managers should also try to prevent social loafing. Indeed, social loafing is a primary cause of process loss. Social loafing is less common with very important tasks, and with smaller teams. An opposite behavior occurs when people actually work harder and are more motivated when others are present than when they are working alone. Social facilitation happens when people are motivated to look good to others and want to maintain a positive self-image. It happens when people are working alone, but in the presence of an audience. Keeping team size small, clarifying what the team expects each member to do, and making individual contributions to the team identifiable can help reduce social loafing and encourage social facilitation. Letting team members choose which tasks they will be responsible for can also increase their motivation for getting them done. In addition, managers should establish clear roles. Roles define the behaviors and tasks each team member is expected to perform because of the position they hold. One of the primary outcomes of the process of group and team development is the establishment of clear roles in the team. Making team roles and expectations clear helps to reduce process loss. It is also important to establish positive norms. Team members comply with team norms (1) to avoid punishments and receive rewards; (2) to imitate team members whom they like and admire; and (3) because they have internalized the norm and believe it is the appropriate way to behave. When possible, managers should create shared team goals and provide feedback. If performance is lagging, feedback helps the team quickly adjust its behavior and processes to reach its goals. Team rewards also motivate effective teamwork behaviors. Tying team rewards to team performance motivates team members to pursue team goals rather than individual goals. C. The Implementation Process Implementing teams across an organization is not easy; it takes a lot of hard work, time, training, and patience. Changing from a traditional organizational structure to a team-based structure is a major organizational change and calls for a complete cultural change for the organization. However, many organizations need to be able to react quickly to a dynamic environment. In this section we present several essential elements peculiar to an organizational change to a team-based situation. This process is shown in Figure 7.4. 1. Phase 1: Start-Up In phase 1, team members are selected and prepared to work in teams. Much of the initial training is informational or “awareness” training that sends the message that top management is firmly committed to teams and that teams are not experimental. Training covers the rationale for moving to a team-based organization, how teams were selected, how they work, the roles and responsibilities of teams, compensation, and job security. Perhaps most important is establishing the idea that teams are not “unmanaged” but are “differently managed.” The difference is that the new teams manage themselves. Performance by teams increases at start-up because of this initial enthusiasm for the change. 2. Phase 2: Reality and Unrest After perhaps six to nine months, team members and managers report frustration and confusion about the ambiguities of the new situation. For employees, unfamiliar tasks, more responsibility, and worry about job security replace hope for the opportunities presented by the new approach. All of the training and preparation, as important as it is, is never enough to prepare for the storm and backlash. The best advice is to perform phase 1 very well and then make managers very visible, continue to work to clarify the roles and responsibilities of everyone involved, and reinforce the positive behaviors that do occur. Some managers make the mistake of staying completely away from the newly formed teams, thinking that the whole idea is to let teams manage themselves. In reality, managers need to be visible. The change they supported results in more work for them. Managers report that they still have to intervene and solve problems for the teams because the teams do not know what they are doing. 3. Phase 3: Leader-Centered Teams Members are learning about self-direction and leadership from within the team and usually start to focus on a single leader in the team. In addition, the team begins to think of itself as a unit as members learn to manage themselves. This phase is not a setback to team development—although it may seem like one—because development of and reliance on one internal leader is a move away from focusing on the old hierarchy and traditional lines of authority. The design and steering committees need to be sure that two things happen during this phase. First, they need to encourage the rise of strong internal team leaders. The new leaders can either be company appointed or team appointed. The second important issue for this phase is to help each team develop its own sense of identity. Finally, as team identity develops, teams develop social activities and display T-shirts, team names, logos, and other items that show off their identity. All of these are a sure sign that the team is moving into phase 4. 