Chapter # 10: Understanding Work Team

1. Why Have Teams Become So Popular?

Exam Q: Why is Team Approach is becoming so popular? Explain how the
organizations create effective team?
Exam Q: Why organizations prefer Teams/ Groups Approach? Contrast
between team and groups. How can organizations select and develop
effective leaders?
Exam Q: Why organizations prefer Teams? How can organizations select
and develop effective team. Explain (Three Times in 2015)?
Over the last decade, the uses of teams grow exponentially in
organizations.
There are a number of reasons why this is true. They are:

Teams typically outperform individuals.

Teams use employee talents better.
Teams are more flexible and responsive to changes in the environment.
Teams facilitate employee involvement.
Teams increase employee participation in decision making.
Teams democratize an organization and increase motivation.
Teams can quickly assemble, deploy, refocus (Change), and disband
(Scatter, Separate).
However, teams are not always effective and so it is important to take a
look at how to deploy teams effectively.
2. Identify the characteristics of effective teams (Creating Effective Team)
The following are the key components of effective teams:
I.
II.
III.
IV.

Context
Team Composition
Work Design
Process Variables

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A Team-Effectiveness
Model

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I.

Context (Background, Situation, Framework, circumstance)

Following contextual characteristics are related to team effectiveness and

performance and are necessary for creating effective teams:
a)
b)
c)
d)

Adequate resources
Effective Leadership and structure
Climate of Trust
Performance and Reward System

a) Effective Teams need the adequate resources or the tools to complete the
job.
b) Effective Teams need effective leadership and structure. Team are
agreeing to the specifics of work and how the team fits together to
integrate individual skills. Even self-managed teams need leaders.
Leadership especially important in multi-team systems.
c) Effective teams need the Climate of Trust so that Members of effective
team must trust each other and the leader.
d) Effective teams need the Performance and Rewards System that reflect
team contribution cannot just be based on individual effort.
II.

Team Composition

Following Team composition is needed for creating effective teams:

a)
b)
c)
d)
e)

Abilities of Members
Personality of Members
Allocating Roles and Diversity
Size of Team
Members Preference for Teamwork

Effective Teams need the Abilities of Members such as technical expertise,

problem-solving, decision-making, and good interpersonal skills.
Effective teams need Personality of Members that is Personality behaviors
like Conscientiousness, Openness to Experience, and Agreeableness all
relate to team performance and effectiveness.

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 Allocating Roles and Diversity is needed for creating effective teams as

teams have different needs, and members should be selected to ensure all
the various roles are filled.
Keeping size of teams small is a key to improving team effectiveness. The
most effective teams have five to nine members.
Effective Teams need Members Performance for Teamwork as Highperforming teams are likely to be composed of people who prefer working
as part of a team.
III.

Work Design

The following work design variables required for creating effective teams:
a)
b)
c)
d)

Freedom and Autonomy

Skill Variety
Task Identity
Task Significance

Freedom and Autonomy is the ability to work independently

Skill Variety is the ability to use different skills and talents in the team
Task Identity is the ability to complete a whole and identifiable task or
product
Task significance is the working on a task or project that has a substantial
impact on others
IV.

Process Variables

The following process variables are required for creating effective teams:
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
f)

Commitment to a Common Purpose

Establishment of Specific Team Goals
Team Efficacy
Mental Models
A Managed Level of Conflict
Minimized Social Loafing

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 Effective Teams create a commitment to common purpose that provides

direction. Effective Teams have reflexivity: willing to adjust plan if
necessary.
Successful teams translate their common purpose into specific,
measurable, challenging and realistic performance goals.
Effective Teams need Team Efficacy as Effective Team believes in its ability
to succeed
Effective Teams have an accurate and common mental model (map) of
how the work gets done.
Effective teams have a managed level of conflict as Task conflicts are
helpful; interpersonal conflicts are not in effective team.
Effective Team holds itself accountable both individually and as a team to
minimize the social loafing.

