Team
Dynamics
Copyright © 2015 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Teamwork at HFT Investment
Management Co.
HFT Investment
Management Co. Ltd. believes in the “value derived from teamwork.”
The Shanghai-based investment fund company makes all investment decisions in teams.
8-2
What are Teams?
Groups of two or more people Exist to fulfill a purpose
Interdependent – interact and collaborate
Mutually accountable for achieving common goals
– influence each other
Perceive themselves to be a team
8-3
Many Types of Teams
Permanence
How long that type of team usually exists
Skill differentiation
Degree of skill/knowledge diversity in the team
Authority differentiation
Degree that decisionmaking responsibility is distributed throughout the team or centralized
8-4
Informal Groups
Groups that exist primarily for the benefit of their members
Reasons why informal groups exist:
Innate drive to bond
Social identity -- we define ourselves by group memberships Goal accomplishment
Emotional support
8-5
Team Advantages/Challenges
Advantages
1. Make better decisions, products/services
2. Better information sharing
3. Increase employee motivation/engagement
Challenges
1. Process losses – resources needed for team maintenance 2. Social loafing – members potentially exert less effort in teams than alone
8-6
Team Effectiveness
Model
Team Design
Organizational and
Team Environment
• Rewards
• Task characteristics
• Team size
• Team composition
Team Processes
• Org leadership
• Physical space
• Accomplish tasks
• Satisfy member needs • Communication
• Org structure
Team
Effectiveness
• Maintain team survival • Team development
• Team norms
• Team cohesiveness
• Team trust
8-7
PSA Peugeot Citroën’s
Team Space
PSA Peugeot Citroën set up an “obeya room” (shown here) to speed up team decision making. Plastered with charts and notes on key issues, the space encourages face-to-face interaction to quickly resolve issues.
8-8
Organization/Team
Environment
Reward systems
Communication systems
Organizational structure
Organizational leadership
Physical space
8-9
Best Tasks for Teams
1. Complex tasks divisible into specialized roles
2. Well-structured tasks – easier to coordinate
3. Higher task interdependence
Team members must share materials, information, or expertise to perform their jobs
Teams usually better because high interdependence
(a) requires better communication/coordination and
(b) motivates team membership
But teams less effective if task goals differ (e.g. serving different clients) – use other coordinating mechanisms 8-10
Levels of Task
Interdependence
High
A
Reciprocal
Sequential
Pooled
Low
B
A
C
B
C
Resource
A
B
C
8-11
Team Size
Smaller teams are better because:
less process los -- need less time to coordinate roles and resolve differences
require less time to develop
more engaged with team – know members, more influence on the team
feel more responsible for team’s success
But team must be large enough to accomplish task
8-12
Team Player Selection at
Menlo Innovations
Ann Arbor, Michigan software company Menlo
Innovations identifies job applicants with the best team skills through a group selection process in which applicants are paired with each other to complete software tasks.
8-13
Team Composition
Effective team members must be willing and able to work on the team
Effective team members possess specific competencies
(5 C’s in diagram)
Cooperating
• Share resources
• Accommodate others
Conflict
Resolving
• Diagnose conflict sources • Use best conflicthandling strategy
Team Member
Competencies
Comforting
• Show empathy
• Provide psych comfort • Build confidence
Coordinating
• Align work with others • Keep team on track Communicating
• Share information freely, efficiently, respectfully • Listen actively
8-14
Team Composition: