Lecture Notes: Managing Work Teams

Introduction

• Teams improve organizational effectiveness.
• Definition of work teams:
  • Small group with complementary skills.
  • Mutually accountable for a common purpose.
  • Achieve performance goals and improve interdependent processes.

Importance and Use

• Teams help respond to specific challenges.
• Benefits:
  • Improve customer satisfaction.
  • Enhance product/service quality, speed, and efficiency.
  • Increase employee job satisfaction and decision-making.

Advantages of Teams

• Direct responsibility for product and service quality.
• Increased job satisfaction through cross-training:
  • Allows team functions during absence of members.
  • Access to proprietary business information.
• Unique leadership opportunities.

Disadvantages of Teams

• High turnover initially.
• Social loafing: withholding efforts.
• Groupthink: pressure to conform.
• Time-consuming decision-making.
• Question of when and where to use teams.

Autonomy Levels in Teams

• Traditional Work Groups:
  • Low autonomy, report to managers.
• Employee Involvement Teams:
  • Some autonomy, provide advice to management.
• Semi-autonomous Workgroups:
  • More autonomy, decision-making authority.
• Self-managing Teams:
  • Manage/control all tasks without management.
• Self-designing Teams:
  • Control team design, tasks, and membership.

Other Types of Teams

• Cross-functional Teams:
  • Diverse backgrounds, solve problems creatively.
• Virtual Teams:
  • Dispersed workers using technology.
• Project Teams:
  • Complete specific projects/tasks, led by a project manager.

Team Dynamics

• Teams promote creativity, innovation, and flexibility.
• Team norms:
  • Standards regulating behavior.
  • Associated with positive outcomes.
• Cohesiveness:
  • Attraction and motivation to remain in the team.
• Optimum team size and managing conflicts.

Team Development Stages

1. Forming: Initial meetings, forming impressions.
2. Storming: Conflict/disagreement about roles.
3. Norming: Settling into roles, positive norms develop.
4. Performing: Fully functioning team.
5. De-norming, De-storming, Deforming: Performance decline.

Enhancing Team Performance

• Stretch goals: Ambitious targets requiring autonomy.
• Needs:
  • Control resources.
  • Structural accommodation.
  • Bureaucratic immunity.
• Training is crucial:
  • Interpersonal, decision-making, problem-solving, conflict resolution skills.

Conclusion

• Teams require extensive training to be effective.
• Misconception: effective individual work equals effective team work.
• Organizations must provide significant training to utilize teams successfully.