4. Phase 4: Tightly Formed Teams In the fourth phase of team implementation, teams become tightly formed to the point that their internal focus can become detrimental to other teams and to the organization as a whole. To avoid the dangers of the intense team loyalty and isolation inherent in phase 4, managers need to make sure that teams continue to do the things that have enabled them to prosper thus far. First, teams need to keep the communication channels with other teams open through councils of rotating team representatives who meet regularly to discuss what works and what does not; teams who communicate and cooperate with other teams should be rewarded. Second, management needs to provide performance feedback through computer terminals in the work area that give up-to-date information on performance, or via regular feedback meetings. Third, teams need to follow the previously developed plan to transfer authority and responsibility to the teams and to be sure that all team members have followed the plan to get training in all of the skills necessary to do the work of the team. By the end of phase 4, the team should be ready to take responsibility for managing itself. 5. Phase 5: Self-Managing Teams Phase 5 is the end result of the months or years of planning and implementation. Mature teams are meeting or exceeding their performance goals. Team members are taking responsibility for team-related leadership functions. Managers and supervisors have withdrawn from the daily operations and are planning and providing counseling for teams. Probably most important, mature teams are flexible—taking on new ideas for improvement; making changes as needed to membership, roles, and tasks; and doing whatever it takes to meet the strategic objectives of the organization. Although the teams are mature and functioning quite well, several things need to be done to keep them on track. First and foremost, individuals and teams need to continue their training in job skills and team and interpersonal skills. Second, support systems need to be constantly improved to facilitate team development and productivity. Third, teams always need to improve their internal customer and supplier relationships within the organization. IV. MANAGING TEAMS The ongoing management of teams requires additional insights. These include understanding the benefits and costs of teams, promoting effective performance in teams, and identifying and developing teamwork competencies. A. Understanding Benefits and Costs of Teams The reason for a company to create teams should be that teams make sense for that particular organization. The best reason to start teams in any organization is to achieve the positive benefits that can result from a team-based environment: enhanced performance, employee benefits, reduced costs, and organizational enhancements. Four categories of benefits and some examples are shown in Table 7.2. 1. Enhanced Performance Enhanced performance can come in many forms, including improved productivity, quality, and customer service. Working in teams enables workers to avoid wasted effort, reduce errors, and react better to customers, resulting in more output for each unit of employee input. Such enhancements result from pooling of individual efforts in new ways and from continuously striving to improve for the benefit of the team. 2. Reduced Costs As empowered teams reduce scrap, make fewer errors, file fewer worker compensation claims, and reduce absenteeism and turnover, organizations based on teams are showing significant cost reductions. 3. Other Organizational Benefits Other improvements in organizations that result from moving from a hierarchically based, directive culture to a team-based culture include increased innovation, creativity, and flexibility. Use of teams can eliminate redundant layers of bureaucracy and flatten the hierarchy in large organizations. In addition, the team environment constantly challenges teams to innovate and solve problems creatively. With increasing global competition, organizations must constantly adapt to keep abreast of changes. Teams provide the flexibility to react quickly. CASE STUDY: Teamwork at IDEO Summary: IDEO is a global award-winning design firm. IDEO’s corporate philosophy is that teamwork improves innovation and creativity. Project teams share and improve ideas by leveraging members’ skills and solving problems together. IDEO teams use the same process, team members lack status or formal titles, and every team member receives equal respect. 1. How does teamwork influence innovation at IDEO? Group brainstorming is used to spark new ideas at once, then projects are passed to teams. These teams must be composed of mature members as they are effective even while lacking status or formal titles. All members are working for the betterment of the corporation. 2. How does diversity influence the effectiveness of teamwork at IDEO? Diversity among the project team members helps IDEO leverage members’ skills and solve problems together. This leads to faster innovation and higher quality. 3. What characteristics would you look for in staffing a project team at IDEO? Staffing managers at IDEO would want to hire recruits that value diversity and strive for equality in a fast paced and competitive environment. 