A Team Approach to
Healthier Organizations
Create powerful change and
improve employee morale
Gregory Seaney-Ariano, M.P.A.
M.S. Organizational Dynamics student
University of Pennsylvania
Program Analyst
AIDS Activities Coordinating Office (AACO)
Dept. of Public Health, City of Philadelphia
[email protected]
215-808-2493
Learning Objectives
• Identify three core components of employee
satisfaction and articulate their relationship to
teamwork
• Understand basic team development
• Understand nine ground rules of facilitation
• Become aware of some common problems in
teamwork and methods to rectify
• Cite ways teams can be beneficial to
organizations
• Describe how teams have been used by AACO,
Philadelphia’s Department of Public Health
• Imagine one way a team might be used in your
own organization
Organizational
Research &
Science
Three Factor Theory of
Motivation in the
Workplace
EQUITY
ACHIEVEMENT
CAMARADERIE
Correlations with Overall Satisfaction
• Equity
• Achievement
• Camaraderie
.59
.43
.36
Statistical significance beyond .00001 level
When all these needs met it results in enthusiasm
directed towards organizational goals.
45
40
35
30
% Very
Satisfied
Overall
25
20
15
10
5
0
None
One
Two
All Three
Number of Three Factors Satisfied
TEAMWORK
Equity
Achievement
Camaraderie
A Working Definition of Team
“A team is a small number of people with
complementary skills, who are committed
to a common purpose, performance goals,
and approach for which they hold
themselves mutually accountable.”
Katzenbach
6 Team Basics
6 Team Basics
1. Small number
6 Team Basics
1. Small number
2. Complementary skills
6 Team Basics
1. Small number
2. Complementary skills
3. Common purpose
6 Team Basics
1.
2.
3.
4.
Small number
Complementary skills
Common purpose
Common set of specific performance
goals
6 Team Basics
1.
2.
3.
4.
Small number
Complementary skills
Common purpose
Common set of specific performance
goals
5. Commonly agreed upon working
approach
6 Team Basics
1.
2.
3.
4.
Small number
Complementary skills
Common purpose
Common set of specific performance
goals
5. Commonly agreed upon working
approach
6. Mutually accountable
Katzenbach, J., & Smith, D. (1993). The Wisdom of Teams: creating the high-performance organization.
Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
Differences between Working Group and Team
Working Groups
Team
Strong, clearly focused leader
Individual accountability
The group’s purpose is the same as
the broader organization mission
Individual work-products
Runs efficient meetings
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
Measures its effectiveness indirectly
by its influence on others (e.g.,
financial performance of the
business)
Discuss, decides, and delegates
Discusses, decides, and does real
work together
Katzenbach, J., & Smith, D. (1993). The Wisdom of Teams: creating the high-performance
organization. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
One of the most critical barriers to team
performance is the assumption that the
role and contribution of team members,
including the leader, are defined by their
hierarchical and functional positions.
The leader plays whatever role might be
useful to the team. He has no more
influence on the team’s decisions than any
other member.
