TEAMS AND TEAMWORK
TEAMS AND TEAMWORK
• People have the need to work in teams. There is a desire to work with others and enjoy the benefits of
your work and your successes together; these…satisfactions are as important today as they have ever
been.
-Andy Grove, Chairman of Intel, Inc.
• I learned a long time ago that in team sports or in business, a group working together can always defeat
a team of individuals even if the individuals, by themselves, are better than your team…If you’re going to
empower people and you don’t have teamwork; you’re dead.
-John Chambers, CEO of Cisco Systems
TEAMS IN ORGANIZATIONS
• “Two heads are better than one”
• “Too many cooks spoil the broth”
• “A camel is a horse put together by committee.”
• Most tasks in an organization are more complicated than a single person can achieve alone.
• Teams are more and more common in today’s workplace.
• Managers have to figure out the best way to use teams to EVERYONE’S advantage.
TEAMS IN ORGANIZATIONS
• For understanding:
• A team is a collection of people who regularly interact to achieve a common goal.
• Teamwork is the PROCESS of people actively working together to accomplish common goals.
• Before we get started today.
TEAMWORK PROS AND CONS
• There are 4 roles that managers must perform in order to deal with the challenges of teams.
• 1. Supervisor – Head of the team.
• 2. Facilitator – Peer leader and networking hub.
• 3. Participant – Be a member of the team. Work, do your bit, contribute.
• 4. Coach – Get the team through problems. Do not always be involved. Show them how.
TEAMWORK PROS AND CONS
• One problem with teams is “Social loafing.” This is the tendency of some people to avoid responsibility.
It is also called “free-loading” or “free-riding.”
• To fight this, managers need to give proper responsibilities to everyone, give everyone a meaningful
task, and try to allow connections to form between members.
• Managers have to know when teams are the best choice for a task. They also have to know how to work
with and within a team.
• Keeping teams small and tasks simple and clear makes it easier to identify free riders.
TEAMWORK PROS AND CONS
• Some other common problems:
• Personality conflicts
• Differences in personality styles
• Tasks not clear
• Badly identified problems, unclear schedules
• Not everyone is ready to work.
-Motivation?
-Conflicts with other priorities?
• Low enthusiasm for group work
-lack of progress?
-Meetings without purpose.
TEAM LEADER SKILLS
• Go to W108
WHY MEETINGS FAIL
• Meetings are very often pointless. A lot of
employees hate hearing “meeting.” They see it
as a waste of time.
• SEVEN SINS OF DEADLY MEETING
• 1. People arrive late, leave early, don’t take it seriously.
• 2. Meeting is too long: sometimes twice as long.
• 3. People do not stay on topic: easy distractions.
• It is important that if meetings are held, to
actually do things that are suggested in them.
• 4. People unwilling to tell the truth.
• They are important: information is shared to
everyone at once, in person. Decisions are made
at them
• 6. Decisions are not put into action.
• 5. Right information is not available, decisions are
postponed.
• 7. Things never get better, mistakes keep getting made in
future meetings.
SYNERGY AND THE USEFULNESS OF TEAMS
• Synergy is the creation of a whole greater than the sum of its individual parts.
• Happens when a team uses all the resources available to it.
• Results in much more action than possible by a bunch of individuals.
• Being part of a team can have a very positive effect on each worker.
-Attitudes and behaviours.
WHAT DO TEAMS OFFER?
• More resources for problem solving
• Improved creativity and innovation
• Improved quality of decision making
• Greater commitment to tasks
• Higher motivation through collective action
• Better control and work discipline
• More individual need satisfaction
FORMAL AND INFORMAL GROUPS
• Formal groups – officially recognized and supported by the organization.
• This could be a department, a unit, or a division.
• It would usually have a supervisor, a manager, or a team leader.
• Managers are part of the team they run, and also part of a team on the level above them.
• Informal groups – unofficial and develop from interests and relationships shared by members.
• Not recognized by the organization.
• Present in all organizations.
• Interest groups, friendship groups, support groups
TRENDS IN THE USE OF TEAMS
• The trend is towards MORE teams in the workplace. This allows more employee empowerment.
• Technologies and new methods allow for different kinds of teams.
COMMITTEES, PROJECT TEAMS, AND TASK FORCES
• Committees
-work on a special task on a continuing basis
-Led by a chairperson (chosen by the organization)
• Project Teams/Task Forces
-Same as a committee, but broken up after the task
is complete.
-Very specific tasks.
CROSS FUNCTIONAL TEAMS
• Cross–functional teams have members from different functional units of an organization.
• Members would come from sales, marketing, engineering, finance, operations, etc.
• Everyone would put input from their department in so the goal would achieve the different
departments’ needs.
VIRTUAL TEAMS
• These are teams that work together and solve problems through computer-based interactions.
• What are some benefits?
• Drawbacks?
VIRTUAL TEAMS
• Virtual teams should begin with social messaging that allows members to exchange information about
themselves to personalize the process
• Members should be given clear roles so they can focus while working alone and know what others are
doing.
• Members must join and be a part of the team with positive attitudes that support a willingness to work
hard to meet team goals.