4. Employee Benefits Employees tend to benefit as much as organizations in a team environment. Teams can provide the sense of self-control, human dignity, identification with work, and sense of self-worth and self-fulfillment for which current workers seem to strive. As a result, employees have a better work life, face less stress at work, and make less use of employee assistance programs. 5. Costs of Teams The costs of teams are usually expressed in terms of the difficulty of changing to a team-based organization. Some managers have felt as if they were working themselves out of a job as they turned over more and more of their directing duties to a team. Employees may also feel like losers during the change to a team culture. Another cost associated with teams is the slowness of the process of full team development. Productivity may fall before the positive effects of the new team system kick in. Probably the most dangerous cost is premature abandonment of the change to a team-based organization. The losses in productivity and efficiency will be very difficult to recoup. Management must therefore be fully committed before initiating a change to a team-based organization. B. Promoting Effective Performance This chapter has described the many benefits of teams and the process of changing to a team-based organization. In this section we discuss three essential issues that cannot be overlooked when moving to a team-based organization. 1. Top-Management Support Change starts at the top in every successful team implementation. Top management has three important roles to play. First, top management must decide to go to a team-based organization for sound business performance–related reasons. Second, top management is instrumental in communicating the reasons for the change to the rest of the organization. Third, top management has to support the change effort during the difficult periods. 2. Understanding Time Frames Organizations often expect too much too soon when they implement teams. In fact, things often get worse before they get better. Figure 7.5 shows how, shortly after implementation, team performance often declines and then rebounds to rise to the original levels and above. The phases of implementation discussed in the previous sections correspond to key points on the team performance curve. Organizations changing to a team-based arrangement need to recognize the time and effort involved in making such a change. 3. Changing Organizational Rewards How employees are rewarded is vital to the long-term success of an organization. The traditional reward and compensation systems suitable for individual motivation are simply not appropriate in a team-based organization. In a team-based situation, team members are generally rewarded for mastering a range of skills needed to meet team performance goals, and rewards are sometimes based on team performance. Three types of reward systems are common in a team environment: skill-based pay, gain-sharing systems, and team bonus plans. a. Skill-Based Pay: Skill-based pay systems require team members to acquire a set of core skills plus additional special skills, depending on career tracks or team needs. Usually employees can increase their base pay by some fixed amount, say $0.50 per hour for each additional skill acquired, up to a fixed maximum. b. Gain-Sharing Systems: These plans reward all team members from all teams based on the performance of the organization, division, or plant. Such a system requires employees receiving amount exceeding their base pay. Employees may be receptive to the plan if there are ‘gains’ to share but become disillusioned if they receive no additional pay. c. Team Bonus Plans: These plans are similar to gain-sharing plans except the unit of performance and pay is the team rather than a plant, a division, or the entire organization. Each team has specific performance targets or baseline measures that the team considers realistic for the plan to be effective. Changes in an organizational compensation system can be traumatic and threatening to most employees. However, matching the reward system to the way that work is organized and accomplished can have very positive benefits. C. Teamwork Competencies Staffing teams with people who have the interpersonal skills and competencies to contribute to task performance but who are also able to work well in team settings is critical. Some of the teamwork abilities you should look for are: a. Conflict resolution abilities b. Collaborative problem-solving abilities c. Communication abilities d. Goal-setting and self-management abilities e. Planning and task coordination abilities Teamwork competencies also include an understanding of ethical behavior in teams. Other people’s ethical behavior influences our own ethical behavior. Four ethical issues are especially important in teams: a. How do teams fairly distribute work? b. How do teams assign blame and award credit? c. How do teams ensure participation, resolve conflict, and make decisions? d. How do teams avoid deception and corruption? A team contract is a written agreement among team members establishing ground rules about the team’s processes, roles, and accountabilities. Team contracts help to reduce the potential for team conflict stemming from an unequal division of resources and deter free riding. By enhancing personal accountability and creating clear