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a.
II. Turning Individuals into Team Players
A. Introduction
recognized for their own accomplishments.
2. There are also a great many organizations that have historically nurtured individual
accomplishments. How do we introduce teams in highly individualistic
environments?
B. Selecting: Hiring Team Players
1. Some people already possess the interpersonal skills to be effective team players.
2. Care should be taken to ensure that candidates could fulfill their team roles as well as
technical requirements.
C. Training: Creating Team Players
satisfaction teamwork can provide.
2. L’Oréal found that successful sales teams required much more than being staffed with
building.
3. Developing an effective team doesn’t happen overnight—it takes time, but good team
team training programs.
D. Rewarding: Providing Incentives to Be a Good Team Player
rather than competitive ones.
based on achievement of team goals.
4. Promotions, pay raises, and other forms of recognition should be given to individuals
who work effectively as team members by training new colleagues, sharing
information, helping resolve team conflicts, and mastering needed new skills.
balanced with selfless contributions to the team.
7. The opportunity for personal development of self and teammates can be a very
satisfying and rewarding experience.
III. Beware! Teams Are Not Always the Answer
A. Teamwork takes more time and often more resources than individual work.
B. Teams have increased communication demands, conflicts to manage, and meetings to
run.
C. The benefits of using teams have to exceed the costs, and that’s not always the case.
D. Before you rush to implement teams, carefully assess whether the work requires or will
benefit from a collective effort.
E. How do you know whether the work of your group would be better done in teams?
1. You can apply three tests to see whether a team fits your situation.
a. First, can the work be done better by more than one person?
b. Second, does the work create a common purpose or set of goals for the people in
the group that is more than the aggregate of individual goals?
c. The final test is to determine whether the members of the group are
interdependent.
IV. Summary and Implications for Managers
A. Few trends have influenced jobs as much as the massive movement to introduce teams
into the workplace.
B. Working on teams requires employees to cooperate with others, share information,
confront differences, and sublimate personal interests for the greater good of the team.
C. Understanding the distinctions between problem solving, self-managed, cross-functional,
and virtual teams as well as multiteam systems helps determine the appropriate
applications for team-based work.
D. Concepts such as reflexivity, team efficacy, team identity, team cohesion, and mental
models bring to light important issues relating to team context, composition, and
processes.
E. For teams to function optimally, careful attention must be given to hiring, creating, and
rewarding team players.
F. Still, effective organizations recognize that teams are not always the best method for
getting the work done efficiently.
G. Careful discernment and an understanding of organizational behavior are needed.
Specific implications for mangers are:
1. Effective teams have adequate resources, effective leadership, a climate of trust, and a
performance evaluation and reward system that reflects team contributions. These
teams have individuals with technical expertise, and the right traits and skills.
2. Effective teams tend to be small. They have members who fill role demands and who
prefer to be part of a group.
3. Effective teams have members who believe in the team’s capabilities, are committed
to a common plan and purpose, and have an accurate shared mental model of what is
to be accomplished.
4. Select individuals who have the interpersonal skills to be effective team players,
provide training to develop teamwork skills, and reward individuals for cooperative
efforts.
5. Do not assume that teams are always needed. When tasks will not benefit from
interdependency, individuals may be the better choice.
EXPANDED CHAPTER OUTLINE
I Why Have Teams Become So Popular?
H. Why are teams popular? In short, because we believe they are effective.
1. Teams can sometimes achieve feats an individual could never accomplish.
2. Teams are more flexible and responsive to changing events than traditional
departments or other forms of permanent groupings.
3. They can quickly assemble, deploy, refocus, and disband.
4. They are an effective means to democratize organizations and increase employee
involvement.
5. And finally, research indicates that our involvement in teams positively shapes the
way we think as individuals, introducing a collaborative mindset about even our
personal decision making.
I. The fact that organizations have embraced teamwork doesn’t necessarily mean teams are
always effective.
1. Team members, as humans, can be swayed by fads and herd mentality that can lead
them astray from the best decisions.
