TEAM DYNAMICS

Module 2
• A team is “a distinguishable set of two or more people who
interact, dynamically, interdependently, and adaptively toward a
common and valued goal/objective/mission” ( Salas, Dickinson,
Converse, & Tannenbaum, 1992, p. 4).
 Importance of team composition
• Right mix of team members is an important enabling condition for team effectiveness.
Teams are not static entities: they are shaped by a number of temporal influences.
• Team composition variables can include knowledge, skills, abilities, and other
characteristics (KSAOs) of team members. Often the focus of team composition
research is on relatively enduring team member characteristics (e.g., demographics,
abilities, personality).
• Surface-level composition variables are overt characteristics of a team member that
can be reasonably estimated after brief exposure to the team member; examples
include age, race, and gender.
• The effects of deep-level composition variables emerge as team members interact.
Deep-level composition variables are underlying psychological characteristics that
shape an individual’s affect, thinking, and characteristic patterns of behavior;
examples include personality traits, values, work styles, and abilities
• In general, deep-level composition variables such as personality traits and values have
stronger effects on performance than surface-level variables.
• Team composition relates to team processes in a number of ways.
• First, team composition can affect the extent to which teams engage in beneficial
team processes over time. For example, more knowledgeable teams were better
able to execute transition phase processes and performed better than less
knowledgeable teams
• Team composition can also affect interpersonal processes: Teams with more women
had more collective emotional intelligence and less relationship conflict.
• Second, team composition can affect how team processes relate to team
performance. Effectively composed teams will find a path to success even if team
processes are not ideal.
 Team Cohesion

• One of the largest obstacles teams face is the commitment to work on a task
constructively together while maintaining a social relationship.
• Team cohesion is defined as the bond between members of a team that elicits a desire
to remain and work together.
• It spans multiple levels (e.g., the individual, team, and organizational levels) and takes
time to become salient or emerge across these levels.
• It changes over the lifespan of a team and is influenced by changes in the team.
• Team cohesion can increase or decrease in response to various events at multiple
different levels. Eg. event like member change can disrupt the cohesion of a team.
• Social Network Analysis (SNA) is a tool used to analyze relational ties between people
and the social network that results from those ties, such as a collective of people, teams,
organizations, or any other entity. SNA is useful for getting an accurate view of team
cohesion using self-report questionnaires.
Team Development theories
TUCKMAN'S STAGES OF GROUP DEVELOPMENT

• Teams go through definitive stages

during development. Bruce Tuckman,
an educational psychologist, identified
a five-stage development process that
most teams follow to become high
performing.
• Forming
• Storming
• Norming
• Performing
• Adjourning.
 Forming
• Observable Behaviors • Feelings and Thoughts • Team Needs • Leadership Required
• Politeness • Many feel excited, • Team mission and vision • Provide structure and
optimistic, and full of task direction
• Tentative joining anticipation • Establish specific
objectives and tasks • Allow for get-acquainted
• Orienting with others • Others may feel time
personally suspicious, fearful, and • Identify roles and
anxious working with responsibilities of team • Create an atmosphere of
• Avoids controversy members confidence and optimism
others
• Cliques may form • Establish team ground • Active involvement
• What is expected of me
• Attempts to define tasks, rules
• Why are they here • Team members believe
processes, and how it • Team member in appointed leader
will be decided here • Uncertainty and expectations
Apprehension • One-way communication
• Discussion of problems • Operational guidelines from leader to team-
not relevant to the task for team members
 Storming
• Observable Behaviors • Feelings & Thoughts • Team Needs • Leadership Required
• Arguing among • Feel Defensive • Inter & intra personal • Acknowledge conflict
members relationships
• Confusion, loss of interest • Suggest consensus among
• Differences in points of • Identify personal team members
view and personal style • Resistance to tasks differences
• Get members to assume
• Lack of role clarity • Fluctuations in attitude • Effective listening more task responsibility
about the team
• Team organizing itself • Giving and receiving • Conflict resolution methods
• Unsure if I agree with feedback
• Power struggles and teams mission and • Offer support and praise
clashes purpose • Conflict resolution
• Actively involved team
• Lack of consensus- • Question the wisdom of • Clarify and understand members begin consulting
seeking behaviors team members the team’s purpose one another – shared
leadership emerging but have
• Lack of progress • Increase in tension and • Reestablish roles and difficulty with decision
jealousy ground rules making
• Establishes unrealistic
goals • Unsure about my personal • How to deal with ‘some’
influence and freedom in team members violating
• Concern over excessive the team team codes of conduct
work
• We're not getting anywhere
 Norming
• Observable Behaviors • Feelings & Thoughts • Team Needs • Leadership Required
• Processes and • Sense of belonging to a • Develop a decision • Shared leadership
procedures are agreed team making process
upon • Promotes team interaction
• Confidence is high • Be prepared to offer
• Comfortable with ideas and suggestions • Asks for contributions from
relationships • Team members feel a all team members
new ability to express • Problem solving is
• Focus on tasks criticism constructively shared • Collaboration becomes
clearer
• Effective conflict • Acceptance of all • Utilizing all resources to
resolution skills members in the team support the team effort • Encouraging others in
making decisions
• Sincere attempt to • General sense of trust • Team members take
make consensual responsibility in shared • Continues to build strong
decisions • Assured that everything leadership skills relationships
is going to work out okay
• Balanced influence,
shared problem • Freedom to express and
solving contribute