rules and expectations, team contracts can promote ethical team behavior and improve team performance and team member satisfaction. V. EMERGING TEAM OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES As teams become increasingly common in organizations, two additional sets of opportunities and challenges must be addressed. These involve virtual teams and diversity & multicultural teams. A. Virtual Teams Managing virtual teams can be difficult. Virtual team members are frequently separated by both geographic space and time, increasing the challenges of working together effectively Virtual teams allow organizations to access the most qualified individuals for a particular job regardless of their location, enable organizations to respond faster to increased competition, and provide greater flexibility to individuals working from home or on the road. In some cases, some members of the team may be free agents or alliance partners and not be employees of the organization. In some teams, members may never even meet face-to-face. Many virtual teams operate within a particular organization, but increasingly they cross organizational boundaries as well. 1. Virtual Team Leadership Skills Working from different locations introduces challenges with communication, collaboration, and the integration of the team members with the rest of the team and the broader organization. One of the most important things a virtual team leader can do is to establish a communication climate that is characterized by openness, trust, support, mutual respect, and risk taking. This helps the team establish positive working relationships, share information openly, reduce the formation of in-groups and out-groups, and avoid misinterpreting communications. One expert identified five categories of important leadership skills in virtual project team or distance management situations: a. Communicating effectively and matching technology to the situation b. Building community among team members based on mutual trust, respect, affiliation, and fairness c. Establishing a clear and motivating shared vision, team purpose, goals, and expectations d. Leading by example and focusing on measurable results e. Coordinating and collaborating across organizational boundaries 2. Leader Behaviors The lack of face-to-face contact with virtual team members makes it difficult for leaders to monitor team member performance and to implement solutions to work problems. It is also difficult for virtual team leaders to perform typical mentoring, coaching, and development functions. The challenge for virtual team leaders is that these tasks must be accomplished by empowering the team to perform these functions itself without the leader being physically present. For example, members of virtual teams are expected to have the technical knowledge, skills, abilities, and other attributes to be able to contribute to team effectiveness and to operate effectively in a virtual environment. Thus, the need for virtual team leaders to monitor or develop team members may not be as crucial and they can often distribute aspects of these functions to the team itself. Virtual team leaders need to provide a clear, engaging direction for the team along with specific individual goals. Clear direction and goals allow team members to monitor and evaluate their own performance. Virtual team leaders need to develop team processes that become the way the team naturally behaves. One-way virtual team leaders can do this is by developing appropriate routines and procedures early on in the team’s lifecycle. Virtual team leaders may need to develop standard operating procedures that specify appropriate and inappropriate computer-mediated communication. Because virtual team members are more detached from the overall team environment, it is also important for leaders to monitor the environment and inform team members of any important changes. 3. Groupware and Group Decision Support Systems Synchronous and asynchronous information technologies support members of virtual teams. Synchronous technologies such as videoconferencing, instant messaging, electronic meetings, and even conference calls allow real-time communication and interaction. Asynchronous technologies such as e-mail, wikis, and some electronic meetings delay the communication of the message. Meeting management software, electronic whiteboards, and collaborative document editors facilitate meetings by allowing team members to contribute ideas, to view other people’s ideas anonymously, and to comment and vote on them. The right technology is critical to making virtual teams work. Collaboration software connects virtual teams with members in locations around the world and helps structure the meeting process. B. Diversity and Multicultural Teams Diversity can both help and hinder team effectiveness. Diversity can be a source of creativity and innovation that can create a competitive advantage and improve a team’s decision making. Despite its potential for improving team performance, diversity can be a two-edged sword. Diversity can create misunderstandings and conflict that can lead to absenteeism, poor quality, low morale, and loss of competitiveness as well as lowered workgroup cohesiveness. Informational diversity, or diversity in knowledge and