Team Working

  • Contents

    1. The difference between groups and teams
    2. Stages of group and team development
    3. Roles and routines in groups and teams
    4. Threats to successful teamwork

  • What are employers looking for? (CBI, Future Fit, 2009)

    Team working skills:

    Are you assertive within a team environment?
    Do you respect and listen to other people’s point of view?
    Are you tolerant of other people’s mistakes?
    Can you persuade and negotiate with others?
    Can you contribute to discussions?
    Can you deal with constructive criticism?

    Additional Information

    Many organisations say that people are their most important assets. People can determine the success/failure of the projects . Employers are increasingly looking for their employees to have good team working skills since most projects will involve teams of people working together.

  • Successful teamwork is “the cornerstone of progressive management for the foreseeable future” (Buelens, 2006: 372)

    “Successful organisations are good at building teams and exploiting teamwork. People need to be able to work in teams, they need to subordinate their own agenda to the well-being of the group….successful organisations foster diversity, which entails respect for the individual and makes group decision making more creative...” (Manfred Kets de Vries in: Financial Times, October 2000, quoted in Buelens, 2006, p.371)

    1996: 90% of Americans worked in teams every day only 50% had received team work training (Brooks, 2003, p.84)

    Additional Information

    As an IT professional you will be required to work in a team to produce a result e.g. a piece of software or upgrade to a system. Increasingly many large companies organise their employees into project teams. Most project managers state that managing people effectively can be very challenging especially managing teams. Within project management there is a topic called project human resource management which includes selecting the team, developing the team (training and team building) and also managing the team (observations, performance appraisals, conflict management, issue logs etc)

  • Advantages of team based working in organisations

    Teams can:

    develop and deliver products and services quickly and cost effectively and therefore increase their competitive edge
    enable organisations to learn effectively and continuously
    promote innovation through cross-fertilisation of ideas (through interdepartmental contact)
    process and integrate information in ways that individuals cannot
    help to improve productivity
    resolve conflict

    Additional Information

    Many large companies have project teams
    Work is increasingly conducted in teams
    Rapidly changing conditions face many organisations in todays economic climate and they must be ready to meet the challenge.
    Many have fewer layers of management in an organisation and more emphasis on teams

  • What is a group?

    A group is any number of people who

    interact with one another
    are psychologically aware of each other
    perceive themselves to be a group

    Becoming a group member “implies a psychological process of affiliating to others and interaction with each other.” (Brown, 1971 in: Brooks, 2003, p. 84)

    Not all groups are teams.

    Additional Information

    The first three definitions are a bit limited when considering the usefulness of groups in an organisation.
    A better definition is the second last point since interaction must come into play and also the importance of awareness
    Last point - Not all groups are teams – for example, a newly formed sales team that has not met each other but communicates by email.

  • What is a team?

    A team is a small number of people

    who have complimentary skills
    are committed to a common purpose, performance goals, and approach
    hold themselves mutually accountable for achieving these goals.

    (Katzenbach and Smith, 1993 in: Brooks, 2003, p.84)

    Additional Information

    Often talk about groups and group work – but organisations are interested in teams and effective teamworking.
    Organisations now need to consider employees as resources (instead of costs)
    Some researchers argue that is impossible to distinguish between groups and teams in a work environment

  • Rationale – why have teams?

    Volume of work
    Range of Skills
    Solve problems
    Collective decisions
    Riskier decisions
    Motivation
    Support

    (Burke 2013, p382)

    An effective team has...

    a clear understanding of team’s objectives
    a sense of commitment to the group
    a range of skills and know-how needed to deal with the team’s task
    a membership of different team types
    team members who have respect and trust for each other
    some form of team reward or bonus system as an incentive

    The most successful teams are self-directed and self managed; i.e. allocated to an overall task and given freedom over how work is to be done.

    Additional Information

    Large global companies have staked their future competitiveness on teams and team work.

    'How to assess your team working skills

  • Click on the diagram to show information

    We can identify how teams can grow, develop, mature and change. The Tuckman model of team development identifies the following stages: forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning. All teams have to go through these stages.

    💡 Additional Information - Storming Stage
    💡 Additional Information - Forming Stage
    💡 Additional Information - Norming, Performing and Adjourning Stage

    Additional Information

    Few if any group rules exist. Ambiguity and confusions reign over the group, everybody is busy finding out who the other people are. Little work gets done at this stage.

    Additional Information

    Storming stage – this can be a period of disagreements and frustration at the lack of progress and there may be confrontations in the group. Every group must go through this stage. Groups must remember that conflict can be positive.

    This stage raises the energy and activity level of the group and can lead to significant changes in creativity and innovation.

    Additional Information

    Norming stage: group norms and behaviours are developed and established in this stage - management should intervene if this stage is not going well.

    Performing stage: structure and cohesiveness is apparent which means the team is working well - The project manager wants the team to remain in this stage.

    Adjourning – disbanding the team and reflecting on what went well and what didn’t go so well

  • Roles and routines in groups and teams:

    Belbin’s ream roles (1981 and 1993)

    Belbin: “No one is perfect but a team can be.” (quoted in Mullins, 2005, p.556)

    Teams should not be composed entirely of people with similar personalities.
    Complementing strengths and weaknesses make a team more successful.
    The most successful groups comprise members with a range of roles
    Creative teams require a balance of these roles.

    Additional Information

    There has been a number of attempts to categorise team roles. This is widely used in team development and team building. There are questionnaires based on this. Taking the questionnaire can be a starting point. Balance and diversity are important in teams.

