UNDERSTANDING

WORK TEAMS
 UNDERSTANDING WORK
TEAMS
• Team consists of employees from diverse
managerial and professional backgrounds
working for a specific period of time on certain
projects.
• According to Stephen Robbins a work team is
a collection of people whose individual efforts
result in a level of performance which is
greater than the sum of their individual
contributions.
• Teams generate synergy by coordinating the
efforts of the individual members.
 BENEFITS OF WORK
TEAMS
• Improved Organizational Performance
• Reduces wastage,minimizes errors
• Innovative solutions
• Improves quality,productivity & customer
service
• Employee Benefits
• Quality of worklife
• Reduces stress
• Work satisfaction
• Less use of employee assistance programs
 BENEFITS OF WORK
TEAMS
• Reduced cost
• Reduces wastage's
• Lower turnover & absenteeism
• Fewer injuries
• Organizational enhancement
• Innovation & flexibility
• Quick adaptation to face the competition
 WORK GROUPS VS WORK
TEMS
• According to Stephen Robbins a work group is
a group that interacts primarily to share
information to make decisions to help each
other to perform within his or her area of
responsibility.
• Work team is group whose individual efforts
results in a performance which is greater than
the sum of individual contributions
• Team members should pusses Functional skills,
interpersonal skills,problem solving & decision
making skills
• Team member are accountable to each other
 DIFFERENCES BETWEEN
GROUPS & TEAMS
• Work Groups
• Allocated specialized task
• Minimal training is
required
• Members have same job
description
• Do not get feedback
related to their
contribution
• No relationship between
efforts & end results
• Supervisor decides about
• Work teams
• Members have number of
skills appropriate for different
job category.
• The management is not
concerned about who does the
job
• Members identify the
necessary tasks as well as the
person
• Supervisor acts as a facilitator
and coach
 REWARD SYSTEM

• Team members are rewarded for learning a set

of skills essential for achieving the goals.
• Sometimes performance of the team is
considered.
Reward systems used in team based
organization
Skill based pay system
• Mastery in some important skills
• Employees can increase their pay up to certain
level by learning additional skills
 REWARD SYSTEM
Gain- sharing systems
• Reward all the team members on the basis of
the performance of the organization,division or
plant.
• Requires the team to exceed baseline
performance
• May disappoint employees in poor business
conditions.
Team bonus plan
❙ Each team should achieve certain specific
performance targets.
 TYPES OF WORK TEAMS

• On the basis of objectives teams can be classified into

Problem solving Teams
• One of the earliest forms of teams
• Consist of 5-12 employees from the same departments
• Members meet for specific number of hours per week
to discuss about improving quality,efficiency & work
environment
• Temporary teams to solve a specific problem
• Authority to implement their suggestions is not given
• Established to make recommendations for others
• Ex American companies
 TYPES OF WORK TEAMS
• Commonly used problem solving team is Quality
circles
• QC is a small group of employees in the same work
area where employees meet voluntarily & regularly
about an hour every week to identify,analyze & resolve
work related problems.
• First formed in Japan
The objective of QC are
• Improving quality of work life, change in attitude
• Developing employees & utilizing their maximum
potential
• Involving people at different levels
•
 SELF- MANAGED WORK
TEAMS
• These teams can give solutions to problems,
implement them & be held responsible for the
results
• Autonomous teams
• Consists of 10-15 employees & to them
supervisors responsibilities are assigned
• They select their own members & evaluate
their performance by themselves
• The supervisor plays a role of facilitator
• HP,Xerox,GE, PepsiCo
 CROSS FUNCTIONAL
TEAMS
• Consists of employees from same hierarchical
level,but from different functional areas.
• A task force & committee is also considered as
a cross functional team.
• Ex Toyota, Honda ,General motors
• The teams consists of members from the cross
section of the organizations
• The teams efficiently manage operational
activity & programs for new product
development
 TEAM EFFECTIVENESS
Essentials for building Effective teams
Providing supportive environment
❙ Management helps organization to initiate team work
❙ Makes employee adaptable & flexible
Relevant skills & role clarity
❙ Role clarity increases the efficiency
Focus on superordinate goals
❙ Encourages members to think beyond his individual interest
❙ Superordinate goals are higher level goals which integrates
efforts made by two or more people.
❙ The purpose is to unify the efforts
Team rewards : Innovative rewards,financial & non
financial.
 TEAM EFFECTIVENESS
• Shaping individuals into team players
• Members should posses the qualities of good team players
• Different ways to turn workers into effective team players
Selection
• Interpersonal skills are essential for team work
Training
• Problem solving,communication,negotiation conflict managemen
& coaching skills
• Training makes them effective player
Rewards
• Assisting in conflict resolution
• Imparting training to new employees
• Learning new skills for improvement of the team performance
 TEAMS & TOTAL QUALITY
MANAGEMENT
• TQM focuses on customer relationship & build
an environment of trust & openness.
• Requires high level of
communication,adaptation, coordination &
sequencing.
• Ford company initiated TQM to deal with the
problems faced by the organization &
accordingly worked out certain norms
• Small size teams,trained members, Authority to
study the problem,champion of the team were
the important features
 TEAMS & WORKFORCE
DIVERSITY
• Diversity is helpful in solving problems or
in decision making
• Development of variety of creative &
innovative solutions to problems
• Whereas sometimes diversity may lead to
behavioral problems, & unfavorable impact
on employeesatisfaction,absenteeism
productivity & turnover rates