9 Ground Rules for Effective Groups
9 Ground Rules for Effective Groups
1. Test assumptions and inferences
9 Ground Rules for Effective Groups
1. Test assumptions and inferences
2. Share all relevant information
9 Ground Rules for Effective Groups
1. Test assumptions and inferences
2. Share all relevant information
3. Use specific examples and agree on what
important words mean
9 Ground Rules for Effective Groups
1. Test assumptions and inferences
2. Share all relevant information
3. Use specific examples and agree on what
important words mean
4. Explain your reasoning and intent
9 Ground Rules for Effective Groups
1. Test assumptions and inferences
2. Share all relevant information
3. Use specific examples and agree on what
important words mean
4. Explain your reasoning and intent
5. Focus on interests, not positions
9 Ground Rules for Effective Groups
1. Test assumptions and inferences
2. Share all relevant information
3. Use specific examples and agree on what
important words mean
4. Explain your reasoning and intent
5. Focus on interests, not positions
6. Combine advocacy and inquiry
9 Ground Rules for Effective Groups
1. Test assumptions and inferences
2. Share all relevant information
3. Use specific examples and agree on what
important words mean
4. Explain your reasoning and intent
5. Focus on interests, not positions
6. Combine advocacy and inquiry
7. Jointly design next steps and ways to test
disagreements
9 Ground Rules for Effective Groups
1. Test assumptions and inferences
2. Share all relevant information
3. Use specific examples and agree on what
important words mean
4. Explain your reasoning and intent
5. Focus on interests, not positions
6. Combine advocacy and inquiry
7. Jointly design next steps and ways to test
disagreements
8. Discuss undiscussable issues
9 Ground Rules for Effective Groups
Schwartz, R. (2002). The Skilled Facilitator: a comprehensive resource for consultants, facilitators,
managers, trainers, and coaches. San-Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
1. Test assumptions and inferences
2. Share all relevant information
3. Use specific examples and agree on what
important words mean
4. Explain your reasoning and intent
5. Focus on interests, not positions
6. Combine advocacy and inquiry
7. Jointly design next steps and ways to test
disagreements
8. Discuss undiscussable issues
9. Use a decision-making rule that generates the
level of commitment needed
Self-Directed Work Teams (SDWTs):
“a group of employees who have day-today responsibilities for managing
themselves and the work they do with a
minimum of direct supervision and who
typically handle job assignments, plan and
schedule work, make production and/or
service-related decisions, and take action
on problems.”
Kimball Fisher
Types of Teams
•
•
•
•
Natural work teams
Cross-functional teams
Small project teams
Special purpose teams
Assess Leader Readiness
Three Attributes of Leaders Important in
Initiating Teams:
1) Knowledge about team-based operations
2) Contact with the operation
3) Ability to influence major change
“If leaders are not aware, for example, that teams
require much more than changing the titles and
structures of an organization, they are unlikely to
support the inevitable systemwide modifications
in the cultural fabric of the operation, including
things like policies, information systems, and pay
systems which must change if the operation
makes a serious effort at team empowerment.
They will also be unlikely to willingly sponsor the
training and other development activities
necessary for both the implementation and
sustaining of teams.”
Kimball Fisher
Empowerment= f (Authority, Resources,
Information, Accountability)
Empowerment= 0 if Authority or Resources
or Information or Accountability= 0
Fisher, K. (1994). “Diagnostic Issues for Work Teams” in Diagnosis for Organizational
Change: methods and models. Howard, A. et al (Eds.) New York: Guilford
When self-directed work teams fail . . .
“The single biggest reason is a lack of
management commitment to the whole
change process.”
“Another typical reason for failure is
organizational unwillingness to provide the
necessary budget and time for training to
help team leaders and team members get
new skills.”
Kimball Fisher
Fisher, K. (1994). “Diagnostic Issues for Work Teams” in Diagnosis for Organizational Change:
methods and models. Howard, A. et al (Eds.) New York: Guilford
“In a review of organizations in seven countries
that had made the transition from traditional work
systems to SDWTs, Cotter (1983) found that:
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
93% reported improved productivity,
88% reported decreased operating costs,
86% reported improved quality, and
70% reported better employee attitudes.”
Fisher, K. (1994). “Diagnostic Issues for Work Teams” in Diagnosis for Organizational Change:
methods and models. Howard, A. et al (Eds.) New York: Guilford
Breaking Bread
and
Working Together
Teamwork References
• Fisher, K. (1994). “Diagnostic Issues for Work Teams”. In
A. Howard & Associates (Eds.), Diagnosis for Organizational
Change: methods and models (pp. 239-264). New York:
Guilford Press.
• Katzenbach, J., & Smith, D. (1993). The Wisdom of
Teams: creating the high-performance organization. Boston:
Harvard Business School Press.
• Schwartz, R. (2002). The Skilled Facilitator: a
comprehensive resource for consultants, facilitators,
managers, trainers, and coaches. San-Francisco: JosseyBass.
• Sirota, D., Mischkind, L., & Meltzer, M.I. (2005). The
Enthusiastic Employee: how companies profit by giving
workers what they want. New Jersey: Wharton School
Publishing.
Gregory Seaney-Ariano, M.P.A.
M.S. Organizational Dynamics student
University of Pennsylvania
Program Analyst
AIDS Activities Coordinating Office (AACO)
Dept. of Public Health, City of Philadelphia
[email protected]
215-808-2493