MANAGEMENT 101

Week 6: Groups and Teams (10/17)

Professor Payal Sharma

 Class Agenda
• Lecture:
– Team versus work group
– Hackman model of team effectiveness
– Team workflow
– Knowledge Task de-brief
• Video: NASCAR
• Article: B Players
• Takeaways
• Next Time
 Next Time

Week 7 (10/24): Conflict and Coordination

For lecture:
– Article: Take the Stress Out
– Midterm Exam Review: Bring questions

For recitation:
– Team meetings with TAs: Progress reports
– Reminder: Simulation purchase by Friday 10/28
 Outputs

1. Goal attainment: How well the

organization meets its objectives
2. Resource utilization: How well
the organization makes use of
available resources
3. Adaptability: Whether the
organization is capable of
changing and adapting to
environmental changes
 Team versus Work Group
Team
- Shared leadership roles
- Individual and mutual accountability
- Specific team purpose that the team
itself delivers
- Collective work products
- Encourages open-ended discussion
and active problem-solving meetings
- Measures performance directly by
assessing collective work products
- Discusses, decides and does real work
together
Work Group
- Strong, clearly focused leader
- Individual accountability
- The group’s purpose is the same as
the broader organizational mission
- Individual work products
- Runs efficient meetings
- Measures its effectiveness indirectly
by its influence on others (such as
financial performance of the
business)
- Discusses, decides and delegates
 Team Effectiveness
- Managing external dynamics of the team – that is,
navigating the organizational environment and managing
relationships with those on whom the team is
interdependent

- Managing internal dynamics of the team itself – that is,

specifying the task, selecting members, and facilitating
team processes

- Tasks + people + processes = teamwork

 A Real Team
Component Examples
A real team • Who is the authority figure and how much autonomy or
responsibility does the team have?
• Is there an interdependent task?
• Does the team have stable membership?
 Research Findings
• Self-managing work teams (SMWTs) first devised by social scientists
from the Tavistock Institute in London

• Defined as a group of interdependent individuals who have accepted

responsibility for a group task and share this responsibility by monitoring
and controlling members’ contributions (Glassop, 2002)

• Benefits of teams include: reduced need for managers; lower levels of

absenteeism and turnover

• However, teams are not always needed… Depends on type of task and
degree of interdependence or the degree to which:
o completion of a given task requires that other tasks are completed
o given task is required to be completed in order for another task to be
completed;
o individual performing the given task is required to interact with others
in order to complete the task.
 Team Workflow Types
1. Pooled interdependence: when group members work
independently and then combine their work (i.e., sum of
each individual’s contribution or parts)

- Almost “blind,” indirect interdependence. Teams less

needed here…

- Issues, or weak performance, in one “piece of the pie”

could lead to issues overall in team output
 Workflow (cont’d)
2. Sequential interdependence: classic assembly line or
division of labor such that each member has a particular skill
or task to perform

– When one unit in the overall process produces an output

necessary for the performance by the next unit; that is,
dependency on others for inputs (one direction)

– Demands coordination due to specific order. Essential for

efficient operations

– Are teams needed? E.g., will workers move around/help

 Workflow (cont’d)
3. Reciprocal interdependence: highest for of interdependence
such that every member is dependent on others at all levels

- Similar to sequential interdependence in that the output of one

team member becomes the input of another, with the addition of
being cyclical (exchange of inputs and outputs)

- Highest intensity of interaction. Also most complex and difficult to

manage of interdependence types

- A person changing the rules can affect everyone else at any time
Video: Sport Science explores the science
of a NASCAR pit crew
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQQbEfr9irE
 Discussion Questions
1. Is the video demonstrating a work group or a team? Why or
why not?

2. What type of task interdependence is evident in NASCAR?

Justify your answer by explaining the chosen
interdependence type in your own words and providing
illustrative examples from the video.

3. Would you want to work in this setting? Why or why not?

 Compelling Direction
Component Examples
Compelling • Does the team have direction about its performance and goals?
direction This can energize, focus and engage team members.
 Enabling Structure
Component Examples
Enabling • Is the work design of the team motivating?
structure • What are the norms in the team for (un)acceptable behavior?
• How is the team comprised? Homogeneity is mistakenly
assumed to be best!
 Research Findings
• Research by Adam Grant and colleagues (2011) drawing on
dominance complementarity theory

• Extraverted leadership enhances group performance when

employees are passive, this effect reverses when employees are
proactive because extraverted leaders are less receptive to
proactivity

• In Study 1, pizza stores with leaders rated high (low) in

extraversion achieved higher profits when employees were
passive (proactive)

• Study 2 constructively replicates these findings in the laboratory:

passive (proactive) groups achieved higher performance when
leaders acted high (low) in extraversion.
 Article: B Players
1. What are the major differences characterizing A versus B
players? In what way(s) are they the same?

2. Why are B players undervalued by organizations and

teams? Relatedly, how might this article challenge
misconceptions or stereotypes about building the best
team?

3. Do you see yourself as an A or B player? Why? Offer two

(2) examples from prior team experiences you have had
to justify your answer.
 Supportive Context
Component Examples
Supportive • Does the reward system reward the team? (and not individuals)
context • Does the team have access to reports, data and other helpful
information?
• Is training available to help the team develop skills towards goal
accomplishment?
 Expert Coaching
Component Examples
Expert • Is coaching available to help members by providing feedback,
coaching answering questions, and asking team members how they are
doing?
 Takeaways
• Organizations and managers are well-served to understand
when work groups versus teams are the right “fit” for the
work at hand

• The five components of the Hackman model work in

tandem in order for a team to be effective, hence
organizations and managers can support their teams by
leveraging the model as a diagnostic tool for team
performance

• Teams require members with different backgrounds, skill

sets and personalities to be effective, and again can reflect
“fit” such as with regard to power struggles in the team