experience, has a positive impact on team performance. Because team members’ unique knowledge enlarges the team’s knowledge resources and can enhance the options it is able to consider, it can enhance creativity and problem solving. Demographic diversity, on the other hand, often has a negative impact on performance. Team conflict tends to increase and teams tend to perform lower as they become more demographically diverse. Effectively managing diversity in teams has as much to do with the attitudes of team members toward diversity as it does with the diversity of the team itself. It is easy to assume that challenges in multicultural teams are just due to differing communication styles, but differing attitudes toward hierarchy and authority and conflicting norms for decision making can also create barriers to a multicultural team’s ultimate success. Global Issues: Increasing the Effectiveness of Multicultural Teams Summary: How can a manager increase the effectiveness of multicultural teams? The best solution is to adjust to another approach for decision making. For example, global American managers have learned to keep impatient bosses away from team meetings and give them frequent updates. A comparable lesson for managers from other cultures is to be explicit about what they need – saying, for example, “We have to see the big picture before we will be ready to talk about details.” Strategies: 1. Adaptation: seeing a problem as a cultural difference, not a personality issue 2. Structural intervention: changing the shape of the team 3. Managerial intervention: setting norms early 4. Exit: removing a team member when other options have failed The most fundamental thing is to be a role model for respect. Managers and multicultural team members must find ways to utilize each member’s strengths while minimizing coordination losses resulting from communication problems, language differences, varying work styles, and misunderstandings. 1. Direct versus Indirect Communication Communication in Western cultures is typically direct and explicit, and a listener does not have to know much about the context or the speaker to interpret it. In many other cultures, meaning is embedded in the way the message is presented. In cross-cultural settings, the non-Westerner can easily understand the direct communications of the Westerner, but the Westerner often has difficulty understanding the indirect communications of the non-Westerner. Communication challenges create barriers to effective teamwork by reducing information sharing, creating interpersonal conflict, or both. Familiarize yourself with the communication patterns and norms of any other cultures with which you will be interacting. 2. Differing Attitudes toward Hierarchy and Authority By design, teams have a rather flat structure. But team members from cultures in which people are treated differently according to their status in an organization are often uncomfortable on flat teams. For example, in multicultural teams, engineers from the culture in India are typically not culturally comfortable arguing with the team leader or with older people. This decreases the ability of the team to secure everyone’s input. 3. Conflicting Decision-Making Norms Cultures differ substantially when it comes to how quickly decisions should be made and how much analysis is required. Compared with managers from other countries, U.S. managers like to make decisions very quickly and with relatively little analysis. Summary and Application Groups and teams are not necessarily the same thing. All teams are groups, but not all groups are teams. Common kinds of groups in organizations include workgroups, teams, and informal groups. The five basic group performance factors are composition, size, norms, cohesiveness, and informal leadership. When a new group or team is formed it typically goes through four stages of development: (1) mutual acceptance, (2) communication and decision making, (3) motivation and productivity, and (4) control and organization. In terms of teamwork, other factors that contribute to performance include process gain or loss, team efficacy, trust, social facilitation, and roles. Managers should know what they need to do to promote effective team performance, including providing top management support, understanding time frames, and planning for the likely need to change rewards. Virtual teams and multicultural teams are important emerging areas of teamwork that are relevant to most organizations today. Managers should strive to understand how to most effectively use these two kinds of teams. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 1. Identify several different groups that you belong to and classify them as one of the group types discussed in this chapter. A grant committee is a formal command workgroup communicating electronically as a virtual team. A book club is an affinity group. There are many possible answers. Here are several different groups I belong to, classified by the types discussed in the chapter: 1. Workgroup: My project team at university, where we collaborate on assignments and share responsibilities to achieve academic goals. 2. Team: A volunteer group I’m part of, working together on community service projects that require coordinated efforts and specific roles. 