Chapter
TEN
Understanding Work
Teams
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Groups vs Teams
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Why Have Teams Become So Popular?
 Outperform individuals.
 Use employee talents better.
 More flexible & responsive to changes in the
environment.
 Greater employee involvement.
 Increases motivation.
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Team Versus Group: What’s the Difference?
Work Group
A group that interacts primarily
to share information and to
make decisions to help each
group member perform within
his or her area of responsibility.
Work Team
A group whose individual efforts
result in a performance that is
greater than the sum of the
individual inputs.
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Comparing Work Groups and Work Teams
E X H I B I T 10–1
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4 Types of Teams
Problem-Solving Teams
Groups of 5 to 12 employees from the
same department who meet for a few
hours each week to discuss ways of
improving quality, efficiency, and the
work environment.
Self-Managed Work Teams
Groups of 10 to 15 people who take
on the responsibilities of their former
supervisors.
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Types of Teams (cont’d)
Cross-Functional Teams
Employees from about the same hierarchical level,
but from different work areas, who come together to
accomplish a task.
• Task forces
• Committees
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Types of Teams (cont’d)
Virtual Teams
Teams that use computer
technology to tie together
physically dispersed
members in order to
achieve a common goal.
Characteristics of Virtual Teams
1. Absence of paraverbal and nonverbal cues
2. Limited social context
3. Ability to overcome time and space constraints
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Effectiveness of Teams
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A TeamEffectiveness
Model
E X H I B I T 10–3
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Creating Effective Teams
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Creating Effective Teams (cont’d)
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Key Roles
of Teams
E X H I B I T 10–4
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Creating Effective Teams (cont’d)
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Creating Effective Teams (cont’d)
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Effects of Group Processes
=
+
MINUS
Goal: Maximize Process Gains
While Minimizing Process Losses!
E X H I B I T 10–5
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Creating Effective Teams: Diversity
Group Demography
The degree to which members of a group share a
common demographic attribute, such as age, sex,
race, educational level, or length of service in the
organization, and the impact of this attribute on
turnover.
Cohorts
Individuals who, as part of
a group, hold a common
attribute.
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Turning Individuals Into Team Players
 The Challenges
– Overcoming individual resistance to team membership.
– Countering the influence of individualistic cultures.
– Introducing teams in an organization that has
historically valued individual achievement.
 Shaping Team Players
– Selecting employees who can fulfill their team roles.
– Training employees to become team players.
– Reworking the reward system to encourage
cooperative efforts while continuing to recognize
individual contributions.
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Teams and Quality Management
 Team Effectiveness and Quality Management
Requires That Teams:
1. Are small enough to be efficient and effective.
2. Are properly trained in required skills.
3. Allocated enough time to work on problems.
4. Are given authority to resolve problems and take
corrective action.
5. Have a designated “champion” to call on when
needed.
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Beware: Teams Aren’t Always the Answer
 Three tests to see if a team fits the situation:
– Is the work complex and is there a need for different
perspectives?
– Does the work create a common purpose or set of
goals for the group that is larger than the aggregate of
the goals for individuals?
– Are members of the group involved in interdependent
tasks?
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Chapter Check-Up: Teams
What kinds of things have you
experienced in a team setting that
could be considered as process
loss? Choose two and write them
down.
Possibilities include: Too much socializing,
coordinating work flow, lag time in
responses to emails, personality conflicts,
attendance and timeliness problems, etc.
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Chapter Check-Up: Teams
If you were asked to choose
people from your class right now
to make up a team for a class
project, list five individuals you
would choose.
Now that you have your list, consider what the
composition of your team would look like. How much
diversity would there be? Given what we learned in
this chapter, what would the pros and cons of your
composition be?
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Chapter Check-Up: Teams
Is conflict in a team good or
bad? Discuss.
Conflict can be both good and bad. Task conflict is
beneficial for a team because it helps protect against
groupthink. Relationship conflict is bad for a team’s
morale.
What, specifically, can you do to create task conflict in
a group? Think about the reality of trying to “stir the
pot”… and write down a phrase you could say (e.g.,
you would feel comfortable saying to your peers) to
create task conflict.
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