UNDERSTANDING

WORK TEAMS
By: Jairah N. Chiva
Teams
that Changes the
world…
The Invention Team
 CharlesBatcheldor, an
English machinist; John
Kruesi, a Swiss
clockmaker; Ludwig
Boehm, a German
glassblower; and Francis
Upton, a Princeton-
trained mathematician
The Twitter Team

 JackDorsey ,
Biz Stone, and
Evan Williams
The Apple Team

 theMac team,
headed by Apple
cofounder Steve Jobs
The Magic of an Idea Team

 JoyceKing Thomas,
Jeroen Bours, and
Jonathan Cranin
 NATURE OF TEAMS
 Teamsare small in size (e.g., 2 to 20 individuals)
and have members with complementary skills
who have reached what is referred to as the
mature or performing stage.
 Teams are a special type of task group,
consisting of two or more individuals responsible
for the achievement of a goal or objective. All
teams exist to solve problems. Thus, it is
accurate to state that problem solving is an
activity that teams practice continuously.
 TYPES OF TEAMS

1. Problem-Solving Teams
 areformed on a temporary basis to address
a specific problem that is confronting the
organization
2. Virtual Teams
 Defined as “a team that relies on interactive
technology to work together when separated
by physical distance,” virtual teams can draw
on a variety of interactive technology that
includes traditional e-mail, instant
messaging, teleconferencing,
videoconferencing, Web casts, meeting
managers, white boards, and bulletin boards.
Researchers reported the following best
practices related to managing dispersed
virtual teams:
1. Focus on social skills
2. Encourage self-leadership across team.
3. Arrange face-to-face meetings.
4. Foster a global mindset among team
members.
3. Cross – Functional Teams
 Teams that are composed of individuals
from different departments or work areas
that come together on a task or project
basis.
 These teams monitor, standardize, and
improve work processes that cut across
different parts of the organization.
4. Skunkworks
a small team of engineers, technicians, and
designers who are placed on a team that
has the goal of developing innovative new
products.
 Often
separated from mainstream
employees within the firm
5. Self – Directed Work Teams
 comprises 10 to 15 individuals who take on
the long-term responsibilities of their
former supervisors while retaining their
prior responsibilities.
Reasons Why Teams are Formed
 Enhanced Productivity

 the single most important reason teams

are formed is to enhance organizational
productivity
Teams’ Complementary Skills

 Technical or Functional Skills

 Problem-Solving and Decision-Making Skills
 Interpersonal Skills
 Flattening Organizations

 Businessesaround the world are restructuring,

reorganizing, and downsizing their companies
to eliminate waste and to better serve their
constituencies. As a result, there has been a
continual flattening of organizations wherein
entire levels of management have been
eliminated.
 Need for Flexibility and
Quicker Decisions
 To thrive in today’s increasingly competitive
markets, organizations must be capable of
producing small runs of tailored products on a
tight schedule to meet growing demands in
emerging markets. This ability calls for
innovative technical procedures and bright
workers who are flexible and can move from
assignment to assignment.
 Workforce Diversity

 Diversityon teams leads to higher levels of

satisfaction and creativity.
 Diversegroup members contribute unique
information and perspectives, which do
ultimately enhance group functioning under
certain conditions.
Concept of Diversity in 3 Types
1. Information diversity
 thedifferences in knowledge bases and
perspectives that members bring to a group
2. Social category diversity
 theexplicit differences among group members in
terms of race, gender, and ethnicity
3. Value diversity
 members’ opinions about what the group’s real
task, goal, or mission should be
 Improved Quality
 Teams assume responsibility for entire projects
or products. When teams assume responsibility,
they develop an appreciation of the nuances
associated with all aspects of their work. As a
result, it becomes a matter of professional
pride for team members to search out and act
on opportunities for quality improvements.
Increased Customer Satisfaction