3. Informal Group: A group of friends from my class who meet regularly to study and socialize, providing emotional support and camaraderie. 4. Virtual Team: An online discussion forum for my course, where we communicate and collaborate on class-related topics through digital platforms. 5. Multicultural Team: A global student organization that includes members from various cultural backgrounds, allowing us to share diverse perspectives and experiences in a collaborative setting. 2. Think about an effective team you have been on. What made it effective? Think about an underperforming team you have been on. Why was it underperforming? I serve on a grants committee, a virtual team comprised of board members of the Texas Medical Association Foundation (TMAF). Our clearly defined goal is to review applications and award grants for worthy medical projects. The team is effective because the carefully selected team members attend the conference-call meetings diligently, review the grant applications carefully, are judicious in awarding foundation funds to applicants, and require feedback and measurable results from grantees. The team leader works with the TMAF staff to email all the applications in a timely fashion, so team members can be prepared to discuss the applications and ask questions. The staff serves as a valuable resource, providing answers to questions about the applications. The team is cohesive and committed to using the funds according to the mission of the organization: to improve the lives of Texans. I serve on a team at Clover House, a residential facility for substance abusers, in Odessa, Texas. The team accomplishes very little because team goals are poorly defined, and there are no term limits. Team members are apathetic and miss meetings. 3. Are any of the groups to which you belong too large or too small to get their work done? If so, what can the leader or the members do to alleviate the problem? If a group is too small, additional members might be recruited or the task might be redefined to make it manageable for the group. If a group is too large to accomplish its goal, the problem might be alleviated by the formation of subgroups. 4. List two norms each for two of the groups to which you belong. How are these norms enforced? The textbook defines a norm as the expected behavior or behavioral pattern in a certain situation. Young organizations may not yet have norms or may have vaguely defined norms. More mature groups have explicit norms of behavior. Students might compare group norms for similarities and/or differences. They might also consider whether the norms are related to group goals. 5. Discuss the following statement: “Group cohesiveness is the good, warm feeling we get from working in groups and is something that all group leaders should strive to develop in the groups they lead.” Students probably will agree with the statement that “group cohesiveness is the good, warm feeling that we get from working in groups,” but they should note that group cohesion also has some negative effects on group performance. Therefore, the group leader should manage group cohesiveness to maximize its positive impact and minimize its negative impact. The statement highlights an important aspect of group dynamics, suggesting that group cohesiveness is essential for effective teamwork. Cohesiveness indeed fosters a sense of belonging and connection among group members, which can lead to increased motivation, collaboration, and overall performance. When members feel united and valued, they are more likely to contribute actively and support one another. However, while cohesiveness is beneficial, it should not be the sole focus of group leaders. Overemphasis on harmony can lead to groupthink, where critical thinking is sacrificed for consensus, potentially stifling creativity and innovation. Effective leaders should balance fostering cohesiveness with encouraging diverse viewpoints and constructive dissent. This ensures that while members feel connected, the group remains open to new ideas and problem-solving approaches. Ultimately, developing group cohesiveness is important, but leaders should also cultivate an environment that values critical discussion, allowing for both strong interpersonal relationships and high-quality outcomes. 6. Some say that changing to a team-based arrangement “just makes sense” for organizations. What are the four primary reasons why this might be so? The four primary reasons for changing to a team-based organization are the four primary benefits that should result for the organization: (1) enhanced performance for the organization; (2) better employee welfare in terms of more individual control of the work and a rising sense of self-worth, respect, dignity, and esteem; (3) significant cost reductions resulting from fewer errors, lower workers’ compensation claims, lower absenteeism and turnover, and less scrap; and (4) other organizational benefits, such as increased innovation, creativity, and flexibility. 7. Do you think a team contract would improve the effectiveness of teams? Why or why not? Yes. A team contract is a written agreement among team members establishing ground rules about the team’s processes, roles, and accountabilities. Team contracts enhance role and goal clarity, increase commitment and satisfaction, and promote ethical behavior. They reduce the potential for team conflict stemming from an unequal division of resources and deter free riding. 