Team Effectiveness and Team Measurements

Chapter 4: Team Effectiveness

Probably the most fundamental ingredient of effective teams is TRUST. Its belief in the reliance, ability, and integrity of the other.

Unless team members trust one another, building effective work team is impossible

4.1 Setting team objectives and criteria Team goals should be :

Specific

Measurable

Attainable

Result-oriented

Time bounded

4.2 Dimensions Influencing Team Effectiveness

1- Size: its difficult to pinpoint an ideal group size because it depends

on the group’s purpose.

in groups of less than 5 members, there will be more personal discussion and more complete participation.

As group size grows there are several advantages and disadvantages:

Advantages:

more potential human resources that are available to perform the work and this can boost performance.

Disfunctions:

1. more difficult to participate effectively.

2. communication become difficult.

3. there is a tendency to split into subgroups.

3. Disagreements may occur more easily.

4. group satisfaction may decline.

5. the tends to increase turnover.

2- Membership composition: 1. Member’s charactaristics: include physical traits, abilities,

skills, personality, age and gender.

2. Membership motivation: include members motivates to join groups, such the need of power and security.

• membership composition can be homogeneous or heterogeneous.

• Homogeneous teams are formed for tasks that are standard and routine.

• Heterogeneous teams are formed for tasks that are non-routine and require diverse skills, opinions and behaviors.

3- Roles: Are shared expectations of how group members will fulfill the

requirements of their positions.

People develop their roles based on :

Their own expectations.

Team’s expectations.

The org. Expectations.

When operating in a team, individuals typically fulfill several roles that fit into 3 categories:

1. Task-oriented roles: focus on behaviors that directly related to establishing and achieving the goals and tasks of the group done.

2. Relationship-oriented roles: they focus on the operation of the group and maintenance of good relationships among members.

3. Self-oriented roles: occur to meet some personal need or goal of an individual without regard for the group’s problems. They often have negative influence on a group’s effectiveness.

4- Norms: It’s a group’s unspoken rules.

• Why do norms develop? To provide regularity and predictability to behaviors.

• Norms may be defined as generally agreed-upon informal rules that guide team members’ behavior.

• Norms can be prescriptive or proscriptive .

• Norms differ from org. rules that they are unwritten.

• Group norms can be positive, helping group meet its objectives. Or negative hindering the group effectiveness.

5- Cohesiveness: Measures the loyalty to the group by its members.

As cohesiveness rises so will participation and the emphasis on group accomplishment will rise.

As conformity rises so does cohesiveness.

Small groups allow high cohesiveness.

Cohesiveness increases with success.

4.3: Group Cohesiveness, Group Effectiveness

and Group Norms

Norms

Cohesiveness of the work

group

High Low

Aligned with

Organization

Highest

Performance

Moderate

Performance

4.4: Team Communication Process

Good Communication Benefits:

• Learn new skills and technologies

• Become more responsive to customer

• Improve the quality of the product or service

• Faster innovation

4.5: The Communication Process Communication consist of two phases:

1- Transmission Phase

2- Feedback Phase

Receiver Sender

Message

Message

Encoding

Encoding

Medium

Medium

Decoding

Decoding

Communication Media

1- Face to Face

• Highest Information Richness.

•Can take a advantage of the verbal and nonverbal signals.

•Provides for instance feedback.

•Managers gain advantages from the informal talk with the workers.

•Video Conferences provide almost the same richness and reduce the

travel costs.

2- Verbal Communication Electronically Transmitted

•Has second highest richness

•Have tone voice and quick feedback

3- Personally Addressed Written Communication

•Lower Richness, but still directed to one person

•Personal addressing help ensure receiver read it

•Don’t provide instance feedback to the sender

•Excellent for complex messages needing follow up

•Emails and letters are common forms

4-Impersonal Written Communication

•Lowest richness

•Good for multi receivers Messages

•Newsletters and Reports goes as an example

5-Emails Trend

•Emails is growing rapidly in large firms

•Words in all CAPITALS are seen as screaming for the

receiver.

