Chapter 18 A cross-functional team is composed of employees

CHAPTER 18

LEADING TEAMS

CHAPTER OUTLINE

How Do You Like to Work?

I. The Value of Teams

A. What Is a Team?

II. The Dilemma of Teams

II. Model of Team Effectiveness

III. Virtual Teams

V. Team Characteristics

A. Size

ANNOTATED LEARNING OBJECTIVES

After studying this chapter, students should be able to:

1. Identify the types of teams in organizations.

Organizations use many types of teams to achieve the advantages discussed in the previous

section. A functional team is composed of a manager and his or her subordinates in the formal

chain of command. Sometimes called a command team, the functional team in some cases may

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2. Explain contributions that teams make and how managers can make teams more effective.

Effective teams can provide many advantages in organizations. Team contributions lead to

stronger competitive advantage and higher overall organizational performance.

Creativity and innovation: Teams contribute to a higher level of creativity and innovation as they

include people with diverse skills, strengths, experiences, and perspectives.

3. Discuss some of the problems and challenges of teamwork.

There are three primary reasons teams present a dilemma for most people. First, people have to

give up their independence. When people become part of a team, their success depends on the

4. Identify roles within teams and the type of role you could play to help a team be effective.

For a team to be successful it must maintain its members’ social well-being and accomplish the

team’s task. In successful teams, two types of roles emerge: task specialist and socioemotional.

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5. Explain the general stages of team development.

Team development evolves over definitive stages that occur in sequence and may occur rapidly.

6. Identify ways in which team size and diversity of membership affect team performance.

Numerous studies have found that smaller teams perform better, although most researchers say

that it’s impossible to specify an optimal team size. One investigation of team size found that the

best-performing teams ranged in size from three to six members. These teams are large enough

7. Explain the concepts of team cohesiveness and team norms and their relationship to team

performance.

Team cohesiveness is defined as the extent to which team members are attracted to the team and

motivated to remain in it. Normally, high cohesiveness is considered an attractive feature of

8. Understand the causes of conflict within and among teams, and how to reduce conflict.

Conflict refers to antagonistic interaction in which one party attempts to block the intentions or

goals of another. Too much conflict can be destructive and interfere with the exchange of ideas

and information. Several factors can cause conflict such as scarce resources, jurisdictional

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9. Describe the different characteristics and consequences of task conflict versus relationship

conflict.

Task conflict refers to disagreements among people about the goals to be achieved or the content

of the tasks to be performed. Relationship conflict refers to interpersonal incompatibility that

LECTURE OUTLINE

HOW DO YOU LIKE TO WORK?

A person’s approach to a job or schoolwork may indicate whether she or he thrives on a team.

I. THE VALUE OF TEAMS

Much work in organizations is interdependent, which means that individuals and departments

rely on other individuals and departments for information or resources to accomplish their work.

When tasks are highly interdependent, a team can be the best approach to ensuring the level of

coordination, information sharing, and exchange of materials necessary for successful task

accomplishment.

A. What Is a Team?

1. A team is a unit of two or more people who interact and coordinate their work to

accomplish a common goal to which they are committed and hold themselves

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2. Although a team is a group of people, the two terms are not interchangeable. An

B. Contributions of Teams Exhibit 18.1, Exhibit 18.2

Effective teams can provide many advantages in organizations.

a. Creativity and innovation: Because teams include people with diverse skills,

strengths, experiences, and perspectives, they contribute to a higher level of

creativity and innovation in the organization.

II. TYPES OF TEAMS Exhibit 18.3

A. Functional Teams

1. A functional team is composed of a manager and subordinates in the formal chain of

B. Cross-Functional Teams

1. A cross-functional team is composed of employees from about the same hierarchical

level, but from different areas of expertise. The most common horizontal teams are

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2. Special-purpose teams, also called project teams, are created outside the formal

C. Self-Managed Teams

1. Employee involvement through teams increases the participation of workers in

decision making and the conduct of their jobs, with the goal of improving

performance. Employee involvement started out with techniques such as information

sharing with employees or asking employees for suggestions about improving the

work.

a. Self-managed teams consist of five to 20 multiskilled workers who rotate jobs

and produce an entire product or service or at least one complete aspect or portion