8. Which do you feel is more important to team performance, informational diversity or demographic diversity? Why? Do multicultural teams increase this type of diversity? If so, how? Informational diversity, diversity in knowledge and experience, is more important to team performance. Because team members’ unique knowledge enlarges the team’s knowledge resources and can enhance the options it is able to consider, it can enhance creativity and problem solving. Multicultural teams can increase informational diversity; however, cultural differences can create obstacles to effective teamwork. Differing attitudes toward hierarchy and authority and conflicting norms for decision making create barriers to success. Managers and multicultural team members must find ways to utilize each member’s strengths while minimizing coordination losses resulting from communication problems, language differences, varying work styles, and misunderstandings. GROUP EXERCISE Learning Objective: This exercise demonstrates the benefits a group can bring to accomplishing a task. Summary: Students perform the same task both individually and as part of a group. Task: Part 1: Students need a pen or pencil and an 8 x 11 sheet of paper. Have them work alone and do the following: 1. Write the letters of the alphabet in a vertical column down the left side of the paper: A–Z. 2. Randomly select a sentence from any written document and read out loud the first 26 letters in that sentence. Instruct students to write these letters in a vertical column immediately to the right of the alphabet column. Everyone should have identical sets of 26 two-letter combinations. 3. Ask students to think of a famous person whose initials correspond to each pair of letters and to write the name next to the letters (for example, MT, Mark Twain). Give them ten minutes. Only one name per set is allowed. One point is awarded for each legitimate name, so the maximum score is 26 points. 4. After time expires, have students exchange papers with other members of the class and score each other’s work. Settle any disputes about the legitimacy of names. Students should keep their scores for use later in the exercise. Part 2: Divide the class, as evenly as possible, into groups of five to ten people. Instruct each group to follow the procedure given in Part 1, writing the letters of the alphabet down the left side of a sheet of paper, but this time in reverse order: Z–A. Dictate a new set of letters for the second column. The time limit and scoring procedure are the same. The only difference is that the groups will generate the names. Part 3: Each team identifies the group member who came up with the most names. Create a new group of these “best” students. Then all groups repeat Part 2, but this time the letters from the reading will be in the first column and the alphabet letters will be in the second column. Part 4: Each team calculates the average individual score of its members on Part 1 and compares it with the team score from Parts 2 and 3. Write the groups’ average individual scores and the team scores for each group on the board. Source: John E. Jones and J. William Pfeiffer (eds.), adapted from The Handbook for Group Facilitators. Copyright © 1979 Pfeiffer, an imprint of Jossey-Bass, Inc., Publishers. Reprinted by permission of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Follow-Up Questions 1. Are there differences in the average individual scores and the team scores? What are the reasons for the differences, if any? Students probably will find that team scores are higher than individual scores. Research suggests that groups are more effective than individuals at generating ideas and fact finding. Groups tend to outperform individuals on these tasks because (1) the group has a greater sum total of knowledge and information; and (2) the group generates a greater number of approaches to the problem. 2. Although the team scores in this exercise usually are higher than the average individual scores, under what conditions might individual averages exceed group scores? Individual average scores might exceed group scores when there is a problem in group dynamics. As depicted in Figure 9.2, the initial stage of group development may reflect poor group performance owing to defensiveness, quibbling, mutual testing, and discussing subjects unrelated to the task. Other factors might include issues of group dynamics, such as group dominance, pressures to conform, and solution mindedness. The score of the team of “best” members may not have the best score in Part 3 because of the learning by other members of some of the techniques used by that team and the potential motivating impact of trying to beat the team of “best” members. VIDEO EXERCISE Evo Teamwork Summary: For years Evo has supported athletic teams, but only recently did the Seattle-based e-commerce company launch a formal work team. The new group, which is comprised of a photographer, designer, and copywriter, is responsible for producing Evo’s magazine ads, promotions, and website content. To help the members learn to work together, Nathan Decker, director of e-commerce, became the team leader. As a skilled negotiator, Decker makes sure his talented trio steers clear of dysfunction and delivers the goods. Due to Decker’s leadership and skillful negotiation of conflicts, members of the creative services team are learning how to communicate in ways never before possible. 