•Pay attention for your spelling and punctuate your

message for easy reading

• Emails allowed the worker to work in their homes and

stay in touch with their colleagues

6- Communication Networks

•Networks show the flow of information in an

organization

•Wheel Network: Information flow to and from one

central member

•Chain Network: member communicate with people

next to them in sequence.

•Circle Network: members communicate with

others close to them in terms of expertise, official

location, etc.

•All Channel Network: found in teams with high

levels of communications between each member

and all others.

Communication Networks in Group and Teams

•Communication is informal and flows around issues, goals and

projects.

•Vertical Communication: goes up and down in the corporate

hierarchy

•Horizontal Communication: between employees in the same level.

Even the informal communication can span levels and department.

•Grapevine: informal network carrying unofficial information through

the firm.

Managers communication skills as senders

• Send clear and complete messages.

• Encode messages in symbols the receiver understand.

• Select a medium appropriate for the message AND monitored by the receiver.

• Avoid filtering and distortion as the message pass through other workers.

• Ensure a feedback mechanism is included in the message.

• Provide accurate Information to avoid rumors.

• Pay attention to what is send as message.

• Be a good listener, don’t interrupt.

• Ask questions to clarify your understanding.

• Try to understand what the sender feel.

• Try to understand the different linguistic styles.

Chapter 5

Teams Measurements

Managing team performance

Motivate groups to achieve goals:-

1. Members should benefit when the group performs well

2. Rewards can be monetary or in other forms

Reduce social loafing: human tendency to

put forth less effort in a group than

individually: (free riding)

• To make individual effort identify and evaluated

• To emphasize individual efforts to show they count

• To keep groups size at small number

Help groups manage conflict

• All groups will have conflict

• Practice effective dialogue instead of debate

• Identify and resolve group conflicts

• Vary levels and intensity of work

• Provide a balance between work and home

• Critique the way they work as a team regularly and consistently

• Practice continuous improvement

Team Assessment Aspects

It is common practice in assessing team performance

to appoint and if necessary train a

”Team Facilitator الميسر”. “Team Leader القائد”

جميع اعضاء الفريق له دور كميسرين ذلك لتكون مسؤولية النجاح : تبادل االدوار

leaderاو الفشل مشتركة للجميع و ليست لشخص محدد مثل قائد الفريق

The following is a set of suggestions which may help in team assessment :

1. Focus

2. Clarification

3. The mouse

4. The loud mouth

5. The written record

6. Handling failure

7. Handling deadlock

8. Sign posting

9. Avoid single solutions

10. Active communication

Feedback role in enhancing team effectiveness

feedback

Negative feedback Positive feedback

Why do some team fail?

Their member are unwilling to cooperate with each other.

To receive support from management

Some managers are unwilling to relinquish control

Team might fail not because their members do not cooperate with each other but also because they fail to cooperate with other teams

Common problems encountered in working with team

• Personality and work style differences

• Poor task problem definition

• Poor preparation

• Difficulties in compromising

• Lack empathy

• Poor conflict management skills

• Lack of cohesiveness

Team measurement concept and methodology

• Perceived clarity of objectives and goals

• Degree of support and trust in operation

• Perceived cooperation and conflict levels

• Appropriate leadership applied

• Regular review

• Level of sound inter-group relations

Team assessment and feedback

1. Diversify tea member

2. Keep teams small in size

3. Select the right team member

4. Train

5. Clarify goals

6. Encourage participation

7. Use appropriate measures

Rewarding teams

• Equity

• Equality

• Reciprocity

• Social responsibility

Empowerment as a tool for effectiveness

Teach workers how to work in teams

Make the feedback public in the team

Make effective team interaction and cooperation a criteria in grading

Allow for the time required to make teams work