Developing Effective Teams

1
Chapter 6

• Developing Effective Teams

2
Chapter Objectives

• Describe what is likely to make effective team
  members
• Discuss ways to develop competent team
  relationships
• Explain the structures and functions that should
  be established to build and sustain effective
  teams
• Identify what constitutes effective team
  leadership

3
Characteristics of Team Members

• We-orientation
• Competent communication
• Experience and problem-solving abilities
• Optimistic attitude
• Team member approval

4
Team Structure

• Developing goals
• Setting clear goals
• Establishing challenging goals
• Exhibiting commitment to goals
• Developing a team identity
• Designating clear and appropriate goals
• Structuring team empowerment

5
Competent Team Leadership

• Foster participative leadership
• Insist on a cooperative climate
• Structure decision making and problem solving

6

• The key to successful teams resides in how team
  members communicate

7
Excerpt from USA Today

• Posted 1/16/2003 535 AM
• Surgeons' tools left inside 1,500 patients a year
  
• BOSTON (AP) A study on medical mistakes found
  operating room teams around the country leave
  sponges, clamps and other tools inside about
  1,500 patients every year, largely because of
  stress from emergencies or complications
  discovered during surgery.
• Both the researchers and several other experts
  agree the number of such mistakes is small
  compared with the roughly 28 million operations a
  year in the United States. However, they say
  there is room to improve.
• "It shows the system works. It just doesn't work
  perfectly," said Verna Gibbs, a surgeon at the
  University of California-San Francisco who has
  done separate research on medical mistakes.

8
Differences between small groups and teams

• Teams manifest a higher level of cooperation and
  cohesiveness than standard groups.
• Teams usually consist of members with more
  diverse skills than those found in standard
  groups.
• Teams typically have a stronger group identity
  than standard groups.

9
Definition of Team

• A small number of people with complementary
  skills who are equally committed to a common
  mission and hold themselves accountable for team
  performance

10
Small groups usually benefit from team skills

• All groups cannot be teams, but small groups
  usually benefit from acting more team-like

11
Qualities of Effective Team Members

• They have a We-Orientation
• They are competent communicators communicate
  with others, inform others of progress, and
  display interpersonal skills
• They have team experience, ability to work well
  in a group, and problem-solving abilities

12
Optimistic Attitude

• Attitude is at least as important as aptitude
• An optimistic attitude nourishes a teams spirit,
  braces it for coming challenges, and encourages
  aspirations to rise and motivation to increase

13
Team Member Removal

• The weakest link may need to be removed if it
  prevents the team from being effective
• Removal of a member should be a last resort
• Principal candidates for expulsion those who
  persistently display incompetent communication,
  have no interest in improving, and those with
  cynical attitudes

14
Team Structure and Goal Setting

• Basic structure collaborative interdependence
• Interdependence has to be established by
  establishing appropriate goals, roles, a team
  identity, and empowering team members
• Clear identifiable goals are essentialteam
  members must be able to identify how they will
  know their charge has been accomplished
• A few clear goals that team members can recite
  from memory are preferable to many vague goals

15
Establishing Challenging Goals

• Accomplishing the mundane motivates no one
• Team members need to share a vision of what could
  be
• Trusting ones team mates share a commitment to
  quality is a key to great performance
• People respond better to goals they have a hand
  in creating than those foisted on us

16
Developing Team Identity Clear and Appropriate
Roles

• Creating solidarity symbols
• Developing team talk (shared language)
• Collective blame for failure and collective
  praise for success
• Finding the appropriate team member for each
  vital role
• Teams usually require a formal designation of
  roles
• Even supporting roles can be vitally important

17
Structuring Team Empowerment

• Empowerment the process of enhancing the
  capabilities and influence of individuals and
  groups
• Four dimensions of empowerment
• potency
• meaningfulness
• autonomy
• impact

18

• Hierarchy is the enemy of empowerment

19
Quality Circles

• Teams composed of workers who volunteer to work
  on a similar task and solve a problem
• Typically had little autonomy to make final
  decisions and implement teams wisdom
• Most often, the effort seemed like a meaningless
  charade
• Many organizations abandoned quality circles
  within a year of initiating them

20
Self-Managing Work Teams

• Team members share responsibility for planning,
  organizing, setting goals, making decisions,
  solving problems
• Are self-managed
• Their success reinforces members desire to
  continue with self-managing work teams

21
Impediments to Team Empowerment

• Self-sabotage
• Every part of organization must embrace
  empowerment in order for success to occur
• Organizations must provide support for teams
• Self-managing teams may be too time consuming and
  irrelevant for simple tasks

22
Typical Characteristics of Empowered Teams (1 of
2)

• Set own goals and rules
• Set own work schedules
• Design own workspace
• Evenly divide workspace
• Devise and embrace rules for member behavior
• Teams as a whole are accountable for team
  performance

23
Typical Characteristics of Empowered Teams (2 of
2)

• Teams determine their membership and remove
  ineffective or disruptive members
• Members are trained to operate collaboratively
  and supportively
• Decision making is democratic leadership is
  participative
• Members dont ask permission from leader to take
  risks or make changes they negotiate with the
  team and strive for consensus

24
Fostering Participative Leadership

• Team leaders are teachers, facilitators, and
  skill builders
• Use supportive communication and avoid defensive
  communication
• Create a positive climate in which making a
  mistake is an expected part of learning
• Suppress ego to encourage cooperative climate
• Work with team members to develop supportive roles

25
Virtual Teams

• A small group whose members rarely interact face
  to face and mostly communicate via electronic
  technologies
• Time and space can be transcended
• Members can send and receive messages at
  different times
• Power (rank) differences are less prominent

26
Potential Problems of Virtual Teams

• Cultural differences can lead to
  misunderstandings
• Outbursts of anger are more likely
• Misunderstandings may not be quickly resolved
• Team identity may be hard to establish