1. What organizational dilemma was hurting Evo’s creative output, and how did management resolve the problem using teams? Evo's advertising and promotions campaigns were suffering due to the fact that the graphic designer, photographer, and copyeditor were in different departments and were not working together. To overcome the organizational conflict, Evo formed a new creative team that enables collaboration and integration to take place among the individuals. The creation of a functional team (comprised of the company’s creatives) has integrated together isolated parts that were working out of sync with each other. 2. How might Nathan Decker lead effectively as the team starts “norming”? During the team’s norming phase, Decker should try to emphasize the ways in which the team has become more cohesive and better able to work together. He can point out normal processes they’ve developed together and highlight the team’s values: great creative output and more effective goal planning, to name a few. To be fully effective, leaders of teams must create conditions that enable team members to function together. Leaders must form real teams around real tasks that require interdependence among members, and they should set a clear course around shared goals. Leaders must also make sure the team is neither too large nor too small while ensuring that all necessary skills are represented. Finally, a team leader must be able to coach with well-timed suggestions can influence team members’ motivation and effort. 3. Can you relate the group performance factors of composition, size, norms, cohesiveness, and informal leadership to Evo? The composition of the group appears homogeneous as each member does their job well and aims for the best overall finished product. With three members, this is a small group but this is all the components needed to create a finished advertisement. Three members make a vote very easy. The norms of the group seemed to be a sticking point, hindering the group from reaching maturity. Evo was smart to insert another member as a facilitator and negotiator. After the negotiations began, the group established norms for future projects. The members lacked cohesiveness at first, with each doing their own part with little interaction or communication. Forcing the group to negotiate and reason out problems should increase cohesiveness. In this case, a formal leader was inserted in the group to act as an informal leader. Now What? Imagine being part of a group meeting with two coworkers and the boss to discuss a situation with a customer who wants a 30 percent discount on an order because it will be a week late. The team can’t agree on whether to give the discount to keep the good customer happy or not give the discount to make more money on the sale, and is having trouble making a decision. What do you say or do? Go to this chapter’s “Now What?” video, watch the challenge video, and choose a response. OB Concepts Applied: team efficacy; cohesiveness; goal conflict; social loafing; problem solving teams Discussion Questions 1. Which team performance factors have the most influence on the decision-making process? The group achieved a process gain by working together. Alex’s praise and his stated belief in the team’s abilities raised the team efficacy. The team now shared the belief that it could reach the goal of getting the shipment to the customer on time. 2. What teamwork competencies were most important for achieving a resolution and why? The most important competency appeared to be Alex’s conflict resolution and communication abilities. His encouragement, support, and listening skills helped but asking for Ryan’s involvement was the beginning of the resolution. Ryan remembered a previous time when expedited shipping delivered a shipment on time. Bobbi was able to find the cost of the shipping. This shows task coordination abilities and was a satisfactory solution to the problem. 3. As a manager, what might you have done to handle the situation better? Please use group or team concepts from the chapter. This team needs to develop its team abilities for this situation and for the future. Conflict resolution abilities: •The ability to recognize and encourage desirable and discourage undesirable team conflict. •The ability to recognize the type and source of conflict confronting the team and implement an appropriate resolution strategy •The ability to employ an integrative (win-win) negotiation Goal-setting and self-management abilities •The ability to help establish specific, challenging, and accepted team goals •The ability to provide constructive feedback Communication abilities •The ability to communicate openly and supportively •The ability to listen objectively and to appropriately use active listening techniques Solution Manual for Organizational Behavior: Managing People and Organizations Ricky W. Griffin, Jean M. Phillips, Stanley M. Gully 9781305501393, 9780357042502