V. Differences Between Groups and Teams
A. Groups and teams are not the same thing. (Exhibit 10-1)
B. In the last chapter, we defined a group as two or more individuals, interacting and
interdependent, who have come together to achieve particular objectives.
1. A workgroup is a group that interacts primarily to share information and to make
decisions to help each member perform within his or her area of responsibility.
individual contribution.
b. There is no positive synergy that would create an overall level of performance
greater than the sum of the inputs.
C. A work team generates positive synergy through coordinated effort.
1. Individual efforts result in a level of performance that is greater than the sum of those
individual inputs.
organizations to increase performance.
b. The extensive use of teams creates the potential for an organization to generate
greater outputs with no increase in inputs.
c. Merely calling a group a team doesn’t automatically increase its performance.
VI. Types of Teams (Exhibit 10-2)
A. Problem-Solving Team
efficiency, and the work environment.
2. These problem solving teams rarely have the authority to unilaterally implement
their suggested actions.
B. Self-Managed Work Teams
1. Problem-solving teams only make recommendations.
to implement solutions.
3. Self-managed work teams are groups of employees (typically 10–15 in number)
who perform highly related or interdependent jobs and take on many of the
responsibilities of their former supervisors.
4. This includes planning and scheduling of work, assigning tasks to members,
action on problems.
5. Fully self-managed work teams even select their own members and have the members
evaluate each other’s performance. As a result supervisory roles become less
important.
6. But research on the effectiveness of self-managed work teams has not been uniformly
positive.
leads to lower group performance.
c. Moreover, although individuals on these teams report higher levels of job
satisfaction than other individuals, they also sometimes have higher absenteeism
and turnover rates.
C. Cross-Functional Teams
task.
2. Many organizations have used horizontal, boundary-spanning groups for years.
a. IBM created a large task force in the 1960s—made up of employees from across
departments in the company—to develop the highly successful System 360.
3. Cross-functional teams are an effective means of allowing people from diverse areas
solve problems, and coordinate complex projects.
4. Cross-functional teams are challenging to manage.
D. Virtual Teams
1. The previous types of teams do their work face-to-face.
2. Virtual teams use computer technology to tie together physically dispersed members
in order to achieve a common goal.
3. They allow people to collaborate online.
members.
b. As a result, low levels of virtuality in teams results in higher levels of information
sharing, but high levels of virtuality hinder it.
c. For virtual teams to be effective, management should ensure that:
i. Trust is established among members (one inflammatory remark in a team
member e-mail can severely undermine team trust).
and no team member “disappears”).
iii. The efforts and products of the team are publicized throughout the
organization (so the team does not become invisible).
E. Multiteam Systems
1. The types of teams we’ve described so far are typically smaller, standalone teams,
more harm than good.
2. To solve this problem, organizations are employing multiteam systems, collections
of two or more interdependent teams that share a superordinate goal. In other words,
multiteam systems are a “team of teams.”
VII. Creating Effective Teams
A. Introduction
Exhibit 10-3.
2. Two caveats:
a. First, teams differ in form and structure—be careful not to rigidly apply the
model’s predictions to all teams.
b. Second, the model assumes that it is already been determined that teamwork is
preferable over individual work.
3. Three key components:
a. Contextual influences
b. Team’s composition
c. Process variables
a. Adequate resources
i. All work teams rely on resources outside the group to sustain it.
ii. A scarcity of resources directly reduces the ability of the team to perform its
job effectively.
iii. As one set of researchers concluded, “perhaps one of the most important
from the organization.”
iv. This support includes timely information, proper equipment, adequate
staffing, encouragement, and administrative assistance.
v. Racially diverse teams are less likely to be provided with the resources
necessary for team performance.
b. Leadership and structure
members share the workload.
(a) Agreeing on the specifics of work and how they fit together to integrate
individual skills requires leadership and structure, either from
management or from the team members themselves.
