OB lecture 20 team effectiveness

20
Team Effectiveness


Team and Group
Group
Two or more people with common
interest
or objectives
e.g. Drinking partners,
a study group, a tour group


Team
Elements of a Team
•
•
•
•

Objectives
Complementary Skills or Roles
Accountability
Performance Standard


Why Team ?
Teams are every where.
Some Tasks are to big, or too complex
and
cannot be accomplished by a single

person.


Drucker calls Team
A task focused structure where skills
(persons) come to a task.

Unlike in functional structure, ‘work’
goes to
Skill (person)


Examples of Team
•
•
•
•

A research team
A design Team
An account Team
A management team

An assignment team ( or an
assignment
group?)


Social Loafing
When people exert less effort and

perform at
A lower level when working in a team
than when working alone.
-> contribution is noticeable
-> Smaller team size


Theories on Team


Tuckman (2001) –
Group Formation
1 Forming
2 Storming
3 Norming
4 Performing

Page 234


Evidence
National Transport Safety Board (NTSB)
44% of aircraft accidents happened
when
on the crew first flight together.


Belbin
A good team must
consist of (Page

245)
1. Plant
2. Resources
Investigator
3. Coordinator
4. Shaper

5.
6.
7.
8.
9.

Monitor evaluator
Team worker
Implementer
Completer
Specialist


Dysfunctions of Team


If you want to know more
About team building, read….


1. Absence of Trust
Trust lies at the heart of a team. Without trust,
team work is impossible

Trust is the confidence among team members
that theirs peers intention is good., and there is
reason to be protective or careful about the
group.
Team members must be feeling comfortable
being
vulnerable with one another


Absence of Trust
Invulnerability


When there is no trust
•
•
•
•
•

Conceal their weaknesses
Hesitant to ask for help
Hesitant t to offer help
Jump to conclusion
Waste time and energy putting up a
show
…..


When there is trust

• Admit weakness
• Ask for help
• Take risk in offering feedback or
assistance
• Focus time and energy on important
issues, not politics
…….


2. Fear of Conflict
Is conflict good or bad ?

All great relationship, the one that last over
time, require productive conflict in order to
Grow. This is true in marriage, friendship,
and
business.


Fear of conflict

Artificial peace

Absence of Trust
Invulnerability


Team that avoid conflict often do so to avoid
hurting team member feeling, and end up
encourage tension.

When team member do not openly debate
and disagree about import ideas, they often
go back channel – far nastier and harmful.


Healthy conflict is a time saver


Teams that fear conflict
•
•
•
•

Boring meeting
Back channel
Politics
Fail to tape into opinions and
perspective of team members


Members of a team must have the
courage
and confidence to bring out sensitive
issues
and force team members to work through


3. Lack of Commitment
Or lack of it

Foot dragging …
Watch window of opportunity passes
If there is no ‘commitment’ on top, what is
the
division below?


Lack of Commitment

Fear of conflict

Ambiguity

Artificial peace

Absence of Trust
Invulnerability