1 / 31

Groups & Teams

Groups & Teams. Frances Jørgensen, PhD frances@plan.aau.dk. What is a group or team?.

alaura
Télécharger la présentation

Groups & Teams

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Groups & Teams Frances Jørgensen, PhD frances@plan.aau.dk

  2. What is a group or team? • Group: A collection of individuals whose existence as a collection is rewarding to the individuals (Bass, 1960); Two or more person with some common purpose or goal, a relatively stable structure with hierarchy, and an established set of roles or patterns of interaction. Members see themselves and each other as members. • A unique combination of 2 or more persons who interact interdependently and adaptively to achieve specific, shared, and valued objectives

  3. Why do we join groups? Security, power, to reach goals we couldn’t attain alone, self-esteem…

  4. All teams are groups, but are all groups teams?(Campbell & Campbell, 1988) • Groups become teams when : • they are autonomous and have clear responsibilities to differentiate them from other teams or groups (Campbell & Campbell, 1988); • They are heterogeneous (Magjuka & Baldwin, 1991); • members have a balanced range of characteristics (Belbin, 1981); • targeted group performance is greater than expected individual performance; when they have between 5-10 members (Bales & Borgatta, 1956).

  5. Types of Groups & Teams

  6. Types of Groups & Teams Football team, neighborhood group, project groups, management teams, production groups, cross-functional groups, virtual teams, improvement groups (quality circles)…. Work Teams can be described in terms of… • Cross-functional & Cross-dimensional • Self-directive/managing and autonomous • Ad-hoc or permanent • Parallel or Integrated with production

  7. History of Groups • Earliest times • 1890: James studies psychological processes of groups & social identity • 1940’s: Hawthorne Plant studies demonstrate that group processes have an effect on production • 1950’s-60’s: Socio-technical perspective first introduced • 1990’s-current: 80% of companies with > 100 employees have >50% in at least 1 team (Katzenbach, 1998)

  8. Group Development • Forming: testing & forming dependencies: defining of (un)acceptble bx; characterized by high uncertainty, politeness, low commitment • Storming: indiv. “fight” for position; role development; characterized by intragroup conflict and formations of dyads and cliques • Norming: development of group cohesion; acceptance of fellow members; defining of purpose; characterized by high levels of trust • Performing: functional job relatedness; role differentiation; task specification; facilitation of goal attainment; characterized by feeling “we are special”. • Adjourning? (Tuckman, 1965)

  9. Where is your “team” • Group exercise based on Tuckman’s Team Development Model (in class handouts)

  10. Team Structure • Size: inversely related to satisfaction (Porter & Lawler, 1965) & attendance (Steers & Rhodes, 1978) • Optimal 5-9 • Affect performance • Norms: characterize behavior viewed important to the group, develop gradually or when new situations arise, don’t always apply to all members (Hackman, 1976); affect performance • Norm breakers are ultimately isolated (Janis, 1972); • Cohesion: closeness of the group which leads to maintenance of membership, power of group over members, participation and loyalty, satisfaction, productivity ??? (Cartwright & Zander, 1968) • Lack of cohesion leads to lowered productivity (Katz & Kahn, 1978)

  11. Causes of Team Cohesiveness Member Similarity Team Cohesiveness External Challenges Member Interaction Team Success Team Size Somewhat Difficult Entry

  12. Cohesiveness and Performance Moderately High Task Performance High Task Performance Team Norms Support Firm’s Goals Moderately Low Task Performance Low Task Performance Team Norms Oppose Firm’s Goals Low Team Cohesiveness High Team Cohesiveness

  13. Group Structure & Performance British Coal Mine Studies (Trist & Bamforth, 1951) • Prenationalization • Low mechanization; 6 man teams, shared mining tasks, task rotation • Post nationalization • Long wall production introduced, new technology (high job specialization, lower job training costs), individual work replaced teams, increased tech. problems, increased absenteeism, increased strikes, lower productivity

  14. Miner’s solution • “Composite long wall method” • New technology, old style work groups • Developed new shift groups (forming) • Task differentiation between members & groups (storming) • Set group performance goals (norming) Production increased (performing)