 Customer satisfaction is the key to

organizational success for it is the satisfied
customer who accounts for the repeat
business that organizations need to survive
and thrive. The energy, commitment, and
flexibility associated with work teams
promote customer satisfaction through
quick response and improved quality.
 Obstacles to Effective Teams
1. Placing people into teams without fully assessing whether
a team is needed in the first place
 Before placing employees into teams, decision makers at
companies should ask themselves the following questions:
• Can the work be performed better by more than one
individual?
• Does the work lend itself to a common set of goals for
the members in a team?
• Are members of the team interdependent?
• Do members have the appropriate skill mix to excel?
2. Teams occurs when they are created in a
vacuum without the simultaneous addition of
any corresponding support systems
3. Leadership style of team leaders
 Building Effective Teams
Requirements for building effective teams:
 top-level commitment and provision of clear
goals;
 management–employee trust;
 willingness
to take risks and share
information; and
 time, resources, and a commitment to
training
Case for Analysis: Leading a Virtual Team
Ellen Johnson had just completed her first month as manager for a
successful company that provides a variety of Web-based services and
solutions. Last week, she was informed that she would be the new
leader of a team that included 10 individuals. To her surprise, not
only were these team members diverse in terms of their functional
training and expertise, but they also represented a variety of cultural
backgrounds and only three were located in her office building. She
quickly learned that 7 of the 10 individuals actually worked from their
home countries, which included Japan, China, Mexico, Australia,
Germany, Colombia, and Egypt. Up until this point, this “virtual
team” collaborated on projects by using a variety of communication
tools, including instant e-mail messaging, telephone calls,
videoconferencing, document sharing, and occasional meetings at
headquarters. After reviewing some of the past meeting notes and
communication transcripts among the group members, Johnson
realized that many of the team members had very different
communication styles and levels of proficiency in English.
 The team’s new assignment was an important one. The
10 members needed to develop and roll out a new product
within the next six weeks. This was in direct response to a
new product just launched by a major competitor. To
complicate matters, a six-week product development cycle
was unheard of; until this point, the company’s turnaround
time for a new product offering was approximately three
months. The company had no choice. If they did not counter
the competitive threat immediately, then the company
risked losing some key customers and market share.
 Johnson researched the past performance of her newly
inherited virtual team. Although the overall quality of past
decisions was quite high, the team seemed to take several
months to make those decisions. This was a potential
problem for Johnson. Time was no longer a luxury. She had
to figure out a way to encourage the team to move faster
without compromising quality. Through a combination of
analyzing past team meeting notes and transcripts and
speaking one-on-one with team members, she started to
accumulate some facts that might be useful in solving the
decision-making speed issue.
 First, Johnson discovered that the Japanese and Chinese
team members did not participate much in the
videoconferences or telephone conference calls; rather, they
preferred written communication in the form of faxes and e-
mail. In contrast, the Australian and Mexican team members
seemed to thrive on telephone calls and face-to-face
meetings. Second, there appeared to be some infighting
among the three members of the group who were domiciled
at headquarters. Most of the past arguments seemed to be
about the group’s mission. Each had a very different idea in
mind in terms of what the group needed to accomplish. The
comments in written communications didn’t get personal,
but there were definitely heated debates about what
objectives the group should be focusing on. The third
potential obstacle to faster decision making had to do with
the sporadic use of face-to-face meetings.
 To her surprise, Johnson discovered that such meetings
rarely occurred and that there was no attempt to bring the
group together when it was first formed last year. Johnson
expected that the team would have met and perhaps
engaged in some team-building exercises to build trust and
rapport among team members. This was not the case. In
addition, the team did not receive any form of decision-
making or group conflict resolution training.
Johnson sat back in her office and thought about the
problem at hand. She needed her team to develop and
launch a new product within six weeks. To produce a high-
quality product, each of the 10 virtual team members had to
contribute their knowledge and effort in a cooperative and
timely manner.
Discussion Questions:

1. What is Johnson’s most pressing problem?

Why?
2. What can Johnson do to help her team
launch the new product within the six-week
timeframe? Be specific?
3. Assume Johnson will select a new team to
launch another Web-based product after this
product is complete. What do you recommend
she do differently next time? Explain.