• Develop team routines

• Sets and achieves
task milestones
 Performing
• Observable Behaviors
• Fully functional teams
• Roles are clearer
• Team able to organize
itself
• Flexible members
function well individually,
in subgroups or as a
team
• Better understand each
other’s strengths and
weaknesses and insights
into group processes
• Feelings & Thoughts • Team Needs • Leadership Required
• Empathy for one another • Ensure team is moving in • Shared Leadership being
collaborative direction practiced
• High commitment
• Maintain team flexibility • Observing, Inquiring,
• Understanding Fulfilling, team needs
collaborative work ethic • Measure performance
• Collaborative efforts
• Tight bonds emerge • Exchange of information among team members
• Fun and excitement • Feedback and Dialogue • Offer positive
• Lots of personal reinforcement and support
development and • Share new information
creativity
• General sense of
satisfaction
• Continual discovery of
how to sustain feelings of
momentum and
enthusiasm
 Adjourning
• Observable Behaviors • Feelings & Thoughts • Team Needs • Leadership Required
• Visible signs of grief • Sadness • Evaluate the efforts of • Reflection and carry forth
the team collaborative learning to
• Momentum slows down • Humor (that to outsiders next opportunity
could appear cruel) • Tie up loose ends and
• Restless Behavior tasks • Good listening
• Glad it is over – relief
• Recognize and reward
team effort
Punctuated equilibrium model