  • Belbin’s team roles

    Team-Role Type Contributions Weaknesses
    Plant Creative, imaginative, unorthodox. Solves difficult problems Tires of routine and conformity, can be pushy and uncontrolled
    Coordinator Mature, confident, a good chairperson. Clarifies goals, promotes decision-making, delegates well Can often be seen as manipulative. Off loads personal work
    Monitor evaluator Analytical and logical. Sees all options. Judges accurately. Lacks drive and ability to inspire others. Seldom shows feelings.
    Implementer Turns ideas into practical actions. Keen to ensure that team does not diverge from objectives. Somewhat inflexible. Slow to respond to new possibilities.
    Completer Finisher Perfectionist, conscientious, anxious. Searches out errors and omissions. Delivers on time. Inclined to worry unduly. Reluctant to delegate.
    Resource Investigator The group’s ‘Mr. Fix-it’. Extrovert, enthusiastic, communicative. Develops contacts. Explores opportunities. Over - optimistic. Loses interest once initial enthusiasm has passed. Little self-criticism.
    Shaper Has strong opinions, wants to influence events. Challenges inertia, good at finding ways around obstacles. Prone to provocation. Offends people's feelings. Easily frustrated, quick tempered.
    Teamworker Co-operative, mild, perceptive and diplomatic. Listens, builds, averts friction. Indecisive in crunch situations. Not assertive enough.
    Specialist Provides knowledge and skills in rare supply. Prefers to work with facts. Contributes only on a narrow front. Dwells on technicalities.

    Additional Information

    Belbin argues that the team needs to fulfil these roles – 9 roles in total. A self assessment questionnaire could be used to identify which roles a person is most suited to.

    For example – the plant role is good at generating ideas and solutions to problems. The monitor evaluator roles is good at evaluating ideas and potential solutions and helping to select the right one.

    The completer finisher role is concerned with finishing tasks. The resource investigator role is good at finding resources (physical resources, information etc.)

    The shaper role helps to direct the teams attention to important issues. The teamworker role is good at creating a good working environment and jollying people along.

  • Critique of Belbin

    Little empirical evidence: Hard to say that a team succeeded because it possessed all nine roles or failed because it lacked them.
    Questionnaire is based on self-reporting
    Theory takes excessively psychological perspective on role, neglecting social dimension of power structure
    Does not take enough account of type of task
    Underplays impact of wider, environmental factors (e.g. limited company resources) (Buchanan, 2004, p.340)

    Additional Information

    Belbin’s team roles can be used as a good starting point and can help identify and profile teams and also identify weaknesses in a team. However, it is not enough for a team simply to have a range of skill. The team has to mesh together and achieve the goals and objectives.

  • Threats to successful teamwork

    1. Conformity: The Asch effect
    2. Group think
    3. Social loafing
    4. Personality clashes

    Additional Information

    There are a number of identified threats to successful teamworking.

  • The Asch effect

    Asch Effect Diagram

    lab experiments
    7-9 volunteers
    all but one were actors
    asked to look at pair of cards:
    Which of three lines on right card is the same length as line on left card?
    actors instructed to lie about which line was correct
    subject was asked last
    7 rounds
    123 people tested in 12 trials

    80% conformed at least once
    58% gave in twice
    20% never conformed
    5% conformed all the time

    Three others are enough to create pressure of conformity.
    Asch effect: giving in to a unanimous but wrong opposition (Buelens, 2006, p.353)

  • Group think

    coined by Yale university’s Irving Janis (1972)
    a group’s desire for unanimity is so strong that they are unwilling to consider alternative views
    happens in friendly, tight-knit groups
    opponents are ridiculed and stereotyped as stupid and weak
    self- censorship takes place
    silence is taken as consent

    Additional Information

    This is a mode of thinking which can occur in highly cohesive groups. The need to conform overrides the appraisal of alternatives.

  • Social loafing

    Individual effort decreases as group size increases

    Why?

    Equity of effort:
    “Nobody else does anything. Why should I ?”

    Loss of personal accountability:
    “I am lost in the crowd, so who cares?”

    Sharing rewards leads to loss in motivation: “Why should I work harder if everybody else gets the same?”

    Additional Information

    Social loafing describes the tendency of individuals to put forth less effort when they are part of a group. Because all members of the group are pooling their effort to achieve a common goal, each member of the group contributes less than they would if they were individually responsible.

    Teams: Common Dysfunctions

    Lack of Trust
    Fear of Conflict
    Lack of Commitment
    Avoidance of Accountability
    Inattention to Results

    Challenges

    We have to give up our independence
    We have to put up with free riders!
    Teams are sometimes dysfunctional

    Additional Information

    ‘free riders’ – doesn't turn up/doesn't respond
    ‘Couch potato’ – turns up but doesn’t contribute

  • Implications for managers

    (Brooks, 2003: 112)

    Effective teams do not just occur. They need to be built consciously by selecting the right combination of team roles.

    “The principles of team working may be easily understood, but the task of installing it can be quite daunting…Every team working application is different. Each organisation, department and individual group is faced with unique problems.” (Wilson,1998 , quoted in Mullins, 2005, p.576)

    Group norms cannot be completely controlled but they can be influenced.

    “The whole is greater than its parts.” Group decisions can be time consuming but they are often more accurate, creative and acceptable.

    Teamworking may not be the “magical panacea for all organisations”. (Brooks, 2003, p.114)

  • Ten ways to motivate your team

    (Mullins, 2005: 576)

    ● Be clear about your own goals
    ● Inform everyone of theirs
    ● Give the right training
    ● Coach and encourage
    ● Listen to team members
    ● Get to know individuals
    ● Incentivise everyone
    ● Be tough when necessary
    ● Give people space to grow
    ● Let the team get on with it