III. THE DILEMMA OF TEAMS Exhibit 18.4

1. There are three primary reasons teams present a dilemma for most people.

a. We have to give up our independence. When people become part of a team, their

b. We have to put up with free riders. The term free rider refers to a team member who

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IV. MODEL OF TEAM EFFECTIVENESS Exhibit 18.5

1. Work team effectiveness is based on three outcomes: productive output—the quality

and quantity of task outputs as defined by team goals; personal satisfaction—the

2. The factors that influence team effectiveness begin with the organizational context in

which the team operates—the structure, strategy, environment, culture, and reward

Discussion Question #2: Have you experienced any of the five contributions of teams shown in

Exhibit 18.2 with a team you have participated in? Describe your experience and why you think

that the team was able to make that specific contribution.

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V. VIRTUAL TEAMS Exhibit 18.6

1. A virtual team is a group made up of geographically or organizationally dispersed

members linked through advanced information and telecommunications technologies.

2. Many virtual teams are also global teams. Global teams are cross-border teams

made up of members of different nationalities whose activities span multiple

countries. Global teams can present enormous challenges for team leaders, who have

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3. One advantage of a virtual team is the ability to assemble the best group to complete a

complex project, solve a problem, or exploit a strategic opportunity. The success of

4. Some critical areas managers should focus on in leading virtual teams include:

a. using technology to build relationships;

Discussion Question #9: Discuss how the dilemmas of teamwork might be intensified in a virtual

team. What dilemmas do you feel encounter when you have to do class assignments as part of a

team? Discuss.

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Discussion Question #4: Imagine yourself as a potential member of a team responsible for

designing a new package for a breakfast cereal. Do you think interpersonal skills would be

equally important if the team is organized face to face versus a virtual team? Why or why not?

Might different types of interpersonal skills be required for the two types of teams? Be specific.

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VI. TEAM CHARACTERISTICS

The next issue of concern for managers is designing the team for greater effectiveness. One

A. Size

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1. Numerous studies have found that smaller teams perform better than larger teams,

although most researchers also say it’s impossible to specify an optimal team size.

B. Diversity

1. Research shows that diverse teams are more innovative. In addition, diversity may

2. Racial, national and ethnic diversity can also be good for teams, but in the short term

C. Member Roles

1. For a team to be successful, it must maintain its members’ social well-being and

2. People who play the task specialist role help the team reach its goal and often have

the following behaviors:

a. Initiate ideas

3. Employees who adopt a socioemotional role support team members’ emotional

needs and tend to do the following:

a. Encourage

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Discussion Question #7: Think of your favorite sports team, or observe a sports team at your

university. Can you identify which members seem to play task specialist roles and who might

play a socioemotional role? What behaviors did you observe for each type of role?

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NEW MANAGER SELF-TEST: ARE YOU A CONTRIBUTING TEAM MEMBER?

VII. TEAM PROCESSES Exhibit 18.7

A. Stages of Team Development

1. Forming

a. The forming stage of development is a period of orientation and getting

acquainted. Uncertainty is high at this stage, and members usually accept

2. Storming

a. During the storming stage, individual personalities emerge and conflict and

disagreement create a general lack of unity. People may disagree over their

3. Norming

a. During the norming stage, conflict is resolved, team harmony and unity develop,

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4. Performing

a. During the performing stage, the major emphasis is on problem solving and

5. Adjourning

a. The adjourning stage occurs in teams that have a limited task to perform and are

6. The five stages of team development typically occur in sequence. In teams under

time pressure or that exist for a short period of time, the stages may occur rapidly.

The stages may be accelerated for virtual teams.

Discussion Question #3: Suppose that you are the leader of a team that has just been created to

develop a new registration process at your college or university. How can you use an

understanding of the stages of team development to improve your team’s effectiveness?

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B. Team Cohesiveness.

Team cohesiveness concerns the extent to which members are attracted to the team and

motivated to remain in the team. High cohesiveness is normally considered a positive

feature of teams.

1. Determinants of team cohesiveness

a. Team interaction. The greater the contact among members, the more cohesive the

team will be.