Review of Last Session

Team & Leadership Behavior

Objectives

 Fundamentals of Groups (Definition &

Classification)
 Types of Teams and Leadership skills
required
 Functional Teams
 Problem Solving Teams
 Self-Managed Teams
 Cross Functional Teams
 Virtual Teams
 Stages of Team Development
 Creating Effective Teams
Introduction

The Center for the Study of Work Teams

says that 80% of Fortune 500 companies
now have half of their employees on
teams.
 Introduction

The evidence suggests that teams typically out perform

individuals when the tasks being done require:
 Multiple skills
 Judgment
 Experience

Management has found that teams are:

 More flexible & responsive to changing events than
traditional departments
 Have the capability to quickly assemble, deploy, refocus
& disband
 Teams are an effective means for management to
increase employee motivation
Fundamentals of Groups
Definition

 A group is defined as two or more

individuals, interacting &
interdependent, who come together
to achieve particular objectives.
 Fundamentals of Groups
Classification

 Groups can either be formal or informal.

 Formal groups refers to groups defined
by the organizational structure, with set
work assignments.
assignments

 Informal groups are alliances that are

neither structured nor organizationally
determined.
determined
 Fundamentals of Groups
Effective Groups

 An effective group has the following basic

characteristics. It’s members:
 Know why the group exists & have shared goals

 Support agreed upon guidelines or procedures for

making decisions
 Communicate freely among themselves

 Receive help from one another and give help to one

another
 Deal with conflict within the group

 Diagnose individual & group processes & improve

their own & the groups functioning.
Groupthink

 Groupthink is a mode of thinking that people engage in when they are

deeply involved in a cohesive group, when the members' desire for
unanimity overrides their personal motivation to realistically appraise
alternative courses of action.
Group Polarization
 The situation in which a group endorses a riskier
position than would its individual members is
called the "risky shift."
 The situation in which groups have chosen a
more cautious action than individuals is called
the "cautious shift."
 Teams vs. Groups

 A work group has no need or opportunity to engage in

collective work that requires joint effort. Their
performance is merely the sum of all the group members’
individual contribution. There is no positive synergy that
creates an overall level of performance that is greater
than the sum of inputs.

 Teams do generate this positive synergy which

management is seeking to increase productivity. In other
words, the performance level of the team is higher than
the sum or the individual effort of all its members.
 Teams vs. Groups

Work Groups Work Teams

Goal
Share information Collective performance
Synerg
Neutral (sometimes negative) Positive
y
Accountability
Individual Individual & mutual
Skills
Random & varied Complementary
Teams
Definition

 A team is a small number of employees

with complementary (abilities, skills &
knowledge) who are committed to
common performance goals & working
relationships for which they hold
themselves mutually accountable.

 When a team is formed, its members must have

(or quickly develop) the right mix of
competencies to achieve the teams goals.
 Self-Managed Teams

 Self-managed

 teams normally consist of employees who

must work together effectively daily to
manufacture an entire product (or main
component) or provide an entire service
 Self-Managed Teams

Self-managed teams are often empowered to

perform a variety of managerial tasks, like:
 Scheduling work & vacations by members
 Rotating tasks & assignments among members
 Ordering materials
 Deciding on team leadership (rotational among
members)
 Setting key team goals
 Budgeting
 Hiring team members
 Evaluating one another’s performance
Self-Managed team leader needs following qualities
in core of leadership

 Encourages self-
reinforcement
 Encourages self-
observation/evaluatio
n
 Encourages self-
expectations
 Encourages self-goal-
setting
 Encourages rehearsal
 Encourages self-
criticism
 Cross-Functional Teams

 Cross functional teams bring together

people from various work areas to identify
& solve mutual problems. Teams are made
up from about the same hierarchical level
but from different work areas (department)
who come together to accomplish a task
(complex tasks or project)
Cross-Functional Teams

 Cross functional teams are used to allow

people from diverse areas within an
organization (or between organizations) to
exchange information, develop new ideas,
solve problems, and coordinate complex
projects.

 One problem with cross functional teams is

that the early stages of development are
time consuming due to diversity and
complexity (different departments)
Virtual Teams

 A Virtual team is a group of individuals who

collaborate through various information
technologies on one or more projects while
being at two or more locations.

 Unlike person-to-person meetings, virtual

teams operate mainly across distance (any
place), across time (any time) & organizational
boundaries (members from two or more
organizations).
Virtual team leader needs following qualities in core of
leadership

 Communicating effectively and using

technology that fits the situation
 Building community, based on mutual
trust, respect, fairness and affiliation,
among project team members
 Establishing clear and inspiring shared
goals, expectations, purpose and vision
 Leading by example with a focus on
visible, measurable results
 Coordinating/collaborating across
organizational boundaries
Stages of Team Development

Prestage Stage I Stage II

Forming Storming

Stage III Stage IV Stage V

Norming Performing Adjourning
 Effective Team Building
Strategy
(S)

Effective leadership
(E) Clear roles and
Responsibilities
(C)
Team work

Rapid response Open communication

(R) (O)
 Creating Effective Teams
Composition
•Ability Context
•Personality •Adequate resources
•Roles & diversity •Leadership
•Size •Performance evaluation
•Cohesiveness & rewards
•Flexibility
•Teamwork Preference Process
•Common purpose
Work Design •Specific goals
•Autonomy •Team efficacy
•Skill variety •Conflict
•Task identity
Team
•Social loafing
•Task significance Effectiveness
Creating Effective Teams
Composition

Group Size - effect on behavior of group

depends upon the type of outcome
large groups - good for getting diverse input
small groups - good at making use of
information
dispersion of responsibility in large groups
leads to free rider tendency
Creating Effective Teams
Composition

Group Cohesiveness - degree to

which members are attracted to a
group and share the group’s goals
relationship between cohesiveness and
group effectiveness depends upon the
alignment of group and organizational
goals
Thank You