  15. Why did performance fall with the long wall method? • First consider the coal miner’s job! • Increased job specialization and replacement of small groups led to lower cohesion • Elimination of formal groups led to more informal groups, which lacked performance norms and fostered hostility towards organization

  16. Considerations BEFORE organizing teams • Autonomy (hiring/firing, decisions, budget) • Task interdependence & congruence • Size (small enough & large enough) • Flexibility (work, pay) • History & traditions • Accessible space, equipment, information • Management & monitoring should promote team autonomy and responsibility • Reward system congruent with teamwork • Maintenance & development • Technological changes • Management & Organizational support

  17. To do or not to do? • When tasks to not require coordination, an individual strategy is often “best” • When coordination is a must and individual contribution is difficult to measure, a team approach is often appropriate.

  18. Meredith Belbins Team Roles Idea Generator Mover & Shaker Networker Teamworker Finisher Evaluator Implementer Specialist Coordinator Which are you? What are the consequences of different team configurations?

  19. Problems with groups & teams • Abilene Paradox: members act in contradiction to what they really want; each person defers to another, even though they disagree. • Group Think: members support consensus and discourage disagreement to the point where only those in agreement remain in the group. A habit of agreement develops and attitudes of “we are right; they are wrong” prevent new ideas and counter arguments.

  20. Team Building • Emphasize shared goals & values • Use ceremonies & rituals & symbolize team identity • Strengthen social relationships • Inform about activities and results • Analyze group processes regularly • Strive for (real) consensus in meetings • Tolerate and encourage differences • Reward cooperation (Yukl, p. 371) • Provide relevant development (Goals, Roles, Process: communication, problem-solving, conflict resolution) • Ropes, etc.

  21. Team Learning • Team learning = Team Skill (Senge, 1990) • Cross-functional teams • Job rotation • Workouts (G.E., 1989): customers, managers, suppliers, and teams have 2-3 day intensive problem-solving sessions • Action learning (Lewin, 1940’s) • Succession planning

  22. Harley Davidson & SMWTs • 1983: HD on fast ride to disaster: loss of creditors, sales continuing to drop and employee moral in the pits. • Who wouldn’t want to be a part of HD leadership? HD instills sense of ownership with a shared leadership model

  23. Managements Guidelines for Change • 1) There is no “quick fix”. • 2) Leadership is not a person, but a process to which every employee must contribute. • 3) People are a corporations only sustainable competitive advantage.

  24. Why SWTWs at HD? • Company benefits • Cross trained employees (flexibility) • Increased communications • Streamlining, flattens organizations, and gets rid of unnecessary processes • 20-40% gains in productivity after 18 months for most companies

  25. And for the teams? • More job variety; opportunity to learn more/other skills • More input into the job, job responsibility and sense of ownership from completing a full HD (see job enrichment model!)

  26. Transformation to Self Managed Teams • Training in three specific areas should be addressed • 1)Technical- Cross training of all members of the team in various technical skill sets. • 2)Administrative- Employees must learn skills such as monitoring, reporting procedures and hiring/firing. • 3)Interpersonal Skills- Communication among all members must occur more effectively in order to make the team as efficient as possible.

  27. The Stages of Transition to Self-Managed Teams (the HD model) • Stage 1: Start-up • “Honeymoon Phase,” intensive training for all involved. • Stage 2: State of Confusion • Employees are having problems adapting at this stage • Many secretly hope transition effort will collapse.

  28. Transition Continued… • Stage 3: Leader-Centered Teams • Confidence grows as new skills are learned • One team member steps forward as internal leader, production increases dramatically. • Stage 4: Tightly Formed Teams • Teams working at high level of efficiency, but may withhold info and assistance from other teams to make themselves look better. • Stage 5: Self-Directed Teams • Mature teams develop a powerful commitment to achieving corporate and team goals.

  29. 2001 Forbes Company of the Year • 2001 sales grew 15% to 3.3 billion • Company earnings grew 26% to 435 million • Stock up 40% in 2001 • Since 1986, Harley has averaged annual earnings growth of 37%

More Related