(b) It’s true in self-managed teams that team members absorb many of the
effectiveness.
ii. Leadership is especially important in multiteam systems.
(a) Here, leaders need to empower teams by delegating responsibility to them,
and they play the role of facilitator, making sure the teams work together
rather than against one another.
c. Climate of trust
i. Members of effective teams trust each other and exhibit trust in their leaders.
ii. When members trust each other, they are more willing to take risks.
iii. When members trust their leadership, they are more willing to commit to their
leader’s goals and decisions.
d. Performance evaluation and reward systems
contributions and reward the entire group for positive outcomes.
iii. Management should consider group-based appraisals, profit sharing,
gainsharing, small-group incentives, and other system modifications that will
reinforce team effort and commitment.
C. Team Composition
1. Abilities of members
individual members.
2. Research reveals some insights into team composition and performance.
a. First, when the task entails considerable thought (solving a complex problem such
as reengineering an assembly line), high-ability teams (composed of mostly
intelligent members) do better than lower-ability teams, especially when the
workload is distributed evenly.
with a task.
ii. But a less-intelligent leader can neutralize the effect of a high-ability team.
3. Personality of members
a. Some of the dimensions identified in the Big Five personality model have shown
to be relevant to team effectiveness.
agreeableness also matters:
(a) Teams did worse when they had one or more highly disagreeable
members.
(b) Perhaps one bad apple can spoil the whole bunch!
b. Research has also provided us with a good idea about why these personality traits
are important to teams.
more ideas, which makes teams composed of open people more creative and
innovative.
iv. Suppose an organization needs to create 20 teams of 4 people each and has 40
highly conscientious people and 40 who score low on conscientiousness.
(a) Would the organization be better off:
members low on conscientiousness?
(ii) “Seeding” each team with 2 people who scored high and 2 who scored
low on conscientiousness?
(iii)Perhaps surprisingly, evidence suggests option (i) is the best choice;
performance across the teams will be higher if the organization forms
4. Allocation of roles
a. Teams have different needs, and people should be selected for a team to ensure
that there is diversity and that all the various roles are filled.
b. Nine roles of potential teams members are found in Exhibit 10-4.
c. Managers need to understand the individual strengths that each person can bring
assignments accordingly.
i. Put your most able, experienced, and conscientious workers in the most
central roles in a team.
5. Diversity of members
a. How does team diversity affect team performance?
demography.
ii. Organizational demography suggests that attributes such as age or the date
of joining should help us predict turnover.
(a) The logic goes like this: turnover will be greater among those with
dissimilar experiences because communication is more difficult and
conflict is more likely.
more likely to quit.
(c) Similarly, the losers in a power struggle are more apt to leave voluntarily
or be forced out.
b. Many of us hold the optimistic view that diversity should be a good thing—
diverse teams should benefit from differing perspectives and do better.
iii. Diversity in function and expertise are positively related to group
performance, but these effects are quite small and depend on the situation.
iv. Diversity may also have a negative effect when trust between members is
already low.
skills.
6. Cultural Differences
a. We have discussed research on team diversity in race or gender. But what about
diversity created by national differences?
i. Like the earlier research, evidence here indicates these elements of diversity
of viewpoints.
(b) But culturally heterogeneous teams have more difficulty learning to work
with each other and solving problems.
(c) The good news is that these difficulties seem to dissipate with time.
(i) Although newly formed culturally diverse teams underperform newly
about 3 months.
7. Size of teams
a. Most experts agree: keeping teams small is a key to improving group
effectiveness.
i. Generally speaking, the most effective teams have five to nine members.
members are added.
(b) When teams have excess members, cohesiveness and mutual
accountability decline, social loafing increases, and more people
communicate less.
(c) Members of large teams have trouble coordinating with one another,
especially under time pressure.
the group into subteams.
8. Member preferences
a. Not every employee is a team player.
b. Given the option, many employees will select themselves out of team
participation.
c. High performing teams are likely to be composed of people who prefer working
as part of a group.