• The concept of punctuated equilibrium was first proposed in 1972 by Niles Eldredge and Stephen
Jay Gould. They proposed that groups remain fairly static, maintaining a certain equilibrium for long
periods of time.
• Punctuated equilibrium model focuses on the changes in inertia in teams as they progress from
start to finish.
• it proposes that teams experience a certain inertia in phase 1 that is established by the first meeting.
For example, a team may have a first meeting in which members disagree about what a task calls
for, which results in the team’s phase 1 being filled with arguments about what the task is about.
stronger social cohesion, but not task cohesion, may develop during phase 1 since groups are
beginning to know and work with one another.
• This initial inertia is then changed by the transition stage, which happens when teams are halfway to
the deadline. During this stage, as the teams are becoming aware of the looming time constraint,
they evaluate and change their approaches so that they can meet their deadline; teams then
progress through phase 2 with a different inertia. stronger task cohesion may develop because
teams are becoming more cognizant of the nearing deadline and are likely placing more focus on the
task to meet the deadline
• For the last team meeting, teams hastily finish off their goal.
Team developmental continuum - Kozlowski and colleagues
(1999)
• Kozlowski and colleagues (1999) applied a process perspective to develop a normative model of
team compilation with self-regulatory underpinnings that integrates learning, team development,
and team performance perspectives with the principles of multilevel theory.
• Team development model consists of three phases: team formation, task compilation, and role
compilation.
• Team formation: The team is beginning to know each other at a superficial level. group pride may be
the only measurable form of cohesion during the team formation stage because the only
commonality between the team members present is the reputation of the organization they have
just joined. They do not know each other socially and have not seen each other’s work ethic, thus the
only bond they can form is being proud of the group.
• Task compilation: The team focuses on the tasks that need to be completed.
• Role compilation: The team focuses on team members’ interpersonal relationships.
• Team Complilation: Once the team begins working on assigned tasks, they become aware of how to
work together to complete the work most efficiently. Thus, task cohesion comes to fruition as the
team members interact to complete different tasks together. Finally, once team members get to
know each other personally and interpersonal relationships develop, social cohesion is attained in
this role compilation stage.
Teambuilding
• Team building is a management technique used for improving the efficiency and
performance of the workgroups through various activities. 
• It includes specific intervention, or set of interventions, employed by an intact work group
to maintain and/or improve its performance.
• In the case of teambuilding, specific interventions are employed to ensure outcomes
that are aligned with the development of a team.
• These interventions are employed to:
• increase productivity and/or effectiveness
• facilitate team growth
• increase personal satisfaction
• align the team with organisational goals and objectives.
Team building interventions
• The interpersonal intervention
This approach focuses on developing social and personal awareness among team
members. It facilitates a better understanding of one another and improves the team
members’ ability to communicate with one another. All “just-for-fun” activities are
interventions of this kind, as they can serve to increase familiarity among team members.
• Role clarification as an intervention
Formal roles relate to the task and responsibilities of each member and assist the team
members to be clear as to what they need to accomplish
• The task-based intervention
This type of intervention places the emphasis on the team’s task and on the unique way in
which each team member can contribute to the achievement of the outcomes of the team.
The emphasis here is less on interpersonal relationships. Instead, it falls on the goals,
objectives, resources and skills of team members. The intervention highlights the action
steps required by the team to ensure its success.
• Assessment as an intervention
Here teams make use of psychometric assessments to help in the teambuilding process.
The interventions that are used most often in this category assess personality (e.g. MBTI),
style, role or climate. The results of the assessment are then conveyed to the team, either
individually or collectively, and are used as a development tool.
• The activity-based intervention
This type of intervention comprises activities that help the team to understand its
dynamics. The intervention relies on the transfer of learning to the workplace by way of
direct learning (e.g. learning new skills) or indirect learning (e.g. the activity serves as a
metaphor and the resultant learning has to be transferred to the workplace).
Multiteam systems (MTSs)
• Multiteam systems (MTSs) have been employed across numerous organizations and
occupations (e.g., healthcare, emergency disaster response, business, and military) to
achieve complex goals over time.
• Mathieu et al. (2001) offer the first formal definition of MTSs, stated as, “two or more
teams that interface directly and interdependently in response to environmental
contingencies toward the accomplishment of collective goals”.
• MTSs are dynamic in nature and highly responsive to their environmental demands,
which are often settings constrained by time-pressure where the crises response needs
to occur rapidly due to the high-stakes at risk.
• Each component team contributes specialized knowledge, skills, capabilities, and
functions to the overall system.
Creating
high-
performance
teams
Creating Knowledge sharing Culture

A corporate culture which encourages and enables the free exchange of knowledge, insight
and experience in order to benefit individuals and drive a business toward key strategic
goals.
Advantages
1. Employees Feel Psychologically Safe at Work 
2. Discourages Employees from Hoarding Knowledge 
3. Overall Productivity Increases 
Creating Knowledge sharing Culture
• Establish an Open Door Policy
• Install a Knowledge Sharing Platform
• Actively Encourage Knowledge Sharing
• Make time for employees to collaborate face-to-face
•  Reward Employees Who are Sharing Knowledge
• Let Them Know Mistakes are OK
• Give Each New Employee a Mentor
• Allow New Hires to Shadow Employees
• Ask Employees for Their Input Directly
• Schedule Some Social Events for Employees
•  Be Patient with your Employees
 Team formation Problems

• Some teams could be more effective than others, only because of the composition of the
characteristics of its members.
• A correct choice of team members is likely to involve some degree of technical and social skills
composition, to successfully fulfill the objective for which the team is formed while promoting the
satisfaction of its members.
• The consequences of forming an underperforming or unwilling team could ultimately transpire in
unwanted results, delays, and unnecessary costs to the organization.
Team building Challenges
• Lack Of Trust Between Team Members
• Poor Communication
• Role Confusion
• Interpersonal Conflict
• Tackling Poor Performance
• Over Dependence On The Team Leader
• Poor Work Environment
• Lack Of Engagement