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3. Contrast groups and teams

Exam Q: Contrast between Team and Groups? How can organizations
select and develop effective leaders?
Exam Q: Contrast Groups from Teams? Explain the terms synergy and
social loafing?
Groups and teams are not the same thing.
Work Group
A group that interacts primarily to share information and to make decisions
to help each group member perform within the area of responsibility.
No joint effort required.
Their performance is the summation of individual performance

Work Team
A group whose individual efforts result in a level of performance that is
greater than the sum of the individual inputs.
It generates Synergy through coordinated efforts.
Work groups and work teams differ in their goals, level of synergy,
accountability, and skills. Their function is different as shown in the
following table.
Group
Team
Not strong commitment and
Common
commitment
and
share information toward goal
collective performance towards
goal.
Independent working with no
Interdependent working with
synergy
positive synergy
Strong Leadership
Shared Leadership
Individual Accountability.
Individual
&
Mutual
accountability
Individual work products
Collective work products
Leader runs efficient meetings
Open ended discussion & Active
problem solving
Discuss , Decide & Delegate
Discuss, Decide & Work together

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Synergy:
Synergy is a state in which two or more team members work together in a
particularly fruitful way that produces an effect greater than the sum of
their individual effects.
Expressed also as "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts."
Following are the basic fundamentals in creating a positive Synergy:

Shared Vision, Values and Goals.

Good Leadership and Followership.
Trust, Respect and Compassion.
Positive Environment.

Social Loafing
There are some detrimental behaviors that can occur around group size.
Social loafing is an example where there is a tendency for individuals to
expend less effort when working collectively than when working
individually.
Social loafing can be prevented by:
i.
ii.
iii.
iv.

Setting up goals and tasks for individuals,

Encouraging or increasing intergroup competition,
Using peer evaluation as part of the feedback process, and
Linking group rewards to individual behavior.

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4. How organizations can create team players

The following three steps involved in turning individuals into team players:
a) Selection
b) Training
c) Rewards
a) Selection
Selection is the hiring of the team players.
When hiring team members, be sure candidates can fulfill their team roles
as well as technical requirements.
b) Training
Training is important for creating team players.
Training specialists conduct exercises that allow employees to experience
the satisfaction teamwork can provide.
Workshops
help
employees
improve
their
problem-solving,
communication, negotiation, conflict-management, and coaching skills.
c) Rewards
Rework the reward system to encourage cooperative efforts rather than
competitive (individual) ones
Continue to recognize individual contributions while still emphasizing the
importance of teamwork

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5. Compare and contrast four types of teams

There are a number of different types of teams. They are:
I.
II.
III.
IV.
I.

Problem-Solving Teams.
Self-Managed Work Teams
Cross-Functional Teams
Virtual Teams
Problem-Solving Teams
Groups of 5 to 12 employees from the same department who meet for a
few hours each week to discuss ways of improving quality, efficiency, and
the work environment.
The members share ideas or offer suggestion on how the work processes or
methods can be improved.
They do not have the authority to unilaterally implement their suggested
actions.
They can make recommendations.

II.

Self-Managed Work Teams

Groups of 10 to 15 people who take on the responsibilities of their former
supervisors.
They perform highly related or interdependent tasks.
These tasks include planning & scheduling, work assignment to members,
making operational decisions, taking actions on problems, dealing with
suppliers etc.
They can select their own members and evaluate each members
performance.

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III.

Cross-Functional Teams
Employees from about the same hierarchical level, but from different work
areas, who come together to accomplish a task.
It is an effective way to allow people from different work areas to exchange
information, develop new ideas, solve problems & coordinate complex
projects.
Task forces and committees are examples of cross functional teams.

IV.

Virtual Teams
Teams that use computer technology to tie together physically dispersed
members in order to achieve a common goal.
They may use WAN, video conferencing or internet, e- mail etc.

Characteristics of Virtual Teams

The absence of para-verbal and nonverbal cues.
A limited social context.

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