D. Team Processes
1. Introduction
a. The final category related to team effectiveness is process variables such as
member commitment to a common purpose, establishment of specific team goals,
team efficacy, a managed level of conflict, and minimized social loafing.
b. These will be especially important in larger teams, and in teams that are highly
interdependent.
c. Why are processes important to team effectiveness?
i. When each member’s contribution is not clearly visible, individuals tend to
decrease their effort.
ii. Social loafing, in other words, illustrates a process loss from using teams.
d. Exhibit 10-5 illustrates how group processes can have an impact on a group’s
actual effectiveness.
e. Teams are often used in research laboratories because they can draw on the
diverse skills of various individuals to produce more meaningful research than
could be generated by all the researchers working independently—that is, they
produce positive synergy, and their process gains exceed their process losses.
2. Common Plan and Purpose
a. Effective teams begin by analyzing the team’s mission, developing goals to
achieve that mission, and creating strategies for achieving the goals.
b. Teams that establish a clear sense of what needs to be done and how consistently
perform better.
c. Members of successful teams put a tremendous amount of time and effort into
discussing, shaping, and sharing a purpose that belongs to them both collectively
and individually.
with the team.
e. Effective teams also show reflexivity, meaning they reflect on and adjust their
master plan when necessary.
i. Reflexivity is also especially important for teams that have had poor
performance in the past.
3. Specific goals
on results.
c. Team goals should be challenging.
E. Team Efficacy
1. Effective teams have confidence in themselves and believe they can succeed—this is
team efficacy. Success breeds success.
their teammates.
3. What can management do to increase team efficacy?
a. Two options are helping the team achieve small successes that build confidence
and providing training to improve members’ technical and interpersonal skills.
b. The greater the abilities of team members, the more likely the team will develop
F. Team Identity
1. When people connect emotionally with the groups they’re in, they are more likely to
invest in their relationship with those groups. It’s the same with teams.
a. For example, research with soldiers in the Netherlands indicated that individuals
who felt included and respected by team members became more willing to work
dedicated to their units.
b. Similarly, when team identity is strong, team members who are highly motivated
by performance goals are more likely to direct their efforts towards team goals
rather than individual goals.
c. Therefore, by recognizing individuals’ specific skills and abilities, as well as
team members.
2. Organizational identity is important, too.
3. Rarely do teams operate in a vacuum—more often teams interact with other teams,
requiring interteam coordination.
4. Individuals with a positive team identity but without a positive organizational identity
the organization.
G. Team Cohesion
1. The term team cohesion means members are emotionally attached to one another and
motivated toward the team because of their attachment.
2. Team cohesion is a useful tool to predict team outcomes.
respond to incentives with greater creativity.
4. Team cohesion is a strong predictor of team performance such that when cohesion is
harmed, performance may be too.
5. Negative relationships are one driver of reduced cohesion.
a. To mitigate this effect, teams can foster high levels of interdependence and
high-quality interpersonal interactions.
more functionally diverse.
7. Team cohesion is also higher in teams with shared leadership, or when leaders are
fair.
H. Mental Models
1. Effective teams share accurate mental models—organized mental representations of
I. Conflict Levels
1. Conflict on a team isn’t necessarily bad.
2. Conflict has a complex relationship with team performance. Relationship conflicts—
those based on interpersonal incompatibilities, tension, and animosity toward others
—are almost always dysfunctional.
innovative products.
4. The positive (and negative) effects of conflict on performance may be smaller or
larger depending on many factors, such as the task type, setting, and how
performance is measured.
5. Task conflict is beneficial when members are open to experience and emotionally
stable.
performance.
b. In other words, both too much and too little disagreement about how a team
should initially perform a creative task can inhibit performance.
7. The way conflicts are resolved can also make the difference between effective and
ineffective teams.
were said.
J. Social Loafing
1. Individuals can engage in social loafing and coast on the group’s effort when their
particular contributions can’t be identified.
2. Effective teams undermine this tendency by making members individually and jointly
