"The MGMT Solution," Vocabulary from Chapter 10

“Teams are ubiquitous. Whether we are talking about software development, Olympic hockey, disease outbreak response, or urban warfare, teams represent the critical unit that ‘gets things done’ in today’s world.”

Work teams consist of a small number of people with complementary skills who hold themselves mutually accountable for pursuing a common purpose, achieving performance goals, and improving interdependent work processes.

Though work teams are not the answer for every situation or organization, if the right teams are used properly and in the right settings, teams can dramatically improve company performance over more traditional management approaches while also instilling a sense of vitality in the workplace that is otherwise difficult to achieve.

Companies are making greater use of teams because teams have been shown to improve customer satisfaction, product and service quality, speed and efficiency in product development, employee job satisfaction, and decision making.

A second reason that teamwork is satisfying is that work teams often receive proprietary business information that typically is available only to managers.

For instance, because team members possess different knowledge, skills, abilities, and experiences, a team is able to view problems from multiple perspectives.

This diversity of viewpoints increases the odds that team decisions will solve the underlying causes of problems and not just address the symptoms.

Despite all of their promise, teams and teamwork are also prone to these significant disadvantages: initially high turnover, social loafing, and the problems associated with group decision making.

In fact, social loafing is more likely to occur in larger groups where identifying and monitoring the efforts of individual team members can be difficult. In other words, social loafers count on being able to blend into the background, where their lack of effort isn’t easily spotted.

Not surprisingly, a study of 250 student teams found that the most talented students are typically the least satisfied with teamwork because of having to carry and do a disproportionate share of their team’s work.

The idea behind employee involvement teams is that the people closest to the problem or situation are best able to recommend solutions.

Semi-autonomous work groups not only provide advice and suggestions to management but also have the authority to make decisions and solve problems related to the major tasks required to produce a product or service.

Managers have to adjust what they do based on the sophistication of the team.

Self-managing teams are different from semi-autonomous work groups in that team members manage and control all of the major tasks directly related to production of a product or service without first getting approval from management.

Self-designing teams have all the characteristics of self-managing teams, but they can also control and change the design of the teams themselves, the tasks they do and how and when they do them, and the membership of the teams.

Companies are also increasingly using several other kinds of teams that can’t easily be categorized in terms of autonomy: cross-functional teams, virtual teams, and project teams.

Cross-functional teams can be used almost anywhere in an organization and are often used in conjunction with matrix and product organizational structures.

Virtual teams are groups of geographically and/or organizationally dispersed coworkers who use a combination of telecommunications and information technologies to accomplish an organizational task.

Project teams are created to complete specific, one-time projects or tasks within a limited time. Project teams are often used to develop new products, significantly improve existing products, roll out new information systems, or build new factories or offices.

Over time, teams develop norms, which are informally agreed-on standards that regulate team behavior. Norms are valuable because they let team members know what is expected of them.

Cohesiveness is the extent to which team members are attracted to a team and motivated to remain in it.

For most teams, the right size is somewhere between six and nine members. A team of this size is small enough for the team members to get to know each other and for each member to have an opportunity to contribute in a meaningful way to the success of the team.

It is also easier to instill a sense of responsibility and mutual accountability in teams of this size.

When we bring someone new into the workplace, however, it is important that we look for a person that is dissimilar.

Not surprisingly, affective conflict can make people uncomfortable and cause them to withdraw and decrease their commitment to a team. Affective conflict also lowers the satisfaction of team members, may lead to personal hostility between coworkers, and can decrease team cohesiveness.

Sincere attempts to reach agreement on a difficult issue can quickly deteriorate from cognitive to affective conflict if the discussion turns personal and tempers and emotions flare. While cognitive conflict is clearly the better approach to take, efforts to engage in cognitive conflict should be managed well and checked before they deteriorate and the team becomes unproductive.

First, work with more, rather than less, information. If data are plentiful, objective, and up-to-date, teams will focus on issues, not personalities.

Humor relieves tension, builds cohesion, and just makes being in teams fun.

And, sixth, resolve issues without forcing a consensus.

Forming is the initial stage of team development. This is the getting-acquainted stage in which team members first meet each other, form initial impressions, and try to get a sense of what it will be like to be part of the team.

As team members begin working together, different personalities and work styles may clash. Team members become more assertive at this stage and more willing to state opinions.

In the last stage of team development, performing, performance improves because the team has finally matured into an effective, fully functioning team.

Stretch goals are extremely ambitious goals that workers don’t know how to reach.

Structural accommodation means giving teams the ability to change organizational structures, policies, and practices if doing so helps them meet their stretch goals.

Bureaucratic immunity means that teams no longer have to go through the frustratingly slow process of multilevel reviews and sign-offs to get management approval before making changes.

Once the right team has been put together in terms of individualism-collectivism, team level, and team diversity, it’s important to keep the team together as long as practically possible.

Organizations that create work teams often underestimate the amount of training required to make teams effective.

One basic requirement for team compensation to work is that the level of rewards (individual versus team) must match the level of performance (individual versus team).

Skill-based pay programs pay employees for learning additional skills or knowledge. These programs encourage employees to acquire the additional skills they will need to perform multiple jobs within a team and to share knowledge with others within their work groups.

In gainsharing programs, companies share the financial value of performance gains, such as productivity increases, cost savings, or quality improvements, with their workers. Nonfinancial rewards are another way to reward teams for their performance.